491 



XICKKR 



NICOLAS 



these consists in removing by suitable method* the 

 metal* ntlier than nickel in the speiss, in 



rid of tin- arsenic by forming an alkaline arsenitc 

 which is soluble in water, anil in obtaining a sul- 

 phide of nickel which is usually mixed with a small 

 quantitv of cobalt. This sulphide when Uiili-d 

 with sulphuric acid yields sulphate of nickel, from 

 which |M)Ui>h pndmtatM tin- hydrated oxide mixed 

 with a little cohalt. The separation of the oxide* 

 of nickel and col Mil t is effected by dissolving the 

 mixture of them in an acid, neutralising, and 

 adding a slight excess of nitrite of potassium and 

 acetic acid. After a few hours the double nitrite 

 of colmlt and potassium is deposited, while the 

 filtered liquid contain* only the nickel. Its hydrate 

 is precipit:itil by caustic potash and redissolved in 

 oxalic acid. When the oxalnte of nickel in heated 

 in a wind- furnace fused metallic nickel is obtained. 



The New Caledonia ore (garnierite) is smelted 

 h\ one process in this way. It is placed along 

 with limestone and coke of charcoal in a furnace 

 about 16 feet high with tuyeres. Here a regulus is 

 produced with 60 or 70 per cent, of nickel, and con- 

 taining also some iron, some carbon, and some- 

 times a little sulphur. This is manipulated in a 

 Siemens' furnace to remove the iron, and also 

 sulphur if present, and the nickel is then refined 

 with oxide of manganese and alkaline flux in a 

 l>liitnl>ago crucible. 



Oxide* of Nickel. These are nickel monoxide, 

 NiO, the hydrate of this oxide, Ni(OH). both of 

 which are "green and nickel sesqnioxide, NLO, 

 which is a black powder. The monoxide of nickel 

 is used to give a soft brown colour to pottery. 



Salt* of Nickel. Of these Koscoe and Schor- 

 lemmcr, in their Treatise on Chemistry, say they 

 are derived from the monoxide. In the anhydrous 

 condition they arc usually yellow-coloured, whilst 

 in the hydrate*) state and combined with colourless 

 acids they possess an apple-green to an emerald - 

 green colour. The soluble normal salt* have a 

 slightly acid reaction and a sweetish, astringent, 

 metallic taste, and act as emetics. 



IS'irker ( A.S. nieor, pi. nicerat, in Bemeulf), a 

 malignant kind of water-sprite in Teutonic mytho- 

 logy. He often presents himself on the shore in 

 the shape of a horse, and has thus close affinities 

 with the Scotch kelpie ; while indeed the Old Norse 

 nikr (Old High Ger. nickut) is thought by some to 

 mean the Uppopotaimil only. In our own demon- 

 ology we liml both a male nix and a female 

 The modern Dutch i/./iris merely an ordinary evil 

 spirit or devil, recalling our own familiar Old Xick. 



\\ftt\tsir Islands, a group of islands in the 

 Indian Oo MIL 1'nniing with the Andamans, to the 

 south of which groun they lie, an extension of the 

 great island chain of which Java and Sumatra are 

 the principal links. Just a score in number, of 

 which twelve are inhabited, they consist of two 

 divisions the northern, low and planted with cocoa- 

 nut trees, and the southern, mountainous ('2UH)feet) 

 and covered with timber. Malaria prevails nearly 

 all the year round ; the temperature seldom moves 

 outside the limits 80*-85* F. The people belong to 

 two races, an inland tribe, little civilised, who show 

 Mongolian nlh'nities and are regarded as indigen- 

 ous, and the coast people, alnut 6000 in numlier, 

 who are of mixed Malay blood, but idle and lazy. 

 They collect ami export trcpang and edible birds'- 

 nests. The archipelago was occupied by Denmark 

 from 1766 to 1856. In 1869 it wan annexed by 

 Britain, to put a stop to the piracy of the people. 

 A penal colony for India exists at Nankauri on the 

 island Kamorta (see map at BURMA). 



Menial, CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH, author, book- 

 seller, and publisher, was born 18th March 1733, at 

 Berlin, where his father was also a bookseller. He 



early distinguished himself by a series at cntn-ai 

 letters (17fM>>, in which be expos-<l the error- <>! 

 lith Gottsched and Itudmer, then carrying on a 

 controversy which was agitating the literary world 

 of Germany. With M ..... - Mi-mlcK-obii be edited 

 the liibliuthek i/< / A. ,(,. Wixxrinn-linfti H i 17">7- 

 68), and contributed with losing to /. 

 neuette deiit.tr/ir l.itrnittir Utrrffrnil ( 1769-65 ). l!y 

 this he was led to coneei\e the plan of tin* Alli/r- 

 m- inc. tteutsche IHIJmthrk ( I(H> vols. 1765-92), a 

 periodical which lie edited for many years, and 

 which contributed to the progress of literature and 

 improvement of taste in Germany, but became 

 ridiculous from the inability of its editor to appic- 



der. 



the new spirit that a- stirring in Herd 

 Goethe, Schiller, Kant, and others, with all of 

 whom he was at feud. He wrote topogruUesJ 

 works, satires, anecdotes of Frederick the Hreat, 

 and an autobiography, in which he describes stiange 

 apparitions or obvious hallucinations by which lie 

 was visited. He din ! 8th January 181 1. 



Nicolai, OTTO, musical composer, lx>m at K;n- 

 igsberg, 9th June 1810. His early life wa- a struggle 

 with poverty and dill'milties. He studied in Merlin 

 and in Koine, and in 1S47 Wame Kapellmeister at 

 Berlin. His best-known work is the oiK-ra The 

 Merry Wives of Windsor (1848). He died llth 

 May 1849. 



\M-ol-iitans. an immoral sect mentioned in 

 Rev. ii. 6, 15, and sometimes, but apparently on 

 very feeble grounds, connected with Nicolas the 

 proselyte of Antioch, mentioned in Acts, \i. .".. 

 Indeed the name seems rather to ! symlmlic than 

 historical, the Greek Xiknlnnx being an equivalent 

 to the Hebrew ]lnli<u>. In this sense the passage 

 in the Apocalyjwe harmonises closely with what i* 

 said of the followers fif Balaam in .ludc and 2 

 Peter, and Rev. ii. 15 need not In- taken as i. 

 ring to a different class from verse 14. Their error 

 was a licentiousness which tliev brought into the 

 Christian church from the heathen world, and the 

 subtler wickedness of defending this as supported 

 by a doctrine and a prophetic illumination ('2 Pet. 

 ii. 1 ). There is no satisfactory evidence of the 

 existence of such a sect after the time of John ; 

 still Iromens mentions the Nicolaitans as a sect of 

 Gnostics of the Ophite class, and in this he is 

 followed by Hip]K)lytus. 



Moolas, ST, the patron saint of Russia, whose 

 life in wrapped in an oWnritv that is but little 

 lighiciicd by fable. He was bishop of Myra in 

 Lycia, and according to Mctnidnastes was im- 

 prisoned under Diocletian ana released under 

 Constantino. The statement that he was present 

 at the Council of Nice is in the highest degree 

 improbable. His supposed relics were convened 

 from the East to Ban, in the kingdom of Naples, 

 on 9th May 1087 ; and it is a curious fact that in 

 the Russian Church the anniversary of this transla- 

 tion is still observed as a festival. In Catholic 

 countries St Nicolas is especially the patron of the 

 young, anil particularly of scholars. In Knghuid 

 his feast was celebrated in ancient times with 

 great solemnity in the public schools, Eton, Sarum 

 Cathedral, ami elsewhere; and still in Germany 

 on the vigil of his feast, which is held on the 6th 

 December, a person in the appearance mid costume 

 of a bishop assembles the children of a family or of 

 a school, nnd distributes among them, to the good 

 children, gilt nuts, sweetmeats, and other little 

 pi-scntx, as the reward of good conduct; to the 

 naughty ones, the redoubtable punishment of the 

 'Klauliiiuf.' Suntii n.nix is a ronuptioii of the 

 name, introduced into Kngland from America; the 

 old Dutch settlers of New York kept a San Claus 

 holiday. 8t Nicolas was also the patron of merch- 

 ants, sailors, and travellers ; and as he was prayed 



