NICKEL 413 



NEPHRITE. See JADE. 



NERO ANTXCO. Tho name given by the Italians to the black marble used by 

 the Egyptian and other ancient statuaries. See MABBLE. 



NEROXiI is the name given by perfumers to the essential oil of orange-flowers. 

 It is procured by distillation with water, in the same way as most other volatile oils. 

 Since, in distilling water from neroli, an aroma is obtained different from that of the 

 orange-flower, it has been concluded that the distilled water of orange-flowers owes 

 its scent to some principle different from an essential oil. See PEBFCMEBY. 



NET (Filet, reseau, Fr. ; Netz, Ger.) is a textile fabric of knotted meshes, for 

 catching fish, and other purposes. Each mesh should be so secured as to be incapable 

 of enlargement or diminution. The French Government offered in 1802 a prize of 

 10,000 francs to the person who should invent a machine for making nets upon 

 automatic principles, and adjudged it to M. Buron, who presented his mechanical 

 invention to the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers. All the nets now used by our 

 fishermen are made by machinery ; the largest number being woven in Scotland. 



NETTLE TH.EE. The Celtis Australia. The wood of the nettle-tree is nearly 

 as compact as box, and takes a very high polish ; it is sometimes used in the manu- 

 facture of flutes. 



NEUTRALISATION' is the state produced when acid and alkaline matters are 

 combined in such proportions that neither predominates, as evinced by the colour of 

 tincture of litmus and cabbage remaining unaffected by the compound. 



NEUTRAL TINT. A factitious grey pigment, composed of blue, red, and 

 yellow, in various proportions, used by water-colour painters. 



NEW JERSEY TEA. The dried leaves of the Ceanothus Americanos. 



NEW RED SANUSTONE. See SANDSTONE. 



NEW ZEALAND FLAX. See PHOBMIUM. 



NICARAGUA "WOOD. The tree yielding this wood has not been ascertained; 

 it is supposed to be a species of Hamatoxylon. This wood, and a variety called Peach 

 wood, are sent to this country for the use of the dyers. They are similar in colour to 

 Brazil wood ; but they are not sufficiently sound for any use in manufacture. 



NICKEL. The ores of nickel, found in these islands, are the following : 



Annabergite. Arsenate of nickel, found at Huel Chance and Pengelly mines in 

 Cornwall. 



Emerald nickel. Said to have been found by Dr. Heddle on chromate of iron from 

 Swinaness, in Unst, one of the Shetland Islands. 



Milierite. Sulphide of nickel. This mineral has been found in septaria, at Ebbw 

 Vale in Monmouthshire; at Combo Martin, and at Huel Chance and Pengelly, in 

 Cornwall. 



Eisennickelkies. Sulphide of iron and nickel. On the property of the Duke of 

 Argyll, near Inverary, this ore has been found in considerable quantities. Greg and 

 Lettsom give the following analysis of 'a specimen of thorough ore taken and reduced 

 to powder': Iron, 43'76; nickel, 14-22; sulphur, 34'46 ; silica, 5'90 ; lime, 1-45: 

 total, 9979. 



Kupfernickel. Copper nickel. Two or three mines in Cornwall have produced 

 this ore in some quantities. It has been worked at Huel Chance and at Pengelly, and 

 at the Fowey Consols mine. Mr. Aitkin, of Falkirk, in 1872, re-opened the so-called 

 silver mine at Bathgate, and discovered a peculiar ore of nickel in a fissure or vein 

 between a whinsill and the limestone ; about three tons were obtained, and the work 

 was discontinued. 



Eammelsberg has given us the following analysis of a foreign kupfernickel, which 

 corresponds very nearly with some of our English products: Arsenic, 48'80; nickel, 

 39-94; cobalt, 0'16; antimony, 8'00 ; silica, 2'00. 



For the less important and foreign ores of nickel, the reader is referred to Dana, or 

 to Brooke and Miller's Mineralogy. 



Nickel is usually associated with cobalt ores, and much chemical ingenuity has 

 been employed to effect the perfect separation of these metals, both of which are 

 now very valuable in the arts. Extensive nickel refineries, in which the separation 

 is skilfully -carried out, but in all with some considerable secresy, now exist in this 

 country. The art of working the ores of nickel and cobalt seems unknown in Great 

 Britain, if we may judge by the fact that, though found in sufficient abundance, 

 they are nowhere in this country converted into zaffre and speiss, the two primary 

 marketable products elsewhere obtained from these ores. Although, therefore, no 

 nation in the world consumes in its manufactures more cobalt and nickel than Great 

 Britain, yet for these metals it is almost entirely dependent upon Norway, Northern 

 Germany, and the Netherlands ; from whence we import large quantities annually. 

 The foreign ores not unfrequently yield 12 or 15 per cent. In the German ore the 

 quantity of metallic ingredients are of a fusible character ; consequently, when simply 



