NEW 



[ 179 ] 



N I T 



greenish -grey colour. It is a conglome- 

 rate, its prevailing character being sili- 

 ceous, but comprising calcareous beds of 

 considerable magnitude and extent. By 

 some, the new red sandstone has been 

 divided into three series ; the upper, the 

 middle, and the lower beds. Over a 

 large part of England the new red sand- 

 stone rests unconforrnably upon the car- 

 boniferous group, showing that the latter 

 was disturbed, dislocated, and partially 

 removed, before the former was accumu- 

 lated upon it ; there is, however, reason 

 to believe that in other parts of the Euro- 

 pean area deposits still continued quietly 

 to be thrown down upon undisturbed 

 parts of the carboniferous series, so that 

 no real line of separation can be well 

 established between them. It is almost 

 needless to observe when we contemplate 

 the red sandstone series as a whole, and 

 consider that it is in great measure com- 

 posed of matter which must have been 

 deposited from water where it was, for 

 the time, mechanically suspended, that 

 great variations should be expected at the 

 same geological levels ; here clay or marl 

 being found, there sandstone or conglo- 

 merate, while, occasionally, calcareous 

 matter should be dispersed among it, 

 under favourable circumstances, in suffi- 

 cient abundance to constitute numerous 

 beds of limestone. 



A very remarkable discovery was made 

 in 1828 of the foot-marks of some un- 

 known quadruped in strata of new red 

 sandstone, three miles from Lochmaben 

 in Dumfries-shire. They were found 

 forty-five feet under the present surface ; 

 the strata are inclined thirty- seven de- 

 grees. Bakewell. Phillips. 



NEWER PLIOCENE PERIOD. Mr. Lyell re- 

 fers the European tertiary strata to four 

 successive periods, each characterised by 

 containing a very different proportion of 

 fossil shells of recent species. These 

 four periods he termed Newer Pliocene, 

 Older Pliocene, Miocene and Eocene ; 

 the etymology of these terms will be fully 

 explained under the several words. The 

 Newer Pliocene period is the latest of the 

 four periods, and immediately precedes 

 the recent era. Nevertheless, the anti- 

 quity of some Newer Pliocene strata, as 

 contrasted with our most remote his- 

 torical eras, must be very great, em- 

 bracing perhaps myriads of years. Out 

 of 226 fossil species brought from the 

 Sicilian beds, M. Deshayes found that no 

 fewer than 216 were of species still living. 

 The newer pliocene formation is deve- 

 loped in Sicily and Tuscany ; its character 

 is marine, fresh water, and volcanic. 



NI'CKEL. (nickel, Germ.) A metal of 

 considerable hardness, nearly equal to 



that of iron, of a colour intermediate be- 

 tween silver and platina. When polished, 

 it has a high lustre. Specific gravity 

 8-93. It is both ductile and malleable, 

 and may be hammered into very thin 

 plates. It is difficult to be purified. In 

 common with iron, it is magnetic, capable 

 of acquiring polarity, and may be formed 

 into permanent magnetic needles ; this 

 property is destroyed by an alloy with 

 arsenic. Nickel unites in alloys with 

 gold, copper, tin, and arsenic, which 

 metals it renders brittle. With silver and 

 iron its alloys are ductile. 



Nickel was discovered as a distinct 

 metal by Cronstadt, in 1751. Its solu- 

 tion in nitric acid is nearly grass green. 

 Nickel is found in all meteoric stones. 



NI'GRINE. (from nig/er, Lat. black.) A 

 variety of ferruginous oxide of titanium, 

 occurring in grains, or rolled pieces. 

 Colour black, or brownish- black. It 

 consists of titanium 84*0, oxide of iron 

 14'0, oxide of manganese 2'0. 



NI'TRATE. A compound of nitric acid with 

 a salifiable base. 



NI'TRE. (virpov, Gr. nitrum, Lat. nitre, 

 Fr. nitro, It.) Nitrate of potash ; salt- 

 petre. The potasse nitratee of Haiiy ; 

 natiirlicher salpeter, of Werner. Nitre, 

 or nitrate of potash, is found native in 

 all countries, where there are circum- 

 stances favourable to its production. It 

 frequently effloresces on the soil ; but 

 never exists at a greater depth, than that 

 of a few yards beneath the surface. It 

 occurs, naturally, either in masses, or in 

 thin irregular crystals ; it is white, semi- 

 transparent, and brittle ; salt and cold in 

 taste. When thrown on hot coals, it 

 burns with a sparkling bright light, and 

 with a crackling noise. It crystallizes in 

 six-sided prisms, terminated by a dihedral 

 summit, and retains no water of crystalli- 

 zation. The crystals are permanent, and 

 soluble in seven parts of water at 60, 

 and in less than their own weight at 212. 

 The principal supply of nitre is from 

 India. One of the most remarkable lo- 

 calities of nitre in Europe, is in the Pula, 

 or cavity of Molfetta, in the kingdom of 

 Naples. This cavity, which is about one 

 hundred feet deep, contains several grot- 

 tos or caverns, in the interior of which is 

 found nitre in crusts, attached to compact 

 limestone. When these crusts are re- 

 moved, others appear in about a month. 

 The various sources of native nitre not 

 being sufficient to supply the great de- 

 mand there exists for it, it is manufac- 

 tured wholesale, in the following manner. 

 Rubbish, consisting of lime, mortar, 

 plaster, and earth, is mixed up in heaps, 

 under sheds, with decaying vegetables 

 and refuse matter, and left to rot; the 



