NIC 



NIE 



)y oxyded. It may be obtained by expos- 

 ing the green oxide to a red heat, or by 

 heating it with oxymuriatic acid. It ap- 

 pears, therefore, to be too highly oxydiz- 

 ed to be capable of directly combining with 

 any of the acids. According to Richter, 

 oxide of nickel is reduced by heat alone ; 

 and the only difficulty experienced is the 

 intensity of the heat required to fuse the 

 metal. 



Nickel is oxydized and dissolved by a 

 number of acids ; its solutions being ge- 

 nerally of a green colour and crystalliza- 

 ble. 



The salts of nickel are decomposed by 

 the alkalies, and the oxide, more or less 

 free from the acid, is thrown down. If 

 the alkalies are added in excess, they re- 

 dissolve it; and with ammonia, in particu- 

 lar, soluble triple salts are formed. Pot- 

 ash and soda dissolve even a small quan- 

 tity of its pure oxide ; ammonia dissolves 

 it in a much larger quantity. 



Nickel combines with sulphur by fu- 

 sion. The compound has a yellow colour 

 with some brilliancy. It is brittle and 

 hard, and burns when strongly heated in 

 contact with the air. Nickel is also dis- 

 solved by the alkaline sulphurets. 



With phosphorus, nickel unites, either 

 by projecting the phosphorus on the nick- 

 el at a high temperature, or by heating 

 together phosphoric acid and nickel wvth 

 a little charcoal. The nickel increases in 

 weight one-fifth. The compound is of a 

 white colour with metallic lustre, and ap- 

 pears composed of a congeries of prisms. 



Nickel forms alloys with a number of 

 the metals ; but our knowledge of these 

 combinations is very imperfect. 



NICOTIANA, in botany, tobacco, a ge- 

 nus of the Pentandria Monogynia class 

 and order. Natural order of Luridae. So- 

 laneue, Jussieu. Essential character : co- 

 rolla funnel form, with a plaited border ; 

 stamina inclined ; capsule two-valved, two- 

 celled. There are seven species, of which 

 N. rustica, English tobacco, seldom rises 

 more than three feet in height, having 

 smooth alternate leaves upon short foot 

 stalks ; flowers in small loose bunches on 

 the top of the stalks, of a yellow colour, 

 appearing in July, which are succeeded 

 by roundish capsules, ripening in the au- 

 tumn. Sir Walter Raleigh, on his return 

 from America, is said to have first intro- 

 duced the smoking of tobacco into Eng- 

 land. In the house in which he lived at 

 Islington, are his arms, with a tobacco 

 plant on the top of the shield. It is re- 

 markable, that tobacco has prevailed over 

 the original name, petum, in all the Eu- 



ropean languages, with very little variation, 

 and even in Tartary and Japan. Tobacco 

 is derived from the island Tobago. Pe- 

 tum is the Brasilia)) name. 



NICTITATING membrane, in compara- 

 tive anatomy, a thin membrane, chiefly 

 found in the bird and fish-kind, which co- 

 vers the eyes of these animals, sheltering 

 them from the dust, or from too much light; 

 yet is so thin and pellucid, that they can 

 see pretty well through it. 



NIDUS, among naturalists, signifies a 

 nest, or proper repository for the eggs of 

 birds, insects, &c. wherein the young of 

 these animals are hatched and nursed. 



NIEUWENTYT, (BERNARD), in bio- 

 graphy, a celebrated Dutch philosopher 

 and mathematician, in the seventeenth and 

 early part of ihe eighteenth century, was 

 the son of a minister of Westgraafdyk, in 

 North Holland, where he was born in the 

 year 1654. He afforded early indications 

 of a good genius, and a love of learning, 

 which his father took care to encourage, by 

 giving him the advantages of an excellent 

 education. He was desirous of becoming 

 acquainted with all the branches of know- 

 ledge ; but he had the prudence and sa- 

 gacity to proceed gradually in his acquire- 

 ments, and to make himself master of one 

 science, before he directed his attention 

 to another. It was his father's wish, that 

 he should be educated to his own profes- 

 sion ; but when he found that his son was 

 disinclined to such a destination, he very 

 properly suffered him to follow the bent 

 of his own genius. The first science to 

 which young Nieuwentyt particularly di- 

 rected his study, was logic, in order to fix 

 his imagination, to form his judgment, and 

 to acquire a habit of right reasoning ; and 

 in this science he grounded himself upon 

 the principles of Des Cartes, with whose 

 philosophy he was greatly delighted. In 

 the next place, he engaged in the study 

 of the mathematics, with the various de- 

 partments of which he became intimately 

 conversant. 



He then entered upon the study of me- 

 dicine, and the branches of knowledge 

 more immediately connected with that 

 science ; and he afterward went through 

 a course of reading on jurisprudence. In 

 the study of all these sciences he succeed- 

 ed so well, as deservedly to acquire the 

 character of a good philosopher, a good 

 mathematician, and an able just magis- 

 trate. From his writings it also appears, 

 that he did not permit his various subjects 

 of inquiry to divert his thoughts from a 

 due attention to the great and fundamen- 

 tal principles of natural and revealed reli- 



