284 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



add, belongs mineralogically to the hornblend group ; but it occurs in many va- 

 rieties of structure and class. It is found in many countries, and may be discov- 

 ered in many more. In Europe it abounds in Switzerland, in Silesia, in Moravia, 

 in Italy and elsewhere. It is, however, more abundant in North America than in 

 any other part of the world. In some countries it is called stone flax and moun- 

 tain flax. — Journal of Applied Science. 



NICKEL IN NEW CALEDONIA. 



The discovery, some years ago, in the French penal colony of New Caledo- 

 nia of ore deposits rich in nickel, has led to important results in the industrial 

 production of this metal. Up to that time, the most important nickel-producing 

 mine in the world was the famous Gap Mine in Lancaster county. Pa., which has 

 been successfully worked for a number of years by Mr. Joseph Wharton, whose 

 American Nickel Works, at Camden, N. J., produced all the nickel used in the 

 United States, and even supplied to some extent the foreign demand. The ore 

 of the Gap mine is what is known to mineralogists as a nickeliferous phyrrotine, 

 being substantially a sulphide of iron carrying about 3 per cent of nickel, and is 

 extremely difficult to work. 



The deposits of New Caledonia yield an ore, which, if it is not a new min- 

 eral, is nevertheless quite new in its metallurgical relations. It is a hydrous 

 silicate of magnesia and nickel, carrying about 10 per cent of nickel. It is of an 

 apple or pear green color, and has been called gartiieriie (or naumeiie). This ore 

 is said to be quite free from traces of sulphur, arsenic, iron and copper, and if 

 cobalt is present, it is there in very minute quantities. 



Since the discovery of these valuable deposits, immense quantities of the ore 

 have been shipped to France and England. Its freedom from the above named 

 deleterious impurities, and from bismuth, lead and antimony, which accompany 

 the German nickel ores, renders its working comparatively easy ; and this fact, in 

 connection with the abundance and richness of the ore, has created quite as great 

 a revolution in the industrial production of nickel as the discovery of the Austra- 

 lian tin deposits did for that metal. The price of nickel abroad, it is said, has 

 fallen to some 3 or 4 shillings per pound, from 16 shillings or thereabouts. 



Nickel has been found to be applicable to many and varied uses in the arts^ 

 and all that is required to assure it a permanent position of widely extended use- 

 fulness in the industries, is the assurance that abundant supplies of the metal are 

 available, and that it will be produced at a cheap and uniform price. On this 

 account, therefore, much importance attaches itself to the statements which repre- 

 sent the New Caledonia nickel deposits to be very extensive. — Journal of Applied 

 Science. 



