MINERALOGY. 61 
Saxony, Bohemia, Thuringia, Styria, Hungary, &c., associated with cobalt, 
silver, and copper. 
2. White Nickel. 
This, like the last, affords a workable proportion of nickel, containing 
20—30 per cent. of this metal, with 71—73 of arsenic, and small quantities 
of cobalt, iron, copper, bismuth, and sulphur. — It crystallizes mostly in cubes, 
with octahedral and rhombic-dodecahedral faces ( pl. 33, figs. 36, 44, and 61). 
More rarely it is found in amorphous finely-granular masses. The ores of 
nickel have only recently become of importance, although the metal itself 
was discovered by Cronstedt in 1751. Its peculiarities, which assimilate it 
to the noble metals, have caused it in latter times to be much employed for 
various purposes. The metallic nickel is generally obtained from copper 
nickel, a name given this ore on account of its color, and for a long time 
considered an opprobrious epithet as long as it was found impossible to 
reduce it. 
Nickel occurs almost always associated with cobalt, and both metals with 
arsenic, so that most cobalt ores are worked at the same time as well for 
their cobalt as the nickel which they contain. Nickel is of a silvery-white 
color, passing into steel grey ; is very difficult of fusion, and heavier than 
iron. It is very malleable, and may be hammered into plates of one 
hundredth of an inch thick, and drawn into wire of one fifty-sixth of an inch 
in diameter. It may also be welded. It combines with several metals at a 
strong heat, and these alloys are employed practically in a great many ways. 
The most important of the combinations are known as white copper, German 
silver, argentine, packfong, and maillechort. The German silver used in 
the construction of knives and forks, consists of two parts of copper, one of 
nickel, and one of zinc. A mixture of five parts copper, two of nickel, and 
two of zinc, has nearly the color of silver, and is used for making knife 
handles, snuffers, gun mountings, philosophical apparatus, &c. For cutting 
out fine sheets, a mixture of three parts copper, one of nickel, and one of 
zinc, is best, as being most malleable. For castings, from two to three per 
cent. of lead must be added; and to obtain the most silvery-white color 
possible, the three metals must be melted together under a layer of charcoal 
powder, and a small quantity of iron added. This iron alloy is, however, 
much more difficult to work, on account of its brittleness. Care must be 
taken in using culinary and table articles constructed of German silver, that 
they be brought into contact with no corrosive liquids, as in addition to the 
poisonous effects of the essential metals, there is frequently a small proportion 
of arsenic still remaining in the nickel. 
3. White Cobalt or Smaltine. 
This mineral is of importance as an ore of metallic cobalt. It occurs in 
veins of primitive and transition rocks, associated with various other metals, 
as nickel, copper, iron, silver, and arsenic; in Saxony, Thuringia, Alsace, 
Spain, Hungary, &c. It is found in crystals belonging to the regular 
system, as cubes (pl. 33, fig. 35), rhombic dodecahedrons ( jig. 30), and the 
combinations of these. It is also obtained in reticulated, ramified, and 
various other irregular and derivative shapes. It contains about twenty 
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