N I C 
272 NIC 
likewise are found the densities from those 
planets. 
Prop. 9. The force of gravity, in parts 
downwards from the surface of the planets to- 
wards their centres, decreases nearly in the 
proportion ofthe distances from those centres. 
These, and many other propositions and 
corollaries, are proved pr illustrated by a 
great variety of experiments, in all the great 
points of physical astronomy. See Gravity, 
Gravitation, &c. 
NIC AN DP A, a genus of the monogynia 
order in the decandria class of plants, and in 
the natural method ranking under the 13th 
order, contorts*. The calyx is monophyl- 
lous and quadripartite ; the corolla is mono- 
petalous, tubulated, and parted into ten laci- 
nia? ; the fruit is an oval berry, which is 
grooved longitudinally, and contains many 
small angular seeds. Ot this there is only 
one species, -the amara, a native of Guiana. 
The leaves and stalks are bitter, and used by 
the natives as an emetic and purge. 
NICHE. See Architecture. 
NICKEL, in mineralogy. There is found in 
different partAf Germany a heavy mineral 
of a reddish-brown colour, not unlike copper. 
When exposed to the air, it gradually loses 
its lustre, becomes at first brownish, and is at 
last covered w ith green spots. It was at first 
taken for an ore of copper ; but as none ol 
that metal can be extracted from it, the Ger- 
man miners give it the name ofkupfernickel, 
or false copper. Hierne, who may be con- 
sidered as the father of the Swedish chemists, 
is the first person who mentions this mineral. 
He gives a description of it in a book pub- 
lished by him in lby4 on the art of detecting 
metals. It was generally considered by mi- 
neralogists as an ore of copper, till it was 
examined by the celebrated Cronstedt. He 
concluded from his experiments, which were 
published in the Stockholm Transactions for 
1751 and 1754, that it contained anew me- 
tal, to which he gave the name of nickel. 
'Phis opinion was embraced by all the 
Swedes, and indeed by the greater number of 
chemical philosophers. Some, however, par- 
ticularly Sage and Mon net, affirmed, that it 
contained no new metal, but merely a com- 
pound of various known metals, which could 
be separated from each other by the usual 
processes. These assertions induced Berg- 
man to undertake a very laborious course of 
experiments, in order, if possible, to obtain 
nickel in a state of purity ; for Cronstedt had 
not been able to separate a quantity of arse- 
nic, cobalt, and iron, which adhered to it 
with mm li obstinacy. These experiments, 
which were published in 1775, fully confirm- 
ed the conclusions of Cronstedt. 
Nickel, when perfectly pure, is of a fine 
white colour, resembling silver ; and like that 
metal it leaves a white trace when rubbed 
upon the polished surface of a hard stone. It 
is rather softer than iron. Its specific gravity 
is 9. Its malleability, while cold, is rather 
greater than that of iron, but it cannot be 
heated without being oxidated, and in conse- 
quence rendered brittle. It is attracted by 
the magnet as strongly as iron. Like that 
.metal, it may be converted into a magnet ; 
and in that state point's to the north when 
freely suspended' precisely as a common 
magnetic needle. H requires for fusion a 
•temperature at least equal to 150° Wedge- 
wood. It has not hitherto been crystallized. 
When heated in an open vessel, it com- 
bines with oxygen, and assumes a green co- 
lour; and if the heat is continued, acquires a 
tinge of purple. The oxide of nickel, ac- 
cording to Klaproth, is composed of 77 parts 
of nickel and 23 of oxygen. 
Nickel has not been combined with car- 
bon nor hydrogen, but it combines readily 
with sulphur and phosphorus. Cronstedt 
found that sulphuret of nickel may be easily 
formed by fusion. The sulphuret which lie 
obtained was yellow and hard, with small 
sparkling facets; but the nickel which he 
employed was impure. 
Phosphuret of nickel may be formed either 
by fusing nickel along with phosphoric glass, 
or by dropping phosphorus into it while red- 
hot. It is of a white colour, and when broke, 
it exhibits the appearance of very slender 
prisms collected together. When heated, 
the phosphorus burns, and the metal is oxi- 
dated. It is composed of 83 parts of nickel 
and 17 of phosphorus. The nickel however 
on which this experiment was made, was not 
pure. 
Nickel is not acted upon by azote, nor does 
it combine With muriatic acid. 
The alloys of this metal are but very im- 
perfectly known. With gold it forms a white 
and brittle alloy ; with copper a white, hard, 
brittle alloy, easily oxidized when exposed to 
the air ; with iron it combines very readily, 
and forms an alloy whose properties have 
not been sufficiently examined ; with tin it 
forms a white, hard, brittle mass, which swells 
up when heated ; with lead it does not com- 
bine without difficulty; with silver and mer- 
cury it refuses to unite; its combination with 
platinum has not been tried. 
The affinities of nickel, and its oxides, are, 
according to Bergman, as follows: 
Nickel. 
Oxide of 1 
Iron, 
Oxalic acid ; 
Cobalt, 
Muriatic, 
Arsenic, 
Sulphuric, 
Copper, 
Tartaric, 
Gold, 
Nitric, 
Tin, 
Phosphoric, 
Antimony, 
Fluoric, 
Platinum, 
Saclactic, 
Bismuth, 
Succinic, 
Lead, 
Citric, 
Silver, 
Lactic, 
Zinc, 
Acetic, 
Sulphur, 
Arsenic, 
Phosphorus. 
Boracic, 
Prussic, 
Carbonic, 
Nickel, ores of. Hitherto nickel has 
been found in too small quantities to be ap- 
plied to any use; of course there are no 
mines of nickel. It usually occurs in secon- 
dary mountains, and commonly acconipanies 
cobalt. It has been found in di fie rent parts 
of Germany, in Sweden, Siberia, Spain, 
France, and Britain. 
NICOLAITANS, in church history, Chris- 
tian heretics who assumed this name from 
Nicolas of Antioch ; who, bemg a gentile 
by birth, first embraced Judaism, and then 
Christianity ; when his zeal and devotion re- 
commended him to the church of Jerusalem, 
by whom he was chosen one of the first dea- 
cons. 
NICOTIANA, tobacco, a genus of the 
monogynia order, in the pentundria class of 
plants, and in the natural method rankiiu 
N I C 
under the 28th order, lurid*. The corolla 
is funnel-shaped, with a plaited limb ; the 
stamina inclined; the capsule bivalved and 
bilocular. '1 here are seven species, ol which 
the most remarkable is the tabacum (see 
Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 297), or common to- 
bacco-plant. This was first discovered in 
America by the Spaniards about the year 
1500, and by them imported into Europe. It 
had been used by the inhabitants of America 
long before ; and was called by those of the 
islands yoli, and pretun by the inhabitants of 
the continent. It was sent into Spain from 
Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, where it was 
first discovered, and whence it takes its com- 
mon name. 
I here are two varieties of that species of 
nicotiana which is cultivated for common 
use ; and which are distinguished by the 
names of Oronokoe, and sweet-scented to- 
bacco. r i hey differ from each other in l he 
figure of their leaves ; those of the former 
being longer and narrower than the la ter. 
they are tall herbaceous plants, growing 
erect with fine foliage, and rising “with a. 
strong stem from six to nine feet high. The 
stalk, near the root, is upward of an inch 
diameter, and surrounded witii a kind of 
hairy or velvet clammy substance, of a yel- 
lowish-green colour. The leaves are rather 
of a deeper green, and grow alternately at the 
distance of two or three inches from each 
other. They are oblong, of a spear-shaped 
oval, and simple; the largest about 
twenty inches long, but decreasing in size 
as they ascend, till" they come to be only ten 
inches long, and about half as broad. “The 
face ot the leaves is much corrugated, like 
those of spinach when full-ripe. Before they 
come to maturity, w hen they are about five 
or six inches long, the leaves are generally of 
a full green, and rather smooth ; but as they 
increase in size, they become rougher, and 
acquire a yellowish cast. The stem and 
branches are terminated by large bunches of 
flowers collected into clusters, of a delicate 
red ; the edges, when full-blown, inclining to 
a pale purple. They continue in succession 
till the end of the summer; when they are 
succeeded by seeds of a brown colour, and 
kidney -shaped. These are very small, each 
cap-ule containing about 1000; and the 
whole produce of a single plant is reckoned 
at about 350,000. The seeds ripen in the 
month of September. 
Mr. Carver informs us, that the Oronokoe, 
or, as it is called, the long V irginian tobacco, 
is the kind best suited for bearing the rigour 
of a northern climate; the strength, as well as 
the scent, of the leaves, being greater than 
that of the other. 'I lie sweet-scented sort 
flourishes most in a sandy soil, and in a warm 
climate, where it g rally exceeds the former 
in the celerity of its growth ; and is likewise, 
as its name intimates, much more mild and 
pleasant. 
Culture . — Tobacco thrives best in a warm, 
kindly, rich soil, that is not subject to be 
overrun by weeds. In Virginia the soil in 
which it thrives best is warm, light, and in- 
clining- to be sandy; and therefore if the 
p:ant is to be cultivated in Britain, it ought to 
be planted in a soil as nearly of the same kind 
as possible. Other kliftls ot soil might pro- 
bably be brought to suit it, b\ a mixture of 
proper manure; but we must renumber, 
that whatever manure is made use of must 
