402 
PREPARATION  OF  SALTS  OF  NICKEL. 
PKEPAKATION  OF  THE  SALTS  OF  NICKEL. 
By  John  Broughton. 
{An  Inaugural  Essay.) 
Not  finding  in  the  records  of  pharmaceutical  chemistry,  any 
instructions  for  the  preparation  of  Nickel  and  its  salts  as  remedial 
agents,  it  may  be  well  to  notice  the  appearance  it  presents  in  a 
commercial  state,  and  the  methods  of  preparing  and  purifying 
its  salts  for  use. 
The  principal  ores  from  which  Nickel  is  obtained,  are  those 
containing  cobalt  in  conjunction  with  arsenic,  copper,  sulphur 
and  sometimes  iron.  In  the  metallic  state,  Nickel  is  sold  in  small 
cubical  blocks,  and  is  made  by  reducing  the  oxide  with  charcoal 
in  a  strong  fire.  In  the  form  of  sulphuret  it  is  a  dull  black 
heavy  powder,  or,  semifused,  a  dark  brown  porous  mass. 
But  the  general  form  in  which  Nickel  finds  its  way  into  com- 
merce, is  in  that  of  an  arseniuret  called  speiss,  a  bye-product 
remaining  at  the  bottom  of  the  crucible  in  the  preparation  of 
cobalt. 
From  either  of  these  sources  it  may  be  obtained  pure,  but  most 
readily  from  the  fused  speiss. 
The  powdered  speiss  is  fused  with  a  portion  of  alkaline  glass,  to 
which  a  small  portion  of  nitre  has  been  added,  when  the  cobalt 
separates  as  a  vitreous  scoria,  and  the  arseniurets  of  nickel,  &c, 
are  found  fused  into  a  lump  at  the  bottom  of  the  crucible  ;  the 
lump  is  then  powdered  and  roasted  to  expel  arsenious  acid,  when 
the  metals  are  left  behind  as  basic  arseniates. 
These  are  fused  with  carbonate  of  soda  containing  a  little 
nitre,  the  arsenic  acid  unites  with  the  soda  forming  a  soluble 
arseniate,  while  the  metals  are  left  in  the  state  of  oxides. 
The  arseniates  and  excess  of  carbonate  of  soda  are  then 
washed  away  with  water,  and  the  oxides  dissolved  in  dilute  sul- 
phuric acid.  The  solution  is  then  boiled  with  a  small  portion  of 
powdered  chalk,  which  precipitates  the  iron  as  carbonate,  leaving 
the  nickel  untouched,  while  the  sulphate  of  lime  formed  is  itself 
insoluble. 
If  the  solution  contains  copper,  (which  may  be  known  by  im- 
mersing into  it  a  clean  slip  of  iron,  and  noticing  whether  it  is 
coated  with  metallic  copper  on  withdrawal,)  it  is  to  be  precipi- 
