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 procrastination, and at one time was thinking of appealing to the army to set Wilson aside and elect a successor; but at last, on the 13th of September, he forced Wilson to make up his mind to the assault, and he himself was chosen to lead the attacking column. On the morning of the 14th he led his column, 1000 strong, in the attack on the Kashmir gate, and successfully entered the streets of Delhi. But in trying to clear the ramparts as far as the Lahore Gate, he undertook a task beyond the powers of his wearied troops. In encouraging them as they hesitated, he turned his back on the enemy and was shot in the back. The wound was mortal, but his magnificent physique allowed him to linger for nine days before finally succumbing on the 23rd of September.

His best epitaph is found in the words of Sir John Lawrence’s Mutiny Report:—

NICHOLSON, WILLIAM (1753–1815), English writer on natural philosophy, was born in London in 1753, and after leaving school made two voyages as midshipman in the East India service. He subsequently entered an attorney’s office, but, having become acquainted, in 1775, with Josiah Wedgwood, he lived for some years at Amsterdam as agent for the sale of pottery. On his return to England he was induced by Thomas Holcroft to devote himself to the composition of light literature for periodicals, assisting that writer also with some of his plays and novels. Meanwhile he employed himself on the preparation of An Introduction to Natural Philosophy, which was published in 1781 and was at once successful. A translation of Voltaire’s Elements of the Newtonian Philosophy soon followed, and he now entirely devoted himself to scientific pursuits and philosophical journalism. In 1784 he was appointed secretary to the General Chamber of Manufacturers of Great Britain, and he was also connected with the Society for the Encouragement of Naval Architecture, established in 1791. He bestowed much attention upon the construction of various machines for comb-cutting, file-making, cylinder printing, &c.; he also invented an areometer. In 1800 he began in London a course of public lectures on natural philosophy and chemistry, and about this period he made the discovery of the decomposition of water by the Voltaic current. In 1797 the Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts, generally known as Nicholson’s Journal, the earliest work of the kind in Great Britain, was begun; it was carried on till 1814. During the later years of his life Nicholson’s attention was chiefly directed to Waterworks engineering at Portsmouth, at Gosport and in Southwark. He died in London on the 21st of May 1815.

NICHOLSON, WILLIAM (1784–1844), Scottish painter, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Having settled in Edinburgh, he painted portraits both in oil and water-colour; and along with Thomas Hamilton the architect he was one of the founders and most vigorous promoters of the Scottish Academy, of which he became the first secretary (1826–1333) In 1818 he published a series of etchings entitled Portraits of Distinguished Living Characters of Scotland, including Sir Walter Scott, Lord Jeffrey, Robert Burns and Professor Wilson.

NICIAS (d. 414 ), a soldier and statesman in ancient Athens, inherited from his father Niceratus a considerable fortune invested mainly in the silver mines of Laurium. Evidence of his wealth is found in the fact that he had no less than 1000 slaves whom he hired out. He gravitated naturally to the aristocratic party, and was several times colleague with Pericles in the strategia. On the death of Pericles he was left leader of the aristocrats against the advanced party of (q.v.). He made use of his wealth both to buy off enemies (especially informers) and to acquire popularity by the magnificent way in which he discharged various public services, especially those connected with the state religion, of which he was a strong supporter. In the field he displayed extreme caution, and prior to the great Sicilian expedition achieved a number of minor military successes. In 421 he took a prominent part in the arrangement of the “Peace of Nicias,” which terminated the first decade of the (q.v.). He now entered with varying success upon a period of rivalry with Alcibiades, the details of which are largely matters of conjecture. So bitter was the strife that the ostracism of one seemed inevitable, but by a temporary coalition they secured instead the banishment of the demagogue Hyperbolus (417). In 415 he was appointed with Alcibiades and Lamachus to command the Sicilian expedition, and, after the flight of Alcibiades (q.v.) and the death of Lamachus, was practically the sole commander, the much more capable Demosthenes, who was sent to his aid, being apparently of comparatively little weight. How far it is just to attribute to his excessive caution and his blind faith in omens the disastrous failure it is difficult to say. At all events it is clear that the management of so great an enterprise was a task far beyond his powers. He was a man of conventional respectability and mechanical piety, without the originality which was required to meet the crisis which faced him. His popularity with the aristocratic party in Athens is, however, strikingly shown by the lament of Thucydides over his death: “He assuredly, among all Greeks of my time, least deserved to come to so extreme a pitch of ill-fortune, considering his exact performance of established duties to the divinity” (vii. 86, Grote’s version).

NICIAS, son of Nicomedes, an Attic painter of the 4th century Pliny (xxxv. 131) gives a list of his works. He was associated with Praxiteles, whose statues he coloured, thus adding to their value.

NICKEL (symbol Ni, atomic weight 58·68 (O＝16)), a metallic element. It has been known from the earliest times, being employed by the Chinese in the form of an alloy called pakfong. It was first isolated in an impure condition in 1751 by A. F. Cronstedt from niccolite, and his results were afterwards confirmed by T. O. Bergman in 1775 (De niccolo, opusc. 2, p. 231; 3, p. 459; 4, p. 374). It occurs in the uncombined condition and alloyed with iron in meteorites; as sulphide in millerite and nickel blende, as arsenide in niccolite and cloanthite, and frequently in combination with arsenic and antimony in the form of complex sulphides. In recent years it has been found in considerable quantities in New Caledonia in the form of a hydrated silicate of nickel and magnesia approximating to the constitution (NiO, MgO)SiO2·nH2O (J. Garnier, 1865), and in Canada in the form of nickeliferous pyrrhotines, which consist of sulphides of iron associated with sulphides of nickel and copper, embedded in a matrix of gneiss. At the present time nickel is obtained practically entirely from garnierite and the nickeliferous pyrrhotines. When the former is used it is roasted with calcium sulphate or alkali waste to form a~ matte which is then blown in a Bessemer converter or heated in a reverberatory furnace with a siliceous flux with the object of forming a rich nickel sulphide. This sulphide is then by further heating converted into the oxide and finally reduced to the state of metal by ignition with carbon in clay crucibles. The process adopted for the Canadian ores, which are poor in copper and nickel, consists in a preliminary roasting in heaps and smelting in a blast furnace in order to obtain a matte, which is then further smelted with a siliceous flux for a rich matte. This rich matte is then mixed with coke and salt-cake and melted down in an open hearth furnace. The nickel sulphide so obtained is then roasted to oxide and reduced to metal. For a wet method of extraction