Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/446

 432 NICKEL nickel, or false copper, because they tried in vain to extract copper from it; and it was in this mineral that Cronstedt first detected the metal. Among the other ores of nickel are the following: 1. Pentlandite, sulphuret of iron and nickel, occurring in hornblende in southern Norway, and in gneiss at Craigmuir in Argyleshire, Scotland, where it is exten- sively mined. It is also found in Cornwall, and was named after Mr. Pentland. 2. Nickel vitriol, a native sulphate, often found with kupfernickel in cobalt mines. It results from alteration of nickel ores, and occurs in Galicia, Spain ; near Baireuth, Germany ; at the Wallace mine, Lake Huron, in crystals with pentlandite ; and at Gap nickel mine, Lancaster co., Pa. 3. Nickel glance, gersdorfite, or weisses Nickelerz, sulpho-arsenide of nickel, found at Loos in Sweden ; in the Albertine mine in the Hartz, with calcite, fluor spar, and quartz ; in quick- silver near Ems; and with decomposed ga- lenite and blende at Phoenixville, Pa. Nickel also exists in genthite, a silicate, found at Texas, Lancaster co., Pa., containing about 35 parts of silica, 31 of nickel, and 15 of mag- nesia; at Lake Superior; and in Malaga, Spain, with chromate and talcose schist. It also occurs in emerald nickel (Nicfolsmaraffd), which is found in chromic iron in Lancaster co., Pa., in the Shetland islands, and in Gali- cia, Spain. It is a hydrated carbonate of nick- el with a little carbonate of magnesia. Kup- fernickel occurs in the Saxon mines of An- naberg, and in Thurginia, Hesse, and Styria; in Dauphiny, France ; in Cornwall, England ; in Chili and the Argentine provinces; and at Chatham, Conn., in gneiss. Nickel is obtained in Birmingham from the arsenio-sulphide and from /Speiss, a deposit formed in the pots in which arsenide of cobalt and copper nickel are fused with carbonate of potassium and pounded quartz in preparing smalt. The ore or speiss is fused with chalk and fluor spar, and the metal afterward separated by means of sulphuretted hydrogen and chloride of lime. A button of pure metal can also be obtained by heating the oxalate of nickel without further flux ; and by reducing the oxide by means of hydrogen gas and fusing with borax, we can also obtain pure metal. In the United States the metal is usually obtained by roasting the powdered ore or speiss first by itself, and then with powdered charcoal, till the garlic odor of arsenic has disappeared, mixing the residue with three parts of sulphur and one of potash, and melting in a crucible with a gentle heat. The product is a sulphide free from arsenic, which being washed is dissolved in concen- trated sulphuric acid containing a small por- tion of nitric acid. The addition of carbonate of soda causes a precipitate of carbonate of nickel, which may be reduced by heating with charcoal. Nickel, according to Deville, is more tenacious than iron, and not much more fusible. It is magnetic at ordinary tempera- tures, but loses this property at 250 0., re- covering it on cooling ; burns in oxygen gas like iron, and is converted into oxide; dis- solves readily in hydrochloric and dilute sul- phuric acids, with evolution of hydrogen ; is also soluble in nitric acid and aqua regia ; and does not readily tarnish in the air. Although nickel can be hammered into thin f oil, x and drawn into fine wire, it is rarely used alone except as an electro-plating. Compounds of Nickel. The principal alloys of nickel are: German silver, composed of copper 51, zinc 30-6, and nickel 18'4 parts in 100, and also in other proportions; tiers-argent, composed of two parts of nickel and one of silver ; pacTc- fong, an alloy resembling German silver, brought from China nearly 200 years ago, and composed of zinc 44, copper 16, and nickel 40 per cent. ; tutenag, another Chinese alloy, con- taining zinc 37, copper 46, and nickel 17 per cent. Many of the copper coins of the Euro- pean continent and the United States are al- loys containing various proportions of nickel. Kupfernickel, NiaAsa, already mentioned as the principal ore, is a true arsenide. Some- times a part of the arsenic is displaced by an equivalent quantity of antimony. Arsenical nickel, NiAs 2, is another native ore, which by ignition in closed vessels parts with a portion of arsenic, and becomes kupfernickel. Nickel glance, already mentioned as an ore, has the formula NiSAs. Nickelous chloride, or chlo- ride of nickel, NiCla, is formed by treating the oxide with hydrochloric acid, by heating nickel filings to low redness in a stream of chlorine gas, or by heating the hydrated chlo- ride. Its solution on evaporation yields beau- tiful green hydrated crystals, containing nine equivalents of water. There is a double salt of chloride of nickel ammonium. There are two oxides : a protoxide, NiO, and a sesquiox- ide, NiaOs, the first of which only forms salts. It may be obtained in an anhydrous state by calcining the nitrate or carbonate in a cov- ered crucible, or by heating nickel filings with nitre. It is olive green, of specific gravity 5-75. It may be precipitated as a bulky green hydrate from its salts by caustic potash. It is soluble in acids, forming pale green salts. It forms insoluble compounds with baryta, stron- tia, and several other bases, and forms a deep blue solution with ammonia. Three sulphides are known: a subsulphide, Ni4S, formed by reducing the sulphate by charcoal or hydro- gen ; the protosulphide, NiS, occurring native as millerite, or formed by fusing sulphur and nickel ; and the disulphide, NiS 2, a steel-gray powder obtained by heating to redness sulphur with carbonates of nickel and potash, and treating the mass with water. An anhydrous carbonate, NiCO 3, is formed by heating chlo- ride of nickel with alkaline carbonates in sealed tubes. It crystallizes in minute rhombohe- drons, and is not attacked by strong acids at ordinary temperatures. The hydrocarbonate, NiCOa,2NiH 6 O 4, exists in the ore emerald nickel already mentioned. Its specific gravity y i I