Nickel
a hard white metal with a slight tinge of yellow. It is capable of a polish like that of steel. Ordinarily it is more brittle than cast iron, but, when mixed slightly with magnesium, it may be hammered into thin sheets. It does not rust in the open air. Nickel is found in meteorites and in ancient rocks in which it is combined principally with arsenic or with arsenic and sulphur. Small quantities are found in the Allegheny, Cascade, and Rocky Mountains, but Lancaster Gap, Pennsylvania, and Sudbury, Ontario, are the only American localities in which nickel is obtained in considerable quantities. Austria, Prussia, and Great Britain produce small quantities. New Caledonia in the Australasian region is a source of large supply. Nickel is worth from fifty to sixty cents a pound. Owing to a silvery appearance and freedom from tarnish or rust, nickel-plated articles are in demand. Umbrella handles, bicycle handle bars, harness and carriage trimming, watch cases, cheap jewelry, and a long list of ornamental articles are plated with nickel. Nickel enters a number of alloys. Bullets are coated with an alloy of twenty parts of nickel and eighty of copper. An addition of four per cent of nickel gives additional toughness and strength to the steel of armor plates, propeller shafts, piston rods, gun barrels and cannons. German silver contains twenty per cent of nickel. The "nickel" or five cent piece contains one part of nickel to three of copper. A similar alloy is used for small coins, especially in Switzerland and Belgium, Germany and Austria. Nickel is an abbreviation of Kupfernickel, an old German name for the metal, meaning Old Nick's Copper.