Nickel
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Nickel. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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. See Silver ; Aluminum
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
A white metal which, when pure, is both ductile and malleable. Its color is intermediate between that of silver and tin, and is not altered by the air. It is nearly as hard as iron. Its specific gravity is 8.27, and when forged 8.66. The species of nickel ores are its alloy with arsenic and a little sulphur and its oxide; the first is the most abundant, and the one from which nickel is usually extracted. It is known to mineralogists by the German name of kupfernickel, or false copper, from its color and appearance. Nickel only occurs in the native state in meteoric stones. Nickel fuses at 2800 deg. F. Its ores are found in the United States and in Germany, Sweden, and Hungary. The effect of the magnet upon pure nickel is very little inferior to that which it exerts on iron, but this entirely ceases when the metal is heated to 350 deg. F. The chief use of nickel has been in the composition of various alloys, especially German-silver, all of which are duly noticed in their respective order. It is, however, being gradually introduced as an alloy with steel for ship's armor, etc. See GERMAN-SILVER.