Bismuth, a metal of a dull silver-white colour, inclining to red, is first mentioned in the writings of the alchemists of the Middle Ages. It is almost exclusively furnished by the mines of Schneeberg in Saxony, where it is generally found in a native state. On account of its great fusibility and brittleness it is seldom used alone; but associated with other metals it forms several valuable alloys. In the Middle Ages the Saxon and Bohemian miners believed all those ores from which, in spite of their promising appearance, they were unable to extract a useful metal, to be a work of the gnomes mocking the industry of man. Some of these ores they called Kobold—an opprobrious name given to these evil subterranean spirits, who were supposed to be of dwarfish stature and intense ugliness; others Nickel—a name probably of the same meaning as our old Nick. The progress of metallurgic industry has fully exculpated the gnomes of all evil intentions, for the last century succeeded in extracting the metals Cobalt and Nickel from those rebellious ores. Cobalt, though as yet but rarely employed, gives promise of some future importance, as it appears to be extremely tenacious. A wire made of pure cobalt will carry nearly double the weight that an iron wire of the same thickness will do. The cobalt ores, which impart a magnificent blue colour to glass, have lost much of their importance as pigments since the discovery of artificial ultramarine, while the nickel ores which usually accompany them, and were formerly thrown away as rubbish, have become valuable, since the metal which they contain has found some important uses. The small coin of Belgium and Switzerland is now made of nickel instead of copper, and large quantities are employed in the fabrication of German silver, or Argentine plate, an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc, which, from its hardness and brilliant white colour, furnishes an excellent material for tablespoons and forks. Both the nickel and cobalt ores are produced chiefly by Sweden, Norway, and Germany; our own mines furnish but insignificant quantities. In the United States the Camden works (New Jersey) now produce nickel at the rate of 150,000 pounds a year.