A Catechism of Familiar Things Part 19

The stone is laid in warm water to soak, then opened and divided by the hands, that the earthy matter may be washed out. This washing is several times repeated, and the flax-like filaments collected and dried; these are easily spun with the addition of flax. The cloth when woven is best preserved by oil from breaking or wasting; on exposure to the fire, the flax and the oil burn out, and the cloth remains of a pure white. The shorter threads, which separate on washing the stone, may be made into paper in the usual manner.

What is Salt?

A saline crystallization of a sharp, pungent taste, and cleansing quality, used to season flesh, fish, b.u.t.ter, &c., and other things that are to be kept. It is distinguished, with reference to the general sources from which it is most plentifully derived, into three different sorts, namely, fossil, or rock salt; sea, or marine salt; and spring salt, or that drawn from briny springs and wells.

_Marine_, belonging to the sea.

_Saline_, consisting of salt.

_Briny_, consisting of brine; which means water tasting of salt; it is used to signify the waters of the sea, or any salt water.

What is Fossil or Rock Salt?

That which is found in large beds in the bowels of the earth, and which has not undergone any artificial preparation; it is sometimes colorless, but more frequently red, yellow, or blue, and mixed with earthy impurities; this salt was entirely unknown to the ancients, who by rock salt meant that which adheres to the rocks above high-water mark, being lodged there by the spray of the sea, which is evaporated by the heat of the sun; this is the purest salt, and is to be found on the rocks of Sicily, and several islands of the West Indies.

_Artificial_, produced by art, and the labor of man.

_Evaporated_, converted into vapor and dissipated.

What is Marine Salt?

That which is made from sea-water, concentrated by repeated evaporations, and at length crystallized.

What is Spring Salt?

That salt which is not made from sea-water, but from the water of salt wells or springs; large quant.i.ties of this salt are made in the United States, in some parts of which saline springs are numerous.

In what manner is it obtained?

The means employed for extracting the salt from the water vary according to circ.u.mstances. In hot countries, the water is merely exposed to the action of the sun, until the water is evaporated; the salt procured in this manner is considered the best.

What method is usually employed in countries where the sun's heat is not sufficiently powerful?

In climates where the rays of the sun do not afford sufficient heat, the water, which has been partly evaporated in large shallow reservoirs formed in the earth, called salt-pans, is poured into enormous coppers and boiled for four or five hours: when the contents of the copper are wasted to half the quant.i.ty, the liquid begins to be crystallized; the vessel is again filled up, and the brine again boiled and purified: this is repeated three or four times. After the last purifying the fire is kept very low for twelve or fourteen hours, and when the moisture is nearly evaporated the salt is removed, and, after the remaining brine has drained off, is placed in the store-houses.

In what countries is Salt generally found?

This substance, so necessary to the comfort of mankind, is widely distributed over the face of the earth, and nothing, except, perhaps, the air we breathe, is more easily placed within our reach. The ocean is an exhaustless store-house of this valuable article. Those nations of the earth which are placed at a distance from the sea, find themselves provided with magazines of salt, either in solid ma.s.ses, or dissolved in the waters of inland lakes, or issuing from the solid rocks in springs of brine. At Salina, Syracuse, and other places in Onondaga Co., New York, salt springs are remarkably abundant, and yield annually several millions of bushels; immense quant.i.ties are also obtained from the salt-wells on the Great and Little Kanawha, and other places in Western Virginia; it is also extensively manufactured in the western part of Pennsylvania, and throughout the Western States.

Name the countries most noted for mines of Salt.

Poland, Upper Hungary, and the mountains of Catalonia, have extensive salt mines; those in the village of Wieliczca, in Poland, about five leagues from Cracow, are of a surprising depth and size. In the interior of Hindostan, there is a remarkable salt lake; and in several parts of the globe there are spots of ground impregnated entirely with this substance: an island of the East Indies contains a singular kind of fossil, or native dry salt; the soil there is in general very fruitful, but in certain parts of the island, there are spots of ground entirely barren, without the appearance of anything vegetable upon them; these spots taste very much of salt, and abound with it in such quant.i.ties, as to supply not only the whole island, but the greater part of the adjacent continent. In Utah Territory, especially in the neighborhood of the Mormon city, at the Great Salt Lake, are found extensive plains thus impregnated with salt, which is procured in great abundance.

_Fossil_, the remains of minerals or sh.e.l.ls dug from the earth.

_Impregnated_, filled, saturated.

_Catalonia_, a considerable province of Spain, situated to the north-east.

_Adjacent_, adjoining, lying near, or contiguous.

To what use did the ancient inhabitants of Africa and Arabia put this substance?

The large slabs of rock salt, with which their country abounds, were employed by them instead of stones, in building their dwellings, the pieces being easily cemented together by sprinkling the joints with water, which, melting the parts of the two surfaces that opposed each other, formed the whole, when dry, into one solid block.

Does Rock Salt undergo any preparation before it is used?

Yes; when taken from the earth it is dissolved in cold water, and afterwards drawn off into salt-pans, and refined in the same manner as the sea salt.

What is Coal?

A hard, black, sulphurous and inflammable substance, dug out of the earth, serving in many countries as fuel. It is common in most of the countries of Europe and America. In some parts of the United States, it is found in beds having an area of several thousand square miles.

From what is Coal supposed to have originated?

Its origin is supposed to be derived from gigantic trees which flourished in the swamps and forests of the primeval earth. These having been torn away from their native bed, by storms and inundations, were transported into some adjacent lake, river, or sea.

Here they floated on the waters until, saturated with them, they sank to the bottom, and being buried in the lower soil of adjacent lands, became transformed into a new state among the members of the mineral kingdom. A long interment followed, during which a course of chemical changes, and new combinations of their vegetable elements, converted them to the mineral condition of coal.

_Primeval_, original, existing before the flood.

_Gigantic_, extremely large, greater than the usual size.

_Interment_, burial under the ground.

_Elements_, the several parts or principles of which bodies are composed.

What is a Coal Mine?

A subterraneous excavation, from which coal is obtained.

Do the terms Coal and Charcoal signify the same substance?

No; Charcoal is an artificial fuel, made in imitation of coal, by burning wood covered with earth so as partially to exclude the air. It is used for various purposes, as the making of gunpowder,[7] polishing bra.s.s and copper, &c., and when a clear and bright fire is required, as it burns with little or no smoke; it is dangerous, however, for one to remain many hours in a close room with a charcoal fire, as the fumes it throws out are hurtful, and would destroy life. Charcoal, in fact, is the coaly residuum of any vegetables burnt in close vessels; but the common charcoal is that prepared from wood, and is generally black, very brittle, light, and dest.i.tute of taste or smell. It is a powerful antiseptic, unalterable and indestructible.

[Footnote 7: See Chapter XII.]