_Red-Sea_, would have had but little bitterness, had not the Soil been
Nitrous. All the Fountains likewise of _Arabia_ are bitterish, by reason
of the nitrous Earth thro’ which they pass, and that Lake near the City
of _Chalastra_ in _Macedon_ affords much _Nitre_. [Sidenote: _Nitri
spuma._] Authors call it _Nitri spuma_, _Aphronitrum_, and by several
other Names. _Galen_ orders this stony Matter first to be burn’d, and
then levigated to a Powder; whereby it plainly appears our _Saltpetre_
is not _Nitre_. There is nothing more frequently mention’d by
_Absyrtus_, in his Book of Farriery, than _Nitre_; and it was also us’d
by _Ganea_, and the Skilful have observ’d many Things to grow tender by
_Nitre_, especially the Roots of Herbs, which are also made whiter by
it, and Coleworts and Pot-Herbs greener.’ Some call the Flower of the
_Lapis Assius_, _Nitre_, a kind of Stone of which Coffins were formerly
made, which wasted dead Bodies: ‘But I would advise the Reader, says
_Bellonius_, not to believe that _Nitre_, which we speak of, to have any
affinity with the Salt commonly so call’d. [Sidenote: _Armenian Nitre._]
_Avicenna_ prefers the _Armenian Nitre_ before the _Egyptian_, and
_Dioscorides_ very much praises the _Nitre_ of _Buna_. [Sidenote:
_Nitre_ of _Buna_.] The common People daily use the _Nitre_ of _Turkey_,
[Sidenote: _Nitre_ of _Turkey_.] tho’ we are nevertheless ignorant
whence it comes, and there is nothing more common among the Merchants of
_Nitria_, _Memphis_, _Constantinople_ and _Damascus_ than what they
vulgarly call _Natron_. It grows very plentifully in the _Eastern_
Countries, and is much us’d in Dying Silk and Wool. _Serapio_ also
confounds _Borax_, which the Goldsmiths use, with _Nitre_; but _Nitre_
is truly made by the benefit of the Soil and the force of the hot Sun,
wherefore ’tis call’d by some of the _Greeks_ _Halmirhaga_, [Sidenote:
_Halmirhaga._] deriving its Name partly from its bitterish Taste, and
partly from its being got out of the Earth at _Nitria_, a City of
_Egypt_, so call’d from _Nitre_. At _Naucratis_ and _Memphis_ there are
places where _Nitre_ grows, and where the Water is pour’d into it like
Sea-Water into Salt-Pits. Between _Memphis_ and _Jerusalem_ we saw a
Desart concreted with _Nitre_, from whence so great a quantity might be
taken, that many Ships might have been easily laden therewith; which
Desart, so concreted with _Nitre_, was longer than half a Mile, and when
I past by it in the Night-Time, I thought it had been cover’d with Salt;
and when the Moon shon, it rebounded up to the Pupils of my Eyes, and
dazl’d them with its splendor. In it Camels, Horses and Mules had left
the impression of their Footsteps, and when I lighted off my Horse and
had cut some of it up, I found it to be of the same kind which I had
before seen at _Memphis_. _Nitre_ therefore is not dug out of a
Mountain, or found in the Cavity of a Subterranean Den, or any where
cover’d with Earth, but gather’d up a concrete Body from the surface of
a Desart or solitary Place, and is to be ascrib’d more to the Earth than
Water, by reason the Earth has there a kind of nitrous Substance. When
Rain, Fountain or the _Nile_-Water has stood long in a Valley, it at
length becomes nitrous, by exhaling up to its self a salt Matter or
Substance from the bottom, which afterwards concretes, with the heat of
the Sun, and becomes much harder than Salt. The whole mass of _Nitre_ is
not concreted in one and the same Day, but gradually and by degrees
increases and becomes dry. The first Concretion has no great thickness,
but when wet again with other Water, it adds by little and little
another Covering. This growing harder and harder, so long concretes that
it at last becomes a Foot and half thick, by which it comes to pass that
the Face of the _Nitre_ keeps a certain likeness to crusted _Cadmia_;
for the whole Mass consists of right courses in equal Circles, and is
not divided by intricate Windings, which Remark argues, that _Nitre_
arises from a level Superficies or concretes in a certain solitary
Place. Moreover the porous _Nitre_ is dissolv’d in Water, but so that
you cannot see the least Settlement in it, altho’ a great deal of an
earthy Substance be found among it; and as a further Argument of the
Truth of this, its very Ashes show it contains in it a great mixture of
earthy Particles; for burning once a Pound of crude _Nitre_, I found
four Ounces of Ashes remain’d, whereas our _Saltpetre_, if it but touch
Fire, immediately flames, and is in an instant resolv’d into Air; whence
we collect, that it consists of very subtil Parts, for ’tis very pungent
on the Tongue, has great Tenuity, and plentifully provokes Spitle.
[Sidenote: Three kinds of _Nitre_.] There are three sorts of _Nitre_,
but that which is of a Rose-colour, or whitish and porous like Sponge,
such as is brought from the Islands of _Buna_, _Dioscorides_ prefers to
the rest, being hard and solid for the most part like that of _Egypt_,
and which indurates into heaps like Stone, which therefore are call’d by
the _Greeks_ Βουνοί, from the resemblance they have to Hills. The second
sort of _Nitre_ is not so well distinguish’d by _Dioscorides_ as by
_Galen_, who is thought to have us’d the name of _Spuma Nitri_ two ways,
first by dividing the words, Ἀφρὸς νίτρου, and secondly, by compounding
them into Ἀφρόνιτρον, which distinction _Pliny_ also seems to have
observ’d where he calls the _Spuma Nitri_ by the _Latin_ word
_Operimentum_, interpreted by _Avicenna_’s Annotator, _Capistrum Nitri_,
not because the _Nitre_ ferments or foams up in an old Valley, or that
it is in it self a light Froth, but by reason the _Spume_ of _Nitre_
lyes on the top of the _Nitre_, and flowers of it self in Nitre-Works or
Vallies in the Day-Time; for _Nitre_ flowers with the Dew which falls in
the Night, and then increases its Superficies and is perfected in the
Day-Time, which Covering therefore is rightly call’d by _Avicenna_’s
Interpreter _Capistrum_, but better by _Pliny_, _Operimentum_. Of this
_Dioscorides_ thus writes: [Sidenote: _Spuma Nitri._] ‘That _Spuma
Nitri_ is best which is lightest, friable, biting and of a purplish
Colour, such as is brought from _Philadelphia_ in _Lydia_. The second
sort is that of _Egypt_, which likewise is to be had in _Magnetia_ in
_Caria_.’ How this Efflorenscence which _Pliny_ sometimes calls
_Operimentum_, sometimes _Spuma Nitri_, and at other times
_Aphronitrum_, is generated, we have shewn before, so shall next show
what _Aphronitrum_ is, for I distinguish between _Aphronitrum_ and
_Spuma Nitri_, that is, the _Operimentum_ or Covering. But _Pliny_
confounds _Aphronitrum_ and _Nitrum_ together, so that I really believe
both _Pliny_ and _Serapio_ have taken what they have written of this
Matter from the same Fountains; for _Serapio_ speaking of _Nitre_ says,
There are two sorts of it, one call’d _Nitre_, which is _Saltpetre_, of
a reddish Colour, saltish and bitterish Taste, soon discovering its
burning Quality, [Sidenote: _Borax._] and another sort call’d _Borax_,
us’d by the Inhabitants of _Yaya_ in working up their Bread, to make it
look clear after ’tis bak’d. But that sort call’d artificial _Borax_ is
an incisive and abstersive _Saltpetre_, made from a nitrous Matter,
being a mixture of Lead and _Kali_ mingl’d together and put over the
Fire, and this seems to be nothing else but that which the Goldsmiths
use. _Rhasis_ also is in a manner of the same Opinion with _Serapio_,
for he says, of the two sorts of _Borax_, that which is made
artificially, and is white and froathy, is much better than that of an
earthy colour and dusty. It is from this that _Tincar_ is made and
seal’d. [Sidenote: _Tincar._] _Pliny_ has not omitted to mention this
sealing as _Galen_ and _Dioscorides_ have likewise done, therefore I
will insert his Words the better to show that his sealing of _Tincar_ is
the same with that of the _Arabians_. The next Age of _Physicians_, says
he, deliver’d that _Aphronitrum_ was gather’d in _Asia_, distilling into
soft Caves or Dens, which they call’d _Colycæ_, and afterwards dry’d in
the Sun. The best sort is that of _Lydia_, which is very light and
friable, and almost of a purplish Colour, and brought thence in little
Cakes or Trochisks, which words seem intirely to answer those of the
_Arabian_; for, What can this Author mean by Trochisks, but the same
thing which _Serapio_ calls little seal’d Pieces? But _Rhasis_ adds,
That the _Egyptian Nitre_ was brought in Vessels pitch’d over, least it
should melt; and _Pliny_ shows, that the next Age of Physicians
deliver’d it was gather’d in _Asia_. Perhaps in the Time of
_Dioscorides_, and also before his Time, they did not use to Seal the
_Spuma Nitri_ and _Aphronitrum_. [Sidenote: _Lydian Nitre._] _Pliny_
gives the Preference to the _Lydian_, and, moreover, when he describes
the Marks of chusing it, he gives the same to the _Aphronitrum_ as
_Dioscorides_ does to his Ἀφρόνιτρον. But that I may speak freely what I
know of those three, they all proceed from the same Mass, altho’ from
the different Places and Earth, they acquire a different colour, for
some are of a Rose-colour, and others white. The _Operimentum_ or
Covering falls in _Lydia_ and _Egypt_. The greatest use of _Nitre_ in
_Laconia_ is for scouring Bodies. But since the Mass of _Nitre_, when
long kept in Houses, consumes and wastes away by degrees, insomuch that
that which was before hard, becomes gradually soft and crumbling,
more-especially if it be kept in a moist place, nevertheless it does not
discontinue being a Mass or Lump, but only becomes softer than _Nitre_.
Physicians, when they remark or take notice as it were of a certain kind
of _Metamorphosis_, of that which was before hard, so easily to become
softer, think its Name ought to be chang’d, and its Virtues ascrib’d
apart. But that which I have said concerning the alteration of _Nitre_,
I have found true by experience, in some I brought with me out of the
Eastern-Countries; for having given a great part of it to my Friends,
some of them complain’d it was turn’d to Powder, and others, who had
kept it in a moister place, that it was grown softer, and had chang’d
its Colour. _Pliny_, Lib. 31. cap. 10. says, The Nature of _Nitre_ is
not to be esteem’d very different from Salt, and this he the more
diligently asserts, inasmuch as those Physicians who have written of it,
were ignorant of its true Nature, altho’ none has written more carefully
of it than _Theophrastus_. He says, moreover, some _Nitre_ is made in
_Media_, the Vallies growing white and hoary with dryness. After the
Rain or Fountain-Water is exhal’d from it, it is condens’d by the Soil,
and converted into _Nitre_. Hence appears, as I said before, that those
are very much deceiv’d, who report _Nitre_ to be a certain Subterranean
Matter like to Metal. _Pliny_ afterwards adds, That the sort of _Nitre_
call’d _Agrium_, in _Thrace_ near _Philippi_, is less mix’d with Earth
than any other sort; but I dare affirm _Nitre_ is now no longer made in
_Thrace_, for when I travell’d thither, and to and fro in the
_Philippian_ Country, that I might see this _Nitre_, I could find none
either about the Ruins of the before-mention’d City or the adjacent
Region. [Sidenote: _Chalastræum Nitrum._] The _Chalastræum Nitre_ took
its Name from the City _Chalastra_. This I believe to be that sort which
_Alexander_ call’d _Bucephalum_, from the Name of his Horse. Nitrous
Waters, says _Pliny_, are found in many places, but without any Power of
condensing, which agrees with what I have already said, that all nitrous
Waters will not make _Nitre_; so likewise all nitrous Earth, altho’
Water be pour’d over it, will not make _Nitre_, for ’tis necessary it
should have a Virtue of thickning by the Sun, therefore this Virtue is
believ’d not to be wanting in the Water, but in the Earth, for ’tis
certain _Nitre_ may be made out of the lightest, purest and sweetest
Water. _Nitre_ is very heavy in it self, for it sinks in Water like a
Stone. The best _Nitre_, says _Pliny_, is very plentiful in _Macedonia_,
[Sidenote: _Nitrum Chalastricum._] and is call’d _Chalastricum_, being
white and pure like to Salt. The Lake is nitrous, and out of its middle
a sweet Fountain flows; there _Nitre_ swims, about the rising of the
Dog-Star, for nine Days together, and in as many ceases, then swims
again, and afterwards ceases again, by which ’tis apparent the heat of
the Sun condenses the _Nitre_, provided the Nature of the Soil be
answerable, as _Pliny_ witnesses in these words: The Nature of the Soil
is what breeds _Nitre_, as is apparent, in that where it is wanting,
neither Salts nor Showers avail any thing. This is also very wonderful,
that tho’ the Spring be always seen to flow, yet neither does it
increase the Lake nor run over; but if it Rains in those Days in which
it is bred, the _Nitre_ will become more Salt, and worse if the
_North_-Winds happen to blow, for they violently stir up the Mud: In
this place indeed ’tis produc’d, but more plentifully in _Egypt_,
[Sidenote: _Egyptian Nitre._] tho’ a worser sort, for ’tis of a dark
colour and stony. It is made almost in the same manner with Salt, only
they let the Sea run into their Salt-Pits, but the River _Nile_ into
their _Nitre_-Works. The _Nile_-Water being drawn off they dry it, and
again infuse it in _Nitre_-Water 40 Days successively, but if it Rains
they add less of the River-Water. So soon as it begins to condense, it
is taken away least it should be dissolv’d in their _Nitre_-Works, but
if laid up in heaps it will keep. Thus much _Pliny_ speaks of _Nitre_,
which abundantly shows it is no where dug in any Mountain or Soil, but
as I have shown before, immediately so soon as it has begun to condense,
and it Rains, they take it away, and lay it up in heaps, that it may
last, for otherwise it would be melted by the Rain in their
_Nitre_-Works. What _Pliny_ says afterwards seems obscure, _viz._ That
the thinnest part of _Nitre_ is best, and consequently the
Efflorenscence is better, nevertheless the foul sort is useful for some
Things, as for dying Purples, Scarlets, _&c._ by which words ’tis
evident he means two sorts of _Nitre_, one very fine call’d _Spuma
Nitri_, [Sidenote: _Spuma Nitri._] which he prefers for the best, and
another course, us’d for dying Colours. The _Nitre_-Works in _Egypt_ are
very famous, and were wont to be only about _Naucratis_ and _Memphis_:
The worst are about _Memphis_, for there it lapifies in heaps, and from
that cause many Hillocks are stony, of which they make Vessels. They
also very frequently boil it with Sulphur upon Coals till it is melted;
and use it in those things they would have keep a long while. There are
_Nitre_-Works where it comes out reddish from the colour of the Earth.
Thus far of _Nitre_; next _Pliny_ mightily commends the Efflorenscence
of _Nitre_, yet says, The Ancients deny’d it could be made, but only
when the Dew fell and the _Nitre_-Places were pregnant, but not when
they brought forth, therefore could not be done by hastning or stirring
up altho’ it fell. Others think it was bred by Fermentation, _&c._’ Thus
far of _Nitre_ according to _Bellonius_, _Pliny_ and others.
[Sidenote: _Pickle_ made of _Nitre_.]
Now this is generally agreed on, that after the Body was stuff’d with
sweet Odours, Gums and Spices, it was macerated in a sort of Pickle, the
Composition of which, tho’ unknown to us, is asserted by most of the
Ancients to be made of _Nitre_. Nor is it proper for us, say _Penicher_,
_Traite des Embaumemens_, p. 83. to explain one Obscurity by another
that is greater; since this _Nitre_, so famous and mightily boasted of
by the Ancients, is at this Day a Mistery, for the more one endeavours
to show its Origin, by examining the different Descriptions given it,
the more reason one has to doubt of its Existence. In the first place,
they agree not in one point among themselves, [Sidenote: Different
_Opinions_ of _Nitre_.] either as to its Colour, Figure or Quality; for
some say ’tis white, others that ’tis red, and others again that ’tis of
a Leaden or Ash-colour: Some there are who will have it of a porous
Substance like a Sponge, others that ’tis solid and compact, and others
that ’tis shining and transparent like to Glass. Nor do they less
dissagree about its Virtue than its Form and Colour, for some say ’tis
of a cold Nature, and others that it has a Caustic Quality, as
_Herodotus_, who says, that it consumes the Flesh in such manner that it
leaves nothing but Skin and Bones. Wherefore, after so many
Contradictions and different Descriptions of the nature of this Mineral,
what can we believe for certain? Have we not just reason to doubt that
this _Nitre_ is but pretended? How should it come to be invisible if it
were a Mineral? And again why should we not have it, if it be produc’d
after the manner of our common Salt? The Sun, Moon and other Planets, as
also the Earth have not ceas’d since their Creation to obey yearly such
Orders as the Divine Providence has prescrib’d them, and their
Productions have daily been the same from one Age to another. The Earth
is the same Matrix for the formation of Vegetables and Minerals, and the
Sun has not refus’d its Influences for their Generation. What therefore
can be the reason, or by what accident should we at present be depriv’d
of so precious a Salt? We cannot see why it should be so lost as never
to be repair’d; but it is also reported that the true _Cinnamon_,
_Bdellium_, _Costus Amomum_, _Balsamum verum_, _Malobathrum_, _Sal
Armoniac_, _Myrrha_, and several Minerals, Gums and Plants are lost, yet
certainly it is not so, but only the Knowledge and Use of them lost to
many People; or perhaps they may not be found in those places where they
were wont to grow, yet may be had in others, which often happens; so
that they do not entirely Perish, but only change their Soil, by which
means it may come to pass they may not commonly be known, and sometimes
it happens they appear with a different Face, by reason of the diversity
of the Place and temperature of the Heavens; wherefore, as St.
_Chrisostom_ rightly concludes, none of those Substances or kinds of
Things, which GOD has created from the beginning of the World, have ever
been wanting or will ever perish. _Et Benedixit illa DEUS, & dixit,
Crescite & multiplicamini: Verbum enim illud in præsentem usq; diem illa
conservat, & tantum Tempus præteriit, neq; unum horum Genus imminutum
est; nam Benedictio DEI, & Verbum quod dixerat, ut subsisterent &
durarent, illis contulit._ _And GOD Blessed them and said, Be fruitful
and multiply: Which Word has preserv’d them even to this present Day, so
that the Time only is pass’d away, but not the least kind of them has
perish’d; for the Blessing of GOD, and the Words which he spake, made
them that they should endure for ever._
[Sidenote: The _Nitre_ of the _Ancients_ the same with our _Saltpetre_.]
The _Nitre_ therefore of the Ancients so renown’d, may be the same with
our _Saltpetre_, as _Schroder_ and the learned _Etmuller_ think, and
_Clarke_ more particularly in his _Natural History_ of _Nitre_, p. 12.
asserts, That the _Nitre_ of the Ancients is the same with Ours: In
which, says he, altho’ we dissent from some learned Philosophers, as
_Matthiolus_, _Bellonius_, &c. yet are there others as learned with whom
we agree, such as _Cardanus_, _Casimirus Siemienowicz Eques Lithuanus_,
and more particularly also may be mention’d the Ingenious Mr. _Henshaw_,
who has learnedly prov’d this Assertion to the _Royal Society_. But not
to inforce this Opinion only by Authority but Reason, we affirm this to
be the same from its Nature; for the Thing is yet in Being, and this
bearing its Name may not unjustly challenge its Nature: And that this
was known to the Ancients (as we affirm their _Nitre_ is to us) the
Testimony of _Pliny_ plainly evinces, as the before-mention’d learned
Author _Casimirus_ observes, _viz._ _Aperte enim Salem hunc, qui in
Cavernis sua sponte in Rupium Superficies erumpebat, Florem & Spumam
Nitri, Salemq; petrosum vel Petræ nominat_. But the Ancients seem not to
observe this Ἀφρόνιτρον or Efflorenscence of _Nitre_ on Walls, and in
Houses on Floors, as we do, they having had it in open Fields, tho’ we
have not, neither was it so much in use with them as with us, and this
gave occasion for the new Name of _Sal-petræ_ to be given to the old
_Nitre_. Now, tho’ by _Pliny_’s and other antient Authors descriptions
of _Nitre_, when compar’d with ours, they may seem to differ, yet may it
not be a real difference, but only in degrees of purity, the like
whereof we may see in Sugar and Salt, which by artificial Refining are
made one and the same; and as it bears the same Name, so has it the same
Qualities and Virtues, and was antiently us’d both by _Galenists_ and
_Chymists_. [Sidenote: _Nitre_ us’d in _Cookery_.] Now it was this no
doubt the Ancients us’d in their Aliments instead of common Salt; and
’tis by some affirm’d that Roots grow whiter if boil’d therewith, and
Herbs greener: Moreover, ’tis well known to us Moderns that _Nitre_ or
its Salt, separated in the Refining, gives a red colour to
Neats-Tongues, Coller’d Beef, Bacon, _&c._ adding to it also a more
savoury Taste, which does thereby both invite and please the Appetite.