Chapter 687

3104He most probably means sea-water.

3105The Greeks used sand-baths for the purpose of promoting the perspiration; the names given to them wereπαρόπτησιςandφοίνιγμος.

3106“Sal fit.” This expression is not correct, there being no such thing asmadesalt. It is only collected from a state of suspension or dissolution. Pliny, however, includes under the name “sal” many substances, which in reality arenotsalt. His “hammoniacum,” for instance, if identical with hydrochlorate of ammonia, can with justice be said to bemade, being formed artificially from other substances.

3107“Coacto humore vel siccato.” These two terms in reality imply the same process, by the medium of evaporation; the former perfect, the latter imperfect.

3108The evaporation not being sufficiently strong to dry up the deeper parts.

3109There is in reality nothing wonderful in this, considering that most lakes are constantly fed with the streams of rivers, which carry mineral salts along with them, and that the work of evaporation is always going on.

3110“Glæbas.”

3111Because it is necessarily purer than that found upon the sand.

3112The description is not sufficiently clear to enable us to identify these lakes with certainty. Ajasson thinks that one of them may be the Lake of Badakandir in the Khanat of Bokhara; and the other the lake that lies between Ankhio and Akeha, in the west of the territory of Balkh, and near the Usbek Tartars.

3113“Sale exæstuant.”

3114In consequence of the intense heat.

3115All these regions, Ajasson remarks, are covered with salt. An immense desert of salt extends to the north-east of Irak-Adjemi, and to the north of Kerman, between Tabaristan, western Khoracan, and Khohistan.

3116Identified by Ajasson with the Herat and the Djihoun. He thinks that it is of some of the small affluents of this last that Pliny speaks.

3117“Lapis specularis.”

3118A “crumb” properly, in the Latin language.

3119See B. vi. c. 32.

3120More commonly known as Jupiter Hammon.

3121See B. xii. c. 49, and B. xxiv. c. 28, for an account of gum resin ammoniac, a produce of the same locality. The substance here spoken of is considered by Beckmann to be nothing but common salt in an impure state. See hisHist. Inv.Vol. II. pp. 398-9, where this passage is discussed at considerable length. Ajasson, on the other hand, considers it to be Hydrochlorate of ammonia, the Sal ammoniac of commerce. According to some accounts, it was originally made in the vicinity of the Temple of Jupiter Hammon, by burning camels’ dung.

3122Calledἄμμος, in Greek.

3123See B. xxxv. c. 52.

3124Sal ammoniac crystallizes in octahedrons.

3125“Intra specus suos.” On this passage, Beckmann says, “From what is said by Pliny it may with certainty be concluded that this salt was dug up from pits or mines in Africa.—Many kinds of rock-salt, taken from the mines of Wieliczka, experience the same change in the air; so that blocks which a labourer can easily carry in the mine, can scarcely be lifted by him after being for some time exposed to the air. The cause here is undoubtedly the same as that which makes many kinds of artificial salt to become moist and to acquire more weight.”—Vol. II. p. 399,Bohn’s Ed.

3126According to modern notions, his reason is anything butevident.

3127In Celtiberia. He alludes to the mountain of salt at Cardona, near Montserrat in Catalonia.

3128Speaking generally, this is true; but soils which contain it in small quantities are fruitful.

3129A similar method is still employed, Ajasson says, at the salt-mines near Innspruck in the Tyrol.

3130Native bitumen; always to be found in greater or less quantities, in saliferous earths.

3131The process of artificial evaporation.

3132This would produce an impure alkaline salt. According to Townson, this practice still prevails in Transylvania and Moldavia.

3133“The water, evaporating, would leave the salt behind, but mixed with charcoal, ashes, earth, and alkaline salts; consequently it must have been moist, or at any rate nauseous, if not refined by a new solution.”—Beckmann’sHist. Inv.Vol. II. p. 493.Bohn’s Ed.

3134Not improbably a people of India so called, and mentioned in B. vi. c. 20.

3135See B. ix. c. 42.

3136“In laterculis.” Hardouin considers this to mean small earthen vessels or pipes.

3137In c. 39 of this Book.

3138“Melanthium.” See B. xx. c. 17.

3139“Flos salis.” Further mentioned in c. 42.

3140See B. iv. c. 17.

3141St. Augustin mentions this marvellous kind of salt. De Civit. Dei, B. xxi. cc. 5, 7.

3142As well as Centuripa.

3143“Opsonium.”

3144“Pulmentarii.”

3145See c. 43 of this Book.

3146This is consistent with modern experience.

3147“Sales.”

3148Literally, “salt money”—“argentum” being understood. The term was originally applied to the pay of the generals and military tribunes. Hence our word “salary.”

3149Beginning at the Colline Gate.

3150“In congiario.”

3151Most probably “He cannot earn salt to his bread,” or something similar, like our saying, “He cannot earn salt to his porridge.” The two Greek proverbs given by Dalechamps do not appear to the purpose.

3152“Mola salsa.”

3153“Favillam.”

3154“Schroder thinks that in what Pliny says ofFlos Salis, he can find the martial sal-ammoniac flowers of our chemists, [the double chloride of ammonium and iron], or the so-calledflores sales ammoniaci martiales.—It is certain that what Dioscorides and Pliny callflos salis, has never yet been defined. The most ingenious conjecture was that of Cordus, who thought that it might be Sperma ceti; but though I should prefer this opinion to that of Schroder, I must confess that, on the grounds adduced by Matthiali and Conrad Gesner, it has too much against it to be admitted as truth.”—Beckmann,Hist. Inv.Vol. II. p. 193.Bohn’s Ed.

3155Salt collected from the foam on the sea-shore.

3156A sort of bitumen, probably.

3157Medicines for relieving weariness. See B. xxiii. c. 45, and B. xxix. c. 13.

3158“Smegmatis.”

3159It was, probably, of an intermediate nature, between caviar and anchovy sauce.

3160See B. xxxii, c. 53. It does not appear to have been identified.

3161As to the identity of the Scomber, see B. ix. c. 19.

3162See B. xix. c. 7.

3163“Garum sociorum.”

3164The present Straits of Gibraltar.

3165In Gallia Narbonensis.

3166Sillig reads “Delmatia” here.

3167See B. ix. c. 74. The fry of larger fish, Cuvier says.

3168Ajasson considers this to be an absurd derivation; and thinks it much more probable, that the name is fromἀprivative, andφύω“to beget;” it being a not uncommon notion that these small fish were produced spontaneously from mud and slime.

3169The present Frejus, in the south of France.

3170“Wolf.” Not the fish of that name, Hardouin says, mentioned in B. ix. c. 28.

3171The festivals of Ceres. The devotees, though obliged to abstain from meat, were allowed the use of thisgarum, it would appear.

3172Gesner proposes to read “noncarêntibus,” “withscales”—fisheswithoutscales being forbidden to the Jews by the Levitical Law. See Lev. c xi. ver. 10. It is, most probably, Pliny’s own mistake.

3173See B. xxvii. c. 2.

3174At the end of c. 42.

3175He alludes to its decrepitation in flame.

3176Pharnaces caused the body of his father Mithridates to be deposited in brine, in order to transmit it to Pompey.

3177He uses the word “pterygia” here, as applied to the whole of the body—“totius corporis”—in its two distinct senses, a hangnail or excrescence on the fingers, and a web or film on the eyes.

3178In c. 23, he has said much the same of cold water.

3179“Sale et sole.”

3180This passage would come more naturallyafterthe succeeding one.

3181See B. xxiii. c. 13.

3182“Ita ut batuerentur ante.” From the corresponding passage in Dioscorides, where the expressionΒαπτόμενοι εἰς ὄξοςis used, it would appear that the proper word here is “baptizarentur;” or possibly, a lost Græco-Latin word, “bapterentur.” Littré suggests “hebetarentur,” “the part being first numbed” by the aid of a bandage.

3183“Spuma salis.” Collected from the foam on the sea-shore.

3184See Note 36, above, p. 507.

3185Beckmann, who devotes several pages to a consideration of the “nitrum” of the ancients, considers it not to be our “nitre” or “saltpetre,” but a general name for impure alkaline salts. See hisHist. Inv.Vol. II. pp. 490-503,Bohn’s Ed.Ajasson, without hesitation, pronounces it to be nitrate of potash, neither more or less than our saltpetre, and quotes a statement from Andreossy, that it is still to be found in great quantities at Mount Ptou-Ampihosem, near the city of Pihosem, called Nitria by St. Jerome.

3186“Salt bursting from the earth.”

3187“Wild.”

3188See c. 40 of this Book. He is evidently speaking of avegetablealkali here. See Beckmann, Vol. II. pp. 492-3,Bohn’s Ed.

3189Beckmann thinks that these kinds of water were in reality only impure and not potable, from their nauseous taste, and that hence they were considered as nitrous. Nitrous water, he remarks, or water containing saltpetre, in all probability, does not exist. Vol. II. pp. 498-9.Bohn’s Edition.

3190Or in other words, crystallization. Beckmann remarks that, in reference to alkaline water, this is undoubtedly true. Vol. II. p. 499.

3191From the adjacent town of Chalastra, on the Thermæan Gulf. The site is probably occupied by the modern Kulakia.

3192Carbonate of soda is found in the mineral waters of Seltzer and Carlsbad, and in the volcanic springs of Iceland, the Geysers more particularly.

3193Ajasson remarks, that from this we may conclude that the fabrication of nitrate of potash, or saltpetre, was in its infancy. It is by no means improbable that theartificialnitrum,herementioned by Pliny, really was artificial saltpetre, more or less impure; thenativenitrum, on the other hand, being, as Beckmann suggests, a general term for impure alkaline mineral salts, in common with native saltpetre. Pliny’s account, however, is confused in the highest degree, and in some passages far from intelligible.

3194Of a bituminous nature, probably. See c. 42 of this Book.

3195See B. v. c. 40. An alkaline water, Beckmann thinks. See Vol. II, pp. 96-7.Bohn’s Ed.

3196He may possibly mean bleaching the material before dyeing.

3197See B. xxxvi. c. 65. This certainly goes far towards proving that under the name “nitrum,” alkaline salts were included.

3198“Faciunt ex his vasa, necnon frequenter liquatum cum sulphure, coquentes in carbonibus.” This passage Beckmann pronounces to be one of thedarkestparts in the history ofnitrum. See Vol. II. p. 502. He is of opinion that not improbably the result here obtained would be, liver of sulphur, which when it cools is hard, but soon becomes moist when exposed to the air. Dalechamps, it would appear, explains the whole of this passage as applicable to glazing; but in such case, as Beckmann observes, the nitrum could serve only as a flux. Michaelis suggests that the vessels here mentioned, were cut, not for real use, but merely for ornament, in the same manner as they are still made, occasionally, from rock-salt.

3199The mention of nitrum, sulphur, and charcoal, probably the three ingredients of gunpowder, in such close proximity, is somewhat curious.

3200“Quæ” seems a preferable reading to “quos.”

3201“Spuma nitri.” An accidental property, Beckmann says, of the same salt that has been previously called “Chalastricum,” “Halmyrax,” “Aphronitrum,” and “Agrion.” In his opinion, “the ancients were acquainted with no other thannativenitrum, which they calledartificial, only when it required a little more trouble and art to obtain it.”—Hist. Inv.Vol. II. p. 502.Bohn’s Ed.

3202“Froth of nitre.” Ajasson identifies this with hydro-carbonate of soda.

3203Supposed by Hardouin to be derived from the Greekκόλικας, “round cakes;” owing to the peculiar form of the pieces of rock by which the aphronitrum was produced. The reading, however, is very doubtful. Sillig, from Photius, suggests that it should be “scolecas.”

3204One proof, Beckmann thinks, that Soda is meant. See Vol. II. p. 491.

3205“Whether Pliny means that the vessels were not burnt, but only baked in the sun, or that before they were filled, they were completely dried in the sun, has been determined by no commentator. To me the latter is probable.”—Beckmann,Hist. Inv.Vol. II. p. 491.

3206Beckmann thinks that this mode of adulteration, with lime, is an additional proof that the “nitrum” of our author was only soda. See Vol. II. p. 492.

3207That, namely, of the lime. Quick-lime, certainly, would have a pungent taste, in comparison with that of soda, but not in comparison with that of saltpetre.

3208Another proof, Beckmann thinks, that it was native soda, impregnated with common salt. Vol. II. p. 492.

3209This would hardly apply to soda.

3210Probably to promote its rising, as Beckmann observes, Vol. II. p. 496; a circumstance which goes a great way towards proving that “Soda” was included, at least, under the name of “nitrum.” Carbonate of soda is extensively used for this purpose at the present day.

3211And to correct the acridity of the radishes, possibly. A somewhat analogous fact is mentioned by Drury, in his “Journal in Madagascar.” He says that the sourest tamarinds, “mixed with wood ashes, become sweet and eatable.” See p. 316.—We are not unaware that many look upon this work and its statements as a work of fiction.

3212See B. xix. c. 26.

3213Carbonate of soda is added to pickles and boiling vegetables for this purpose.

3214Vegetable ashes, and tobacco-ashes in particular, have the same effect.

3215See B. xxxv. c. 57.

3216Viewed by the ancients as a poison, when taken warm; but erroneously, as we have more than once remarked.

3217See B. xix. c. 15.

3218Nitre balls are still given to the patient to suck, in cases of sore throat.

3219See B. xii. c. 51.

3220Beckmann considers that this statement throws some light on the obscure passage, commented on in Note 3198, p. 514. SeeHist. Inv.Vol. II. p. 503.Bohn’s Ed.

3221In B. ix. c. 69.

3222No such distinction, of course,reallyexists; sponge being in reality a fibrous tissue formed by minute animals.

3223“Goats,” literally.

3224See B. ix. c. 69. He probably alludes to the semifluid thin coat of animal jelly which covers the sponge in its recent state, and is susceptible of a slight contraction on being touched.

3225A fanciful notion, certainly.

3226Hot water renders them greasy, so to say; an inconvenience which may be remedied by steeping them in an alkaline solution, or in urine.

3227“Penicilli.”

3228See B. ix. c. 69.

3229See B. v. c. 28.

3230An absurdity, of course.

3231See end of B. ii.

3232Called C. Cassius Severus Parmensis, according to some authorities. He was one of the murderers of Cæsar, and perished, the last of them by a violent end, aboutB.C.30. He is supposed to have written tragedies, epigrams, and other works. See Horace, Epist. B. i. Ep. 4, l. 3.

3233See end of B. vii.

3234See end of B. ii.

3235Cælius Antipater. See end of B. ii.

3236See end of B. vii.

3237See end of B. vii.

3238See end of B. xviii.

3239See end of B. iv.

3240This personage is entirely unknown. It may possibly be a corruption for Soranus, a poet of that name (Q. Valerius Soranus) who flourished about 100B.C.See also B. xxxii. c. 23.

3241See end of B. iv.

3242See end of B. ii.

3243Beyond the mention made of him in c. 9 of this Book, nothing whatever is known of him.

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