Saltire

“ The word “salary,” (money given to purchase salt) , which has floated down the stream of time, bears witness in itself to salt being considered the first necessary of human life. Sitting above or below the salt-cellar was the usual demarcation between the high-born and the dependent in the domestic life of the middle ages. In Eastern hospitality, eating salt with you constitutes all the difference between a friend and a foe. Bearing these facts in mind, then, and looking to the antiseptic qualities of salt, we steadily refuse to pay any attention to that common puff “salt, the forbidden food.” ”

“ As you walk along on top of them, you can smell a faint violet perfume from the salt. Thatch is put over the cones to protect them from the rain, and there they stand till some of the impurities drain away. This salt is not perfectly white, [Pg 98] because the workmen cannot help scraping up a little of the gray or reddish clay with it. Most of it is sold as it is, nevertheless, for many people have an absurd notion that the darker it is the purer it is. For those who wish to buy white salt it is sent to a refinery to be washed with pure water, then boiled down and dried. ”

“ What then, said Florus, shall we say that salt is termed divine for that reason? Indeed that is very considerable, for men for the most part deify those common things that are exceeding useful to their necessities and wants, as water, light, the seasons of the year; and the earth they do not only think to be divine, but a very god. Now salt is as useful as either of these, protecting in a way the food as it comes into the body, and making it palatable and agreeable to the appetite. ”

“ The facts that the chief accompaniment of every known deposit of rock-salt is clay, and that clay is deposited in water, formed the basis of the erroneous theory that because salt is a deposit out of water, and sea-water contains salt, all salt beds must have been deposited in the sea. But salt does not mix mechanically with water and has not been deposited like sedimentary rocks; it forms a solution, and not until the solution becomes super-saturated does it crystallize out. Now sea-water rarely contains more than 31⁄2 per cent. ”

“ My uncle asked me, if there were many such salt marshes in Brazil as abound in North America, and of which cattle are so fond. I forgot at first, and said very foolishly, that I could not tell—I was in a silly fit, till at last I recollected myself, and told him I had heard that there were some, though they are obliged to import a great deal of salt. What an extraordinary appearance a salt plain must have, where the salt is open and uncovered! When we went up stairs, Mary showed me Mr. Salt’s description of one in Abyssinia. ”

“ Having inquired what use the merchants of Melli made of this salt, the traders of the desert informed me, that a part of it was consumed in that country, which lying near the line, where the days and nights are of equal length, certain seasons of the year are so excessively hot that the blood of the inhabitants would putrify, if it were not for the salt, and they would all die. They have no art or mystery in its use; but every one dissolves a small piece every day in a porringer of water, and drinks it off, which in their opinion preserves their health. ”

“ The importance of the salter is better understood when we consider that, as the produce of the land was in Middle Ages almost entirely consumed on the spot, and it was not easy to get supplies of provisions from a distance, immense quantities of victuals of all kinds were salted, in order that they might keep during the whole year round, and were preserved in vast larders and storehouses. This habit of eating so much salt meat would cause meats eaten without salt to be considered insipid. In fact the quantity of salt used in the Middle Ages must have been enormous ”

“ I am told that the mountains are full of salt—how wonderful are the works of the Lord! In pursuit of this mineral Man has penetrated deep into the bowels of the earth by means of shafts and tunnels, and brings forth the bitter marrow of the hills into the light of the sun. The salt I have myself seen in red, brown and yellow crystals. The works give employment to our peasants and their sons, with a few foreign labourers, all under the command of an overseer, who is known as the Saltmaster. ”

“ The water of landlocked seas like the gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean sea contains more salt than that of the open ocean, and it is also found that the water of the bottom of such seas is salter than that upon the surface.—Salt crystallizes in colorless, transparent, anhydrous crystals, belonging to the isometric system, and has a very perfect cubic cleavage, which generally displays itself even in the great masses of rock salt, parts of which however are frequently massive and granular, and rarely fibrous or columnar. ”

“ SALTPETRE The attention of the ancients was naturally attracted by the efflorescences which form on certain stones, on walls, and in caves and cellars; and the Hindus and nomad Arabs must have noticed the deflagration of at least one of them when a fire was lit on it. These efflorescences consist of various salts,—sulphate and carbonate of soda, chloride of sodium, saltpetre, &c.—but they are so similar in appearance and taste, the only two criteria known in primitive times,19 that early observers succeeded in discriminating only one of them, common salt, from the rest. ”

“ The reason I have heard why stock require salt in this country, is, that being at so great a distance from the ocean, there is no salt in the air, as in countries nearer the sea. I {180} believe they give their beasts salt on the shores of the Atlantic; and as it is there said to be serviceable to them, perhaps salt is beneficial to cattle in all situations, at least in hot climates. Beasts are much lighter here than in England, as their flesh is not so firm as in a colder country ”

“ That special “salt” is the queer looking little thing in the centre of the salt group, and I am giving it more space than its size or appearance seem to warrant. It was first caught sight of in a shop at Leeds, where a broker had it filled with black varnish into which he was dipping his brush, while he was giving an artistic touch-up to some of his stock. The hunter spotted pewter, and after some little chaff was told he could have it if he would bring something that would do for holding the varnish; this he bought at a shop not far off, and the change was soon effected. ”

“ This is a pretty picture of eighteenth century “high life.” The superstition concerning the spilling of salt is still with us, but helping salt with a knife is no longer in fashion in “polite society.”
In general salt cellars may be classified as follows, commencing with the Standing Salt, with its determination of rank as to those who sat above the salt and those who sat below it:—
Standing Salts.—The earliest are shaped like hour-glasses. ”

“ We are all aware that to this day the Eastern custom of placing salt before a guest is a token of amity and goodwill, and is significant enough to tell the visitor that he is for the time being in perfect safety; no Arab, even under provocation, would injure his most violent enemy after having once eaten salt with him under cover of his tent, till he was out in the desert.16 This custom has descended from generation to generation, and perhaps was instituted by the exiled son of Abraham and Hagar. ”

“ Harrison mentions a Salter Inge (salter's meadow) in Ecclesfield, with which we may compare Chapman Field and Pedlar Hagg just mentioned.
In the bilingual dialogue of Archbishop Alfric, attributed to the tenth century, a salt-merchant is introduced, amongst other persons, and the interlocutor puts the question to him: "O salter, of what profit to us is thine art?" He answers: "My art is of much profit to all; none of you enjoys his supper or his dinner unless my art befriend him." "In what way?" is the reply. The salter answers: "What man enjoys sweet food without the relish of salt? ”

“ The herbivorous animals were equally dependent upon salt, and, finding it in only infinitesimal quantities in the grasses upon which they fed, instinct directed them to the sea swamp pasturage and to the outcropping salt deposits. So long as man’s diet consisted of uncooked foods, his fresh meat provided him with a sufficiency of salt, but directly he employed a cook-pot in the preparation of his food, the boiling processes denuded it of 70 per cent. ”

“ The luckless Furnival, some fifty years later than Chrysel, approached nearly to the goal to which they were all striving, and he, in common with his forerunners, had his share of the savage jealousy and persecution that the salt-men have ever visited upon those who venture into the lists with them. “No malice has been wanting to bring a disreputation upon my salt; and every wicked art will be practised to render its virtues ineffectual. The Salt Commissioners are my avowed enemies ”

“ The three projections on the upper rim seem to have been intended for the support of a cover, perhaps a napkin, as it was considered desirable to keep the cover clear of the salt itself: "loke that youre salte seller lydde touche not the salte," saith the "boke of keruynge." It appears from numerous allusions to the fact, that the state salt was used by the "sovereign" or entertainer only; and it is not unlikely, from the great number of salts mentioned in old inventories, that when possible each guest also had one for his particular use. ”

“ Salt is one of the commonest articles used in the preparation of our food. It has been questioned by some people whether salt was a real necessity as an animal food, or whether the taste for it is merely an acquired one. All peoples in all ages seem to have used salt, and reference to it is made in the earliest histories. Travelers tell us that savage tribes, wherever they exist, are as much addicted to the use of salt as civilized people. ”

“ Being of a contrary opinion myself, I determined to test my abilities in the salt line. I began," looking at Nattie, merrily, "by salting you!"—then explaining to Cyn, Jo, and the silent Quimby, "'Salt' is a term operators use, when one tries to send faster than the other can receive. ”

“ Such at least is the case with Salter lane near Sheffield, and Salter lane near Rotherham, these roads leading towards Cheshire. Salter Sitch, too, lies to the west of Holmesfield, and Salterbrook [19] to the west of Penistone.
But it is not absolutely certain that "salter" means salt merchant in all these cases. There is an old French word sautoir, in Low Latin saltariium, which, as I have said elsewhere, [20] means a barrier of wood sustained at each end, and fixed in such a way that men could get over it but animals could not. ”

“ Noel and Carpentier, are cited various surmises as to the origin of the word, among others that salique is a corruption of gallique, that it comes from Salle—the great hall of a palace, from an imaginary tribe of Germans called in Latin salice, from si aliquis, the first words of the Latin document in which the Salic law was promulgated; from sal, salt, and from Salogart, the name of one of Pharamond’s jurisconsults, or counsellors. Who shall decide when so many doctors disagree? ”

“ The deposits, which are found at a considerable height above sea-level, are of great but undefined magnitude, as the lowest strata has been bored through for a thickness of 72 feet, without penetrating the formation. The rock salt here was acknowledged to be purer than any previously encountered in Cheshire, and the brine derived therefrom, containing 26·100 chloride sodium by weight, yields on evaporation an exceptionally high class of white salt. ”

“ Man of the present derives his existing salt-supply chiefly from beds of rock-salt similarly laid down against his expected appearance some hundred thousand æons or so ago. (An æon is a very convenient geological unit indeed to reckon by; as nobody has any idea how long it is, they can't carp at you for a matter of an æon or two one way or the other.) Rock-salt is found in most parts of the world, in beds of very various ages. The great Salt Range of the Punjaub is probably the earliest in date of all salt deposits ”

“ He allowed him no other nourishment than salt herrings; the torments of thirst soon drove the poor wretch to the verge of insanity, and he vainly sought relief by licking the moisture impregnated with saltpetre from the walls of his dungeon. ”

“ More than half the ten ounces of salts consist of it alone, which will make you understand better than before, what I explained with reference to the stomach; that is, why we put salt in our food. The porter above is quite up to his business when he asks everyone who enters to produce his little bit of salt. It is an attention which the blood appreciates very highly, although table-salt is of no great use to him in his building operations ”

“ Every Spirit of Salt consisteth of two things, to wit, Fire and Water, which water the fire doth so firmly co-knit to it self, that it cannot be wholly separated by any distillation or rectifying; but it always adheres to the fire, how often soever it be rectified or distilled: if any one therefore desireth by rectifying to separate them he must of necessity put immature metal-like subjects to the Spirit of Salt, the which, by how much the more immature or unripe they are, by so much they render the spirit of salt the purer ”