Salver

“ 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 whole of the sea-shore in the neighbourhood of the salt works is measured out and divided into a number of small, regular squares; the surface layer in each is11 dug out; the bottom of each pit thus formed is then strewn with straw, and the earth that has been removed is thrown back upon it. When these brine ovens, as they were called—which are shaped like chests, 9 ft. long, 2 ft. broad, and 3 ft. deep—are prepared, they are soaked with sea-water. The sea-water in the interior of the ovens forms brine, and flows through little ditches into wells which have been dug for its reception. ”

“ 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 salt rock in the earth beneath impregnates the springs with such an intensity of brine that eighty per cent. of fresh water has to be added before the saline mixture can be medicinally employed as a bath. If you take a glass of the water as it proceeds from the spring, and put a little salt in it, the salt will not dissolve, the water is already saturated. ”

“ For he is hard by nature. And remember
This is the way all hard fish should be cook'd.
[506] But those whose meat is good and soft by nature,
It is enough to sprinkle well with salt,
And lightly to anoint with oil. For they
Have virtue and delights within themselves.
118. There is the salpe, too. Epicharmus, in his Hebe's Wedding, says—
The aon, and the phagrus, and the pike,
And the dung-eating, bloated, dirty salpe,
Which still have a sweet flavour in the summer.
And Aristotle, in the fifth book of his Parts of Animals, says that the salpe has young once a-year only, in the autumn ”

“ I only mean if we want salt we can have as much as we please by boiling down salt-water in the kettle, or else making a salt-pan in the rocks, and obtaining it by the sun drying up the water and leaving the salt. ”

“ In marine animals common salt is a necessary constituent of their drink, and in fact it is the preserver of their life; but it is injurious, if not certain destruction, to many fresh-water fish, though some live both in the sea and fresh water—as the salmon, sturgeon, and some species of lamprey. The male salmon, on entering the mouths of rivers in order to spawn, follow the females, and fecundate the ova which they have deposited in little pools, or kinds of nests. They, therefore, are hatched in rivers. ”

“ In order to accelerate the condensation of the brine, the salt-maker adds and mixes into it bullock’s blood, or calf’s blood, or buck’s blood, which dissolves and is distributed into all the corners of the caldron. When the boiling water seems to be mixed with scum, it is skimmed with a ladle, and from the firing of the furnace to the skimming of the boiling scum is the work of half an hour. ”

“ When dried by the sun, and the white particles of salt are seen, they first raise it in small heaps, like haycocks, then spread it upon sloping tables with ledges, and pour soft water upon it, which, as it soaks in, extracts the salt and runs into an earthen vessel by means of a small channel. ”

“ Of salt fish, green-fish, salt salmon, and conger, pare away the skin; salt fish, stock fish, marling, mackrel, and hake with butter, and take away the bones & skins; A Pike, lay the womb upon a trencher, with pike sauce enough, A salt Lamprey, gobbin it in seven or eight pieces, and so present it, A Plaice, put out the water, then cross him with your knife, and cast on salt, wine, or ale. Bace, Gurnet, Rochet, Bream, Chevin, Mullet, Roch, Pearch, Sole, Mackrel, Whiting, Haddock, and Codling, raise them by the back, pick out the bones, and cleanse the rest in the belly. ”

“ We have salt, or the chloride of sodium, presented to us in six different conditions, viz.: sea or salt water, salt or brine springs, salt lakes, salt mines, mountain or fossil or rock salt, and salt marshes. The characteristics of salt are just the same fundamentally, whether we extract it by evaporation from sea-water or salt lakes; whether we obtain it from salt-springs; whether we dig it out of the earth or by the excavation of salt mountains ”

“ There are reasons for expecting that the improvements made in the salting of other fish, particularly those which depend on the use of a very pure salt, will find application in the mild curing of salmon.
14. Fats undergo certain changes after the fish is salted, resulting in a condition known as "rusting." Rusting consists of oxidation of fat after the latter has been split into free fatty acids. This splitting is caused by tissue enzymes in the presence of warmth and moisture. Oxidation is brought about through the agency of light in the presence of water. ”

“ Everything is of solid salt, except where some insecure roof is supported by huge timbers or a wooden bridge is thrown over some vast chasm. As depth is attained the air grows drier and purer, and the points and faces of the rock become more crystalline and beautiful. ”

“ Salt water really appears, from the most recent researches, to contain—other conditions being the same—more air than fresh. The same cause which impels the salmon to ascend to the lively, fully aërated streams of the mountains attracts other fishes from the deep seas to the shallows and rivers, and the eel from the bottoms of still-water ponds to the wind-disturbed waters of the bays. ”

“ Sea-salt, perhaps also nitre and other salts, will be serviceable in a moist country, or far from the sea, where the plants and water contain little saline matter, and probably pernicious in a dry climate, where the plants and water generally contain much saline matter. ”

“ Experience teacheth, that in places of this sort, four pounds of Sea-water yield one pound of salt, and the fertility of those Lands also indicates the great quantity of salt, which without any cultivation or human labour, both Winter and Summer inrich the Inhabitants with most excellent Fruits. ”

“ I shall enter fully into the relation salt bears to vegetable food while it is going through the process of digestion further on, when we come to consider the effects which food salted beforehand has upon the system when continued for any length of time, with little or no variation, which dietary is supposed to be the sole cause of the attacks of scurvy on board ship.
The sea is that grand reservoir which supplies the earth with its fertility; and the air and sun are mighty engines which work without intermission to raise the water from this inexhaustible cistern. ”

“ For persons who are obliged to prepare temporarily the salt, as travelers passing through the country, the water of the lake, without concentration, may be used for washing out the deliquescent chlorides, sprinkling the heap of salt by a watering-pot at intervals of two or three hours during a single day, and allowing it to drain and dry at night, and be spread to the sun an hour or two the following morning. ”

“ Salmon, plain boiled.—I prefer always dressing this fish in slices from an inch to two inches in thickness, boiling it in plenty of salt water about twenty minutes; the whole fish may be boiled, or the head and shoulders of a large fish, but they require longer boiling. Salmon eats firmer by not being put into the water until boiling. Dress the fish upon a napkin, and serve with lobster sauce, shrimp ditto, or plain melted butter in a boat, with fresh sprigs of parsley boiled a few minutes in it. A salmon weighing about ten pounds will require an hour’s gentle boiling ”

“ If a sulphureous salt, not corrosive, be mixed with sand, and moistened with water, and the seeds of divers Herbs sowed in it, for every seed doth thence attract its own nourishment, every one, according to its species, producing its like, endowed with various colours, smell, and proper taste, powers, and virtues, all which proceed from one only salt, and are manifested by the heat of the Sun, and the operation of the internal Archeus. ”

“ The salt is gathered around the edge of the lake, either by the men themselves or by other people with whom they trade. If the salt is dry it is carried home in bags but if it is gathered while wet, it is patted into balls which, when dried, are hard as rocks. ”

“ Salmon, the noblest and richest fish taken in fresh water--the largest are the best. They are unlike almost every other fish, are ameliorated by being 3 or 4 days out of water, if kept from heat and the moon, which has much more injurious effect than the sun. ”

“ Therefore, because the growing faculty of Vegetables, Animals, and Minerals, or Metals, taketh its rise from the only and Universal Salt of the Earth, and this from the Salt of the Sea, and the Sea Salt, from the Sun, if the Divine Goodness shall grant me Life, I will shew to my Friends, how by small labour and charge, the Universal Salt fatness, fit for the rendring all barren and sandy ground fruitful, instead of Dung, may be copiously separated from Sea Salt. ”

“ When fish is to be boiled, it should be rubbed lightly over with salt, and set on the fire in a saucepan or fish-kettle sufficiently large, in hard cold water, with a little salt, a spoonful or two of vinegar is sometimes added, which has the effect of increasing its firmness. ”

“ Hams, hung meats, cured tongues, &c., as well as the more expensive sorts of fish, as smoked and kippered salmon, are often so loaded with salt as to be hard, tough, and barely eatable; and, on the other hand, are often found in a state of slow decomposition, unwholesome and disgustful. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every one knows that just in proportion as water is added to brine, alcohol, vinegar, or any other aqueous solution, its power is diminished, and that a hogshead of water in which one grain of common salt has been dissolved, has no perceptible saline properties ”

“ So, instead of salt, use bread-crumbs, seeds, and other food, and some day you may have an experience which will surprise those people who would think it a very good joke indeed to send you out with a salt-cellar after birds. ”

“ When the water boils, add a large bowlful of salt, and when it has recovered its heat and is screeching hot, throw in the pieces of salmon, the largest first, allowing the water to recover its temperature after each. For fish under nine pounds, allow ten minutes, and one minute more for every additional pound. Serve with a little of the brine strengthened with anchovy sauce, or make a white gravy of flour and butter, as heretofore directed. ”

“ To the stranger looking out for characteristics, the Salt Works are the most prominent among them. The sheds stretch along like enormous stock-yards at one end of the city, but looking into them one discovers great vats and troughs filled with salt in every stage of evaporation. ”

“ Patient fed salt: animal comes out for water. The patient is fed salt or heavily salted food and allowed no water for several days. He then stands with mouth open before a supply of fresh water, often a running brook. The thirsty animal emerges to get fresh water. ”

“ Common Salt.—Salt, or sodium chloride, as an article of food, is obtained chiefly from the mineral kingdom; although plants contain it in small quantities, and it is also found in the tissues of nearly all animals used as food. In the human body, it is an ingredient of all the solids and fluids. ”

“ That the application, therefore, of salt, of seaweed, and saline mud, does more than supply soda, must be very evident, if we only recollect how difficult it is to dry any part of our dress that has been soaked in salt water, and what effect damp weather has on table salt, which, in a balance, has often been made use of as an hydrometer. ”

“ As the saliva swallowed along with our food prevents its fermentation, as appears by the experiments of Pringle and Macbride, some find considerable relief by chewing parched wheat, or mastic, or a lock of wool, frequently in a day, when the pain occurs, and by swallowing the saliva thus effused ”

“ Salt may be so introverted by the Operation of the Fire, as that it shall lose its sharp properties, and acquire a sweetness, and be brought by the help of other Vegetables and of Water, unto Fermentation, and so yield a good and sweet burning Spirit, a clear, sweet, and strong white Ale, conserving its tast for many years ”

“ For instance, salt-cellars are not often provided with salt-spoons; one’s own knife being thought to be all that is wanted for carving the joint, serving vegetables, and helping one’s self to salt, pepper, or mustard. ”

“ Salt, like all other seasonings, must be used with judgment: the expression "salt to taste," even when applied to water in which vegetables are cooked, means that the amateur should taste the water until experience teaches her how much to add. ”

“ It is not mere guessing to say that when advantage is taken of all that is known of improved salting methods a fish nearly if not quite equal in edible qualities to fresh fish is obtained, and in some cases the quality is decidedly improved by salting. ”