the production of a celestial blue colour, and in all probability he here alludes to a solution of copper. Without attempting to examine at what time the art was discovered of converting the nitric acid into aqua regia by the addition of sal-ammoniac, I shall only remark that, at any rate, it was known in the sixteenth century; for Imperato says that sal-ammoniac is employed in the solution of gold; and Biringoccio1, who is older, recommends nitrous acid prepared with sal-ammoniac for dissolving metals, and particularly gold. I will not either determine how old the use of this salt is in soldering and tinning; but I must observe, that it was known to Agricola2 and Imperato. I however doubt whether it was very common, because Biringoccio3 recommends borax for that purpose, without so much as mentioning sal-ammoniac; though it is possible that I may have overlooked it. We are now arrived at the modern history, which I shall give in as brief a manner as I can, because it has been already fully treated on by others. What was long ago shown by the celebrated Mr. Boyle was proved in the year 1716 by Geoffroy the younger, that sal-ammoniac was composed of the muriatic acid and volatile alkali, and that it could be thence prepared in Europe by sublimation. In the same year the jesuit Sicard gave the first certain account of the sal-ammoniac manufactories at Damayer, in the Delta, and described in what manner this salt was prepared there, by sublimation in glass vessels, from the soot of the burnt dung of camels and cows, which is used in Egypt for fuel, with the addition of sea salt and urine. In the year 1719, the Academy of Sciences at Paris received from Lemere, the French consul at Cairo, an account of the process employed; but it contained no mention either of sea salt or of urine. Afterwards this information was in part confirmed, and in part rectified and enlarged, by Paul Lucas, Granger, or, as he was properly 1 Lib. ix. cap. 6, p. 131, b: also lib. ix. cap. 10, p. 141, b. De Natura Fossil. lib. iii. p. 215; in which he speaks of iron pins with tinned heads. 3 Page 135, a and b, pp. 136, 375. 4 Mémoires de l'Acad. 1720, p. 195. Basil Valentine had before taught how to separate the volatile alkali from sal-animoniac by means of the fixed alkali. 6 Nouveaux Mémoires des Missions de la Compag. de Jesus, ii. 6 Mémoires de l'Acad. 1720, p. 191. Voy. au Levant. called, Tourtechot1, and the celebrated travellers Shaw, Pocock, Norden, Hasselquist, Niebuhr, and Mariti. Several writers have asserted that sal-ammoniac comes also from the East Indies. It is mentioned by Tavernier among the wares which in his time were brought from Amadabat, in the territories of the Mogul, to Surat; and Geoffroy states, that when the trade of Marseilles was interrupted by the plague, the French obtained from Holland sal-ammoniac, which was shaped like a truncated cone, and was given out to be Indian 2. Pomet also says, that some of the same kind was formerly procured from Venice and Holland. But Gaubius asserts that he was never able to hear of any such salammoniac in Holland3; nor is it to be found in the price currents of the East India Company. I am almost inclined to suspect that these truncated cones were formed by the merchants from broken pieces or fragments of the Egyptian salammoniac, by solution and imperfect crystallization or sublimation. In this manner the merchants at Marseilles convert the refuse of the Egyptian sal-ammoniac into cakes by a new sublimation, in order that it may become more saleable, though it is not readily purchased by artists. Gaubius, however, has described a kind of sal-ammoniac which he obtained from India, with the information that it was made in Hindostan from the soot of animal dung; but in my opinion this requires further confirmation". Where and at what time the first works for making salammoniac were established in Europe, I am not able to determine. The account given by Thurneisser, that the first sal-ammoniac was made in the Tyrol in the ninth century, is truly ridiculous. It is not worth the trouble to inquire where he or Paracelsus found this foolish assertion. One might be almost induced to believe, that in the time of Boyle there were manufactories of sal-ammoniac in Europe. But per1 Mémoires de l'Acad. 1735, p. 107. 2 Mém. de l'Acad. 1723, p. 221, where a figure is given of it. Gaubii Adversaria. Leida 1771, 4to, p. 138. [As Dr. Royle observes, in his Essay on the Antiquity of Hindoo Medicine, p. 41, this salt must have been familiar to the Hindoos ever since they have burnt bricks, as they now do, with the manure of animals; as some may usually be found crystallized at the unburnt extremity of the kiln.] Though the sal-ammoniac that is made in the East may consist in haps there may be no other foundation for all this than the before-mentioned assertion of Cæsalpinus, that this salt came from Germany. At Bamberg, the Germans were long accustomed to boil the sediment of the salt-pans with old urine, and to sell it cheap for sal-ammoniac; and Weber asserts that some of the same kind is still made at Vienna. The hundred weight costs from twenty to thirty florins, but the refuse may be purchased for a mere trifle. If I am not mistaken, the first real manufactories of sal-ammoniac were established in Scotland; and, the oldest of these, perhaps, was that erected by Dovin and Hutton at Edinburgh in 1756, and which, like many in England, manufactures this salt on a large scale'. Among the later undertakings of this kind is Gravenhorst's manufactory at Brunswick, and that which in the neighbourhood of Gothenburg manufactures sal ammoniac from the refuse left in making train oil. [Sal-ammoniac is now prepared either by the destructive distillation of bones or coal. The gas-liquor supplies, we believe, the largest part. This fluid contains hydrosulphuret and carbonate with some other salts of ammonia. It is decomposed with sulphuric acid, and on evaporation the sulphate of ammonia is obtained in a crystalline state. This is then mixed with common salt and the mixture heated in iron vessels, whereupon the muriate of ammonia sublimes. Sal-ammoniac is exported in considerable quantities to Russia and other parts of the continent and to the United States.] FORKS. AT present forks are so necessary at table among polished nations, that the very idea of eating a meal without them excites disgust. The introduction of them, however, is of so great part of camel's urine, yet that which is made in Europe (where camels are rarities) and is commonly sold in our shops, is made of man's urine. Nat. Hist. of the Human Blood (Works, iv. p. 188). Arnot's History of Edinburgh. Ed. 1779, 4to, p. 601. modern a date, that they have scarcely been in use three centuries. "Tam prope ab origine rerum sumus," says Pliny, in speaking of a thing which, though very new, was then exceedingly common. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans have any name for these instruments; and no phrase or expression which, with the least probability, can be referred to the use of them, occurs anywhere in their writings. But had forks been known, this could not have been the case, since so many entertainments are celebrated by the poets or described by other writers; and they must also have been mentioned by Pollux, in the very full catalogue which he has given of articles necessary for the table. The Greek word creagra signified indeed a fork, but not a fork used at table. It meant merely a flesh-fork, or that instrument employed by cooks to take meat from a boiling pot, as is proved by the connexion of the words in all those passages where it occurs. It is mentioned by Pollux, and by Anaxippus, in Athenæus', among the utensils of the kitchen; and the scholiast on Aristophanes says that this fork had a resemblance to the hand, and was used to prevent the fingers from being scalded. Suidas quotes a passage where the word denotes a hook at the end of a long pole, with which people, even at present, draw up water-buckets from wells and other deep places. This instrument, therefore, appears sometimes to have had only a hook, but sometimes two or more prongs. Creagra occurs once in Martianus Capella, a Latin writer, but in a passage which is not intelligible. Equally inapplicable to our forks are the words furca, fuscina, furcilla, fuscinula, and gabalus, which are given in dictionaries. The first two were undoubtedly instruments which approached nearly to our furnace and hay forks. The trident of Neptune also was called fuscina. The furcilla even was large enough to be employed for a weapon of defence, as is proved by the expressions furcillis ejicere and expellere. Fuscinula, which in modern times is used chiefly for a table fork, is not to be found even once in any of the old Latin writers. The old translation of the Bible only explains the word кpeάypa by fuscinula. Gabalus, according to every appearance, has given rise to the German word gabeln, but it 1 Athen. lib. iv. p. 169. denotes the cross or gallows, which last word Voscius deduces from it. A learned Italian, who asserts also that the use of forks is very new, is of opinion that the Romans often used ligulæ instead of forks 1. This I shall not deny; but the ligula certainly had more resemblance to a small spatula, or tea-spoon, than to our forks. According to Martial, many spoons at the other end seem to have been ligula. But the two epigrams must be read in conjunction, so that the second may appear a continuation of the first; for the epithets habilis and utilis can be applied to no other term than ligula. Besides, it is certain that the titles of the epigrams, or at least the greater part of them, were not added by the poet, but by transcribers. The name also, which originally was lingula, gives an idea of the form. We read likewise that this instrument was used for scumming, for which purpose nothing is less fit than a fork3. I have, I know not how, a great unwillingness to represent the tables of our ancestors as without forks; yet this was certainly the case: and when we reflect on their manner of eating, it will readily be perceived that they could much easier dispense with the use of them than we can. All their food, as is still customary in the East, was dressed in such a manner as to be exceedingly tender, and therefore could be easily pulled to pieces. It appears however that people, though not in the earliest periods, employed the same means as our cooks, and suffered meat to lie some time that it might be easier dressed. We often read that cooks, in order to provide an entertainment speedily, will kill an animal, and having cleaned and divided it, roast it immediately, and then serve it up to their guests. But it is well known that the 1 Hieron. Baruffaldi Sched. de armis convivalibus. In Salengri Nov. Thes. Antiq. Rom. iii. p. 742. 2 Mart. Epigr. xiv. 120. Ligula Argentea. Quamvis me ligulam dicant equitesque patresque, 121. Cochlearia. Sum cochleis habilis, sed nec minus utilis ovis; Plin. Hist. Natur. xxi. 14. Columella, ix. 15, 13. That the liguls was smaller than the cochlear is proved by Martial, viii. 23. |