SAL AMMONIAC.
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Alum was also, in comparatively ancient times, pro-cured in Sardinia , Macedonia, and Spain , in a naturalstate; since which time the local spots where it existedyield a saline substance called alum salt.
SAL AMMONIAC.
It appears, from a writer of confessed Greek and Latin erudition, that Pliny , Dioscorides , and others of the ancientnaturalists and historians, were unacquainted with (lie articlenow known by the name of sal ammoniac; although, itseems, they also had a substance which they termed ’A*; apt-(amiizxo;, or sal ammoniacus, which Pliny alleges to havebeen a native rock-salt found in the Lybian deserts, nearthe temple of Jupiter Ammon; whence our author appearsto infer, he thinks it derived its name, which opinion heappears to have drawn from a passage in Synesius , who was anative Egyptian, born in the fifth century in Cyrene , andwas a bishop of Ptolemais, the capital of that district. Inone of his letters, he describes the many productions of hisnative country, among others, he mentions sal ammoniacvs ;thus, Tourovf A/xpxvos xaXcvfx ev t ou; aXx;' zsrpx ie aura; 4'apapxxai xpuTTTti, rtv or as aphit; cTTiSeS^npievnv uJTTtp sorcfoaia, pourravn710}Xv hm x l P a ’ 1 Kal crxxMiriv apouv to @a8o; : to oe avaxuvvvpicvor ccAe;eiotv, iJiev te ySeis, xat ysvtracrSai rvt nJwEif. Synesii Opera,ed. Petavii Leutetice, 1612, fo. p. 284, ep. 147. Both, ac-cording to appearance and taste, were of a good quality, fitfor use ; that it lay under a soft sort of stone, which coveredit like a crust; that it could be easily extracted when thestone was removed.
We have also the united testimony of Herodotus , Strabo ,Arrian , and others, which appears to prove that rock-saltwas dug up in Ammonia, and thence transported as anarticle of merchandize. 1 The first mentions a hill of salt,and we are informed by the last, that native salt was broughtto Egypt as presents to the king and others, from the neigh-bourhood of Ammon, by the priests of that place, in boxesmade of palms, worked together. Many pieces were threeinches in length; and because this substance was purer thanbay-salt, and as clear as crystal, it was particularly em-ployed in sacrifices. This salt is conceived to be that which,under the name of sal ammoniacus, was sent from Egypt to