504 PLINY'S STATUKAL HISTOEY. [Book XXXI. 



the pungency of salt. 12 In other places, again, the wood of 

 the hazel is held in high esteem ; and thus, we see, by pouring 

 brine upon it, charcoal even is converted into salt. All salt 

 that is thus prepared with burning wood is black. I find it 

 stated by Theophrastus, that the Umbri 13 are in the habit of 

 boiling ashes of reeds and bulrushes in water, till there remains 

 but little moisture unconsumed. The brine, too, of salted 

 provisions is sometimes boiled over again, and, as soon as all 

 the moisture h as-evaporated, the salt resumes its original form. 

 That prepared from the pickle of the msena 14 has the finest 

 flavour. 



CHAP. 41. THE VAKIOTJS PROPERTIES OF SALT: ONE HUNDRED 



AND TWENTY HISTORICAL REMARKS RELATIVE THERETO. 



Of the various kinds of sea-salt, the most esteemed is that of 

 Salamis, in Cyprus ; and of the lake-salts, that of Tarentum, 

 and the salt known as Tattsean salt, which comes from Phrygia: 

 these last two are also good for the eyes. That of Cappadocia, 

 which is imported in small cubes, 15 imparts a fine colour, it is 

 said, to the skin ; but, for effacing wrinkles, that which we 

 have 1G already spoken of as the salt of Citium is the best : 

 hence it is that, in combination with gith, 17 it is used by fe- 

 males as a liniment for the abdomen after childbirth. The 

 drier the salt, the stronger it is in taste ; but the most agree- 

 able of all, and the whitest known, is that of Tarentum. In 

 addition to these particulars, we would remark also, that the 

 whiter salt is, the more friable it is. Rain-water deadens 

 every kind of salt, but dew-water makes it more delicate in 

 flavour. North-easterly winds render the formation of salt 

 more abundant, but, while south winds prevail, it never in- 

 creases. It is only while north-easterly winds prevail, that 

 flower of salt 1S is formed. Neither the salt of Tragasa, nor 



12 " 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/' Beck- 

 inann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 493. John's Ed. 



13 Not improbably a people of India so called, and mentioned in B. vi. 

 c. 20. i4 gee B. ix. c. 42. 



15 " In laterculis." Hardouin considers this to mean small earthen 

 vessels or pipes. 



16 In c. 39 of this Book. 17 u Melanthiura." See B. xx. c. 17- 

 18 " Flos sails." Further mentioned in c. 42. 



