Potash and Phosphorus 



in water, to which it imparts its properties, 

 especially the smell and the sharp taste. 



If we wish to isolate the latter we shall 

 find no difficulty. We need only put the 

 clear liquid in a vessel on the fire and heat it 

 until none of the water is left. A very small 

 quantity of a whitish substance will remain, 

 looking something like pounded salt. In 

 spite of its appearance it is not kitchen salt — 

 far from it : we should discover this quickly 

 from its taste, which is unendurable. It is 

 called potash. This is the one among all the 

 components of the ashes that is most necessary 

 to vegetation. Every tree, shrub and plant, 

 to the least blade of grass, contains a certain 

 amount of it, more or less according to its 

 species, and must therefore find it in the 

 ground if it is to prosper. But in plants 

 potash does not exist in the same condition 

 as we find it after the action of fire and the 

 reduction to ashes. In them it is combined 

 with other substances, which deprive it of its 

 burning and sharp taste. In the same way 

 the carbon, when combined with other 

 matters, is no longer black and hard. 



What else is there in the ashes ? We may 

 learn from a short story. In 1669 there lived 

 in Hamburg, a town in Germany, an old 



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