C 559 ]| 
Quality, which will make it more aperient and de- 
tergent, but not fo mild and foft as Tome others $ 
by which it may be more fit for obftinate and in- 
durated ObftruCtions, but will be more offenfive to 
the Stomach > which is much complained of by 
fomc People, who take large Quantities of the 
fharper Kinds of Soap. 
But, to confider Pot afh as a Conimodity in Trade 
and Manufactures, which is its chief Ufe; it ap- 
pears, that the People in England not only have it 
at a dear Rate, but the worft Sorts of it, at lead 
for mod Purpofes; which cannot but have a pro- 
portional Influence on their Manufactures: For it is 
generally of as great, and fome Sorts of a greater 
Value in their Markets; than a pure lixivial Salt 5 not- 
withflanding the fmall Quantity of fuch Salt in 
Alhes, and the Trouble and Expence of extracting it; 
which feems to be occafioned by their not knowing 
how to convert Afhes into this Commodity ; for in 
Sweden, where this Art is known, Lundmarck tells 
us, Pot-afh is fold for little more than a Farthing a 
Pound, which cofls our Workmen nigh Six-pence. 
But this is not the only Inconvenience we 
labour under for want of this Commodity ; the 
Sorts we are chiefly lupplied with arc perhaps the 
worft of any, and unfit for many Purpofes for 
which Pot-afh is ufed. The only Pot : afli almofl 
to be met with here, comes from RuJJia , Sweden , 
and ‘Dantzick , or is made in England . Thefe 
are all made either of Wood or Fern -afhes, whofe 
Salts are never fo pure and white at the beft, 
as fome others: But, by the Way of making them, 
and the Experiments on them above-mentioned. 
