COMMON SALT. 129 
cerating them in it for several months previously to their 
being embalmed. Large quantities of this salt are 
sometimes imported into England, by the East India 
Company's ships, from China, and other parts of the 
East. It is employed in the manufacture of soap, and 
for the washing of linen. Glass-makers mix it with sand 
for the formation of glass. On the continent it is ad- 
ministered as a medicine in complaints of the bowels 
and liver. The ancients sometimes employed a mixture 
of natron for soaking their seed corn, under an impres- 
sion, that, when afterwards committed to the earth, it 
would thereby be rendered more fertile. 
202. COMMON SALT, or MUR1 AT of SODA, though 
found in some countries in a solid and massive state, . is for the 
most part an artificial preparation from sea-water, and from 
the water of salt lakes and- brine springs. It consists of soda 
(200) in combination with muriatic acid (29). 
Few productions, either natural or artificial, are in 
so much request as common salt. It is used by the in- 
habitants of nearly all countries, for correcting the insi- 
pidity of food. When applied in small quantities, it acce- 
lerates the putrid fermentation; and, in this case, is consi- 
dered to aid digestion, by promoting the decomposition 
of the aliments. In larger quantity it has a contrary 
effect, and tends to preserve organic substances from 
corruption. Salt is used for glazing the surface of 
coarse earthenware; and is employed in several pro- 
cesses of dyeing. 
When this substance is dug out of the earth it has the 
appellation of rock salt : and immense masses of it are 
found in different countries of the world. The most 
considerable, as well as the most celebrated salt mines, 
with which we are acquainted, are those about five 
miles from Cracow, in Poland ; and it is supposed that 
they contain more salt than would be sufficient to sup- 
ply the wants of the whole world for several thousand 
years. On descending to the bottom of these mines, 
a stranger is astonished to find a kind of subterraneous 
G5 
