It was used to make soap. Ashes of it were a major ingredient of soap. The
Phoenicians were producing soap by the 5th century B.C.

Neal Robbins

Dan Milewski <milewski@...> wrote:
Why were they interested in nastrum - what was it good for? TIA, Dan.

Neal Robbins wrote:

>
> According to the ancient Roman writer Pliny, this is how the
> Phoenicians discovered how to make glass:
>
> A group of Phoenician sailors had gone and acquired a cargo of
> nastrum. It is a subcarbonate of soda. The ship stopped at the
> Phoenician coast and the sailors went ashore to make dinner. They
> were at the mouth of the Belus River. The sailors could not find any
> stones to prop up their cooking utensils. They decided to use one of
> the blocks of nastrum and it mixed with the siliceous sand at the
> base. Thus a stream of glass was formed. The Phoenician sailors
> realized that they had accidentally discovered a technique for making
> glass.
> We do not know if this story is true, but it is plausible. It is
> certainly not impossible.
>
> Neal Robbins
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> * To visit your group on the web, go to:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ontheoriginofspecies/
>
> * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> ontheoriginofspecies-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
<mailto:ontheoriginofspecies-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
>
>
> * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
> Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links

To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ontheoriginofspecies/

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ontheoriginofspecies-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.



---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]