NaCl - SALT... made the world go round....

salt & ECONOMICS] salt & [ PHYSIOLOGY ] salt & [ GEOLOGY] salt & [ RELIGION ] salt & [ PALAEOCLIMATEOLOGY] salt & [ PALAEGEOGRAPHY] salt & [ ARCHAEOLOGY] salt & [ PRODUCTION] salt & [ MONOMANIA ] salt & [ HOME PAGE - SALT made the world go round
. The physiological requirement by the human body is immediate and life sustaining, . Many other everyday uses are, today taken for granted. In ancient times, before any chemical analysis was possible, experience and wisdom, was necessary to discern the purity of the salt , for specific applications. To sustain a growing population, even more salt was required. The fact that salt may have been available , or was relatively easy to produce, was a basic condition , which allowed a population to increase, and develop. . Where salt was not available..... populations stagnated.

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OTHER MAJOR USES of SALT
PATIO process [silver] - hot & cold medicine - tanning - preservative - explosives

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Some of the industries allied to the availability of salt, gave certain populations with enough salt, and a steady reliable supply of salt, the chance to take enormous leaps into a new world of culture, health, and well being.

Table 6. Uses of salt                                   
Country                 U.S.A   Germany France
Period                  1950    1900    1750
Uses:                                   
        Food            700,000 tons    450,000 tons    80,000 tons
        Meat            1,000,000 tons          
                Preserve                        
        Fish                            
        Livestock               800,000 tons            100,000 tons
        Miscellaneous           3,250,000 tons          
        Leather         250,000 tons    30,000 tons     
        Soda chlorine           10,000,000 tons 400,000 tons    
Overall use                     16,000,000 tons 1,200,000 tons  180,000 tons
Inhabitants                     180,000,000     60,000,000 tons 25,000,000 tons
Salt used for person (kg) per year                      88      20      7.2

Medicine

Patio process - silver mining

Until the Spanish conquest, and before 1500, the main uses of salt in Mexico, and mesoamerica, ware physiological, ritual and as a preservative for fish. These ensured the high living standards of the Maya. The Spanish took over the numerous salt sources, and in a fell swoop, took control of this part of the continent. A process developed in Mexico, was the Patio process used to leach silver from ore, with a sodium solution. This became a major industry, and the demand for salt became greater. Although some salt had to be imported, the huge capacity of the local evaporation sources of Yucatan, did keep pace.

Tanning industry

With the advent of an agricultural society, the provision of meat products with the necessary protein content, had to be centralised and distribution of a 'safe' to consume meat, ie: dehydrated carcass was monopolised by those who controlled the salt supplies. This gave rise to a 'tanning' industry, a direct bye-product, from the 'abattoir'. Hides were a primary commodity, for everyday products, shoes, clothes, and military protective acoutrements.

Grandmothers's uses

Over the ages, thousands of other uses seem to have given salt a reputation which in today's environment, and technological advance, make us smile and which we probably take "with a pinch of....." However many of these 'secrets' were daily practice. Altogether it's believed there are more than 14,000 uses of salt, and our grandmothers were probably familiar with most of them. Many of these uses were for simple things around the home before the advent of modern chemicals and cleaners. However, many uses are still valid today and a lot cheaper than using more sophisticated products.

Preservative

Gold extraction

Bibliography- Please mail: David Bloch- mblsalt@ibm.net. ,

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MRBLOCH ARCHIVE, is researching the significance, of SALT [NaCl] through the period 1000 BC . up to the Industrial Revolution.

For detailed references of statements made here, or Bibliography- Please mail:

David Bloch - mblsalt@ibm.net.

salt & ECONOMICS] salt & [ PHYSIOLOGY ] salt & [ GEOLOGY] salt & [ RELIGION ] salt & [ PALAEOCLIMATEOLOGY] salt & [ PALAEGEOGRAPHY] salt & [ ARCHAEOLOGY] salt & [ PRODUCTION] salt & [ MONOMANIA ] salt & [ HOME PAGE - SALT made the world go round

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