Ki''
ITS ROMANTIC
ISTORY AND THE STORY OF
HOW IT IS MINED AND HOW
IT IS REFINED
By Mason Gould
Modern Technology has brought us such an
abundance of things that we take them for grant
ed. We forget that not so many years ago thev
were either non-existent or so scarce that blood
was shed in struggles for their control
Salt is such a product. Without it in vour body,
you would quickly die. Have you ever realized,
as you casually sprinkle your food with salt, that
its scarcity was one of the major causes of the
bloody French Revolution.?
Yes, salt (sodium chloride or NaCL), has had
a colorful history. References to it date all the
way back to 2700 B.C., indicating the vital role
played by this now common compound. Marco
Polo spoke of it. So did the Bible. So did Plato
and Homer and Shakespeare in their famous
works.
USED AS MONEY
In old China, salt was second only to gold in
value. Salt cakes, bearing the stamp of the Great
Khan, were used as money in Tibet during the
13 th Century. Slaves were once sold in exch^ange
for salt on the Gold Coast of Africa. And in the
days of the Roman legionnaires, soldiers received
part of their pay in salt or were given a "salarium”
(allowance to buy their ration of salt). Hence
our present word "salary” and the expression,
"He’s not worth his salt”. Salt is still used as
money in some parts of Africa and the South
Sea Islands.
No article of food has been so ruthlessly ex
ploited by rulers to keep down their people as
salt. The most famous example is the salt tax in
France in the 18th Century. A small, favored
group was given the right to refine and sell salt
at prices too high for the poor to pay. So when
the poor tried to produce salt by evaporating sea
water, they were imprisoned, and tortured, or in
the event of a second offense, sent to their deaths
by hanging. This abuse helped to stir up the
French Revolution.
In 1930, Mahatma Ghandi and his followers led
a revolt against the salt tax in India.
IMPORTANT ROLE IN WARS
Salt has played an important part in wars, too.
One of the reasons why Napoleon was forced to
retreat from Moscow was because he ran out of
salt for his troops. This deficiency caused low re
sistance to infection. Many of his soldiers’ wounds,
though not serious at first, proved fatal.
The early American pioneers, during their surge
westward, fought the Indians over valuable salt
licks.
And during the Civil ^Jf^ar, the North success
fully waged a campaign to cut off the South’s
ialt supply at the Saltville, Virginia works.
VIIAL TO DIET
^^hy is salt so important.? Because if it were
left out of your diet, you would soon die. And
that goes for animals as well as humans. Salt is
present in your blood and tissues. It governs the
exchange of water in your tissues and maintains
the proper osmotic pressure. Your body is con
tinually throwing off salt through your kidneys
and glands, so it must be replaced. Every adult
needs two-thirds of an ounce of salt every day.
14,000 USES
At the last count, there were more than 14.000
ways in which salt can be used. In the United
States, world’s leading producer of salt, salt used
in the manufacture of chemicals is the chief use.
Dry salt for livestock ranks second, and salt for
household use is in third place.
Salt is used in the food industry in meat and
fish curing, in canning, and in producing many
products. It is used in the home for seasoning
food, freezing ice cream, removing soot, cleaning
teeth, and melting ice and snow from the walk
and driveway. It is used on the farm for feeding
livestock, salt hay, controlling weeds, and as an