How did glassworts change personal hygiene?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
June 25, 2002
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Soap is a combination of fatty acids and alkali. Its discovery would have been one of observation; every cooking pit had the ingredients—ashes, fats, and water. A carbon chain from the fats and a sodium or potassium ion from the ashes formed a unique molecule. The carbon chain being lipophilic (fat-loving) and the ion being hydrophilic (water-loving) allowed oil and water to mix.
Lye soap from wood ash and animal fats is not pleasant; it smells bad and is caustic. Its use was limited to cleaning, dishes, and laundry. Bathing in Roman, Greek, and Egyptian cultures used herbs to scent the water and plants with saponins (natural soap-like compounds). The poverty and lack of civil infrastructure caused personal hygiene to fall out of favor during the Dark Ages.
Around 1300 CE, a new soap was invented in southern Europe. Olive oil (Olea europaea Linnaeus) replaced animal fats and barilla replaced wood ash. Barilla was sodium carbonate, the ashes of the glassworts (Salicornia herbacea, Salsola kali, and others). The ash could be refined by careful and complete burning. (Barilla or barrilla was the ash used to make soap; allume di catino was the ash used to make glass. Different names, similar plant ashes. (See Plants that Changed History, June 18, 2002)
The olive oil/barilla soap could be 'salted-out' or boiled with brine. The soap would float to the surface leaving lye and impurities in the brine. The pure soap was skimmed off and hardened in wooden or metal frames. This hard white soap was the first that could safely be used on the skin. It was named Castile for the region of Spain where most of it was produced.
Peter v. Sengbusch of the University of Hamburg has beautiful photographs of the olive (Olea europaea). To view the photographs, click on the link:
http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e52/olea.htm
The Linnean herbarium has a photograph of jointed glasswort, Salicornia herbacea. To view the photograph, click on the link:
http://linnaeus.nrm.se/botany/fbo/s/salic/saliher.html.en
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~6~~7~~8~~9~~10~~
Suggested Reading:
Why were Mennonites blamed for a Russian invasion? Plants that Changed History - July 2, 2002
Why must the tumbleweed tumble? Weird Plants - June 27, 2002
What is fry bread? Renfield's Garden - November 20, 2002
Why did wheat become a major crop in North America? Plants that Changed History - Sep. 11, 2001
Why did Mennonites plant sunflowers? Plants that Changed History - May 13, 2003
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