A True Recipe

had this virtue, it could serve many times, but as soon as it has served once, the humidity of the hide has caused attraction and has dissolved the salt that was in the bark, and has taken it and drawn it to itself to fortify and harden itself. And thus, the said bark is of no more use than to put in the fire, after it has served but once.

Another example. I remember having seen certain stones that were made of burned straw, which cannot be done without the said straws holding within themselves a great quantity of salt. Item, fire once caught in a barn full of hay; the fire was so great that the said hay was finally reduced to stone, in the manner that I have told you of the salicor glasswort and of the fern. But because in that hay there is less salt than in the salicor and in the tartar, the said stones of hay and straw are not subject to dissolution but endure the injury of time, as a lump of iron slag might. I also know that many glassmakers, those who make the glass for windows, use the ash of beech wood in place of salicor, which is worth as much as saying that the ash of the said beech is nothing other than salt: for otherwise it could not serve for this business. When I would like to put in writing all the examples that I could find, it would take me a very long time: but for a conclusion, I tell you, as above, that there is an infinite number of species of salt, indeed as many diverse species as there are diverse flavors. Copperas and vitriol are nothing but salt, borax is nothing but salt, alum is salt, saltpeter is salt, and nitre is salt. I tell you that without salt being in all things, they could not sustain themselves; rather, they would suddenly be putrefied and annihilated. Salt firms up and prevents the putrefaction of lard and other meats; witness the Egyptians, who made great pyramids to guard the bodies of their deceased Kings. And to prevent the putrefaction of the said bodies, they powdered them with nitre, which is a salt, as I have said, and with certain spices that hold within themselves a great quantity of salt. And by such means, their bodies were preserved without putrefaction: even until this day, one still finds them in said pyramids, which have been so well preserved that the flesh of the said