Soap (r'^"3, fioiilh ; Sept. noa) occurs in Jcr. ii, 22, " For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take tliec much soap, yet thine iniijiiity is marked before me, »aith the lyoril (iod;" and again in ]Mal. ill, 2. '■ Hut who may aliide the day of his comingV and who shall Htaiiil when he appearelhV for he is like a refiner's tire, and like fullers' soap." Frum neither of these passages •Iocs it distinctly appear whether the substance refer- red to by the name of Imh ilh was obtained from the mineral or from the vegeiaMf kingdom; but it is evi- dent that it was po^s(■^sed of cleansing properties, and thin is couliruied by the origin and signilicalion of the wonl, which is thus illustrated by (Jelsius: " .\ verbo "1"IZ, Ixirdr, punjicdfil, qua: vox eliam apud Chaldicos, Synm, Arabcs, ill usu fuit, descendit nomen "53, tmr, pu- ritat" (llirriilxil. i, 4-llt). So Maimonides, on the Tal- mud tract Slieviitlah, ".Species ablutiouibus ai)tic, uti »unt l>orith et ahal." In fact, the simple 13, In'ir, it- wlfdenoteji a vegetable alkali used for washing (.lobix, 80) and as a flux for melals ( Isa. i, 2.'>). .See Ai.kai.i.
The word b<ir\(h is verj- similar to the hmuk of the
Arabs, written haiirukh in the Latin translations of Se- rapion and Avicenna, and translated nitrum. that is, na- tron, or carbonate of soda. Boruk appears, however, to have been used in a generic rather than in a specific sense, as in the Persian works on materia medica (de- rived chietly from the Arabic) which have been collated we find that no less than six different kinds of boruk (Persian bihe/i) are enumerateil, of which some are nat- ural, as the Armenian, the African, etc., and others ar- tificial, as that obtained from burning the wood of the po|)lar, also that employed in the preparation of glass. Of these it is evident that the last two are chemically nearly the same, being both carbonates of alkalies. The incineration of most plants, as well as of the poplar, yields the carbonate of potash (commonlj' called potash, or pearlash); while carbonate of soda, or barilla, is the alkali used in the preparation of glass. Previous to the comi)osition of bodies having been definitely ascertained by correct chemical analysis, dissimilar substances were often groupeil together under one general term; while others, althuugli similar in composition, were separated on account of some unimportant character, as difference of color or of origin, etc. It is unnecessary for our present purpose to ascertain the other substances in- cluded by tlie Arabs under the general terra of boruk, which may have been also included under the nitrum of the (Jreeks. It is evident that both the carbonate of soda and of potash were comprehended under one name by the former. It would be difficult, therefore, to distinguish the one from the other, unless some cir- cumstances were added in addition to the mere name. Thus in the above passage of Jeremiah we have neter (nitre) and borith (soap) indicated as being both em- ployed for washing or possessed of some cleansing prop- erties, and yet, from occurring in the saine passage, they must have differed in some respects. The term natron, we know, was in later times confined to the salt ob» tained chiefly from the natron lakes of Egypt, and neter may also have been so in earlier times. Since, there- fore, the natural carbonate of soda is mentioned in one part of the verse, it is very probable that the artificial carbonates may be alluded to in the other, as both were in early times employed by Asiatic nations for the pur- poses of washing. The carbonate of potash, obtained from the burning of most ])lants growing at a distance from the sea or a saline soil, might not have been dis- tinguished from the carbonate of soda, produced from the ashes of plants growing on the shores of the sea or of salt-water lakes. Hence it is probable that the ashes of plants, called boruk and boreh by Asiatic nations, may be alluded to under the naine of borith, as there is no proof that soap is intended, though it may have been known to the same people at very early periods. Still less is it probaldc that borax is meant, as has been sup- posed by some authors, apparently from the mere simi- larity of name.
Supposing that the ashes or juices of plants are in- tended by the word borith, the next point of inquirj' is whether it is to be restricfe<l to those of any particular plants. The ashes of the poplar are mentioned by Ara- bian authors and of the vine by Dioscorides; tliose of the plantain anil of the Jinlea J'rondosa by .Sanscrit au- thors— thus indicating that the jilants which were most common, or which were used for fuel or other purposes in the ditl'erent coinitries. hail also their ashes, that is, imjiure carbonate of potash, employed for washing, etc. I'sually the ashes only of plants growing on the sea- shore have been thought to be intended. All these, as before mentioned, would yield barilla, or carbonate of soda. INIany of them have been burned for the soda they yield on the coasts of India, of the Ked Sea, and of the Jlediterranean. They belong chiefly to the nat- ural family of the Chi-uopnilca: and to that of the Mc- nernhnjauthcmiimit. In Arabic authors, the plant yield- ing soda is said to be called ishniin, and its Persian name is stated to be f/liasul, both words signifying "the washer," or " washing-herb." Kauwolf points out two