Salts are ubiquitous in nature and play critical roles in sciences from biology to medicine. In alchemy, salts are standard ingredients. Some essentials include Glauber’s salt, sal alembroth, sal ammoniac, sal petrae, salt (common salt), salt of tartar, salt of hartshorn, and tin salt.
1. Glauber’s Salt: Sodium Sulfate (Na₂SO₄)
Glauber’s salt, named after German chemist Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604-1670), is a well-known hydrate of sodium sulfate. In alchemical contexts, it's often considered a purification and cleansing agent. Also known as mirabilite, it's often used in alchemical experiments
In medicine Glauber's salt has laxative properties as it draws liquids into the intestines. With chemical formula Na₂SO₄·10H₂O, this salt is highly soluble in water and often appears as a white crystalline solid.
2. Sal Alembroth: Amalgam of Ammonium and Mercury
Sal alembroth is an alchemical salt composed of equal amounts of ammonium chloride and corrosive sublimate (mercury). Known as the Salt of Wisdom, it's important to alchemy experiments such as tincture creation of tinctures, and as a catalyst in transformations.
Earliest known use of the noun sal alembroth is in the Middle English period (1150 - 1500). Historically, sal alembroth is a compound or catalyst in chemical reactions and methods of extraction. In modern times it's rarely used due to hazards of mercury toxicity.
3. Sal Ammoniac (Ammonium Chloride)
Sal Ammoniac or ammonium chloride is known for use in metallurgy, particularly soldering. Salammoniac, sal ammoniac or salmiac, is a rare mineral found in nature. It consists of ammonium chloride, NH4Cl and forms colorless, white, or yellow-brown crystals.
Salammoniac exhibits very poor cleavage and tends to fracture in a brittle, conchoidal way. It is soft, with a Mohs hardness ranging from 1.5 to 2, and soluble in water. Salis armoniaci is the common medieval name for sal ammoniac). 🜹 is the alchemy sign for salammoniac.
The first attested reference to sal ammoniac as ammonium chloride is in the Pseudo-Geber work De inventione veritatis (on the discovery of truth). A preparation method is given in the chapter De Salis armoniaci præparatione
4. Sal Petra (Salt of Petra/Saltpeter/Nitrate of Potash, KNO₃)
Sal Petra, saltpeter or potassium nitrate, is a vital alchemical salt with significant historical importance as a preservative and in the creation of gunpowder. It's instrumental in glass-making.
In the supermarket meat often looks very red. This due to potassium nitrate. Added to meat it causes a reaction between the myoglobin and hemoglobin in the blood, reddening the meat.
As a source of nitrogen it acts as both fertilizer and food preservative. It also has applications in the production of nitric acid and in various chemical processes such as creation of Royal Water or aqua regia.
5. Salt/Common Salt: Sodium Chloride (NaCl)
Common salt, or sodium chloride, is perhaps the most widely recognized salt and an essential compound for life. Used as a seasoning and preservative for centuries, NaCl is vital for maintaining electrolyte balance in biological systems.
Beyond cuisine it's valued in chemical industry processes, production of chlorine and soda ash, and de-icing roads during winter. In humans and other life forms, sodium and chloride ions are critical for nerve impulse transmission and cellular function.
In the alchemical tria prima, salt is the stabilizing factor for mercury and sulfur. In trade and commerce the preservative and medicinal (antibacterial) properties of salt are used to salt fish for trade and travel, and in preparations to treat infections.
6. Salt of Tartar: Potassium Carbonate (K₂CO₃)
Salt of Tartar, also known as potash, is a potassium carbonate compound forming as a byproduct of winemaking. This alchemical salt is used in various tinctures and elixirs.
The salt is valued in food, widely used in baking as a leavening agent when combined with an acid. Applications extend to glassmaking, fertilizers, and mild alkaline in cleaning products.
Potassium carbonate is the prime component of potash and the more refined pearl ash or salts of tartar. Historically, pearl ash is made by baking potash in a kiln to remove impurities. The fine, white powder remaining is pearl ash. Tartar salts are used in soap and glass production.
7. Salt of Hartshorn: Ammonium Carbonate ((NH₄)₂CO₃)
Salt of Hartshorn, or sal volatile, is ammonium carbonate created through the distillation of animal bones and horns. This is a salt of Alchemist Dippel of Castle Frankenstein, who creates an animal bone oil in his lab, later claiming it to be an elixir of immortality.
The Salt of Hartshorn, derived from distilling bones and horns, is primarily ammonium carbonate from animal horn. It's historically used as a remedy for various ailments and a leavening agent in baking. Today it's often used in confectionery.
8. Tin Salt: Hydrated Stannous Chloride (SnCl₂)
Tin Salt, hydrated stannous chloride or tin(II) chloride is a white crystalline solid. It forms a stable dihydrate, but aqueous solutions tend to undergo hydrolysis (breakdown of bonds between substances), particularly if hot.
SnCl2 in acid solution is widely used as a reducing agent. Stannous chloride is used in electrolytic baths for tin-plating. Tin(II) chloride should not be confused with the other chloride of tin; tin(IV) chloride or stannic chloride (SnCl4).
Tin has the symbol ♃ in alchemy, corresponding to planet Jupiter. Hydrated stannous chloride, or tin salt, has numerous applications in the tin plating industry and as a reducing agent in various chemical reactions. Tin is often used in the making of asem, silver and gold.
It’s used to produce spiritus fumans, another chloride of tin, acting in the synthesis of other chemical compounds. It's important to analytical chemistry and food preservation. Spiritus fumans (lit. smoking spirit) or stannic chloride is used as a chemical weapon in World War I.
Alum
Alum is a chemical compound, usually a hydrated double sulfate salt of aluminum, general formula XAl(SO4)2·12 H2O, such that X is a monovalent cation like potassium or ammonium. On its own, "alum" often means potassium alum. Other alums include sodium alum and ammonium alum.
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