Potash: Not Just for Soap
James Boyd Davies. The practical naturalist's guide: containing instructions for collecting, preparing and preserving specimens in arsenic all departments of zoology, intended for the use of students, amateurs and travellers, 1858. Recipes for arsenic soaps.On today, July 31, in 1790, the first U.S. Patent was granted to Samuel Hopkins. From the United States Patent and Trademark Office:
On July 31, 1790 Samuel Hopkins was issued the first patent for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer. The patent was signed by President George Washington. Hopkins was born in Vermont, but was living in Philadelphia, PA when the patent was granted.
Potash, from Wikipedia:
Potash is the common name for potassium carbonate and various mined and manufactured salts that contain the element potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains.
Potash is used to make everything from soap to fertilizer to glass. The recipe book above focuses mainly on arsenic soap, for a naturalist's preservation of specimens, but includes potash in one recipe, where one can "form cakes like ordinary soap." The Libraries has many items from across its collections, including trade catalogs, which feature potash and its many uses in industry:
American Potash & Chemical Corporation. New York, N.Y. : American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 1936- [Trade catalogs on trona products : potassium chloride, borax, technical borax, agricultural borax, pyrobar, soda ash, salt cakes, potash salts, soda products, bromide, sodium bromide, lithium salt, boron, boric acid, muriate of potash, chemical muriate, sulphate of potash, desiccated sodium sulphate, bromine, lithium concentrates ... ]
American Potash Institute. Washington, D.C. : American Potash Institute, 1940- [Trade catalogs on potash, fertilizers (potassium fertilizers, garden fertilizers), liming, corn silage ... ]
The economics of the potash industry. [by] Jules Backman. [Washington, American potash institute, inc., 1946]
Abhandlung von der Anlage und dem Bau einer neu eingerichteten, am Brand spahrenden, bei den Vorwerken so nützlichen Pottaschensiederei [microform]. Franz Ludwig von Cancrin. Frankfurt am Mayn : Hermann, 1791. Microfilm. London : British Museum Photographic Service, [1968?] 1 microfilm reel : negative ; 35 mm. Lübecks Erben, 1800. Subject: Potash industry and trade -- Early works to 1800.
Dr. Feuchtwanger's practical treatise on soluble or water glass: (silicates of soda or potash); its application to artificial stone and to render wood fire and rot-proof; containing the latest information for its use in paints, soap, paper, cements and calico printing. by Dr. Lewis Feuchtwanger. New York, N.Y.: L. Feuchtwanger, 1875.
Periphery and the centre: the 19th century trade of Kano. Marion Johnson. Discusses the Saharan trade between Kano and North Africa which included textiles, slaves, ivory, ostrich feathers, tanned goatskin, salt, natron (potash), and kola. Published for the Department of History, Bayero University, Kano, by Heinemann Educational Books, 1983
—Elizabeth Periale
