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Fullers' Soap

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature

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The word thus rendered occurs in two passages of Scripture—first, in; and again in . From neither of these passages does it distinctly appear whether the substance referred to was obtained from the mineral or from the vegetable kingdom. But it is evident that it was possessed of cleansing properties. It is probable that the ashes of plants may be alluded to, as there is no proof that soap is intended, though it may have been known to the same people at very early periods. Usually the ashes only of plants growing on the sea-shore have been thought to be intended. All these would yield barilla, or carbonate of soda. Many of them have been burned, for the soda they yield, on the coasts of India, of the Red Sea, and of the Mediterranean.