The word _soap_ (_sapo_) occurs first in Pliny. He informs us that it was an invention of the Gauls, who employed it to render their hair shining; that it was a compound of wood-ashes and tallow, that there were two kinds of it, _hard_ and _soft_ (_spissus et liquidus_); and that the best kind was made of the ashes of the beech and the fat of goats. Among the Germans it was more employed by the men than the women.[88] It is curious that no allusion whatever is made by Pliny to the use of soap as a detergent; shall we conclude from this that the most important of all the uses of soap was unknown to the ancients?
[88] Plinii Hist. Nat. xxviii. 12. The passage of Pliny is as follows: “Prodest et sapo; Gallorum hoc inventum rutilandis capillis ex sevo et cinere. Optimus fagino et caprino, duobus modis, spissus et liquidus: uterque apud Germanos majore in usu viris quam feminis.”
It was employed by the ancients as a pomatum; and, during the early part of the government of the emperors, it was imported into Rome from Germany, as a pomatum for the young Roman beaus. Beckmann is of opinion that the Latin word _sapo_ is derived from the old German word _sepe_, a word still employed by the common people of Scotland.[89]
It is well known that the state of soap depends upon the alkali employed in making it. _Soda_ constitutes a _hard_ soap, and _potash_ a _soft_ soap. The ancients being ignorant of the difference between the two alkalies, and using wood-ashes in the preparation of it, doubtless formed soft soap. The addition of some common salt, during the boiling of the soap, would convert the soft into hard soap. As Pliny informs us that the ancients were acquainted both with hard and soft soap, it is clear that they must have followed some such process.
The manufacture of starch was known to the ancients. Pliny informs us that it was made from wheat and from _siligo_, which was probably a variety or sub-species of wheat. The invention of starch is ascribed by Pliny to the inhabitants of the island of Chio, where in his time the best starch was still made. Pliny’s description of the method employed by the ancients of making starch is tolerably exact. Next to the China starch that of Crete was most celebrated; and next to it was the Egyptian. The qualities of starch were judged of by the weight; the lightest being always reckoned the best.