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Few items of commerce are more ubiquitous or in more frequent use than soap. Few proprietary products have been offered over a longer period to the public by pharmacists, and by chemists and druggists before them, than some long established brands of toilet soap. Soap is perhaps the first manufactured substance with which we come into contact in our lives and it remains a daily necessity thereafter. For how long has this inexpensive but essential product been such a feature of daily life and how did its adoption come about?
By John A. Hunt, PhD, FRPharmS
There is no clear evidence that the use of soap for personal hygiene pre-dates the Christian era. Two mentions appear in the Old Testament. “For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me,” says the book of Jeremiah. A more modern translation reads: “Though you wash with soda and use soap lavishly… .”1 There are doubts as to whether this is a reference to true soap. It has been suggested that possibly a lye, made by mixing alkaline plant ash with water, was referred to, or possibly some form of Fuller’s earth.2 This view is perhaps supported by the second mention, on virtually the final page of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, in which both the authorised version of 1611 and the modern translation read virtually identically: “He is like a refiner’s fire, like a fuller’s soap.”3 It has been suggested that some form of soap, made by boiling fat with ashes, was being made in Babylon as early as 2800BC, but probably used only for washing garments. Pliny the Elder (7BC AD) mentions that soap was being produced from tallow and beech ashes by the Phoenicians in 600BC.4 This might have been used as a hair pomade rather than a washing soap.5.....
A decree concerning soap-boilers, 1633 in England
A Decree in Star-Chamber concerning the Soap-boylers, in pursuance of a Censure of that Court upon May 10. 1633. 9 Car.
Soap Boiler Career
- A job as a Soap Boiler falls under the broader career category of Textile, Apparel, and Furnishings Workers, All Other. The information on this page will generally apply to all careers in this category but may not specifically apply to this career title.
Job Title
Soap Boiler
Employee Duties & Responsibilities
1) Controls equipment that produces soap according to formula.
2) Opens valves to charge kettle with prescribed amounts of ingredients.
3) Turns valve to admit steam through bottom of tank to boil agitate mixture.
4) Observes mixture through opening in top of tank to detect variations of color, consistency, and homogeneity of boiling ingredients.
5) Adds soda or water to mixture as directed by laboratory; or determines degree of alkalinity of caustic soda in mixture, using meter, and adds soda or water as required.
6) Observes color, consistency, and homogeneity of product to define when boiling and agitating cycle are completed, and allows batch to cool settle for specified period of time.
7) Raises or lowers pumpline to locate separation level of neat pure soap nigre residue .
8) Starts pump to transfer neat to designated department.
9) Lowers pump line to bottom of tank to transfer residue to reclaiming tank.
10) May calculate amount of ingredients needed to make various soaps, using formula..
https://www.soapguild.org/how-to/make-soap/soap-and-soapmaking-in-t...
https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/opinion/comment/a-short-hist...
https://jobdescriptionsandduties.com/job-description/327/soap-boile...
https://www.mymajors.com/career/soap-boiler/skills/
https://www.genesreunited.co.nz/boards/board/genealogy_chat/thread/...
http://www.garyolds.com/files/ColonialSoapMaking--HistoryTechniques...
https://www.soapguild.org/how-to/make-soap/soap-and-soapmaking-in-t...
https://www.britannica.com/technology/boiling-soapmaking
https://storyworks.scholastic.com/issues/2020-21/090120/the-dirty-h...
https://books.google.com/books?id=et8NAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA321&lpg=PA321&d...
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rushworth-papers/vol3/pp109-115
https://books.google.com/books?id=VDM7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA555&lpg=PA555&d...