The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-05-05
USE AND HISTORY OF SALT.
Salt as Measure of Civiiization-Curiou
and Interesting Facts.

Salt 90 q Measure of Civi,lzation-Curiou
and Interesting Facts.
Probably no article of diet which find
place upon every household table
to day has been so Distinguishing mari
in it's use or non.use of the mode anc
manner of life of the peoples distributed
over the face of the earth and such an
indicator of their degree Of civilization
as the article of common salt. Its histo
ry leads away back amongst the Jews tc
the time of Moses, and to the earliest &C.
counts of the dietary ideas and principles
of the Greeks and Romans. Atthat very
early time, however, it is found that the
use of salt was confined to the consumers
of vegetable diet and disallowed to eatera
of flesh. A Mosaic law imperatively re-
quired that all vegetable offerings made
to the Deity should be accompanied
by the presentation of salt. Job asks.
"Can that which is upsavory be eaten
without salt?" Likewise it is told in the
account.of the orders of sacrifice epjoined
upon the cary Greeks and Romans that
when offerings were made to the gods
the meat offerings were presented with.
out and the fruits OF the field With a
measure of salt. Now, it seems very
probable that these religious laws and
orders were natural reflection and ex.
preston of the dietary habits ofthe tribes
and peoples, for it is quite safe TO believe
that they would consider those foods and
gifts to be in the highest degree accept.
able to the gods which were most agree
able to themselves.
1t is thus suggested to us by the sac
rifcial laws and orders of the early peo-
pies which we have named, that the salt
eaters wele those whose food was made
up of green things and the fruits of
the field, and that the tribes and nations
who fed upon flesh did not use salt.
Happily, We are not limited to the state
ments of the sacred books and oracles,
for the whole source of light which may
be thrown on this subject. Observations
of natives and record of travels gathered
from amongst tribes and peoples, whose
habitations are distributed over all parts
of the globe abound with incidents and
facts which appear to leave no doubt to
the question.
The Indo -Germanic languages do not
appear to possess word equivalent to
salt; neither do they contain the words
and terms which are peculiar to habits
and ways of life characteristic of people
subsisting upon the fruits of the field. A
distinguished German scholar has con-
sidered that the Indo- -Germanic peoples
at that early period, knew nothing what.
ever of the need and use of salt, and it
was not until crude kind of agricul.
ture spraDg up amongst them that the
taste for the article mas first awakened.
In the descriptions of the early Teutons
Tacitus speaks of them as being just
in the state of transition from the life of
hunter and wanderers to that of tillers of
the soil and eaters of salt, and the further
development ofthe taste and use of the
article amongst these peoples, and how
the tribes waged bloody and extermina'
ting wars with each other for the control
of the salt springs.
The Finn languages, to this day, are
said TO contain no word fer salt. The
West Finns, whu are now pursuers OF
agriculture, have taken to its use, but
have designa.ed the article with Ger
man name. Tue East Films, Bunge
tells US, are stil normads aud hunters
and. as a con.cquence, know nothing of
the use Of salt. he also says that the
hunting and Aesh.eating peoples OF
Northern Russia and Siberia have
,tsndipg repugnance for salt, although
steppes, salt lakes and salt springs abound
in all parts of Siberia. They est flesh
without salt. Ditmar, The famous min
eralogist, records some of the tribes, and
says, "when gave the natives some of
my salted foods they turned up their
noses and distorted their faces strangely" ;"
It has been thought by some writers
that the influence of climate had great
deal to do with the taste for and use OF
salt. 1t will be seen, however, that not
only the peoples of cold regions differ
from each other in the respect of salt
eating, but the natives of the "sun sown
lands" also have tastes so diverse and
marked.
In East India, in tho Nilgherry High.
lands, a pastoral tribe, called the Tudas,
was discovered during the present cen
tury. It is said that the English had
been prevented from reaching that re.
gion because of deadly malaria which
infested the swamps and marshes which
intercepted the approach to the heights
Finally, however, the shepherd tribe
was reached and it was found that they
subsisted wholly upon the milk and flesh
of their animals, and the use of salt was
not known amongst them. 6allust, in
his day, states that the Numidian tribes
scattered over the north coast lands o.
Africa lived upon the flesh of beasts, and
ate no salt, and yet those regions are
rich in that production. Again, the
bushmen of South Africa are normads
hunters and flesh eaters, and have nc
idea of the use of salt.
On the other hand, the negro tribes
are natural, although crude, tillers Of
tie soil, and live npou the vegetable
nroducts of the earth. In their native