Bede

Vinegar upon niter, etc. Niter took its name from the province of Nitria, where it is especially accustomed to be produced; nor does it differ much from the appearance of ammoniac salt. For just as salt is made on the seashore by the heat of the sun, hardening the sea waters into rock, which the greater force of the winds or the heat of the sea itself hurls further onto the shore, so in Nitria, where the prolonged rains of summer soak the land, there is so much heat of the star, which coagulates the very rain waters through the …

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