SOAP

is supposed to be of Celtic origin. Its first introduction to civilization took place after the invasion of Gaul by the Romans. During the 8th century, Italy and Spain were the centers of the industry. Five hundred years later, pre-eminence had been won by the soap-makers of Marseilles, France. To-day, the honors are evenly shared by the United States and several European countries. It is interesting to note that the first patent granted by the United States was in the interest of soap manufacture, protecting a method of making potash and pearl-ash devised by a Samuel Hopkins.

Soap manufacture on an extensive scale was greatly stimulated by Le Blanc's discovery in 1791 of the method of obtaining Caustic Soda from crude common salt, and by Chevreul's enlightening exposition of the true chemistry of soapmaking, half a century later. The Le Blanc method is still employed, though it has recently been largely superseded by the Solvay ammonia and Electrolytic processes.

The soaps of ordinary domestic use consist of fats or other oily substances, saponified by mixing with water and alkalies. The finest varieties are made from vegetable oils--olive, palm, cocoanut, peanut, cottonseed, etc.; the cheapest from animal fats, principally tallow. Common soap generally consists of tallow, blended with a varying proportion of vegetable oil--cocoanut for quick lather, oleo or cotton-seed oil for mildness, etc.--as tallow alone discolors and hardens with age. Its cleansing properties are attributable chiefly to the fatty acids into which the bulk of the fat is converted during manufacture.

For ordinary, or "hard," soap, caustic soda or soda-ash is the alkali employed. For Soft Soap, caustic potash is the chief alkali, only enough soda being used to give the product fairly stable consistence, the result being the retention of the glycerine and a large proportion of water.

By the most widely used method for the production of common soap--which is also the basis of the finer toilet and special soaps--the melted fat or oil is first boiled in caustic soda lye. As soon as it commences to emulsify, stronger lye is added--this being repeated from time to time as long as the lye is absorbed and until the soap is smooth and dry when pressed and has a slight persistent caustic taste. Boiling, without further additions, is then continued until the mixture is nearly neutral again, then dry salt, brine, or, in some cases, caustic soda lye, is added to the paste and boiling continued until "separation" begins to show. It is then allowed to cool, the crude soap forming on top and the spent lye--a mixture of crude glycerine, salt, alkali, etc.,--settling at the bottom and being run off. Next comes, in many cases, a further strengthening--the soap, together with a certain quantity of water, undergoing a prolonged boiling, caustic soda lye being added from time to time in the first stages. Another settling follows and the lye is again drawn off. The soap is then boiled, water being added to produce the right consistence, and is left to settle and rest for several days. The pans will then show four layers--the top is a thin soap which is taken off and sent back for further treatment; second, is the good "settled" soap, constituting about 65% of the contents of the pan; third, is a dark weak soap which is also worked over in various ways; and at the bottom is a weak lye solution. The good settled-soap is ladled or pumped out, melted, cleaned, "crutched" or mixed, etc.--rosin, sodium of silicate, soda-ash, etc., being added in many cases--finally going into large frames, which consist of iron plates clamped together and set on wooden bottoms, fitted with wheels so that they can be easily taken to the cooling room. In four or five days, when the soap is cool enough to strip, the sides of the frames are unclamped and the soap stands on the wooden bottoms in solid masses of half a ton or more. They are later cut, first into bars and then into squares, by machines with regulated wires.

Toilet Soaps.

Toilet Soaps of the better grades are generally known in the trade as Milled Soaps. Common soap of the best quality is chipped, dried by hot air and passed through rollers which blend and flatten the chips into thin sheets which are automatically cut into ribbons. The desired color is added, and the milling and cutting are repeated two or three times. The perfume is then added and a final milling takes place. The product goes next to pressing machines and is later stamped or shaped in molds. A mixing machine which blends the "ribbons" together with the color or perfume, is frequently substituted for the second and subsequent milling processes. Milled soap contains less water and therefore lasts longer than other soap.

The perfumes employed in scenting soaps vary with the market grade of the product--from expensive natural oils to the cheapest of imitation and artificial essences (see PERFUMERY). Compound odors are, in all grades, more frequently employed than single odors.

Re-melted Soap is toilet soap produced by one of the older methods. The settled soap or soap basis is remelted, agitated, treated with a pearlash solution to make the product finer and smoother, and variously colored and perfumed.

BROWN WINDSOR SOAP is an old-fashioned variety which owes its color, when made by the original process, to the frequent reboiling of the stock and the long aging of the finished product. The effect is frequently obtained more expeditiously by the use of coloring matter.

CASTILE SOAP or OLIVE OIL SOAP, MARSEILLES SOAP, SPANISH SOAP, VENETIAN SOAP, if genuine and of the first quality, is made entirely of olive oil. The name "Castile" records its Spanish origin, but Marseilles, France, is the chief modern place of manufacture--in Europe it is indeed generally known as "Marseilles Soap." As great care is taken to avoid an excess of alkali, only just enough being employed to neutralize the oil, it is very mild and may be used on wounds and other surfaces where a common soap would result in irritation.

The color of genuine Green Castile Soap is due to the natural chlorophyll extracted from the olive pulp while obtaining the "foots" or industrial oil after the first pressings of the fruit for the finer grades. When other oils are substituted, the green hue is artificially supplied.

On account of the high price of olive oil, the bulk of the Castile Soap of modern manufacture contains a considerable percentage of peanut, rape seed and other similar vegetable oils. The genuine imported article is nevertheless an excellent soap--but caution is advisable in purchasing, as a number of American, English and other "Castiles" are very inferior.

COCOANUT OIL SOAP contains no other ingredients than the oil expressed from cocoanut flesh, and alkali. It is widely known as Marine Soap and is generally used at sea as it lathers better in salt water than other kinds. Cocoanut oil is also extensively employed in many other soaps--to blend with tallow or other fats--because of its free lathering properties.

FLOATING SOAP owes its low specific gravity to the air beaten into the hot soap during manufacture. Its composition usually includes a large proportion of cocoanut oil. The white color ordinarily characteristic of this type may generally be accepted as an indication of the purity of its ingredients, and its lightness guarantees the absence of any heavy adulterants, but it is more rapidly consumed than heavier soaps.

GLYCERINE SOAP is a form of Transparent Soap (see below).

OLIVE OIL SOAP is generally known as Castile Soap (which see).

SHAVING SOAP of the best grade, consists generally of a mixture of neutral soda and potash soda soaps, glycerine being added to some varieties during the milling.

TRANSPARENT SOAP is still produced by some concerns by the old-fashioned process of dissolving dried soap of good quality in alcohol. All insoluble impurities being thus deposited and removed, the alcohol is distilled out and the soap, after coloring and perfuming, is run into frames and stored for a considerable time before marketing. Later and less expensive methods have substituted the use of glycerine or sugar solutions during manufacture.

Laundry Soap.

YELLOW SOAP, ROSIN SOAP or BAR SOAP owes its color to the large quantity of rosin incorporated. Most laundry soaps contain this ingredient, as it supplies the lather lacking in the tallow, their chief component. It also possesses detergent properties and is at the same time a cheap filling material. Another characteristic ingredient is Sodium Silicate, but an excessive percentage of this offers no advantage except the reduction of cost to the manufacturer.

It is helpful advice to suggest to a housewife the purchase of laundry soap by the box, as it will be found less wasteful if allowed to harden for a moderate length of time. It is best cut in square pieces and stored on an upper shelf, with spaces of an inch or so separating the blocks.

Among other special types are AMMONIATED SOAP, used both for the laundry and bath; BORAX SOAP, a hard white variety possessing remarkable detergent qualities; NAPHTHA SOAP, and COLD WATER SOAPS--the last-named so prepared as to lather freely in cold water and therefore popular in many households for laundry purposes during hot weather.

Mottled Soap: owes its appearance to the addition of a silicate of soda solution and coloring matter (ultramarine blue, copperas, etc.,) employed to imitate the mottled effect of many soaps of former days--due then to the impurities left in by poor manufacturing methods. When copperas, or sulphate of iron, is used, a bluish oxide of iron marks the soap, changing to red oxide on exposure to the air.

Scouring Soaps: are made by adding some natural silicious material to a soap mixture composed generally of tallow and cocoanut oil. Sapolio, manufactured by the Enoch Morgan's Sons' Company, is the best of the class.

SAND SOAPS, quite generally used in Philadelphia and Baltimore, form a separate type. They are made by the addition of fine or "Silver" sand to an ordinary soap basis.

Soap Powder, or Dry Soap: is a mixture of soap, soda-ash, sodium silicate, etc.

Medicated Soap. This title includes a great variety of types, various drugs being added during the final mixing, as carbolic acid, creosote, sulphur, etc.

TAR SOAP contains from 5% to 10% tar, the unpleasant odor being usually disguised by the addition of cinnamon, lavender or similar perfumes.

Retailing Soap. Soap is a money-making line for a merchant if properly handled. Good laundry soaps--the kinds that lather and wash well and are free from injurious chemicals--are always salable. The trade in toilet soaps depends upon the judgment exercised. Cheap soaps, no matter how showy their wrappers, will only confirm customers in the idea that "they can't get good toilet soap in a grocer's." Premium goods often entail more trouble than is warranted by the profit. "Cut-price" goods generally mean a lot of work for nothing. The best plan is to sell only first-class brands that give a good profit. Other things being equal, give attention to the wrappers--a pretty package is a distinct advantage. A showcase that will afford both display and protection from dust, is absolutely essential.