Sujet
Production of saltpetre (nitre, potassium nitrate, or KN03), 1683. Artist: Unknown
Légende
Production of saltpetre (nitre, potassium nitrate, or KN03), 1683. Nitre beds, heaps of manure mixed with chalky earth. These were watered with urine and manure water. Calcium nitrate crystallised on the surface and was scraped off and taken to shed for processing. Saltpetre is the principal ingredient in gunpowder, and is still used in the preservation of some foods. In medicine it was used internally as a diuretic, but now is only used externally for a number of conditions, such as asthma. From a 1683 English edition of Beschreibung allerfurnemisten mineralischen Ertzt by Lazarus Ercker. (Prague, 1574).
Oxford Science Archive
Date
1683
Crédit
Photo12/Heritage Images
Notre référence
HRM19B65_445
Model release
Non
Licence
Droits gérés
Format disponible
49,9Mo (2,3Mo) / 35,9cm x 34,9cm / 4238 x 4119 (300dpi)