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Soaps: From the phoenicians to the 20th century—A historical review
ELSEVIER
Soaps: From the Phoenicians to the 20th Centu y-A Historical Review HIRAK BEHARI ROUTH, MBBS KAZAL REKHA BHOWMIK, MBBS LAWRENCE CHARLES PARISH, MD JOSEPH A. WITKOWSKI, MD
S
oap has been used for cleansing and for washing clothes for what seems an eternity. In all major religions, cleanliness is considered next to godliness. Specific guidelines and instructions are set to maintain cleanliness in all sacred places. Cleanliness has also been a part of prayer and sometimes signifies purity of body and soul. For example, in the description of Herodotus (485-425 BCE), we see the details of the purification process and the requirements for the priestphysicians in the Temple of Amun at Kamak in Egypt during the reign of King Ramses (1113-1085 BCE): “Bathe in cold water twice a day and twice a night and cleansed mouth with natron” (a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate). These rituals were done regularly, as they symbolized rebirth and rejuvenation.’ In nature, birds and animals regularly keep themselves clean in a variety of ways. Birds clean their feathers with their beaks and bathe in water. Dogs, cats, and cattle lick their bodies to clean themselves.
The Presoap Era In early times, various means were used or applied for cleanliness by peoples from different parts of the world. Neolithic people employed flint scrapers to cleanse themselves. The Greeks and Romans were not familiar with the use of soap before the age of Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), but by the heat of their vapor baths and by scrubbing with stirgil or with skin scrapers of bone, ivory, or metal, they accomplished the necessary cleansing of their bodies.2 Soda was used for cleansing by the ancient Egyptians, who also employed soda to transform diseased skin into healthy skin.3 Before the Christian Era, people used olive oil to
From the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology and the Jefferson Center jar international Dermatology, Jeerson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (H.B.R., L.C.P.); the International Journal of Dermatology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (K.R.B.); and the Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (].A. WJ. Address correspondence to Hirak Behari Routh, MB, BS, 150 Delsea Drive, 2nd Floor, Westville NJ 08093.
of
0 1996 by Elsevier Science Inc. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York,
NY 10010
anoint their bodies. They also cleansed their bodies with Fuller’s earth and plant ashes.* The latter were used as soap or soap substitutes by different civilizations (Table 1). In the biblical period, soaps were made from plant derivatives. Most of the plants grew in the salty regions of Arabia and contained mainly potash and soda. In the Bible these washing materials were termed bor, borit, and sheleg. Borit was used as neter (ie, soda), a material for removing stains. “The messenger of Convent will purify people on the day of the Lord as with fuller’s soap” (Mul 3:2). In the Bible, bor is a material that cleanses hands and clothes (Job 9:30X The Jerusalem Talmud (%a, 7:2, 37b) describes these materials as “species of laundering plants.” Akkadian uhulu, Syrian ahala, and Arabic gasul are soap-producing plants. In the rabbinical literature, ashleg is used for washing materials (Shah 9:5, Nid 9:6L5 In parts of the Indian subcontinent and in Peru, Chile, and Angola, plant ashes and clay were widely employed as soap and in some places are still used.6,7 During the two decades of the recent Angolan civil war, people used various plants as soap because of the scarcity of the commercial product.
The Origin of the Word “Soap” The origin of the word “soap” is unclear, but some legends are documented. According to one, soapmaking began accidentally about 3000 years ago on Mount Sapo, near Rome. Animals offered by peasants were burned as sacrifices to the gods on Mount Sapo. Fats from the burned animals mixed with ashes of the altar fires. The mixture ran downhill over the clay soil. Women who went to the temple discovered that the mixture of slippery clay helped to wash and clean clothes. In Gaul, a man used a hairdressing made of goat oil and beech tree ashes. A lather formed in his hair when he got caught in a rainstorm. The English word “soap” comes from the Latin word sapo.* The word “soap” is a Teutonic contribution, and the English word is derived from the Middle English “sope”and AngloSaxon “sape.” Different words are used for soap in different languages (Table 2). 0738-081X/96/$32.00 SSDI 0738-081X(95)00102-8
Table 1. Plants Used as Soap or Soap Substitutes COUtd~j Arabia
India
Peru and Chile
Angola
He also described two types of soaps: the thick and the liquid. In Germany, both kinds were used.” I?
Plants Salicornia Salsola Mesembryanthemum Saponaria Stattice Atripler Me/h uadiruchtu Silk cotton (genera Bombax Musa pnrudisiacn (plaintain) Soapnut Quillaia Saponaria Molina Sphenos+ sletlocurp
The Graeco-Roman
and Ceiba)
Caricu pupflyu Ximenia urnericunu Pteridilw uquilinum Solatutn~ uculeastrwn Sebasniu bispinosa
The word “detergent” is a descriptive term derived from the Latin word detergee,meaning to wipe or clean. It is a combination of Latin de (“off”) and terms (“cleansing” or “heat”). The term detergent usually refers to synthetic soap.
Early Soapmaking The earliest written account of soapmaking and use was described in Sumerian clay tablets dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE in the Hittite capital of Boghszkoi. “With water I bathed myself, with soda I cleansed myself, with oil from the basin I beautified myself.” In a Sumerian clay cylinder found during the excavation of the ancient city of Babylon from the Ur dynasty (circa 2000 BCE), a soapmaking process using water, alkali, and oil was described.9f110 Pliny the Elder stated that the Phoenicians discovered soapmaking in 600 BCE. In his classic description, Pliny mentioned the process of soapmaking from the ashesof beech trees and fat from goats
Table 2. Diflerenf Names of Soap in Different Languages Langilage
Terms
Latin Greek Bengali, Hindi, and other Indian languages French, Persian, Turkish, and Arabic Hebrew German
Sap0 Sapon Saban
Dutch
Icelandic Polish Russian
Savon
Sabon Seife Zeep Sapa Mixdo Milo
Period
The Greeks and Romans used oils and flour of lentils as substitutes for true soaps.13They used soap not for cleansing their bodies but rather for a hair pomade. Romans learned the use of soap and the process \?f soapmaking either from ancient Mediterranean peoples or from the Celts. The Celts produced soap from animal fat and plant ashes and called the product saipo. An Arab warrior of the 8th century CE, Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Gaber), mentioned the use of soap as a cleansing agent on various occasions..‘” Soap was made from mutton tallow and wood ashes in the Roman period, and one rough kind of soap was used in France about 100 CE. Around 700-800 CE, soapmaking became a craft industry in Italy and Spain. The original Castile soap was manufactured from olive oil, wood ashes, and perfumes during this period in Spain.‘”
The Medieval
Period and Later
In the Middle Ages, Marseilles became the first soapmaking center in Europe, then Genoa, and eventually Venice. In Germany, soap was manufactured but not widely u.sed as a cleansing agent. The first soapmaking in England began about 1200 in Bristol, and in the next 2 centuries a small community developed around the neighborhood of Cheapside in London for the manufacture of soap. During that time, soap makers had to pay taxes on soaps they produced, By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the tax had risen significantly, and it remained until being abolished in 1853.‘4 For several centuries, soap manufacturing was Iimited to small-scale production using mainly plant ashes containing carbonate dispersed into water; later, fat was added to that solution. This mixture was boiled with ashesuntil the water evaporated. A slow chemical splitting took place during this process through the reaction of fatty acid with alkali carbonates of the plant ashes, forming soap.‘” This reaction is known as saponification. The method remained in practice until the end of the Middle Ages, at which time slaked lime was used.
Modem Soap Manufacturing By the late 18th century, dramatic events had changed handcrafted soapmaking to an industrial base. In 1775 the French Government, through the Academy of Science, announced a prize for the first production of a satisfactory industrial process for converting sodium chloride into sodium carbonate. In 1790, Nicolas Leblane invented the process of making soda ash from ordinary table salt and was given an award.16 Claude
Clinics in Dermatology
l
1996;14:3-6
SOAPS-A
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
5
Berthollet discovered the powerful bleaching action of chlorine first made by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774, and in 1799, Charles Tennant showed that lime, by absorbing chlorine, produced bleaching powder. In North America, early settlers used homemade soap. They brought the soapmaking process from their countries of origin in Europe. By pouring hot water over plant ashes for making potash and boiling it with animal fat, they made soap. Soap manufacturing as an industry began on this side of Atlantic in the 19th century when waste fats were collected from villages. Soap was made outdoors in huge kettles. The mixture was poured into large wooden frames and then cut into bars and sold from door to door.’ The first synthetic surfactant, a sulfonated castor oil known as turkey red oil, was introduced as a cleanser in 1851. Fritz Gunther, a German scientist, is credited with this development of a synthetic detergent in 1916. His detergent was very rough and was used mainly for industrial purposes. By 1933, Proctor & Gamble had introduced the world’s first household detergents.
advised people to “make a sort of plaster by spreading soft soap, like an ointment, over pieces of flannel, and apply these to the spots affected, until they soften the epidermis and remove massesof scale.” Hebra also recommended “spiritus saponatous alkalinus” in the treatment of milia. The original formulation of “spiritus saponatous alkalinus” (alkaline spirit soap) is given here:
Various
Conclusions
Types
of Soap
Soaps and detergents are the sodium or potassium salts of long-chain fatty acids used for cleansing purposes and excipient in making pills and suppositories.i7,i8 Historically, soap was considered sapo durus (“hard soap”), sapo mollis (“soft soap”), and sapo vividen (“green soap”). Soda was the main ingredient in sapo dtlrus, or hard soap, which takes on a grayish-white color when it becomes cold and dry. It is used mainly for external cleansing purposes. The consistency of sapo mollis, or soft soap, resembles that of honey or jelly. It is yellowish, scentless, and transluscent and is easily soluble in rectified spirit. It is made with olive oil and potash. Sapo mollis was used as antacid in a dose of 5 to 20 gm. Snpo viridens, or green soap, is a unique variant of soft soap used mainly for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp, where alkalinity is desired. There have been many other varieties of soap.” Medicated soaps contain glycerin, phenol, tar, and various oils. Liquid soaps are usually potassium salts of fatty acids of coconut, olive, soybean, cottonseed, or castor oil. Solid or cake soaps are sodium salts of fatty acid but may also contain potassium salts.
Medical
Uses of Soap
Soap as a medicinal agent was described variously.20,21 Claudius Galen (130-200 CE) mentioned soap’s medical and skin-cleansing properties.’ Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880) used soap for various skin disorders, including scabies, psoriasis, tinea versicolor, and herpes tonsurans. For the treatment of psoriasis, Hebra
Sapon mollis Spirit rectificate Diegere per horas fittra adde Spirit lavanduli
3 vij 3 iijss xxiv 3 iij
200.0 100.0
10.0
In 19th-century Europe, the “soap cure” was regularly practiced for skin conditions. Paul Gerson Unna (1850-1929) of Hamburg introduced superfatted soap (basis soap) for dermatologic uses.‘* Soap was advocated in the treatment of tinea and freckle versicolor, acne vulgaris, other mycotic conditions, and even herpes tonsurans. 23Charles J. White (1869-1964) of Boston treated patients with acne using castile or Ivory soap.24
The history of soap reflects the continuous effort of humans to be clean. The development of various types of agents frequently parallels our knowledge of chemicals and cosmesis.
References 1. David AR, Tape E. The mummy’s tale: The scientific and medical investigation of Nutsef Amun, priest in the temple at Karnak. New York: St. Martin’s Press,1993:6574. 2. Reynolds R. Cleanlinessand godlinessor further metamorphosis. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1946:24-6. 3. Kamal H. Dictionary of Pharaonicmedicine. 1st ed. Cairo: National Publishing House, 1967~59. 4. Wain H. The story behind the word. Springfield, IL: CharlesC Thomas, 1958290-291. 5. Feliks, J. Soap in Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem:Keter Publishing House, 1972;15:18-19. 6. JohnsonL. A medical formulary: Basedon United States and British pharmacopoeiastogether with French, German and unofficial preparations. New York: William Wood & Company, 1881:316. 7. BossardE. Angolan medicinal plants used also as piscitides and/or soap. Ethnopharmacol 1993;40:1-19. 8 The World Book Encyclopedia. Detergent and Soap. Re-
viewed by Proctor and Gamble Company. Chicago: Field EnterprisesEducational Corporation, 1973:134e-134f. 9 BeauchampIL. Cleansingagents:A review of several investigation concerned with skin effects and cleansing ficacy. Am Id Hyg AssocJ 1967;28:31-38.
ef-
10. Suskind RR. Cutaneous cleansing in health and disease. South Med J 1962;55:606-609. 11. Toby CG, Adams RM. Soap and detergents. In: Adams RM, editor. Occupational skin disease. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Company, 1990:311-25. 12. Skinner HA. The origin of medical terms. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1961:364. 13. Shoemaker JV. Heredity, health, and personal beauty. Philadelphia: FA Davis, 1890:222. 14. Davidsohn, AS. Soaps and detergents in Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 15th ed., 1979;16:914-919. 15. Farbes EJ. Studies of ancient technology. 2nd ed. Leiden, Netherlands, EJ Brill, 1965;120:187-8. 16. Hunter D. The diseases of occupations. 6th ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1978:88. 17. Phillips CDF. Materia medica & therapeutics. In: Piffard
18. 19.
20. 21. 22. 23. 24.
HG, editor. Vegetable kingdom. New York: William Wood & Company, 1879:268-9. Witthaus RA. General medical chemistry. New YorkWilliam Wood & Company, 1881:285-6. Piffard HG. A treatise on the materia medica & therapeutics of the skin. New York: William Wood & Company, 1881:258-61. Eichoff, PJ. On new medicinal soaps. Leipzig: Bretkopf and Hortel, 189?:1-16. Fishbein, M. Medical uses of soap; a symposium. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott, 1945. Goodman H. Cosmetic dermatology. 1st ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1936:247. Sumegh J. The treatment of skin diseases by mineral orl-soaps. Am J Med Sci 1894;108:220. White CJ. Harvard health talk: The care of skin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914:5&6(71
Soaps: From the Phoenicians to the 20th Centu y-A Historical Review HIRAK BEHARI ROUTH, MBBS KAZAL REKHA BHOWMIK, MBBS LAWRENCE CHARLES PARISH, MD JOSEPH A. WITKOWSKI, MD
S
oap has been used for cleansing and for washing clothes for what seems an eternity. In all major religions, cleanliness is considered next to godliness. Specific guidelines and instructions are set to maintain cleanliness in all sacred places. Cleanliness has also been a part of prayer and sometimes signifies purity of body and soul. For example, in the description of Herodotus (485-425 BCE), we see the details of the purification process and the requirements for the priestphysicians in the Temple of Amun at Kamak in Egypt during the reign of King Ramses (1113-1085 BCE): “Bathe in cold water twice a day and twice a night and cleansed mouth with natron” (a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate). These rituals were done regularly, as they symbolized rebirth and rejuvenation.’ In nature, birds and animals regularly keep themselves clean in a variety of ways. Birds clean their feathers with their beaks and bathe in water. Dogs, cats, and cattle lick their bodies to clean themselves.
The Presoap Era In early times, various means were used or applied for cleanliness by peoples from different parts of the world. Neolithic people employed flint scrapers to cleanse themselves. The Greeks and Romans were not familiar with the use of soap before the age of Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), but by the heat of their vapor baths and by scrubbing with stirgil or with skin scrapers of bone, ivory, or metal, they accomplished the necessary cleansing of their bodies.2 Soda was used for cleansing by the ancient Egyptians, who also employed soda to transform diseased skin into healthy skin.3 Before the Christian Era, people used olive oil to
From the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology and the Jefferson Center jar international Dermatology, Jeerson Medical College Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (H.B.R., L.C.P.); the International Journal of Dermatology, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (K.R.B.); and the Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (].A. WJ. Address correspondence to Hirak Behari Routh, MB, BS, 150 Delsea Drive, 2nd Floor, Westville NJ 08093.
of
0 1996 by Elsevier Science Inc. 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York,
NY 10010
anoint their bodies. They also cleansed their bodies with Fuller’s earth and plant ashes.* The latter were used as soap or soap substitutes by different civilizations (Table 1). In the biblical period, soaps were made from plant derivatives. Most of the plants grew in the salty regions of Arabia and contained mainly potash and soda. In the Bible these washing materials were termed bor, borit, and sheleg. Borit was used as neter (ie, soda), a material for removing stains. “The messenger of Convent will purify people on the day of the Lord as with fuller’s soap” (Mul 3:2). In the Bible, bor is a material that cleanses hands and clothes (Job 9:30X The Jerusalem Talmud (%a, 7:2, 37b) describes these materials as “species of laundering plants.” Akkadian uhulu, Syrian ahala, and Arabic gasul are soap-producing plants. In the rabbinical literature, ashleg is used for washing materials (Shah 9:5, Nid 9:6L5 In parts of the Indian subcontinent and in Peru, Chile, and Angola, plant ashes and clay were widely employed as soap and in some places are still used.6,7 During the two decades of the recent Angolan civil war, people used various plants as soap because of the scarcity of the commercial product.
The Origin of the Word “Soap” The origin of the word “soap” is unclear, but some legends are documented. According to one, soapmaking began accidentally about 3000 years ago on Mount Sapo, near Rome. Animals offered by peasants were burned as sacrifices to the gods on Mount Sapo. Fats from the burned animals mixed with ashes of the altar fires. The mixture ran downhill over the clay soil. Women who went to the temple discovered that the mixture of slippery clay helped to wash and clean clothes. In Gaul, a man used a hairdressing made of goat oil and beech tree ashes. A lather formed in his hair when he got caught in a rainstorm. The English word “soap” comes from the Latin word sapo.* The word “soap” is a Teutonic contribution, and the English word is derived from the Middle English “sope”and AngloSaxon “sape.” Different words are used for soap in different languages (Table 2). 0738-081X/96/$32.00 SSDI 0738-081X(95)00102-8
Table 1. Plants Used as Soap or Soap Substitutes COUtd~j Arabia
India
Peru and Chile
Angola
He also described two types of soaps: the thick and the liquid. In Germany, both kinds were used.” I?
Plants Salicornia Salsola Mesembryanthemum Saponaria Stattice Atripler Me/h uadiruchtu Silk cotton (genera Bombax Musa pnrudisiacn (plaintain) Soapnut Quillaia Saponaria Molina Sphenos+ sletlocurp
The Graeco-Roman
and Ceiba)
Caricu pupflyu Ximenia urnericunu Pteridilw uquilinum Solatutn~ uculeastrwn Sebasniu bispinosa
The word “detergent” is a descriptive term derived from the Latin word detergee,meaning to wipe or clean. It is a combination of Latin de (“off”) and terms (“cleansing” or “heat”). The term detergent usually refers to synthetic soap.
Early Soapmaking The earliest written account of soapmaking and use was described in Sumerian clay tablets dating back to the 3rd millennium BCE in the Hittite capital of Boghszkoi. “With water I bathed myself, with soda I cleansed myself, with oil from the basin I beautified myself.” In a Sumerian clay cylinder found during the excavation of the ancient city of Babylon from the Ur dynasty (circa 2000 BCE), a soapmaking process using water, alkali, and oil was described.9f110 Pliny the Elder stated that the Phoenicians discovered soapmaking in 600 BCE. In his classic description, Pliny mentioned the process of soapmaking from the ashesof beech trees and fat from goats
Table 2. Diflerenf Names of Soap in Different Languages Langilage
Terms
Latin Greek Bengali, Hindi, and other Indian languages French, Persian, Turkish, and Arabic Hebrew German
Sap0 Sapon Saban
Dutch
Icelandic Polish Russian
Savon
Sabon Seife Zeep Sapa Mixdo Milo
Period
The Greeks and Romans used oils and flour of lentils as substitutes for true soaps.13They used soap not for cleansing their bodies but rather for a hair pomade. Romans learned the use of soap and the process \?f soapmaking either from ancient Mediterranean peoples or from the Celts. The Celts produced soap from animal fat and plant ashes and called the product saipo. An Arab warrior of the 8th century CE, Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Gaber), mentioned the use of soap as a cleansing agent on various occasions..‘” Soap was made from mutton tallow and wood ashes in the Roman period, and one rough kind of soap was used in France about 100 CE. Around 700-800 CE, soapmaking became a craft industry in Italy and Spain. The original Castile soap was manufactured from olive oil, wood ashes, and perfumes during this period in Spain.‘”
The Medieval
Period and Later
In the Middle Ages, Marseilles became the first soapmaking center in Europe, then Genoa, and eventually Venice. In Germany, soap was manufactured but not widely u.sed as a cleansing agent. The first soapmaking in England began about 1200 in Bristol, and in the next 2 centuries a small community developed around the neighborhood of Cheapside in London for the manufacture of soap. During that time, soap makers had to pay taxes on soaps they produced, By the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the tax had risen significantly, and it remained until being abolished in 1853.‘4 For several centuries, soap manufacturing was Iimited to small-scale production using mainly plant ashes containing carbonate dispersed into water; later, fat was added to that solution. This mixture was boiled with ashesuntil the water evaporated. A slow chemical splitting took place during this process through the reaction of fatty acid with alkali carbonates of the plant ashes, forming soap.‘” This reaction is known as saponification. The method remained in practice until the end of the Middle Ages, at which time slaked lime was used.
Modem Soap Manufacturing By the late 18th century, dramatic events had changed handcrafted soapmaking to an industrial base. In 1775 the French Government, through the Academy of Science, announced a prize for the first production of a satisfactory industrial process for converting sodium chloride into sodium carbonate. In 1790, Nicolas Leblane invented the process of making soda ash from ordinary table salt and was given an award.16 Claude
Clinics in Dermatology
l
1996;14:3-6
SOAPS-A
HISTORICAL
REVIEW
5
Berthollet discovered the powerful bleaching action of chlorine first made by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774, and in 1799, Charles Tennant showed that lime, by absorbing chlorine, produced bleaching powder. In North America, early settlers used homemade soap. They brought the soapmaking process from their countries of origin in Europe. By pouring hot water over plant ashes for making potash and boiling it with animal fat, they made soap. Soap manufacturing as an industry began on this side of Atlantic in the 19th century when waste fats were collected from villages. Soap was made outdoors in huge kettles. The mixture was poured into large wooden frames and then cut into bars and sold from door to door.’ The first synthetic surfactant, a sulfonated castor oil known as turkey red oil, was introduced as a cleanser in 1851. Fritz Gunther, a German scientist, is credited with this development of a synthetic detergent in 1916. His detergent was very rough and was used mainly for industrial purposes. By 1933, Proctor & Gamble had introduced the world’s first household detergents.
advised people to “make a sort of plaster by spreading soft soap, like an ointment, over pieces of flannel, and apply these to the spots affected, until they soften the epidermis and remove massesof scale.” Hebra also recommended “spiritus saponatous alkalinus” in the treatment of milia. The original formulation of “spiritus saponatous alkalinus” (alkaline spirit soap) is given here:
Various
Conclusions
Types
of Soap
Soaps and detergents are the sodium or potassium salts of long-chain fatty acids used for cleansing purposes and excipient in making pills and suppositories.i7,i8 Historically, soap was considered sapo durus (“hard soap”), sapo mollis (“soft soap”), and sapo vividen (“green soap”). Soda was the main ingredient in sapo dtlrus, or hard soap, which takes on a grayish-white color when it becomes cold and dry. It is used mainly for external cleansing purposes. The consistency of sapo mollis, or soft soap, resembles that of honey or jelly. It is yellowish, scentless, and transluscent and is easily soluble in rectified spirit. It is made with olive oil and potash. Sapo mollis was used as antacid in a dose of 5 to 20 gm. Snpo viridens, or green soap, is a unique variant of soft soap used mainly for the treatment of seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp, where alkalinity is desired. There have been many other varieties of soap.” Medicated soaps contain glycerin, phenol, tar, and various oils. Liquid soaps are usually potassium salts of fatty acids of coconut, olive, soybean, cottonseed, or castor oil. Solid or cake soaps are sodium salts of fatty acid but may also contain potassium salts.
Medical
Uses of Soap
Soap as a medicinal agent was described variously.20,21 Claudius Galen (130-200 CE) mentioned soap’s medical and skin-cleansing properties.’ Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880) used soap for various skin disorders, including scabies, psoriasis, tinea versicolor, and herpes tonsurans. For the treatment of psoriasis, Hebra
Sapon mollis Spirit rectificate Diegere per horas fittra adde Spirit lavanduli
3 vij 3 iijss xxiv 3 iij
200.0 100.0
10.0
In 19th-century Europe, the “soap cure” was regularly practiced for skin conditions. Paul Gerson Unna (1850-1929) of Hamburg introduced superfatted soap (basis soap) for dermatologic uses.‘* Soap was advocated in the treatment of tinea and freckle versicolor, acne vulgaris, other mycotic conditions, and even herpes tonsurans. 23Charles J. White (1869-1964) of Boston treated patients with acne using castile or Ivory soap.24
The history of soap reflects the continuous effort of humans to be clean. The development of various types of agents frequently parallels our knowledge of chemicals and cosmesis.
References 1. David AR, Tape E. The mummy’s tale: The scientific and medical investigation of Nutsef Amun, priest in the temple at Karnak. New York: St. Martin’s Press,1993:6574. 2. Reynolds R. Cleanlinessand godlinessor further metamorphosis. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1946:24-6. 3. Kamal H. Dictionary of Pharaonicmedicine. 1st ed. Cairo: National Publishing House, 1967~59. 4. Wain H. The story behind the word. Springfield, IL: CharlesC Thomas, 1958290-291. 5. Feliks, J. Soap in Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem:Keter Publishing House, 1972;15:18-19. 6. JohnsonL. A medical formulary: Basedon United States and British pharmacopoeiastogether with French, German and unofficial preparations. New York: William Wood & Company, 1881:316. 7. BossardE. Angolan medicinal plants used also as piscitides and/or soap. Ethnopharmacol 1993;40:1-19. 8 The World Book Encyclopedia. Detergent and Soap. Re-
viewed by Proctor and Gamble Company. Chicago: Field EnterprisesEducational Corporation, 1973:134e-134f. 9 BeauchampIL. Cleansingagents:A review of several investigation concerned with skin effects and cleansing ficacy. Am Id Hyg AssocJ 1967;28:31-38.
ef-
10. Suskind RR. Cutaneous cleansing in health and disease. South Med J 1962;55:606-609. 11. Toby CG, Adams RM. Soap and detergents. In: Adams RM, editor. Occupational skin disease. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Company, 1990:311-25. 12. Skinner HA. The origin of medical terms. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1961:364. 13. Shoemaker JV. Heredity, health, and personal beauty. Philadelphia: FA Davis, 1890:222. 14. Davidsohn, AS. Soaps and detergents in Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. 15th ed., 1979;16:914-919. 15. Farbes EJ. Studies of ancient technology. 2nd ed. Leiden, Netherlands, EJ Brill, 1965;120:187-8. 16. Hunter D. The diseases of occupations. 6th ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1978:88. 17. Phillips CDF. Materia medica & therapeutics. In: Piffard
18. 19.
20. 21. 22. 23. 24.
HG, editor. Vegetable kingdom. New York: William Wood & Company, 1879:268-9. Witthaus RA. General medical chemistry. New YorkWilliam Wood & Company, 1881:285-6. Piffard HG. A treatise on the materia medica & therapeutics of the skin. New York: William Wood & Company, 1881:258-61. Eichoff, PJ. On new medicinal soaps. Leipzig: Bretkopf and Hortel, 189?:1-16. Fishbein, M. Medical uses of soap; a symposium. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott, 1945. Goodman H. Cosmetic dermatology. 1st ed. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1936:247. Sumegh J. The treatment of skin diseases by mineral orl-soaps. Am J Med Sci 1894;108:220. White CJ. Harvard health talk: The care of skin. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914:5&6(71