Note 1241 — SALTPETRE. GUNPOWDER. AQUAFORTIS.
William Johnston translation
In regard to the two plants usnee, asne, and usnem, assuan, see Avicennæ Canon. Medic. Venet. 1608, fol. pp. 338, 406, 407. Serapio de Temperam. Simplic. p. 164. In Du Cange’s Gloss. Gr. p. 12, addend. ἀλκαλη, and in Gloss. Lat. v. the word alcali is quoted only from modern writers. That kali, however, does not mean the plant, but the concrete ashes, is proved by the explanation in Castelli’s Lexicon.