Note 5 — BOOK XII.
Herbert Hoover translation
[Pg 558][5] Pliny XXXI., 39-40. "In the Gallic provinces in Germany they pour salt water upon burning wood. The Spaniards in a certain place draw the brine from wells, which they call Muria. They indeed think that the wood turns to salt, and that the oak is the best, being the kind which is itself salty. Elsewhere the hazel is praised. Thus the charcoal even is turned into salt when it is steeped in brine. Whenever salt is made with wood it is black."