1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,520 Speaker 2: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. We got an email from 4 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 2: listener Liz asking for an episode on the history of soap. 5 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 2: That is something that I had on my list back 6 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 2: when Holly and I first joined the show in twenty thirteen. 7 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,879 Speaker 2: Holly has thought about doing a soap episode. Also, it 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,879 Speaker 2: has never happened. It never happened, So I was like, 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:38,279 Speaker 2: why not. 10 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:38,879 Speaker 1: Why not? 11 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 2: Now that someone has actually asked for something that I 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 2: thought maybe no one would find interesting, we will do it. 13 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: We'll do it now. 14 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 2: This turned out to be tricky to do the research 15 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 2: on because Holly's laughing. A lot of writing about soap 16 00:00:56,640 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 2: is either really hyper specific, like the history of the 17 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 2: soap industry in one particular city over a specific period, 18 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 2: or it is so broad that it's hard. 19 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: To pull details out of. 20 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:15,839 Speaker 2: And then there are also some details that just get 21 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,759 Speaker 2: repeated all over the place, but they don't really add up. 22 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 2: A lot of the books that are connected to this 23 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 2: history are really histories. 24 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: Of cleanliness or hygiene, which is a slightly different thing. 25 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,039 Speaker 1: So in parts of this episode, we're going to be 26 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: talking about a bunch of things that all happened in 27 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 1: roughly the same period of history, but not necessarily in 28 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: a specific order chronologically. And now you know why I 29 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: never got an episode about soap turned out. 30 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, when I asked you about it, you said, I 31 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 2: think I ran into some kind of problem, and I 32 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 2: learned through experience what the problem was. Yeah. 33 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: All over the world, for all of human history, and 34 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: probably going back to our earliest hominin ancestors, people have 35 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: found ways to try to keep themselves clean. Hygiene norms 36 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: really vary from one society to another, but the existence 37 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: of some kind of norm seems universal, or at least 38 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: pretty close to it. People have washed or bathed in 39 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: springs and ponds and rivers. They have used sand or 40 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: pummice or brushes or corn cobs to scour the skin. 41 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: They have applied oils to their bodies and then scraped 42 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: it off with a blade or some other tool. Saunas, 43 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: sweat lodges, and sweat houses go back thousands of years 44 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: in multiple parts of the world. A lot of these 45 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: practices combine cleanliness and hygiene with some kind of spiritual 46 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: or religious ritual, and some of them also help build community. 47 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,399 Speaker 1: People have also used a lot of different plants as 48 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: part of this, specifically plants that are high in sapnans, 49 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: which are naturally occurring molecules that foam in water. Sapinins 50 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: have a range of uses and effects, and some of 51 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,679 Speaker 1: the plants they are found in are edible, although if 52 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:16,079 Speaker 1: you eat too much sapinin that can make your tummy 53 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: heart High sapinin plants include the genus Sapinaria, or the 54 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: soap warts, which are native to Asia and Europe, as 55 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: well as the Sependacea, or the soap berries, which are 56 00:03:29,520 --> 00:03:33,640 Speaker 1: native to tropical regions in most of the world. Multiple 57 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: species of soap weed, yucca and soap bark tree are 58 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 1: native to the Americas. Common ivy, which is native to 59 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: Europe and Western Asia, and Chinese honeylocust, which is native 60 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: to East Asia are other examples of these plants that 61 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: can produce this foamy kind of soapy substance. People around 62 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: the world have used these and other high sapinin plants 63 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: to make preparations to clean their skin and hair, to 64 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: soothe and treat skin conditions and injuries, and to wash 65 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: clothing and other items. These range from the simple, like 66 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: boiling soap berries and then using the water to wash 67 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: your hair, to the complex, like multi step processes involving grinding, burning, steeping, 68 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 1: and mixing with other substances. In some parts of the world, 69 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: today's word for soap comes from the name for one 70 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: of these traditional preparations or the plants used to make them. 71 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: In others, the word for soap is just a local 72 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: variant of soap, or of the word for soap In 73 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: another language. One step of the soap making process is 74 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:46,679 Speaker 1: called saponification, and the words saponification and sappanin both trace 75 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: back to the Latin word for soap, which was sapo. 76 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say one. 77 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 2: Of the resources we've been using for pronunciation lookups has 78 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 2: been down for more than a week, so I apologize 79 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 2: if we se say any of these things wrong. These 80 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 2: plant preparations can produce a lather, and they help keep 81 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 2: things clean, but they are not exactly the same thing 82 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 2: as soap. Soap is a substance that's formed through a 83 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:20,840 Speaker 2: chemical reaction between alkalis and fats. So if somebody added 84 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:24,240 Speaker 2: soapberries to a fat like tallow and they mixed that 85 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,599 Speaker 2: with an alkali like lye that would be considered soap, 86 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 2: but soapberries by themselves steeped in water would not. Since 87 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 2: soap comes from the interaction between alkalis and fat, it 88 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 2: seems reasonably likely that in the ancient past people all 89 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 2: around the world discovered a sort of proto soap as 90 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 2: they cooked meat over a fire and the fat dripped 91 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 2: into the ashes, or as they used ashes to scour 92 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 2: pots that had been used to cook or store oils 93 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 2: or fatty foods. But intentionally made soap has a somewhat 94 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 2: narrower early hit, one that's focused primarily on Western Asia, 95 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 2: northern Africa, and southern Europe, basically all around the shores 96 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 2: of the Mediterranean Sea. At the same time, tracing the 97 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 2: details even of this narrow history can be tricky. While 98 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 2: there are ancient documents that have been translated with the 99 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 2: word soap, it's not necessarily clear whether the original word 100 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,919 Speaker 2: referred to actual soap or to some other substance that 101 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:32,000 Speaker 2: was being used for cleaning. The earliest known written references 102 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 2: to soap are probably found in Sumerian Cuneiform tablets from 103 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 2: southern Mesopotamia in what's now Iraq. These tablets date back 104 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 2: about four thousand, five hundred years. A Time magazine article 105 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 2: from twenty twenty points specifically to a tablet describing the 106 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 2: use of wet ashes to remove the lanolin from wool, 107 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:58,719 Speaker 2: saying that the ash would combine with the lanolin to 108 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 2: make soap. Wet ashes are an alkali that would have 109 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:08,480 Speaker 2: helped remove the lanolin from the wool, but lanolin contains 110 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 2: mostly waxy esters rather than the fats that are needed 111 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 2: for subpotification, so it does not seem like this process 112 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 2: would have produced. 113 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 1: Much actual soap. 114 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 2: So many other articles just refer obliquely to Somerian tablets 115 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 2: as giving recipes for soap, but they don't go into 116 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 2: detail about what the recipe actually says or which specific 117 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 2: their tablet they are talking about. Trying to track down 118 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 2: the details on this had me going in a bunch 119 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 2: of very annoying circles. 120 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: Another early written reference to soap dates back to the Babylonians, 121 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: who also lived in ancient Mesopotamia. This reference is in 122 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: the form of clay cylinders with an inscription that translates 123 00:07:55,120 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: to fats boiled with ashes. This suggests that the Babylonians 124 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: were intentionally making soap and then storing it for later use. 125 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 2: The Ebers Papyrus has made a lot of appearances on 126 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 2: the show. This Egyptian medical text dates back about thirty 127 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 2: five hundred years, and among other things, it contains references 128 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 2: to using mixtures of oils and alkaline salts to wash 129 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 2: and to treat skin diseases. There is an incredibly widely 130 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 2: repeated story that the word soap comes from an ancient 131 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 2: Roman legend about Mount Sappo. According to this purported legend, 132 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 2: Mount Sapo was the site of animal sacrifices to the gods. 133 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 2: Animals were slaughtered and burned at the top of the mountain, 134 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 2: and then, according to the tail, after it rained, women 135 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 2: washing their clothes in the Tiber River at the foot 136 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 2: of the mountain found that their laundry got extra clean. 137 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 2: This is a fun story. On the surface, it seems 138 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 2: like it should make some reasonable amount of sense. The 139 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 2: ash from the burn process would have combined with the 140 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 2: fat from the animals to make a simple soap, and 141 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 2: then rain would have washed that into the Tiber. But 142 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 2: Mount Sappo is not a real place, and this legend 143 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,320 Speaker 2: only seems to show up in articles about the history 144 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 2: of soap. I could not find anything that pointed back 145 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 2: to an original Roman document that references this story, And 146 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 2: it seems like any soap that could have been created 147 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 2: as a byproduct of burned animal sacrifices would have been 148 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:35,040 Speaker 2: really heavily diluted by the time it was washed all 149 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 2: the way down a mountain side by the rain, and 150 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 2: then once it was in the river, it would have 151 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 2: been washed downstream really quickly. It does not really take 152 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 2: that much soap to clean things, like a lot of 153 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 2: people put way too much detergent in their laundry. But 154 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 2: this all just seems like kind of a stretch. Also, 155 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 2: while a lot of words related to soap do trace 156 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 2: back to Latin, that word made its way into Latin 157 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 2: from elsewhere, which we will be getting to. 158 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: Roman author Pliny the Elder, who lived in the first 159 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: century CE, gave a very different explanation for where soap 160 00:10:12,760 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: came from than this purported Roman legend. This is in 161 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,480 Speaker 1: a section of his Natural History on the treatment of scrofula, 162 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:24,319 Speaker 1: which is a form of tuberculosis. We talked about scrofula 163 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: in an episode that ran as a Saturday Classic in 164 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: November of twenty twenty three, Specifically, Pliny wrote about how 165 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: to treat ulcerated source from scrofula. He listed a series 166 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: of unpleasant sounding treatments, many of which involved dung, vinegar, 167 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: animal parts, or even urine, one of the many historical 168 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: uses for urine, including its being used as a cleansing agent. 169 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 1: After all of this probably less than appealing treatment option list, 170 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: Pliny wrote, quote, soap too, is very useful for this purpose, 171 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: an invention of the Gauls for giving a reddish tint 172 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:08,199 Speaker 1: to the hair. This substance is prepared from tallow and ashes, 173 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:11,160 Speaker 1: the best ashes for the purpose being those of the 174 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: beech and yoke elm. There are two kinds of it, 175 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,840 Speaker 1: the hard soap and the liquid, both of them much 176 00:11:17,960 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: used by the people of Germany, the men in particular, 177 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 1: more than the women. Pliny the Elder died in the 178 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which also destroyed the Roman city 179 00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 1: of Pompeii, and a lot of sources claim that Pompei 180 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: had a soap factory. This soap factory is mentioned in 181 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: pieces about soap about as often as that story of 182 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:44,520 Speaker 1: Mount Sappo is. There is a room in the ruins 183 00:11:44,559 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: of Pompeii that has often been called the soap factory, 184 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 1: but that Moniker seems to trace back to a letter 185 00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 1: that was written in the late eighteenth century. There was 186 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:56,839 Speaker 1: something that had seemed kind of soap like that had 187 00:11:56,880 --> 00:12:00,440 Speaker 1: been discovered in this room, but later testing that it 188 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: was some kind of clay like Fuller's Earth. Other evidence 189 00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: of soap has not been found at Pompeii like. There's 190 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:10,680 Speaker 1: been a lot of cosmetics that have been found, things 191 00:12:10,679 --> 00:12:13,959 Speaker 1: that are probably make up, but not things that are confirmed. 192 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:17,160 Speaker 2: To be soap. And it's possible that this space was 193 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:21,199 Speaker 2: really for doing laundry or for some kind of industrial 194 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 2: production of something that you would need big vats for. 195 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 2: A work attributed to Greek physician Galen, written roughly one 196 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 2: hundred years after the destruction of Pompeii, describe soap as 197 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 2: being made from the tallow of oxen goats or sheep 198 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 2: and a lie of ashes strengthened with quicklime. Galen describes 199 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 2: the best soaps is coming from Germany and the second 200 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:47,199 Speaker 2: best is coming from the Gauls. So Pliny and Galen's 201 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:51,239 Speaker 2: descriptions of soap feedback into the origins of the term. 202 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 2: As we said earlier, the Latin word for soap is sappo, 203 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 2: and then that feeds into a lot of other words 204 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 2: that are related to soap. But the word sappo probably 205 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 2: had Germanic origins, and there are also some similar words 206 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 2: in Turkic languages. So this suggests, but doesn't conclusively prove, 207 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 2: that the Romans learned about soap from the Germanic peoples 208 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,280 Speaker 2: of northern Europe or the Turkic peoples of western and 209 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 2: Central Asia, or maybe some combination of both. 210 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,439 Speaker 1: It gets much easier to trace the development and manufacture 211 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: of soap a bit later in history, and we're going 212 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: to get into that after we pause for a sponsor break. 213 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 2: Soap making started to become a more established craft in 214 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 2: parts of the world in the seventh and eighth centuries, 215 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:49,839 Speaker 2: and at that point it does get easier to trace 216 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 2: its history. Although this is a section of the episode, 217 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:55,719 Speaker 2: it's not completely chronological in. 218 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: What we're talking about. 219 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 2: Stuff is happening at some points roughly the same time, 220 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:06,040 Speaker 2: sometimes in sequence, but generally all in the same period 221 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 2: of history. Before we get to that, though, we are 222 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 2: going to talk a little bit how about how soap 223 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 2: works very quickly, because that is connected to how soap 224 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 2: making evolved as a trade. Soap is a type of 225 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 2: surfectant or surface active agent, which lowers the surface tension 226 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:28,800 Speaker 2: of water. Surfactant molecules have two parts. One is hydrophobic, 227 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 2: meaning it repels water, and the other is hydrophilic, meaning 228 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 2: that it's attracted to water. Sometimes the hydrophobic end is 229 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 2: described as lipophilic, or attracted to lipids. So in soapy water, 230 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,240 Speaker 2: the lipophilic end of the surfactant molecule attracts fats and 231 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 2: oils and other lipids, while the hydrophilic end keeps it 232 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 2: suspended in the water, so the surfactant and the lipids 233 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 2: it's attracted to can be washed away. Actions like agitation 234 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 2: and scrubbing help this process. As we said earlier, soap 235 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 2: forms when an alkali like lye interacts with a fat 236 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 2: like tallow, and this reaction is called subponification. It produces 237 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:15,160 Speaker 2: a fatty acid salt, that being the soap and glycerine. 238 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 2: Tallo is rendered animal fat, and early soaps made with 239 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 2: it probably didn't smell grate. The tallow was also used 240 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 2: for other purposes, including cooking and candle making, and as 241 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 2: people figured out how to use it to make soap, 242 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 2: a lot of times, those and other applications were seen 243 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 2: as a higher priority than soap was. 244 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: But starting in the seventh and eighth centuries, Arab soap 245 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: makers started using quicklime rather than lye, which produced a 246 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: harder soap, and these harder soaps started to be made 247 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:51,640 Speaker 1: in places that also had an abundance of another fat. 248 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 1: That fat was olive oil. Over the centuries, soap making 249 00:15:56,160 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: centers were established all around the Mediterranean, including Aleppo in Syria, 250 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: Marseille in France, Savona in Italy, and Castile in Spain, 251 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: all names that are still associated with soap. 252 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 2: While these soaps are all made from olive oil, they 253 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 2: all have their own distinctions, including the addition of laurel 254 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 2: oil or gar in Aleppo and the addition of almond 255 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 2: oil in Savona. By the tenth century, the city of 256 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 2: Nablis and Palestine was becoming known for its Niblsi soap, 257 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 2: which is also made from olive oil. At some point, 258 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,880 Speaker 2: people in Morocco started making a black soap from olive oil, 259 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:40,880 Speaker 2: with the soap getting that black color from macerated olives. 260 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 1: Also. Although olive oil soaps became particularly widespread, not all 261 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 1: soaps are being made from olive oil. Another black soap 262 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: developed by the Yoruba people and what's now Nigeria, is 263 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: made from shay butter also pronounced sheea butter, and sometimes 264 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,720 Speaker 1: that includes palm oil as well. At first, these soaps 265 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:05,879 Speaker 1: were mostly made by families or members of the community 266 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: for their own use, and they were and continue to 267 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,840 Speaker 1: be culturally important in a lot of places. For example, 268 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,160 Speaker 1: Nabulsi and Aleppo soaps both continue to be made through 269 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 1: traditional methods today, although sometimes on a much larger scale 270 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: than they were in earlier centuries. In twenty twenty four, 271 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 1: the making of Aleppo gar soap in Syria and Nabulsi 272 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 1: soap and Palestine were both inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List 273 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,600 Speaker 1: of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 274 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 2: Early soap formulations tended to have a fair amount of 275 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 2: alkali left behind in the finished product, and a lot 276 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 2: of times that made them too harsh to use on 277 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:49,439 Speaker 2: human skin, especially on a regular basis. It might be 278 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 2: something you would use for a specific medical purpose, but 279 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:57,919 Speaker 2: like not for day to day washing and bathing. So 280 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 2: during the medieval period, when this is the case, soaps 281 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 2: were more often used for things like laundry or cleaning surfaces, 282 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,119 Speaker 2: and they had other uses as well. For example, the 283 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 2: collection of medieval manuscripts known as the Mape Calovicula, which 284 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 2: is sometimes translated as the Little Key to Everything, includes 285 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 2: numerous recipes and instructions that incorporate soap for things that 286 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 2: aren't cleaning. This includes making a rural green dye, which 287 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:32,600 Speaker 2: involved smearing pure copper with the best soap, making azure dye, 288 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 2: which involved violet flowers and soap, and making a gold solder, 289 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 2: which required copper oxide, olive oil, soap, and calcothar, which 290 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:44,400 Speaker 2: is an iron oxide. 291 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 1: The Mape Clavicula also includes a process for making soap. 292 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: Burn some good logs and spread the ashes over a 293 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: fine wickerwork or a thin mesh strong sieve. Pour hot 294 00:18:56,359 --> 00:18:59,199 Speaker 1: water over the ashes so it drips through the wickerwork 295 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: or the sieve. What comes out on the other side 296 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: is lye. Repeat this process, pouring the lye through the 297 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: ashes and collecting it again until it's very strong. Boil 298 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: it until it starts to thicken, and then add oil 299 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:17,640 Speaker 1: or tellow and add lime if desired. Allow this mixture 300 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,160 Speaker 1: to cool, and pour off any liquid. After the soap 301 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: solids coagulate. According to this recipe, you can take this 302 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: poured off liquid and add salt to produce afronitrum, which 303 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,400 Speaker 1: is used in soldering. Also during the. 304 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:34,919 Speaker 2: Medieval period, Muslim chemists were working on formulations for soap 305 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,359 Speaker 2: that would be gentle enough for regular use on the 306 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:43,959 Speaker 2: human body. The ritual washing that Muslims perform before prayer 307 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 2: typically involves only water or something like clean sand if 308 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,119 Speaker 2: there's no water available, and in most cases soap is 309 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 2: used for this only when it is needed, but cleanliness 310 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 2: is also one of the core teachings of Islam. Philosopher 311 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:05,520 Speaker 2: and alchemist Abu Baker Mohammad ibn Zachariah al Razi, also 312 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 2: called Roses, lived during this period that is known today 313 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 2: as the Islamic Golden Age, and he developed recipes for gentle, 314 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 2: pleasant smelling soaps and the olive oil that was needed 315 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 2: to make it in the tenth century. 316 00:20:20,920 --> 00:20:24,119 Speaker 1: By that point, guild systems had started to develop in 317 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: the Byzantine Empire and in northern and western Europe, including 318 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:32,000 Speaker 1: soap making guilds, and in much of Europe, two modes 319 00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: of soap making evolved. Women were often making the soap 320 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,600 Speaker 1: that their household would use, often in a big batch 321 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,800 Speaker 1: once a year, either after the harvest and processing of 322 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: whatever plant the oil came from, or after the period 323 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,640 Speaker 1: of slaughter, so that they would have the necessary animal fat. 324 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: And guilds produced soap for industrial use or for use 325 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,200 Speaker 1: as a trade good. Guilds often had a monopoly on 326 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,160 Speaker 1: any soap that was being sold, and soap making guilds 327 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: tended to be closely associated with the guilds that could 328 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: provide them with the tallow oil and lye or other 329 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:09,520 Speaker 1: alkali that they needed to do it. This also meant 330 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 1: that soap making became interconnected with the economies of the 331 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,120 Speaker 1: places where these guilds operated. Yeah a lot of times 332 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 1: it was not just soap. It was soap and also candles, 333 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: and also butchers, and like all of them interconnected together 334 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: into one big system. By the sixteenth century, soap making 335 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 1: was well established in northern and western Africa and in 336 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,920 Speaker 1: much of Europe and Asia, including soaps for personal hygiene 337 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:39,520 Speaker 1: also called toilet soaps, and soaps for household cleaning, and 338 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 1: an assortment of industrial uses. People in various parts of 339 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: the world were also making soaps out of other ingredients, 340 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:52,280 Speaker 1: including palm oil, cottonseed, oil, canola oil, and whale blubber, 341 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: along with using an assortment of fragrances and dyes in 342 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: the soap. But even as the soap making industry expanded 343 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:03,320 Speaker 1: and there were more soaps meant for use on people's 344 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:07,439 Speaker 1: bodies in Europe in particular, the practice of bathing started 345 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,200 Speaker 1: to go into decline, and there were a lot of 346 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,359 Speaker 1: reasons for this. A lot of people did not have 347 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: a room for bathing in their homes, so they used 348 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:21,120 Speaker 1: public bathhouses instead, and these bathhouses started to be associated 349 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,400 Speaker 1: with the spread of disease, including syphilis. Europe saw its 350 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: first major syphilis outbreak at the end of the fifteenth century. 351 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: People probably were not getting syphilists from bathwater, but by 352 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:39,640 Speaker 1: today's standards, these bathhouses were not particularly sanitary. Various writers 353 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: on health and medicine also started to speculate that soaking 354 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 1: in bathwater weakened people's bodies. Some of this was also 355 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:52,399 Speaker 1: just connected to bigotry and religious persecution. As Christian communities 356 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: wanted to distance themselves from the ritual bathing and hygiene 357 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: practices of Judaism and Islam, Christians in your became more 358 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 1: focused on clean clothes than on washing their bodies, especially 359 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: when they visibly appeared clean. 360 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 2: This continued for a couple hundred years, and it makes 361 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,000 Speaker 2: it a little ironic that European influence became a huge 362 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,840 Speaker 2: factor in the spread of soap and bathing culture a 363 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,639 Speaker 2: few centuries later, which we will get to after a 364 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 2: sponsor break. As we've said, by the eighteenth century, soap 365 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,520 Speaker 2: making was well established as an industry in parts of Europe, Asia, 366 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 2: and Africa. European colonists had also introduced soaps to the Americas, 367 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:50,359 Speaker 2: where it quickly grew into an industry there. But it 368 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,679 Speaker 2: could be difficult to make soap at a really large 369 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:57,680 Speaker 2: scale in a lot of places. The limiting factor was 370 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:02,880 Speaker 2: the alkali needed to start the pontification process. Making lye 371 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 2: from ashes and water was time consuming and it required 372 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 2: a lot of ash. Other sources of alkali, like limestone, 373 00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 2: were also in demand for other purposes like making plaster 374 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 2: and mortar. Then, in seventeen seventy five, the French Academy 375 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 2: of Science offered a cash prize for the development of 376 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 2: a process to manufacture sodium carbonate, also called washing soda 377 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,439 Speaker 2: or soda ash. French surgeon Nicola le Blanc created an 378 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:38,240 Speaker 2: inexpensive method for doing this fifteen years later. It involved 379 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 2: sodium chloride or common table salt, along with sulfuric acid 380 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 2: and limestone, and this development affected so many industries. In 381 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 2: addition to its use in suponification, soda ash was used 382 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:57,000 Speaker 2: in making things like paper, glass and porcelain. Belgian scientists 383 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 2: Ernest Solvee later built on LeBlanc's discovery to make a 384 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 2: commercially viable process for making soda ash at scale. People 385 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 2: also started to figure out exactly what was going on 386 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 2: during the process of subpodification, beyond just turning fat and 387 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:19,480 Speaker 2: alkali into soap. French chemists and soap maker Michel Eugene 388 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 2: Chevau started studying soaps and the fats that they were 389 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,119 Speaker 2: made from in the eighteen teens. He was building on 390 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:31,040 Speaker 2: the work of earlier scientists, including French Apothecary Clause Joseph Geoffrey, 391 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,919 Speaker 2: who had discovered that subpotified fat was soluble in alcohol, 392 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,120 Speaker 2: while the fat that the soap had originally been made 393 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:45,080 Speaker 2: from was not. Chevro figured out that the subpotification process 394 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:49,439 Speaker 2: split a fat into two components. Those were the organic 395 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:54,040 Speaker 2: acid salt that we call soap and glycerine from there 396 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:58,399 Speaker 2: he started to isolate and name individual fatty acids and 397 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 2: to study how they behaved when they were used to 398 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 2: make both soap and candles. The isolation of glycerin from 399 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,280 Speaker 2: soap making also made it possible for Alfred Nobel to 400 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 2: refine nitroglycerin into a commercial explosive that was dynamite in 401 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 2: eighteen sixty seven. The isolation of different fatty acids and 402 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 2: the ability to make inexpensive soda ash made it easier 403 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 2: to make soaps at scale and to make a more 404 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 2: consistent end product. Advances in transportation, including steamships and railroads, 405 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:35,120 Speaker 2: also made it possible to transport large amounts of raw 406 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 2: materials to places that did not have an abundant supply 407 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 2: of olive oil or shade butter or some other ingredient. 408 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 2: This wasn't completely new. England had an established soap industry 409 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:51,000 Speaker 2: by the thirteenth century, including in Bristol, Coventry, and London, 410 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 2: with soaps made from tallow as well as imported olive oil. 411 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 2: But steamships and railroads made it much easier to move 412 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 2: raw materials and finished products. All of that progress or developments, 413 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:10,000 Speaker 2: combined with industrial techniques that had been in progress since 414 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 2: the eighteenth century, including the discovery of steam power and 415 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:19,359 Speaker 2: a renewed focus on cleanliness and personal hygiene in Europe 416 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 2: and North America. That included the germ theory of disease 417 00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 2: becoming more widely known and accepted, and all of that 418 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 2: came together to turn soap into an enormous business. Most 419 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,639 Speaker 2: of these commercially made soaps were sold in bar form, 420 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 2: but the first liquid soaps hit the market in the 421 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 2: mid nineteenth century, and there were powdered and flaked versions 422 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 2: by the early twentieth century. The soap industry that evolved 423 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,600 Speaker 2: in the nineteenth century included a whole lot of names 424 00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 2: that are still around today. Many of them got their 425 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 2: start producing both soap and candles, or by making candles 426 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:02,920 Speaker 2: before moving into soap. Soap and candlemaker William Colgate established 427 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,680 Speaker 2: his company in New York in eighteen oh seven. Three 428 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:11,440 Speaker 2: decades later, Cincinnati candlemaker William Proctor formed a partnership with 429 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:16,320 Speaker 2: Irish soapmaker James Gamble. British brothers William and James Lever 430 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,639 Speaker 2: established a business to make soaps from vegetable oils. In 431 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty five, bj Johnson created a soap made of 432 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 2: palm and olive oils, calling it Paul Molive. 433 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety eight. Colgate and pal Malive merged. In 434 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty eight, and a year later, Lever merged with 435 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,920 Speaker 1: Margarine Uni NV, which had formed through the merger of 436 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: two Dutch margarine manufacturers and that formed Unilever. Back at 437 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: the beginning of the show, we talked about how peoples 438 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: and cultures all over the world for essentially all of 439 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: human history, have had ways to clean their bodies and 440 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: their clothes and their environment, and have had various norms 441 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: for cleanliness and hygiene. But as the soap industry industrialized 442 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: and soap became widely available as a consumer product, and 443 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: as social reformers focused on hygiene and cleanliness, all kinds 444 00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: of people started to think of soap as the only 445 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 1: acceptable way to be clean. That included politicians, church leaders, 446 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:26,840 Speaker 1: social workers, missionaries, and soap marketers. Soap ads equated cleanliness 447 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: with purity and wholesomeness, especially if that cleanliness came through 448 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: the use of soap. In the eighteen eighties, British firm 449 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 1: Pairs Soap, which would later be acquired by Unilever, quoted 450 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher in its advertisements quote, if 451 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: cleanliness is next to godliness, soap must be considered a 452 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: means of grace, and a clergyman who recommends moral things 453 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: should be willing to recommend soap. Soap makers also equated 454 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 1: soap with civilization and whiteness. For soaps like Ivory, this 455 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: tied the color of the soap itself to the idea 456 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: that it was ninety nine point four to four percent pure. 457 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 1: As big soap manufacturers in the US and Europe started 458 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: selling their products in places like the Pacific Islands and Africa, 459 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: they ran advertisements rooted in the idea that soap would 460 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: bring civilization to these places. Ads like these ran within 461 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: the US as well, framing soap as civilizing indigenous communities 462 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: and as washing the color from black people's skin, as 463 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:36,120 Speaker 1: though it would be preferable for their skin to be white, 464 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: and as though using this soap would help them assimilate 465 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: to white society. 466 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 2: Since soaps were often marketed to women in women's magazines, 467 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:50,440 Speaker 2: this was also tied to ideas of femininity and womanhood, 468 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:55,880 Speaker 2: especially white women's purity. There are really whole books about 469 00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 2: this kind of stuff, including things like the general use 470 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 2: of indigenous imagery and advertising, and the use of caricatures 471 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,120 Speaker 2: of black people to sell soap and other products. This 472 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 2: is way more than we can cover every aspect of here. 473 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 2: This also went beyond advertising. Nineteenth century German scientist Eustace 474 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 2: von Liebeg claimed that soap consumption was an indicator of 475 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:25,960 Speaker 2: a nation's wealth and civilization. Teachers at mission schools told 476 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,560 Speaker 2: indigenous children around the world that they were dirty if 477 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 2: they didn't use soap. An added layer to this was 478 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:35,520 Speaker 2: that some of the soaps they were advocating were made 479 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 2: with culturally important oils extracted from these same communities to 480 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 2: be sold to people living elsewhere. This nineteenth century globalization 481 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 2: of soap and the soap industry circles back to something 482 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,880 Speaker 2: we said at the beginning of this show about the 483 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,560 Speaker 2: word for soap in different parts of the world and 484 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:57,640 Speaker 2: how in some places it's derived from the traditional preparations 485 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 2: that soap was replacing. Into the twentieth century, new discoveries 486 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,520 Speaker 2: continued to affect the way soaps could be made, with 487 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 2: a lot of those discoveries now coming from scientists who 488 00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 2: worked for major soap manufacturers. For example, Procter and Gamble 489 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:20,960 Speaker 2: patented processes for hydrogenating oils in nineteen oh nine. Today 490 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:25,000 Speaker 2: people probably think of hydrogenated oils in the context of food, 491 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 2: but hydrogenation could help harden the fats that were used 492 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 2: to make soap. There were multiple patents related to hydrogenation 493 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 2: in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and so 494 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 2: this led to a whole series of legal battles over 495 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 2: patents and licensing rights when it came to hydrogenation in 496 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:47,640 Speaker 2: soap making. When World War One started in nineteen sixteen, 497 00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 2: many of the raw materials used to make soap were 498 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 2: needed for other wartime applications. This led to chemists developing 499 00:32:56,080 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 2: synthetic surfectants as a replacement. The first synthetic surfactant predated this. 500 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,360 Speaker 2: It was sulfinated castor oil known as red turkey oil, 501 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 2: and that had been discovered in eighteen fifty one, but 502 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 2: the first intentionally developed synthetic surfactants are usually credited to 503 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:17,440 Speaker 2: German scientist Fritz Gunter, who worked for BASF during World 504 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 2: War One. Synthetically made surfactants became known as detergents, and 505 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 2: today a lot of things that people call soap are 506 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:30,800 Speaker 2: actually detergents. Yeah, they're still surfactants, they're still cleaning things, 507 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 2: but they're not that technical definition of soap. Tangentially related, 508 00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 2: The first soap operas made their debuts in the nineteen thirties. Those, 509 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 2: of course, are serialized dramas starting on the radio and 510 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 2: then moving to television with soap companies as their major sponsors. 511 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 2: That is another entirely different subject. Into the twentieth century, 512 00:33:55,120 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 2: soap manufacturers started developing more specialty products with that it's 513 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 2: meant to work on specific types of soil or to 514 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 2: be used for specific tasks. This includes the first laundry 515 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,720 Speaker 2: and dishwasher detergents in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties, 516 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 2: which produce less foam so they don't cause the machines 517 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 2: to overload with SuDS. The first household liquid soap meant 518 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 2: specifically for hand washing was soft soap, and that debuted 519 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:26,320 Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty. The twentieth century also saw an assortment 520 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:30,280 Speaker 2: of additives to different soap and detergent products, like optical 521 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:33,480 Speaker 2: brighteners which make whites look whiter in the laundry, or 522 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 2: enzymes meant to break down specific types of stains or oils. So, 523 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:44,239 Speaker 2: as we mentioned, there are connections between the globalization of 524 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 2: soap and racism, colonization, and oppression. At the same time, 525 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 2: washing your hands with soap and water really does help 526 00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 2: reduce the spread of numerous diseases. So a lack of 527 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,240 Speaker 2: access to soap and clean water can have a serious 528 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:06,400 Speaker 2: and damaging effect on public health. Research at places like 529 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:10,759 Speaker 2: refugee camps and communities that are facing widespread poverty have 530 00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 2: shown a measurable reduction in certain illnesses, especially diarrheal illnesses, 531 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 2: when people have access to soap and water. These illnesses 532 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 2: can be fatal in young children, elderly people, and people 533 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 2: who have other illnesses or who are already facing malnutrition 534 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 2: or dehydration. So this connection between soap availability and disease 535 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:39,400 Speaker 2: reduction has led to programs to distribute soaps in places 536 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,840 Speaker 2: that need it and to do things like recycle partially 537 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,800 Speaker 2: used hotel soaps to distribute. 538 00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 1: To poorer parts of the world. Soap. 539 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 2: Uh, that's some stuff about soap, sometimes chronologically and sometimes not. 540 00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: I have listener mail about pens Love It from Ralph. 541 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,200 Speaker 2: Ralph wrote, Holly and Tracy, I really enjoyed your recent 542 00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:06,719 Speaker 2: episode on the Ballpoint pen I also am very particular 543 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 2: about the pens I use, but for a slightly different reason. 544 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,439 Speaker 2: I'm left handed, so I have problems with the ink 545 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,080 Speaker 2: in most pens smearing as I draw my left hand 546 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,480 Speaker 2: across it. However, I have found that the pilot V 547 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:24,160 Speaker 2: Ball pens with green ink don't smear. The red, black, 548 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,200 Speaker 2: and blue ones all smear, but for some reason, the 549 00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:28,879 Speaker 2: green ones don't. So that is my go to pen 550 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,879 Speaker 2: of choice and has been for several years now. Plus 551 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,200 Speaker 2: green is one of my favorite colors, which is a bonus. 552 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,640 Speaker 2: In fact, people in my office know that if something 553 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,480 Speaker 2: is written in green ink, it's mine. I love your 554 00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 2: show and the wide variety of topics you cover. I've 555 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:45,080 Speaker 2: been listening since the beginning of the pandemic and usually 556 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 2: listen to your episodes while I'm out cycling along our 557 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 2: local bike trail along the river. I'm gonna pause and 558 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 2: say that sounds lovely. M I have also attached my 559 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,880 Speaker 2: pet tax photos of my cat's Madison on the floor 560 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,200 Speaker 2: in Savannah on the sink. These photos are takes and 561 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:03,799 Speaker 2: on their seventeenth birthday on April fourth this year. 562 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,920 Speaker 1: Thanks again for all you do, Ralph. We do, indeed 563 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:13,400 Speaker 1: have a kitty cat with two front feet in the sink, 564 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 1: two back feet on the edge of the counter. And 565 00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:22,480 Speaker 1: then this kitty cat's sibling with very very similar face 566 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:26,239 Speaker 1: and coloring. They could almost be twins, I mean, like 567 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:30,719 Speaker 1: identical twins, not just cats born together in the same litter. 568 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:36,239 Speaker 1: The cat that is on the floor, named Madison looks 569 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,360 Speaker 1: very startled. They are both. 570 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:42,840 Speaker 2: They are both tabby cats with little white faces, like 571 00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:46,760 Speaker 2: just little white right around their mouths and noses. Happy 572 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:49,360 Speaker 2: birthday Madison and Savannah just monthsly. 573 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:57,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is from July. The birthday happened. The email 574 00:37:57,800 --> 00:37:59,479 Speaker 1: is from July. So thanks so much, Ralph. 575 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,800 Speaker 2: I just I'm technically a right handed person. I've always 576 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 2: had questions about whether I ought to have learned to 577 00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:10,520 Speaker 2: write with my left hand. I did not understand what 578 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,279 Speaker 2: the teacher meant when they said put it in the 579 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:14,759 Speaker 2: hand that it feels the most comfortable end. I was like, 580 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:16,800 Speaker 2: this feels bad in both my hands. What are you 581 00:38:16,880 --> 00:38:20,759 Speaker 2: talking about? But my spouse is a lefty, and so 582 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,640 Speaker 2: I have seen his struggles with the world of things 583 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:26,840 Speaker 2: that are built for right handed people. 584 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:27,520 Speaker 1: Yep. 585 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:33,759 Speaker 2: Also, yeah, so thank you for this email. If you'd 586 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:35,319 Speaker 2: like to send us a note about this or any 587 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,680 Speaker 2: other podcast. We are at History Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot 588 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,120 Speaker 2: com and you can subscribe to our show. I'm the 589 00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:45,839 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, or wherever else you like to get your podcasts. 590 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,280 Speaker 1: Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 591 00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:59,239 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 592 00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,400 Speaker 1: or wherever listen to your favorite shows.