Mischa Popoff – Here’s how it begins…

Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Luke 14:34–35

Before getting into more controversial stuff in my upcoming book, we first need to come to grips with what Jesus meant when he referred to the faithful as salt. Salt is good in so many ways. But, like any substance, or technology, it can also serve evil. And so, to really understand what Jesus is saying in this passage, we need to wedge ourselves firmly into the history of science, circa 1650.

Modern farming and warfare both stem from the development of gunpowder. Traditional gunpowder consists of one-part sulfur, one-part charcoal and six-parts saltpeter, making saltpeter the most significant ingredient. It is also the most expensive. The term “saltpeter” is derived from the Latin sal petrae, salt of stone, because it was observed to amass on stone walls in cellars, which resulted in many complaints from English property owners throughout the seventeenth century when forced by the crown to have their basements excavated in search of this elusive substance. Clearly, there had to be a better way to find the key ingredient of gunpowder, which turned out also to be the key fertilizer in farming. Continue reading →