History (28.soap)
) O, v, h* k6 v" q% Q* v Okay, as you look at this next exhibit, you'll notice something quite common --- an ordinary bar of soap. Now, soap has been around a long time --- in fact, the ancient Phoenicians produced soap as a substance for washing the body way back in 600 B.C. They made it by blending goat’s fat with wood ash. The Phoenicians, as you may know regularly有规律地; 经常地, 习惯性地traded along the Mediterranean, and they were the ones who introduced soap to the Greeks and Romans.
) _" M& Z7 h/ h1 L0 t6 c( c Now, soap was not something welcomed by all countries. In fact, during the superstitious迷信的; 迷信引起的Middle Ages, many people were afraid to bathe their whole body too frequently. 频繁地, 屡次地They thought it could be dangerous for their health --- that it could even kill them. And even after the production of soap became common in some European countries in the eleventh and twelfth centuries --- even then some people in the hear of Europe refused to use it. You'll find it interesting that when a duchess公爵夫人; 女公爵was given a box of soap as a present in 1549 she was so insulted侮辱, 无礼that she had the gift --- giver thrown off her estate.
( j+ V( e0 g7 {% g' Q But by the 19 century the attitude态度; 看法; 姿势toward soap had changed drastically大大地; 激烈地; 彻底地. In some regions of Europe the tax税, 税金, 税款on soap was so high that people secretly made their own. A baron男爵went so far as to suggest that the wealth of a nation could be judged according to the amount of soap it used.
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Now, if you turn your attention to the next exhibit, you can see how soap is manufactured today.
