A natureza da potassa e os métodos de preparação em finais do século XVIII numa publicação do Frei Veloso: Alographia dos Alkalis Fixos

Abstract

By the end of the eighteenth century many were the studies on how one could identify and produce different kinds of alkali. In this dissertation we shall try to establish a relation between the practices and theories applied to obtain different salts which were used in a number of products like soaps, glasses, medication, as well as in gunpowder industry. In order to understand the studies on salts we turned to the work of the Portuguese friar José Mariano da Conceição Veloso, entitled Alographia dos alkalis fixos vegetal ou potassa, mineral ou soda e dos seus nitratos, segundo as melhores memórias estrangeira, que se tem escrito sobre este assunto. The commission of the above work was directly made by the Portuguese government in a period while the country was passing trough transformations. Their main concern was to resolve problems related to manufacturing and to food production. It is in this context that a reform in the University of Coimbra established the Natural Philosophy course, which would be responsible for the professional training of naturalists. Their goal would be to collect data and identify the natural wealth of the kingdom trough their trips. A second step was also made with the creation of the Arco do Cego typography, in charge of friar Veloso. There he published texts, many of them translations, willing to help people interested in developing different economic activities