Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Glau·ber's salt Pronunciation:
"glau-b&r(z)- Variant:
also Glau·ber salt /-b&r-/ Function:
noun : a colorless crystalline sodium sulfate Na
2SO
4·10H
2O used especially in dyeing, as a cathartic, and in solar energy systems —sometimes used in pl.
Glauber, Johann Rudolf (1604–1670), German physician and chemist. Glauber was both an alchemist and a serious chemist. As an alchemist he was a follower of Paracelsus anddealt extensively in secret chemicals and medicinals. As a chemist he made several important contributions. In 1648 he first prepared hydrochloric acid from common salt and sulfuric acid. Substitutingpotassium nitrate for common salt, he observed the formation of nitric acid. Of the various salts he prepared, the most important is the one now known as Glauber's salt, which he first made in 1656.His observations on dyeing are also noteworthy.
[glou-berz] 
