This article is missing information about chemistry (what’s making it caustic [ammonia?], how it’s formed [urease?]). Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the
talk page.(March 2022)
Lant is aged
urine. The term comes from
Old Englishhland, which referred to urine.[1] Collected urine was put aside to
ferment until used for its chemical content in many pre-industrial processes, such as cleaning and production.[2]
Because of its
ammonium content, lant was most commonly used for floor cleaning and laundry. According to early
housekeeping guides,
bedpans would be collected by one of the younger male servants and put away to ferment to a mild
caustic before use.
In larger
cottage industries, lant was used in
wool-processing[3] and as a source of
potassium nitrate for
black powder. In times of urgent need and in districts where these were the chief industries, the whole town was expected to contribute to its supply.
"Lant. Stale urine. It was preserved in a tank and having been mixed with lime used for dressing wheat before it was sown to keep the birds from picking up the seeds."
— Sidney Addy, Glossary of Sheffield Words 1888[4]: 164
Ray, John (1691). A Collection of English Words Not Generally used, with their Significations and Original, in two Alphabetical Catalogues, The One Of such as are proper to the Northern, the other to the Southern Counties. London: Christopher Wilkinson. No ISBN.
Grose, Francis (1787). A Provincial Glossary with a Collection of Local Proverbs and Popular Superstitions. London: S. Hooper.
Further reading
Winterthur Program in American Material Culture.
"Lant: The Forgotten Resource". University of Delaware. Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. Retrieved 17 December 2023.