rock stars; Salt makes a splash in the bath-and on the end of a toothbrush.(Brief article)

Byline: Jane Shin Park

When the Phoenicians transformed the tiny Mediterranean island of Ibiza into a major trading port in 654 b.c., opaque crystals found along the southern coast quickly became the region's most highly prized good. Nicknamed "white gold," they were neither precious metals nor gemstones, but salt-innocuous yet highly treasured throughout history as a preservative and disinfectant. (Soldiers during the Roman Empire were paid with rations of it-salarium argentum, the precursor to the English word salary.) Add detoxifying, exfoliating, wound-healing, and skin-soothing to salt's list of benefits, and it's no wonder that a single palmful of the coarse mineral remains a hotly coveted commodity today . . . especially ...