Niddah

GEMARA. One taught:  The Alexandrian natron and not the Antipatrian one. BORITH.  Rab Judah stated: This means ahala.  But was it not taught: The borith and the ahal?  — The fact is that borith means sulphur. An incongruity was pointed out: They  added to them  the bulb of ornithogalum  and garden-orache,  the borith and the ahal. Now if 'borith' means sulphur [the objection would arise:] Is it subject to the restrictions of the Sabbatical year, seeing that it was taught:  This is the general rule, Whatsoever has a root  is subject to the restrictions of the Sabbatical year and whatsoever has no root is not subject to the restrictions of the Sabbatical year? — What then do you suggest: That borith means ahala? But was it not taught: 'The borith and the ahal'?  — There are two kinds of ahala. KIMONIA.  Rab Judah explained: Shelof-doz. And eshlag.  Samuel stated: I enquired of the seamen and they told me that its name was eshlaga, that it was to be found between the cracks of pearls and that it was extracted with an iron nail. IF ONE IMMERSED IT AND, HAVING HANDLED etc. Our Rabbis taught: If one applied to it  the seven substances  and it did not fade away and then applied to it soap and it disappeared, one's clean things are unclean.  But does not soap remove dye also?  — Rather read: If one applied to it  six of the substances and it did not fade away and when soap had been applied it disappeared, his clean things are unclean, since it is possible that if one had first applied to it the seventh substance it might also have disappeared.  Another [Baraitha] taught: If one applied to it  the seven substances and it did not fade away but when one applied them a second time it disappeared, one's clean things remain clean.  R. Zera stated: This  was taught only in regard to clean things that were handled between the first and the second wash;  but the clean things that were handled after the second wash  are unclean, since the person was particular about it  and it had disappeared.