The English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, and the establishment of the only republic ever to exist on English soil, all had to do (also) with soap. At the time, very few homes had bathrooms, and even then, bathing was done about once a year, often by the whole family in the same tub and with the same water. But soap was used to wash clothes, wash hands, and perhaps even the face. What was frowned upon was bathing naked and washing the body. Soap was made from beef fat or tallow, which contains a whopping 48% oleic acid. Among animal fats, beef and human fat have the highest content of oleic acid, an unsaturated fat. When Charles I came to power in England, desperate for revenue and given the thriving soap industry, he asked Parliament to impose taxes on it. When they refused, he sold the monopoly rights to soap production. Soap manufacturers, exasperated by the loss of their livelihoods, supported Parliament. This admittedly somewhat far-fetched argument aside, it can certainly be said that soap has had the merit of reducing infant mortality in England in recent years. Soap works thanks to a hydrophilic head, soluble in water, and a hydrophobic tail, insoluble in water but which dissolves in substances such as grease, oil, and fat.
