1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Deuteronomy 29:23

Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein, *after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation:

Genesis 19:24.

Of salt. This salt was of a bituminous or sulphureous nature, which would burn like oil, and was sometimes used in lamps. (Herodotus, 2:62; Pliny, [Natural History?] 2:104.) It dried up the moisture of the earth, and rendered it barren. For which reason, it was scattered upon such places as were no longer to be cultivated, or inhabited. Abimelech sowed some on the ruins of Sichem, Judges 9:45. It seems that Palestine now feels the effects of this curse; as, for the most part, it is uncultivated, and a desert, though once so flourishing. (Calmet)