For more than 500 years (from 1300 to 1800) the instrument for measuring time at sea was "the Ampoule of hours". In Catalonia there are references of its manufacture since the middle of the 14th century made of Catalan transparent glass according to the formulas of the alchemist Guillem Sedacer, using as a fundent the soda obtained by burning the barrella (its ashes dissolved in water and cast with a sieve have been the basis from the "laundry" to wash clothes from the Neolithic). The barrella grows on the Catalan coast from Orihuela to Montpellier and the Italian manuals for making Italian glass (La Sedacina and Arte Vetraria) say: "bisogna comprare la soda di Spagna".