Urine - medieval uses

Garry Lavin's Science Safari - Making Explosives from Urine > .
How Urine was used to Diagnose Illnesses [Medieval Professions: Pissprophet] > .
Nowadays westerners waste gallons of water flushing away of one of the most useful chemicals of the Middle Ages.

Urine.

Urine comprises approximately 95% water, 2.5% urea (the ammonium salt of cyanic acid), and 2.5% other substances—metabolic wastes, excess sugar, minerals, and medications excreted either metabolized or unaltered. With an average NPK ratio of 11-1-2, urine also contains calcium, chloride, sodium, magnesium, sulfates, and phosphates.

A healthy individual produces sterile urine, though subsequent bacterial action releases alkaline ammonia, producing a useful chemical with a pungent odor.

Chief medieval uses of urine:

Leather – hair removal, tanning, softening
Dyeing – mordant
Fulling and laundry – chamber lye cleaning, bleaching
Gunpowder – KNO3 (potassium nitrate, saltpetre) used as oxidizer in combustion process

Urine (canine) damage on plant leaves > .