Pamela Palumbo, age 11, Of Easton, Conn., for her question:

When was soap invented?

There is an old report that dates back some 3,000 years, but We cannot rely upon it. It tells of the Women of rome who washed their clothes in the Tiber River, and at a certain part their laundry chores were easier. Behind it was a alope that led to a hill where animals were sacrificed t0 the gods. A blend of fat from roasted goats and ashes from the fires flowed down and mixed with the river water. The mixture was a sort of simplified soap, and some experts claim that it was the world's first soap.

Another story says that soap was invented by a Frenchman, also quite by accident. This dapper fellow had invented a brilliantine of goat oil and ashes and one day went out in the rain. The hairdressing was a simple soap, and the rain changed it into frothy lather. Either of these or some other story may be true, for no one knows for certain who invented soap.