Talmud for Eruvin 207:8
א"ל רב אחא בריה דרבא לרב אשי האי מלח ה"ד אי דמבטליה קא מוסיף אבנין (וכתיב (דברי הימים א כח, יט) הכל בכתב מיד ה' עלי השכיל)
But is not this inconsistent with the following: If a courtyard floor was damaged by rainwater one may bring straw and level it?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Or 'make a path in'. Which shows that even in the country it is permissible to scatter straw on the ground. How then is this to be reconciled with our Mishnah which allows salt to be scattered in the Temple court only?');"><sup>22</sup></span> - Straw is different<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' From salt.');"><sup>23</sup></span> since its owner does not renounce it.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But intends to collect it later and to use it as fodder for cattle or to mix it in a mortar. The scattering of materials on the ground on the Sabbath is forbidden as 'levelling' which is a form of 'building', but since the straw is not to remain on the ground permanently the act of scattering cannot be regarded as 'building'. Salt, on the other hand, being useless after it has once been scattered on the ground, is presumed to have been renounced by its owner once it has been scattered. The act, therefore, is permitted in the Temple court only but not in the country.');"><sup>24</sup></span> Said R'Aha son of Raba to R'Ashi: How are we to understand the case of the SALT?
Jerusalem Talmud Eruvin
Producing sound mechanically is rabbinically forbidden on the Sabbath. An exception is made for medical purposes. It is permitted to make a contraption which can be put together without violating any Sabbath rule, which produces a monotonous sound which induces sleep in a sick person. For this one lifts water in a siphon which delivers water into an ˋedeq which according to the Gaonic Commentary to Tahorot (Otzar Hagaonim III, Eruvin, pp. 79,104) is a vessel with an opening on top and capillary holes at the bottom. If the vessel is kept filled steadily and a metal plate is put under it at some distance, the water coming though the capillary holes will create a faint monotonous sound which induces sleep., משתמיהה156The word is unexplained (and not listed in the Dictionaries, from Levy to Sokoloff). One may see its root in Arabic סמה “to run steadily” (said of horses).. And sprinkles with an ˋedeq157In Babylonian sources אדק, ארק. The etymology is unknown., some want to say 158Meaning and etymology unknown.עיררה; some want to say, a small water pitcher159Diminutive of Syriac קוקא “water pitcher” (following Sokoloff.). 160Babli 104a. In a courtyard where it started to rain and there was a house of mourning or a wedding feast, one takes straw and beats it down161To make it possible for visitors to cross the yard. on condition that he should not do it on the Sabbath in the way he does it on a weekday. It was stated: One does not fill with a lentil162The name of any ovaloid vessel (cf. Avodah zarah Chapter 5, Note 195). of the Sabbath. If he is afraid for the rope or the cord it is permitted163If he needs much water and is afraid his old rope will break, he may draw water in a vessel not usually used for the purpose since then this is not done the way one usually does it during the week..