History
Smelling salts have been used since Roman times, and are mentioned in the writings of Pliny as 'Hammonicus sal'. Evidence exists of use in the 13th century by alchemists as 'sal ammoniac'.
In the 17th century, an ammonia solution was distilled from shavings of harts' (deer) horns and hooves, which led to the alternative name for smelling salts as spirit or salt of hartshorn.
Smelling salts have also been known as 'sal volatile', for their ability to produce a reaction.
They were widely used in Victorian Britain to revive fainting women, and in some areas constables would carry a container of them for the purpose.
The use of smelling salts was widely recommended during the Second World War, with all workplaces advised by the British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance to keep 'sal volatile' in their first aid boxes. Nowadays, their use and prevalence has dramatically decreased.
Read more about this topic: Smelling Salts
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“A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
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—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)