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
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“The history of his present majesty, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations ... all of which have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)