![Elizabethan Smelling Salts
…or Spirit of Harts-Horn, or Sal Volatile…
According to the all-knowing and ever-accurate Wikipedia,
Smelling salts have been used since Roman times, and are mentioned in the writings of Pliny as ‘Hammonicus sal’,[1]. Evidence exists of use in the 13th century by alchemists as ‘sal ammoniac’.[1]
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.[1]
Smelling salts have also been known as ‘sal volatile’, for their ability to produce a reaction.[4]
In 1736, Richard Bradley, presumably referring to a more contemporarily Elizabethan author, wrote:
Pierre Pomet says that many remedies were prepared from hartshorn and mentions that hartshorn jelly was good against fainting and swooning fits, heartburn, convulsions, falling sickness, hysterical fits, and worms.
While Wikipedia mentions that modern solutions may also contain other products to perfume or act in conjunction with the ammonia, such as eucalyptus oil, historical solutions would likely not have been perfumed.
In case you were wondering, Hartshorn is from the antlers of a red male deer. Hence the picture.
And now you know.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lruhxsPXZq1r3yuiqo1_500.jpg)
Elizabethan Smelling Salts
…or Spirit of Harts-Horn, or Sal Volatile…
According to the all-knowing and ever-accurate Wikipedia,
Smelling salts have been used since Roman times, and are mentioned in the writings of Pliny as ‘Hammonicus sal’,[1]. Evidence exists of use in the 13th century by alchemists as ‘sal ammoniac’.[1]
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.[1]
Smelling salts have also been known as ‘sal volatile’, for their ability to produce a reaction.[4]
In 1736, Richard Bradley, presumably referring to a more contemporarily Elizabethan author, wrote:
Pierre Pomet says that many remedies were prepared from hartshorn and mentions that hartshorn jelly was good against fainting and swooning fits, heartburn, convulsions, falling sickness, hysterical fits, and worms.
While Wikipedia mentions that modern solutions may also contain other products to perfume or act in conjunction with the ammonia, such as eucalyptus oil, historical solutions would likely not have been perfumed.
In case you were wondering, Hartshorn is from the antlers of a red male deer. Hence the picture.
And now you know.
Tagged as: elizabethan ~ history ~ renaissance ~ smelling salts ~ hartshorn ~ sal volatile ~
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