Editing Smelling salts (section)

== History ==
[[File:M0354 1951-23-102 2.jpg|thumb|Flask with smelling salts, used for reviving dental patients after a procedure. French, 18th century.]]

Smelling salts have been used since [[Roman Times|Roman times]] and are mentioned in the writings of [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] as ''Hammoniacus sal''.<ref name=BJSM>{{cite journal|last=McCrory|first=P|title=Smelling Salts|journal=British Journal of Sports Medicine|year=2006|volume=40|pages=659–660|url= |pmid=16864561|doi=10.1136/bjsm.2006.029710|issue=8|pmc=2579444}}</ref> Evidence exists of use in the 13th century by [[alchemists]] as [[sal ammoniac]].<ref name=BJSM/> In the 14th-century "[[The Canon's Yeoman's Tale]]", one of [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]]'s ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', an alchemist purports to use ''sal armonyak''.<ref name="prewitt">{{cite magazine |last1=Prewitt |first1=Alex |title=Smelling salts jolt of choice in NHL |url=https://www.si.com/nhl/2016/03/17/smelling-salts-nhl-players |access-date=29 September 2016 |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |date=March 17, 2016}}</ref> In the 17th century, the distillation of an [[ammonia]] solution from shavings of [[Hart (deer)|harts]]' (deer) horns and hooves led to the alternative name for smelling salts as spirit or salt of [[hartshorn]].<ref name=BJSM/>

They were widely used in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] Britain to revive fainting women, and in some areas, constables would carry a container of them for that purpose.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=BBC News|title=Antique gadgets|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/uk_antique_gadgets/html/7.stm|access-date=2009-01-03}}</ref> At that time, smelling salts were commonly dissolved with perfume in vinegar or alcohol and soaked onto a sponge, which was then carried on the person in a decorative container called a vinaigrette.<ref name="Sampson Mordan">{{cite web | url=https://www.antiquesinoxford.co.uk/sampson-mordan | title=Vinaigrettes by Sampson Mordan | publisher=Antiques in Oxford | access-date=2020-10-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=Jane Austen Society of North America|title="Bad Smells" and "Fragrance": Reading Mansfield Park through the Eighteenth-Century Nose|url=http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol35no1/friedman.html}}</ref> The ''sal volatile'' appears several times in [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]]' novel ''[[Nicholas Nickleby]]''.

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 smelling salts in their [[first aid]] boxes.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Caring on the home front |title=Air Raids fact sheet: First aid kits |url=http://www.caringonthehomefront.org.uk/factsheets/firstAidKits.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120102118/http://www.caringonthehomefront.org.uk/factsheets/firstAidKits.htm |archive-date=2008-11-20 }}</ref>