Smelling Salts

SMELLING SALTS (angl. smelling-salts), a medicinal form for inhaling volatile medicinal substances, proposed in the 17th century by F. Sylvius (François de la Boë Sylvius). Ammonium smelling salts consist of pieces of ammonium carbonate, moistened with strong ('triple') ammonia spirit, with the addition of volatile aromatic substances (turpentine, lavender, bergamot oil, terpineol, menthol, camphor); 'acid' smelling salts contain pieces of sodium acetate or potassium acetate, soaked in glacial acetic acid (5-6% of the salt's weight), with the addition of the aforementioned volatile aromatic substances. They are dispensed in well-sealed bottles. They are used (mainly in England and America) for fainting, intoxication, etc. In the USSR and Central European countries, this form has gone out of use. Other similar forms: inhalant powder - a mixture intended for use by 'sniffs' like snuff tobacco; ordinary composition (in the finest powders): boric acid, coffee, sweet clover, sometimes snuff tobacco, etc. with the addition of menthol, thymol, betol. There are mixtures with salicylic acid and even with veratrum; these mixtures may be dangerous (see Veratrum). Used for colds. For inhalations, the form of 'cold cigarettes' is also used: in a tube with a long mouthpiece, a small amount of menthol or other strongly smelling substances is placed between two layers of cotton (or gauze, etc.). When inhaling through such a tube, the air becomes saturated with the odor of the substances placed in the tube. Cotton wool impregnated with volatile medicinal substances is also used, which is inserted into the nose (in diseases of the nasopharynx) and acts through its gaseous part. Such cotton wool - 'Forman', impregnated with a mixture of formalin and menthol or with an ether (menthol chloromethyl ether) obtained from these ingredients, is prepared by various factories in the USSR. All these inhalant forms (like gaseous medicinal forms in general) suffer from inaccuracy in dosing the active ingredients and are therefore used where their qualitative action is intended, while quantitative relationships are insignificant.