The History of Smelling Salts

Part of our series: Smelling Salts — The Complete Guide.

Why this article is short

Most histories of smelling salts are long on atmosphere and short on sources. This one is deliberately the reverse: everything below traces to a published source or a government record, and the well-known stories we couldn't source didn't make the cut. It's a shorter read for it — and every date in it is real.

Hartshorn: the name gives it away

The classical smelling salt was ammonium carbonate, known historically as sal volatile and as spirit of hartshorn. The second name is literal: the preparation was once obtained by distilling the antlers — the horns — of harts, or male deer. The etymology is not folklore; it is the manufacturing method fossilised in the word.

That preparation is a solid. The modern bottle is generally an aqueous ammonia solution, a different material releasing the same active gas. What Are Smelling Salts and How Do They Work? covers the chemistry of both.

A restorative with a literary paper trail

How far back does use actually go? Far enough that the evidence is literary rather than medical: sports-medicine historian Paul McCrory traces references to smelling salts as a restorative through Pliny, Chaucer, Shakespeare and Dickens (McCrory, "Smelling salts," British Journal of Sports Medicine 2006;40(8):659–660 — full text). Across all of it the purpose is the same: bringing someone round.

That continuity is the most interesting single fact in the category's history — because revival is precisely the use modern safety guidance rules out, for reasons the 2025 NFL decision made explicit. The category's oldest purpose is the one it should no longer be used for.

The fight trades

The same McCrory essay documents the sporting chapter: ammonia inhalants became popular corner equipment in boxing, used to revive dazed fighters — and fell from favour there for the reasons that now define the whole conversation. Reviving a fighter can mask the signs of a head injury at the moment assessment matters most, and the reflexive head-jerk away from the inhalant carries its own spine-injury concern, which is why many boxing jurisdictions came to prohibit corner use. From boxing the habit spread through combat and contact sport into the gym culture that borrowed from it.

The strength-sport chapter

The most recent move needs no historian: ammonia inhalants are now a visible part of powerlifting, strongman and general gym culture, and the crack of a bottle before a heavy attempt is a recognisable piece of footage rather than an obscure ritual. Culture and the current federation rules are covered in Smelling Salts in Powerlifting and Strength Sports.

The 2020s: the regulatory turn

• April 2023 – April 2024. The US Food and Drug Administration issued warning letters to seven companies selling ammonia inhalants, in each case for marketing an unapproved drug: Nose Slap LLC (Apr 2023), Innovative Formulations / Insane Labz (Feb 2024), Native Salts LLC (Feb 2024), Spirochaete Research Labs / Scitus (Mar 2024), Skull Smash LLC (Mar 2024), Ammonia Sport Inc. (Mar 2024) and Ward Smelling Salts (Apr 2024).
• 6 August 2024. The FDA issued a consumer alert advising against the purchase or use of unapproved inhalants marketed for alertness and energy.
• 2025. The NFL instructed its 32 clubs that they may no longer administer ammonia in any form to players, citing the FDA warning and the risk of masking concussion symptoms. The NFLPA clarified that teams cannot supply them while players may still use their own.

Underneath all of it sits an older document: a proposed rule from 19 June 2008 (73 FR 34895) determining that ammonia in a product labelled with claims or directions for use as a reflex stimulant is not generally recognised as safe and effective, or is misbranded. It has never been finalised. A sixteen-year-old proposal is the legal foundation of the current position — which tells you something about how quietly this category sat until it did not.

The full picture is in Are Smelling Salts Bad for You? What the FDA Actually Says.

Where that leaves the category

Two centuries of use as a revival aid, followed by a century in sport, followed by a regulatory correction aimed squarely at how the products are sold. The history is genuinely interesting and it does not need embellishment.

Spinto Smelling Salts are sold as single bottles and 2–6 bottle packs, shipped from Duluth, GA.

FAQ

What were smelling salts originally made from? Ammonium carbonate, known as sal volatile or spirit of hartshorn — the latter because it was once distilled from deer antler.

Why were they called hartshorn? A hart is a male deer. The name records the original source material.

Are modern smelling salts the same as Victorian ones? Not chemically identical. Traditional preparations were solid ammonium carbonate; modern bottles are generally aqueous ammonia solutions. Both release ammonia gas.

When did the FDA act on smelling salts? Seven warning letters were issued between April 2023 and April 2024, and a consumer alert followed on 6 August 2024.

Why did the NFL change its rules? In 2025 it stopped clubs administering ammonia in any form to players, citing the FDA warning and concerns about masking concussion symptoms.