Hartshorn
Cornu cervi
- Known today as
- The antlers of the red deer, rasped, burnt, or distilled.
- Kind
- Animal
- Constituents
- ammonium carbonate, ammonia
Hartshorn: what was it used for?
Burnt, as an absorbent; distilled, as spirit and salt of hartshorn for fainting.
Hartshorn: what does modern science say?
Spirit of hartshorn was ammonia, the smelling salts of later centuries; salt of hartshorn is still baker’s ammonia.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- The ammonia vapour stings the nose and provokes the reflex of a gasp and a quickened pulse, which is all that smelling salts do for a faint.
- Toxic dose
- The vapour burns the airway in quantity; the salt by mouth is caustic.
- Standing
- Ammonia inhalants are still sold, and used by athletes; no evidence that they help a concussion, and some that they hide it.
- McCrory, P. (2006). “Smelling salts.” British Journal of Sports Medicine 40. Verified against its record · doi:10.1136/bjsm.2006.029710
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
In Their Own Words
Quincy says that when the whole process is over, the pieces of hartshorn may be burned in a potter's kiln or furnace, and that this makes the burnt hartshorn of the shops.
“After the whole Proceſs is over, the pieces of Harts-Horn may be taken out of the Body, and in a Potter Kiln, or any convenient Furnace, burn'd; and that makes the Burnt Harts-Horn of the Shops,”
John Quincy, M.D., Pharmacopœia Officinalis & Extemporanea, or, A Complete English Dispensatory, Part III, spirit and salt of harts-horn. London: printed for E. Bell and others, 1724; the edition number on the title page is illegible in the scan (Internet Archive OCR text). The text, read in part
For a fainting fit, Buchan says all that can be done is to let the patient smell Hungary water, eau de luce or spirits of hartshorn, and to rub the temples with warm brandy.
“All that can be done in the fit is, to let him smell to a bottle of Hungary-water, eau de luce, or spirits of hartshorn, and to rub his temples with warm brandy”
William Buchan, M.D., Domestic Medicine: or, a Treatise on the Prevention and Cure of Diseases by Regimen and Simple Medicines. With an Appendix, containing a Dispensatory for the Use of Private Practitioners, Of fainting fits. London: printed for A. Strahan, T. Cadell, 1791 (Project Gutenberg eBook #74359). The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Sources
- Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopœia Londinensis. Read in full · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the fifty-entry sample
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 read in full, 1 verified against its record.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Hartshorn.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hartshorn.
- MLA
“Hartshorn.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hartshorn. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Hartshorn. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/hartshorn
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See Also
Drawing on the same sources: Culpeper
Hawthorn · Hamech, confection of · Herb Paris · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
The Hand of Glory (holding a candle made from the fat of a hanged man) · Hazel (Corylus avellana) · Heartsease (the wild pansy of fields and banks, purple, white, and yellow) · Hagstone (A stone with a natural hole worn through it) · Hemlock (Conium maculatum, of the carrot family) · Gum arabic (The dried sap of Senegalia senegal and related acacias)
Historical description, not medical advice.