Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Sal Volatile

I just caught Merrily We Live on TCM. It's a minor comedy from 1938, sort of a knock-off of My Man Godfrey--even uses some of the same actors.

Late in the film, people start fainting, and the head of the household calls for the smelling salts. I have a question--

Whatever happened to smelling salts? I sure don't have any around. What are smelling salts anyway? They seems to be part of the household in older movies. When did they get kicked out the emergency kit? Was fainting more common back then?

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Have some kids, Steve. You'll find Smelling Salts in your world. I don't exactly remember when or why, but I've seen them in the last ten years.

2:24 PM, January 30, 2008  
Blogger LAGuy said...

Yes, but have you smelled them?

2:29 PM, January 30, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes I have used them in the hospital for dads who get whoozy when their wife is having a baby. They are an ammonia compund and they wake you up. (of course the medical staff have to try them out at some point in training.)
AAGuy

7:31 PM, January 30, 2008  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The medical version of waterboarding.

8:30 PM, January 30, 2008  

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