Salammoniac

Salammoniac, also sal ammoniac or salmiac, is a rare, naturally occurring mineral made of ammonium chloride. It forms colourless, white or yellow-brown crystals, is quite soft and brittle, and dissolves in water. It is also the archaic name for the chemical compound ammonium chloride. It typically forms as crusts left by sublimation around volcanic vents, and is found around fumaroles, guano deposits and burning coal seams, in places such as Tajikistan and Mount Vesuvius. The first recorded reference to it as ammonium chloride is in the Pseudo-Geber work De inventione veritatis. The page says Islamic physicians brought it into the pharmacopoeias for medicinal use. It has also been used to clean the soldering iron in stained-glass work, in refining precious metals, in bakery products for crispness, to make salty liquorice, and as the electrolyte in early dry-battery cells. A medical manuscript of 1666 recommends inhaling it for headaches.