HARTSHORN, SPIRIT OR, a volatile alkali of a very penetrating odour, and an efficacious remedy in nervous affections. It is an impure ammonia, and derives its name from the deer's horns from which it was formerly prepared, and to which very wonderful medicinal virtues were ascribed; but it is now obtained by the destructive distillation of bone of any kind. The salt of hartshorn—an impure solid carbonate of ammonia, formed at the same time—is sometimes used as a remedy in fever. Under the name of hartshorn shavings, the scrapings or raspings of deer's horns are variously employed in medical practice. Deer's horns, when boiled in water, yield a strong and very nutritive jelly, though inferior, perhaps, to that afforded by ivory.