Produced by Don Kostuch
[Transcriber's Notes]
Some of the suggestions in this book may be helpful or at least have aplacebo effect. Beware of the many recipes that include kerosene (coaloil), turpentine, ammonium chloride, lead, lye (sodium hydroxide),strychnine, arsenic, mercury, creosote, sodium phosphate, opium, cocaineand other illegal, poisonous or corrosive items. Many recipes do notspecify if it is to be taken internally or topically (on the skin). Thereis an extreme preoccupation with poultices (applied to the skin, 324references) and "keeping the bowels open" (1498 references, includingrelated terms).
I view this material as a window into the terror endured by mothers andfamily members when a child or adult took ill. The doctors available (ifyou could afford one) could offer little more than this book. The guilt offailing to cure the child was probably easier to endure than thehelplessness of doing nothing.
There are many recipes for foods I fondly remember eating as a child.
Note the many recipes for a single serving that involve lengthy andlabor-intensive preparation. Refrigeration was uncommon and thetemperature of iceboxes was well above freezing, so food had to beconsumed quickly.
Many recipes use uncooked meat and eggs that can lead to several diseases.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected but contemporary spellingand usage are unchanged. Page headers are retained, but are moved to thebeginning of the paragraph where the text is interrupted. Page numbers areshown in brackets [ ].
The author claims the material is directed toward non-medical "family"members, but many passages are obviously copied from medical textbooks.The following glossary of unfamiliar (to me) terms is quite lengthy anddoes not include incomprehensible (to me) medical terms and many words andnames I could not find in several reference books. The book's own 16 pagedictionary is on page 893.
I recommend the article on "hydrophobia" (page 241) as an interestinghistory of the Pasture treatment.
Don Kostuch
Transcriber's Dictionary
These entries are absent or brief in the original dictionary on page 893.A short cooking dictionary is on page 831. Check there for items not foundhere.
acetanilide (also acetanilid)
White crystalline compound, C6H5NH(COCH3), formerly used to relieve pain
and reduce fever. It has been replaced because of toxicity.
Aconite
Various, usually poisonous perennial herbs of the genus Aconitum, having
tuberous roots, palmately lobed leaves, blue or white flowers with large
hoodlike upper sepals, and an aggregate of follicles. The dried leaves
and roots of these plants yield a poisonous alkaloid that was formerly
used medicinally. Also called monkshood, wolfsbane.
actinomycosis (lumpy jaw)
Inflammatory disease of cattle, hogs, and sometimes humans, caused by
actinomyces; causes lumpy tumors of the mouth, neck, chest, and abdomen.
Addison's disease
Caused by partial or total failure of adrenocortical function;
characterized by a bronze-like skin color and mucous membranes, anemia,
weakness, and low blood pressure.
ad libitum
At the discretion of the performer. Giving license to alter or omit a
part.
affusion
Pouring on of liquid, as in baptism.
ague
Alternating periods of chills, fever, and sweat