MISS BEECHER’S
DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK:
DESIGNED AS A
SUPPLEMENT
TO HER
TREATISE ON DOMESTIC ECONOMY
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET.
1846.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk’s Office of the Southern District of New-York.
PREFACE.
The following objects are aimed at in this work:
_First_, to furnish an _original_ collection of receipts, which shall
embrace a great variety of simple and well-cooked dishes, designed for
every-day comfort and enjoyment.
_Second_, to include in the collection only such receipts as have been
tested by superior housekeepers, and warranted to be _the best_. It is
not a book made up in _any_ department by copying from other books, but
entirely from the experience of the best practical housekeepers.
_Third_, to express every receipt in language which is short, simple,
and perspicuous, and yet to give all directions so minutely as that the
book can be kept in the kitchen, and be used by any domestic who can
read, as a guide in _every one_ of her employments in the kitchen.
_Fourth_, to furnish such directions in regard to small dinner-parties
and evening company as will enable any young housekeeper to perform her
part, on such occasions, with ease, comfort, and success.
_Fifth_, to present a good supply of the rich and elegant dishes
demanded at entertainments, and yet to set forth a large variety
of what is both healthful and good, in connexion with warnings and
suggestions which it is hoped may avail to promote a more healthful
fashion in regard both to entertainments and to daily table supplies.
No book of this kind will sell without receipts for the rich articles
which custom requires, and in furnishing them, the writer has aimed
to follow the example of Providence, which scatters profusely both
good and ill, and combines therewith the caution alike of experience,
revelation, and conscience, “choose ye that which is good, that ye and
your seed may live.”
_Sixth_, in the work on Domestic Economy, together with this, to which
it is a Supplement, the writer has attempted to secure in a cheap and
popular form, for American housekeepers, a work similar to an English
work which she has examined, entitled the _Encyclopædia of Domestic
Economy, by Thomas Webster and Mrs. Parkes_, containing over twelve
hundred octavo pages of closely-printed matter, treating on every
department of Domestic Economy; a work which will be found much more
useful to English women, who have a plenty of money and well-trained
servants, than to American housekeepers. It is believed that most,
in that work, which would be of any practical use to American
housekeepers, will be found in this work and the Domestic Economy.
_Lastly_, the writer has aimed to avoid the defects complained of
by most housekeepers in regard to works of this description, issued
in this country, or sent from England, such as that, in some cases,
the receipts are so rich as to be both expensive and unhealthful; in
others, that they are so vaguely expressed as to be very imperfect
guides; in others, that the processes are so elaborate and _fussing_ as
to make double the work that is needful; and in others, that the topics
are so limited that some departments are entirely omitted, and all are
incomplete.
In accomplishing these objects, the writer has received contributions
of the pen, and verbal communications, from some of the most judicious
and practical housekeepers, in almost every section of this country.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH.
Nourishing and unstimulating Food. Nourishing and stimulating
food. Food that stimulates without nourishing. Food that is entirely
Undigestible. Food that is unhealthful in nature, or made
so by cooking. Liquid aliments, or drinks. Other liquid aliments,
or drinks, 1
CHAPTER II.
MARKETING--CARE AND USES OF MEATS.
Selection and uses of meats. Modes of cooking and using the different
parts of animals. Beef. Veal. Mutton. Pork. Marketing.
On the Cure of Meats. Directions for cutting up a Hog.
To try out Lard. Directions for salting down Pork. Mr. H. H.’s
Receipt for Curing Hams. To prepare Cases for Sausages.
Sausage Meat. Bologna Sausages. Another Receipt for Sausage
Meat. Pickle for Beef, Pork, Tongues, or Hung Beef. Another
by measure, and with less trouble. To salt down Beef to keep the
year round. To Cleanse Calf’s Head and Feet. To Prepare
Rennet, 26
CHAPTER III.
BOILED MEATS.
To cook a Ham (very fine). Smoked Boiled Tongues. A la Mode
Beef. Another à la Mode Beef. To Boil a Leg of Veal or Mutton.
Pot Pie, of Beef, Veal, or Chicken. Calf’s Head. Curried
Dishes. To Prepare Curry Powder. Veal Stew. Another Veal
Stew (very fine). To Stew Birds. A fine Mutton Stew. A Sausage
Stew. To Bake Beef. Beef, or Mutton and Potatoe Pie.
To Cook Pigeons. Beef or Veal Stewed with Apples (very good).
To Boil a Turkey. To Boil Corned Beef, 36
CHAPTER IV.
ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS.
General Remarks. Roast Beef. Roast Lamb. Roast Mutton.
Roast Veal. To Roast a Fillet or Leg of Veal. Baked, or Roasted
Pig. To Roast a Spare Rib. Roast Turkey. Roast Goose.
Roast Chickens. Roast Ducks. Mutton and Beef Pie. Chicken
Pie. Mutton Haricot. To Cook a Shoulder of Lamb. Rice
Chicken Pie. Potatoe Pie, 43
CHAPTER V.
FRIED AND BROILED MEATS.
General Remarks. A nice Way of Cooking Calf’s or Pig’s Liver.
Fried Veal Cutlets. Fricassee Chickens. Meats Warmed over.
A nice Way of Cooking Cold Meats. A Hash of Cold Meat for
Dinner (very good). Cold Meat Turnovers. Head Cheese.
Souse. Tripe. Force Meat Balls (another Hash.) To Prepare
Cold Beef Steaks. A nice Way of Cooking Cold Boiled Ham.
Another way of Cooking Cold Ham. A Veal Hash. Veal Balls
(another Hash). Broiled Meats. General Remarks. Broiled Ham.
Broiled Veal Cutlets. Broiled Mutton Chops. Broiled Pork
Steaks. Beef Steaks. Beef Liver. To Poach Eggs. To Boil
Eggs. A Salt Relish. Egg Frizzle (very good). Frizzled Beef.
Veal Cheese. A Codfish Relish. Another Way. Salt Herrings, 50
CHAPTER VI.
SOUPS.
French Vegetable Soup. Plain Calf’s Head Soup. An Excellent
Simple Mutton Soup. Pea Soup. Portable Soup. A Rich Mock
Turtle Soup. Another Dry Pea Soup. Clam Soup. Oyster
Soup. Veal Soup. Macaroni Soup (Mrs. F.’s Receipt). Southern
Gumbo (Mrs. L.’s Receipt). Giblet Soup, 57
CHAPTER VII.
FISH.
Directions for making Chowder. To Fry Fish. To Boil Fish.
To Broil Fish. Baked Fish. Cod Sounds and Tongues. To
Cook Salt Codfish. To Cook Cold Codfish. To Cook Oysters.
Lobsters. Scolloped Oysters. Pickled Oysters. To Crimp Fresh
Fish. To Cook Eels. To Cook Scollops. A Good Way of Using
Cold Fresh Fish. To Cook Clams, 62
CHAPTER VIII.
ON THE PREPARATION OF HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES.
To prepare Gravy for a Cold Beef Hash, or Steak Hash. Gravy
for a Mutton Hash, or Venison Hash. To prepare a Veal Hash.
Common Gravies. Drawn Butter, or Melted Butter. Another
Mode of preparing Drawn Butter. Drawn Meat Gravies, or
Brown Gravies. Nice Article to use for Gravy, or Soup. Burnt
Butter for Fish, or Eggs. Sauce for Salad, or Fish. Wine Sauce
for Mutton or Venison. Oyster Sauce. Lobster Sauce. Apple
Sauce. Celery Sauce for Boiled Fowls. Celery Vinegar. Essence
of Celery, to flavor Soup. Herb Spirit. Soup Powder.
Soy. Tomato Catsup. Mushroom Catsup. Walnut Catsup, 66
CHAPTER IX.
VEGETABLES.
Potatoes. Boiled Potatoes. Other Modes of Cooking Potatoes.
Turnips. Asparagus. Beets. Parsnips and Carrots. Onions.
Jerusalem Artichokes. Squashes. Cabbage and Cauliflowers.
Peas. Sweet Corn. Succatosh. Beans. Egg Plant. Baked
Beans. Tomatoes. Greens. Cucumbers. Macaroni. Another
Way. To Cook Hominy. Macaroni Pudding, to eat with Meat.
Salad. Mode of Dressing Salad. Mushroom. Celeriac. Salsify,
or Vegetable Oyster. Southern Mode of Cooking Rice.
Common Mode of Cooking Rice. Best Mode of Cooking Tomatoes.
Sweet Potatoes. Artichokes. Stewed Egg Plant, 73
CHAPTER X.
OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT.
On Constructing and Heating an Oven. How to know when an
Oven is at the right Heat. How to know when Bread is Sour,
or Heavy. How to treat Bread when taken from the Oven.
Yeast. Potatoe Yeast. Home-made Yeast, which will keep good
a Month. Home-brewed Yeast more easily made. Hard Yeast.
Rubs, or Flour Hard Yeast. Milk Yeast. Wheat Bread of Distillery,
or Brewer’s Yeast. Wheat Bread of Home-brewed Yeast.
Baker’s Bread. Wheat Bread of Potatoe Yeast. Potatoe Bread.
Cream Tartar Bread. Eastern Brown Bread. Rye Bread. Rice
Bread.--No. 1. Rice Bread.--No. 2. Apple Bread. Pumpkin
Bread. Walnut Hill’s Brown Bread. French Rolls, or Twists.
Raised Biscuit. Very Nice Rusk. Potatoe Biscuit. Crackers.
Hard Biscuit. Sour Milk Biscuit. A good Way to use Sour Bread, 83
CHAPTER XI.
BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES.
General Directions for Griddle and other Breakfast Cakes. Buckwheat
Cakes wet with Water. Extempore Buckwheat Cakes.
Buckwheat Cakes wet with Milk. Griddle Cakes of Unbolted
Wheat. Best Rice Griddle Cakes. A very delicate Omelet.
Wheat Waffles. Miss B.’s Waffles (without yeast). Rice Waffles.
Good Cakes for Tea, or Breakfast. Fried Rice for Breakfast.
Fried Hominy. Rye Drop Cake (excellent). Wheat Drop
Cake. Corn Griddle Cakes with Yeast. Pilgrim Cake. Sour
Milk Corn Cake. Corn Muffins (from the South). Corn Griddle
Cakes with Eggs. Sachem’s Head Corn Cake. Royal Crumpets.
Bachelor’s Corn Cake. Mrs. W.’s Corn Cake. Corn Muffins.
Savoy Biscuit. Cream Cakes. Wheat Muffins. Albany Breakfast
Cakes. Sally Lunn. Cream Tea Cakes. Buttermilk Short
Cakes. Wafers. Pennsylvania Flannel Cakes. Kentucky Corn
Dodgers. Ohio Corn Cake. Scarborough Puffs. Cream Griddle
Cakes. Crumpets. Fine Cottage Cheese, 94
CHAPTER XII.
PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES.
General Directions in regard to Puddings and Custards. Little
Girl’s Pie. Little Boy’s Pudding. Children’s Fruit Dumpling.
Birth-day Pudding. Children’s Boiled Fruit Pudding. English
Curd Pie. Fruit Fritters. Common Apple Pie. Plain Custard.
A Richer Custard. Another Custard. Mush, or Hasty Pudding.
Stale Bread Fritters (fine). To prepare Rennet. Rennet Custard.
Bird’s Nest Pudding. A Minute Pudding of Potatoe Starch.
Tapioca Pudding. Sago Pudding. Cocoanut Pudding (Plain).
New England Squash, or Pumpkin Pie. Ripe Fruit Pies. Batter
Pudding. Mock Cream. Bread Pudding. Sunderland Pudding.
An Excellent Apple Pie. Boiled Apple Pudding. Spiced
Apple Tarts. Boiled Indian Pudding. Baked Indian Pudding.
Rice Balls, or German Pudding. Apple Custard. Rhubarb Pie.
Plain Macaroni or Vermacelli Puddings. Green Corn Pudding.
Bread Pudding for Invalids, or Young Children. Plain Rice
Pudding, without Eggs. Another Sago Pudding. Oat Meal
Mush. Modes of Preparing Apples for the Table. Fruit Custards.
Modes of Preparing Rice for the Dinner or Tea Table.
Rice and Meat Pudding. Modes of preparing Dishes with Dry
Bread, or Bread so old as to be not good for the table, 104
CHAPTER XIII.
RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES.
Ellen’s Pudding, or Rhubarb Tart. Nottingham Pudding. Rice
Plum Pudding. Eve’s Pudding (the best kind). Baked English
Plum Pudding. A Boiled English Plum Pudding. Almond
Cheese Cake. Cocoanut Pudding. Arrowroot Pudding. Ground
Rice Pudding. Mrs. O.’s Pumpkin Pie. Cracker Plum Pudding
(excellent). Minced Pie. Marlborough Pudding. Orange, or
Lemon Pudding. Sweet Potatoe Pudding. Quince Pudding.
Paste for Puddings and Pies. Healthful Pie Crusts. Paste made
with Butter. Directions for making Paste. Puff Paste. Sauces
for Puddings. Liquid Sauce. Hard Sauce. A Healthful Pudding
Sauce. An excellent Sauce for Boiled Rice, 121
CHAPTER XIV.
PLAIN CAKES.
General Directions for Making Cake. Rose Butter. Directions for
Cleansing Currants. Frosting for Cake. Cake Frosting (another,
which is harder). Good Child’s Cake. Ginger Snaps.
Child’s Feather Cake. Best Molasses Gingerbread. Sponge
Gingerbread. Cider Cake. Cup Cake without Eggs. Cream
Cake without Eggs. Cream Tartar Cake, without Eggs. Fruit
Cake without Eggs. Drop Cake. Sugar Gingerbread (rich).
Sugar Gingerbread (plainer). Sponge Cake. Bridget’s Bread
Cake (excellent). Doughnuts. Cookies (plain). French Cake.
Walnut Hill’s Doughnuts. Cocoanut Cup Cake. Cocoanut
Sponge Cake. Lemon Cake.--No. 1. Gingernuts. Honey
Cake. New Year’s Cookies. Boston Cream Cake. Almond,
Hickory, or Cocoanut Cake. Caraway Cakes. Fruit Drop Cakes.
Dr. B.’s Loaf Cake. Fancy Cakes. Fried Curd Cakes. Wine
Cake. Egg Rusk. Citron Tea Cakes. French Biscuit (Mrs.
Dr. C.), 130
CHAPTER XV.
RICH CAKES.
Old Hartford Election Cake (100 years old). Raised Loaf Cake.
Mrs. H.’s Raised Wedding Cake (very fine). Yeast for the above
Cake. Fruit Cake, or Black Cake. Pound Cake. French Loaf
Cake. Portugal Cake. Golden Cake. Silver Cake. Shrewsbury
Cake. Queen’s Cake. Crullars. Lemon Cake.--No. 2.
Almond Cake. Lemon Drop Cakes. Jelly Cake. Cocoanut
Drops. Sugar Drops, 146
CHAPTER XVI.
PRESERVES AND JELLIES.
General Directions for making Preserves and Jellies. To Clarify
Syrup for Sweetmeats. Brandy Peaches. Peaches (not very
rich). Peaches (very elegant). To preserve Quinces Whole.
Quince Jelly. Calf’s Foot Jelly. To preserve Apples. Pear.
Pineapple (very fine). Purple Plum.--No. 1. To preserve
Oranges. Purple Plum.--No. 2. White, or Green Plum. Citron
Melon. Strawberries. Blackberry Jam. To preserve Currants
to eat with Meat. Cherries. Currants. Raspberry Jam.--No.
1. Raspberry Jam.--No. 2. Currant Jelly. Quince Marmalade.
Preserved Watermelon Rinds. Preserved Pumpkin, 153
CHAPTER XVII.
PICKLES.
To Pickle Tomatoes. To Pickle Peaches. To Pickle Peppers. To
Pickle Nasturtions. To Pickle Onions. To Pickle Gherkins.
To Pickle Mushrooms. To Pickle Cucumbers. Pickled Walnuts.
Mangoes. Fine Pickled Cabbage. An excellent Way of Preparing
Tomatoes to eat with Meat. To Pickle Martinoes. A convenient
Way to Pickle Cucumbers. Indiana Pickles. To Pickle
Cauliflower, or Brocoli, 165
CHAPTER XVIII.
ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS AND EVENING PARTIES.
Ice Cream. Directions for freezing Ice Cream. Philadelphia Ice
Cream. Another Ice Cream. Strawberry Ice Cream. Ice Cream
without Cream. Fruit Ice Cream. Rich Custards. Wine Cream
Custard. Almond Custard. A Cream for Stewed Fruit. Currant,
Raspberry, or Strawberry Whisk. Lemonade Ice, and other
Ices. Lemon and Orange Cream. Vanilla Cream. A Charlotte
Russe. A Plainer Charlotte Russe. A Superior Omelette Souflée.
Almond Cheese Cake. Flummery. Chicken Salad. Gelatine,
or American Isinglass Jelly. Oranges in Jelly. Jelly Tarts.
Sweet Paste Jelly Tarts. An Apple Lemon Pudding. Buttermilk
Pop. Wheat Flour Blanc Mange. Orange Marmalade. A simple
Lemon Jelly (easily made). Cranberry. Fruits Preserved
without Cooking. Apple Ice (very fine). Lemon, or Orange Ice
Cream. Cream Tarts. Whip Syllabub. Trifles. Nothings.
Apple Snow. Iced Fruit. Ornamental Froth. To Clarify Isinglass.
Blanc Mange. Calf’s Foot Blanc Mange. Variegated
Blanc Mange. Jaune Mange. Ivory Dust Jelly. Apple Jelly.
Another Lemon Jelly. Orange Jelly. Floating Island. Another
Syllabub. An Ornamental Dish. Carrageen Blanc Mange
(Irish Moss). A Dish of Snow. To Clarify Sugar. To Prepare
Sugar for Candies. Sugar Kisses. Almond Macaroons. Filbert
Macaroons. Cocoanut Drops. Candied Fruits. Another Way.
To make an Ornamental Pyramid for a Table, 165
CHAPTER XIX.
TEMPERANCE DRINKS.
Ginger Beer Powders, and Soda Powders. Currant Ice Water.
Sarsaparilla Mead. Effervescing Fruit Drinks. Effervescing
Jelly Drinks. Summer Beverage. Simple Ginger Beer. Orange,
or Lemon Syrup. Acid Fruit Syrups. Imitation Lemon Syrup.
Superior Ginger Beer. Lemon Sherbet. Orange Sherbet. Sham
Champagne. Coffee. Fish Skin for Coffee. Chocolate. Cocoa
and Shells. Tea. Ochra. Children’s Drinks. White Tea.
Boy’s Coffee. Strawberry Vinegar. Royal Strawberry Acid.
Delicious Milk Lemonade. Portable Lemonade, 183
CHAPTER XX.
RECEIPTS FOR FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK.
General Remarks on the Preparation of Articles for the Sick. An
Excellent Relish for a Convalescent. Several Ways of Preparing
Chickens for the Sick. Milk Porridge. Rice Gruel, and Oatmeal
Gruel. Arrowroot and Tapioca Gruels. Dropped Egg. Wheat
Gruel for Young Children with weak stomachs, or for Invalids.
Another Panada. Herb Drinks. Other Simple Drinks. Cream
Tartar Whey. Simple Wine Whey. A great Favorite with Invalids.
A New Way of making Barley Water. Panada. Arrowroot
Blanc Mange. Rice Flour Blanc Mange. Another Receipt
for American Isinglass Jelly. Tapioca Jelly. Caudle. Sago
Jelly. Spiced Chocolate. Barley Water. Water Gruel. Beef
Tea. Tomato Syrup. Arrowroot Custard for Invalids. Sago for
Invalids. Rice Jelly. Sassafras Jelly. Buttermilk Whey. Alum
Whey. Another Wine Whey. Mulled Wine. Tamarind Whey.
Egg Tea and Egg Coffee (very fine). Cranberry Tea. Apple
Tea. Egg and Milk. Sago Milk. Tapioca Milk. Bread and
Milk. Egg Gruel. Ground Rice Gruel. Oatmeal Gruel. Simple
Barley Water. Compound Barley Water. Cream Tartar
Beverage. Seidlitz Powders. Blackberry Syrup, for Cholera and
Summer Complaint. Remarks on the Combinations of Cooking, 191
CHAPTER XXI.
ON MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE.
Articles used in Making Cheese. Mode of Preparing the Rennet.
To Make Cheese. To Scald the Curd. Directions for making
Butter, 204
CHAPTER XXII.
ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES FOR THE SICK, 209
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE PROVIDING AND CARE OF FAMILY STORES, 217
CHAPTER XXIV.
SUGGESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO PROVIDING A SUCCESSIVE
VARIETY OF FOOD.
Directions for Preserving Fruits and Vegetables, 223
CHAPTER XXV.
ON BREAD MAKING, 227
CHAPTER XXVI.
DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER AND EVENING PARTIES.
Setting the Table. Taking up the Dinner. Tea Parties and Evening
Company, 234
CHAPTER XXVII.
ON SETTING TABLES, AND PREPARING VARIOUS ARTICLES
OF FOOD FOR THE TABLE, 243
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ON SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, AND MODE OF DOING
WORK.
Directions for the Cook. Directions for the Chambermaid. Odds
and Ends, 247
CHAPTER XXIX.
ON A PROPER SUPPLY OF UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES FOR
HOUSEKEEPING.
Kitchen Furniture, 252
CHAPTER XXX.
SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO HIRED SERVICE, 269
CHAPTER XXXI.
ON THE STYLE OF LIVING AND EXPENSES, 273
CHAPTER XXXII.
WORDS OF COMFORT FOR A DISCOURAGED HOUSEKEEPER, 276
CHAPTER XXXIII.
FRIENDLY COUNSELS FOR DOMESTICS, 280
CHAPTER XXXIV.
MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, AND SUPPLEMENTARY RECEIPTS.
Weights and Measures. Avoirdupois Weight. Apothecaries’ Weight.
On Purchasing Wood. Items of Advice. To make nice Crayons
for Blackboards. Some excellent Cheap Dishes. Stewed Beef.
Tomato Beef. A good Way to use Cold Rice. To prepare Good
Toast. A Good Pudding. Loaf Pudding. A Plain Lemon Pudding.
An Excellent Indian Pudding without Eggs. Pork and
Potato Balls. Oyster Pie. Green Corn Patties (like Oysters).
Ohio Wedding Cake (Mrs. K.). Best Way of making Corn Cakes
of all Sorts. Molasses Candy. To make Simple Cerate. Best
Remedy for Burns. Ginger Tea. Indian Bannock. Egg and
Bread. Floating Island. A New Mode of cooking Cucumbers, 283
THE
DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK.
CHAPTER I.
ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH.
A work has recently been republished in this country, entitled, “_A
Treatise on Food and Diet; by Dr. J. Pereira. Edited by Dr. Charles
A. Lee_.” “The author of this work,” says Dr. Lee, “is well known
throughout Europe and America, as one of the most learned, scientific,
and practical men of the age;--a physician of great experience and
accurate observation, and a highly successful writer. To the medical
profession he is most favorably known as the author of the best work on
the Materia Medica which has appeared in our language.”
This work contains the principles discovered by Leibig, Dûmas, and
Brossingault, and applies them practically to the subject of the
proper selection of food. All the opinions, expressed in what follows,
are sanctioned by the above work, by Dr. Combe, and by most of the
distinguished practitioners of our age and country.
In selecting food, with reference to health, the following principles
must be borne in mind.
First, that there are _general rules_ in regard to healthful food and
drink, which have been established, not by a few, but by thousands
and thousands of experiments, through many ages, and in an immense
variety of circumstances. It is these _great principles_, which must
be the main dependance of every mother and housekeeper, to guide her in
selecting healthful food and drinks for her children and family. These
rules are furnished by medical writers and practitioners.
Secondly, there are occasional exceptions to these general rules, and
when such occur, two errors should be avoided. One is, giving up all
confidence in the deductions of a wide experience, established by
extensive experiments, and assuming that we have no rules at all, and
that every person must follow the guidance of mere appetite, or his own
limited experience. The other is, making the exception into a general
rule, and maintaining that every person must conform to it.
For example, it is found by general experience, that milk is a very
safe and healthful article of food, and that alcoholic drinks are very
unhealthful. But there are cases which seem to be exceptions to this
rule; for some children never can eat milk without being made sick, and
there are cases known where men have lived to a very advanced age and
in perfect health, who have daily used alcoholic drinks, even to the
point of intoxication.
Still, it is very unwise to throw away the general rule and say, that
it is just as well for children to drink alcoholic drinks as to use
milk,--and as unwise to claim that every person must give up the use of
milk because a few are injured by it.
The true method is, to take the general rules obtained by abundant
experience for our guide, and when any exceptions are found, to regard
them _as exceptions_, which do not vacate the general rule, nor make it
needful to conform all other cases to this exception.
It will be the object of what follows, to point out the _general
rules_, which are to regulate in the selection of drinks and diet,
leaving it to each individual to ascertain, by experiments, what are,
and what are not the exceptions.
In the first place, then, it is a general rule that man needs a
_variety_ of aliment, so that it is unfavorable to health to be
confined to only one kind of food.
The various textures of the human body are composed of chemical
compounds, which differ from each other, both as to ingredients, and
as to modes of combination. It is true, that every portion of the body
may be resolved to a few simple elements, of which oxygen, hydrogen,
carbon, and nitrogen are the chief. But the bodily organs have not
the power of forming all the various animal tissues from these simple
elements. Instead of this, they must be introduced into the body in
various complex and different combinations, as they exist in the forms
of gluten, fibrine, albumen, caseine, and other animal and vegetable
compounds.
Thus the sugar, starch, and oils, found in certain kinds of food,
supply the carbon which sustain the combustion ever carried on in the
lungs by the process of breathing, and which is the grand source of
animal heat. On the contrary, the blood, muscles, skin, cartilages, and
other parts of the body, are daily nourished and renewed, some by the
_gluten_ contained in wheat, others by the _albumen_ of eggs, others
by the _caseine_ of milk, and others by the _fibrine_ of animals. All
these are found in a great variety of articles used as food. When
received into the stomach, the organs of digestion and assimilation
prepare, and then carry them, each to its own appropriate organ, and
then the excreting organs throw off the surplus.
In order, then, to have every portion of the body properly developed,
it is necessary to take such a variety of food, that from one source or
another, every organ of the body shall be sustained by its appropriate
nourishment. The experiments which prove this, have been conducted on a
great scale, and the method and results are detailed in the work of Dr.
Pereira.
This fact exhibits one cause of the craving, sometimes felt for certain
kinds of food, which usually is the call of nature for some ingredient,
that the daily round of aliment does not supply. The statistics
furnished in the work of Dr. Pereira, from various armies, prisons,
almshouses, and asylums, show, that, where many hundreds are fed on the
same diet, the general health of the multitude is better sustained by a
considerable variety and occasional changes, than by a more restricted
selection. Experiments on dogs and other animals, also, have been
tried on a large scale, which prove that there is _no_ kind of food,
which, alone, will preserve full and perfect health; while every kind
(except the food containing _gluten_, which is the chief ingredient
of wheat and other bread-stuffs), when given exclusively, eventually
destroys life. The exclusive use of wheat bread and potatoes, as found
by experiment, will sustain life and health more perfectly, for a great
length of time, than any other kinds of food.
The above fact is a striking exhibition of the beneficence of
Providence, in providing such an immense variety of articles of food.
And no less so is the instinct of appetite, which demands not only a
variety, but is wearied with one unchanging round.
Having ascertained that it is needful to health, that a due variety of
food should be secured, we next proceed to examine the principles that
are to guide us in the selection.
It is found that the articles used for food and drink may be arranged
in the following classes:—
First, articles that furnish no other stimulation to the animal
functions than is secured by the fresh supply of nutrition. All food
that nourishes the body, in one sense, may be called stimulating,
inasmuch as it imparts renewed energies to the various bodily
functions. In this sense even bread is a stimulant. But the more
common idea attached to the word stimulant is, that it is a principle
which imparts a speed and energy to the organs of the system above the
ordinary point secured by perfect and appropriate nourishment. The
first class, then, are those articles that serve to nourish and develop
perfectly every animal function, but do not increase the strength
and speed of organic action above the point of full nourishment. The
bread-stuffs, vegetables, fruits, sugar, salt, acid drinks, and water
are of this class.
Secondly, those articles, which serve to nourish perfectly all the
animal system, and at the same time increase the strength and speed
of all functional action. All animal food is of this class. All
physiologists and medical men agree in the fact, that the pulse and all
the organs of the body, are not only nourished, but are quickened in
action by animal food, while speed and force are reduced by confining
the diet to farinaceous, vegetable, and fruit diet.
Thirdly, those articles which impart no nourishment at all to the body,
but act solely to stimulate all the organs to preternatural action.
Alcoholic drinks, condiments, and aromatic oils are of this description.
Fourthly, articles that are neither nourishing nor stimulating, but
pass out of the system entirely undigested and unassimilated. The bran
of coarse bread is an example.
Fifthly, articles that, either from their nature or modes of
combination and cooking, are difficult of digestion, unhealthful, and,
of course, tend to weaken the organic powers by excessive or unnatural
action. Animal oils, either cooked or rancid, and many articles badly
cooked, are of this kind.
NOURISHING AND UNSTIMULATING FOOD.
The following presents a list of the articles which are found to be
healthful and nourishing, and not stimulating, except as they supply
the nourishment needed by the various bodily functions.
The first and most important of these are called the _farinaceous_
substances. Of these, wheat stands at the head, as the most nutritive,
safe, and acceptable diet to all classes and in all circumstances. This
can be used in the form of bread, every day, through a whole life,
without cloying the appetite, and to an extent which can be said of no
other food.
Wheat is prepared in several forms, the principal of which are the
common Fine Wheat Flour, the Unbolted, or Graham Flour, and Macaroni,
Vermicelli, and Cagliari Pastes. The last are flour paste prepared, or
cut into various shapes and dried.
Wheat flour is made into bread of two kinds, the fermented, or spongy
breads, and the unfermented, or hard breads.
The spongy breads are made by using either yeast, or the combination of
an acid and alkali. In yeast bread, the fermentation of the particles
of diffused yeast evolve carbonic acid. This expands the flour in a
spongy form, in which it is retained by the tenacity of the gluten
of the flour, until baking hardens it. Corn meal and some other
bread-stuffs cannot be raised thus, because they do not contain gluten
sufficient to hold the carbonic acid as it evolves.
When an alkali and acid are used to raise bread, their combination
evolves carbonic acid by a more sudden process than the yeast
fermentation. The lightness produced by eggs is owing to their adhesive
porosity when beaten and mixed with flour and baked.
Bread is also made of rice, rye, Indian meal, and barley. These
varieties of bread-stuffs are useful in various ways. In cases when
persons are troubled with looseness of bowels, rice bread, rice
gruel, and rice water for drink, prevent the necessity of resorting
to medicine. In cases where the opposite difficulty exists, a diet of
unbolted wheat, or rye mush with salt and molasses will remedy the
evil. These articles also can, all of them, be formed into a great
variety of combinations that are at once healthful, and acceptable to
the palate.
The next class of healthful and unstimulating articles are the
_amylaceous_, or _starchy_ articles of diet. Of these Sago, Tapioca,
Arrow Root, and the Lichens, are those in most frequent use. These are
nourishing and remarkably easy of digestion. They are very much used
for invalids, and for young children when first weaned.
The next most valuable articles of food are the _vegetables_. Of
these the Potato is at once the most healthful, and most universally
relished. In the form of Starch, it makes, when cooked, a light and
agreeable article for the sick, and is convenient to housekeepers as
forming a fine _minute pudding_ to meet an emergency.
Of the great variety of vegetables that are furnished at market, or
from our gardens, almost all are palatable and healthful to a stomach
that is strong. Peas, Beans, Onions, and cooked Cabbage and Turnips,
usually are not good for persons whose powers of digestion have been
weakened.
The next most valuable articles of food are _the Fruits_. Almost all
kinds of fruit, _when fully ripe_, are healthful to those who are
not suffering from weakness of digestion. Grapes, Apples, Peaches,
Strawberries, Raspberries, and Currants, are least likely to prove
injurious. The skins and seeds of all fruits consist of woody matter,
that is perfectly undigestible, and should never be taken in large
quantities. It is the skins and seeds of the grape that make raisins
so often injurious to young children. If the skins and stones can be
removed, nothing can be found that is more safe and healthful, in
moderate quantities, than raisins and grapes.
The next articles of healthful unstimulating food are the _Saccharine
substances_, Sugar, Molasses, and Honey. On this point, Dr. Pereira
remarks, “The injurious effects which have been ascribed to sugar are
more imaginary than real. The fondness of children for saccharine
substances may be regarded as a natural instinct; since nature, by
placing it in the mother’s milk, evidently intended it to form a
part of their nourishment. Instead, therefore, of repressing this
appetite for sugar, it ought rather to be gratified _in moderation_.
The popular notion, of its having a tendency to injure the teeth, is
totally unfounded. During the sugar season of the West Indies, every
negro on the plantations, every animal, and even the dogs, grow fat.
And no people on earth have finer teeth than the negroes of Jamaica. It
is probable that this erroneous notion has been propagated by frugal
housewives, in order to deter children from indulging in an expensive
luxury. Sugar is readily digested by a healthy stomach. In dyspeptics,
it is apt to give rise to flatulence and acidity of stomach.”
These remarks, without other considerations, may lead to erroneous
conclusions. There is no doubt that both children and adults are often
injured by the use of sugar, but it is not because it is unhealthful
in its nature, but because it is used in excess or in an improper
manner. In the “Domestic Economy,” pg. 105, it is shown that _highly
concentrated_ food is not favorable to digestion, because it cannot be
properly acted on by the muscular contractions of the stomach, and is
not so minutely divided as to enable the gastric juice to act properly.
Now Sugar, Candy, and the like, are highly concentrated nourishment,
and should not be used except when mixed with other food. The reason,
then, why children are injured by sugar is, that they eat it too
frequently, in too large quantities, and unmixed with other food. A
stick or two of pure candy, eaten with crackers or bread, never would
injure any healthy child. It is too often the case, that candies are
mixed with unhealthful coloring matter, or with nuts and other oily
substances, that make them injurious.
The next article of healthful, unstimulating food, is _jellies_ and
_preserved fruits_. As it has been shown that uncooked fruits and sugar
are both healthful, it may not seem surprising that jellies and fruits
cooked in sugar, when eaten moderately, with bread or crackers, are
regarded as among the most nourishing and healthful of all aliments.
When they prove injurious, it is owing either to the fact that they
are taken alone, or with rich cream, or else are taken in too great
quantities. Eaten moderately, as a part of a meal, they are safe and
nourishing to all, except persons of poor digestion. Healthful stomachs
need not be governed by rules demanded by the invalid, which has too
often been attempted.
The preceding presents a vast variety of articles suitable for food,
containing in abundance all the principles demanded for the perfect
development of all the animal functions, and which physiologists and
medical men unitedly allow to be healthful. These can be combined by
the cook in an endless variety of agreeable dishes, involving no risk
to a healthful stomach, when taken in proper quantities and in a proper
time and manner.
NOURISHING AND STIMULATING FOOD.
The second general division of food, embraces articles which serve
perfectly to nourish and develop every animal organ, but, at the same
time, increase the speed and strength of all functional action beyond
the point which is attained by the system, when fully and perfectly
nourished by vegetables, fruits, and bread-stuffs. There is no dispute
among physiologists and physicians as to the fact, that animal food
produces chyle which is more stimulating to the various organs, than
that which is formed from an exclusive vegetable diet. The only
question debated is, whether this increase of stimulus is favorable, or
unfavorable to health and long life.
Those who maintain that it is unfavorable, say, that all other things
being equal, that machine must wear out the soonest which works the
fastest; that, it is proved, both by analysis and by facts, that
a vegetable diet contains every principle needed for the perfect
development of the whole bodily system, as much so as animal food; and
that the only difference is the _stimulation_ in the animal food, which
makes the system work faster, and of course, wear out sooner.
To this it is replied, that the exact point of stimulation, which
is most safe and healthful, cannot be determined, and that it is as
correct to assume, that to be the proper medium, which is secured by
a mixed diet, as to assume that the proper point is that, which is
secured by an exclusive vegetable diet. Moreover, the fact that the
teeth and digestive organs of man, which seem to be fitted both for
vegetable and animal food, and the fact that the supplies of food on
the earth make it needful to adopt sometimes animal, and sometimes
vegetable diet, and sometimes a mixture of both, furnish an _à priori_
argument in favor of a mixed diet.
In deciding which kinds of animal food are most healthful, several
particulars are to be regarded. The flesh of young animals is more
tender than that of the old ones, but yet they usually are not so
easily digested. Beef, and Mutton, and Venison, when tender, are
considered the meats which are most easily digested, and best for
weak stomachs. Venison is more stimulating than Beef and Mutton. These
meats, when tough, are not so easily digested as when tender.
All meats are made more tender and digestible by hanging.
Solid meats, properly cooked, are more easily digested than soups and
broths. For it is found that these liquids are never digested till the
water is absorbed, leaving a solid mass more undigestible than was the
solid meat. When useful to invalids, it is because they supply the
loss of the withdrawn fluids of the body, but not because more easily
digested. The white meats, such as Chicken and Veal, are best for
invalids, because less stimulating than dark meats.
Liver contains so much oil that it is not good for invalids or
dyspeptics.
The digestibility and healthfulness of meat depends very much upon the
mode of cooking. Boiled meats are most easily digested, when _properly_
boiled. Roasting, broiling, and baking, are healthful modes of cooking,
but _frying_ is a very pernicious mode of preparing meats, the reason
of which will be explained hereafter.
Though there is a disagreement of opinion among practitioners and
physiologists, as to the propriety of using any animal food, they are
all agreed in regard to certain general principles that should regulate
its use. They are as follows:--Less animal food should be used in warm
climates than in cold, and less, also, in summer than in winter. The
reason of this is, that heat is stimulating to the system, and as meat
diet is also stimulating, when heat increases, meat, as a diet, should
decrease, or fevers may ensue.
Another principle is, that the proportions of meat diet should depend
somewhat on the constitution and circumstances. When a person is of
full habit, or inclined to inflammatory attacks of any kind, the
proportion of animal food should be much less than in other cases.
On the contrary, when there is a state of the system that demands
gentle stimulus, an increase of meat diet is sometimes useful.
Persons subject to cutaneous eruptions are sometimes entirely cured by
_long_ abstinence from animal food, and all kinds of oily substances.
FOOD THAT STIMULATES WITHOUT NOURISHING.
The articles which come under this head, are usually called _the
condiments_. In regard to these, Dr. Pereira remarks,—
“The relish for flavoring, or seasoning ingredients, manifested by
almost every person, would lead us to suppose that these substances
serve some useful purpose beyond that of merely gratifying the palate.
At present, however, we have no evidence that they do. They stimulate,
but do not seem to nourish. The volatile oil they contain is absorbed,
and then thrown out of the system, still possessing its characteristic
odor.”
The articles used for food of this kind, are the _sweet herbs_ employed
for seasoning, such as Thyme, Summer Savory, and the like, and the
_spices_, such as Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and Ginger.
Mustard, Horseradish, Water Cresses, Garlic, and Onions, contain these
stimulating oils, combined with some nourishing food.
“Condiments,” says Dr. Beaumont, “particularly those of a spicy kind,
are non-essential to the process of digestion in a healthy state of
the system. They afford no nutrition. Though they may assist the
action of a debilitate stomach for a time, their continual use never
fails to produce an indirect debility of that organ. They affect it as
alcohol and other stimulants do--the _present_ relief afforded is at
the expense of _future_ suffering. Salt and Vinegar are exceptions when
used in moderation. They both assist in digestion, Vinegar by rendering
muscular fibre more tender, and both together, by producing a fluid
having some analogy to the gastric juice.”
FOOD THAT IS ENTIRELY UNDIGESTIBLE.
There is no kind of food used which consists exclusively of
indigestible matter. But it often is the case, that a certain amount
of indigestible matter is mixed with nourishing food, and serves, by
its mechanical aid, to promote the healthful action of the stomach and
bowels. This is the reason why unbolted flour is deemed more healthful
than fine flour, and is consequently preferred for dyspeptics. But
where there is too great a quantity of such indigestible matter, or
where it is not properly combined with digestible food, it proves
injurious and often dangerous. This is the case when the skins
and seeds of fruits are swallowed, which always pass off entirely
undigested.
FOOD THAT IS UNHEALTHFUL IN NATURE, OR MADE SO BY COOKING.
The most injurious food, of any in common use, is the _animal
oils_, and articles cooked with them. On this subject, Dr. Pereira
remarks:—“_Fixed oil_, or _fat_, is more difficult of digestion, and
more obnoxious to the stomach, than any other alimentary principle.
Indeed, in concealed forms, I believe it will be found to be the
offending ingredient in nine-tenths of the dishes which disturb
weak stomachs. Many dyspeptics who avoid fat meat, butter, and oil,
unwittingly eat it in some concealed form. Liver, the yolk of eggs, and
brains, such individuals should eschew, as they abound in oily matter.”
“The influence of heat on fatty substances effects chemical changes,
whereby they are rendered more difficult of digestion, and more
obnoxious to the stomach. Hence those culinary operations in which fat
or oil is subjected to high temperatures, are objectionable.”
“Fixed oils give off, while boiling, carbonic acid, an inflammable
vapor, and an acrid oil, called Acroleon, while the fatty acids of the
oil are, in part, set free. It has always appeared to me that cooked
butter proves more obnoxious to the stomach than cooked _Olive_ oil.
This I ascribe to the facility with which, under the influence of heat,
the acrid, volatile acids of butter are set free. The fat of salt pork
and bacon is less injurious to some dyspeptics than fresh animal fats.
This must depend on some change effected by curing.”
“In many dyspeptics, fat does not become properly chymified. It floats
on the stomach in the form of an oily pellicle, becoming odorous,
and sometimes highly rancid, and in this state excites heartburn,
disagreeable nausea, eructations, and sometimes vomiting. It appears
to me, that the greater tendency which some oily substances have than
others to disturb the stomach, depends on the greater facility with
which they evolve volatile, fatty acids, which are for the most part
exceedingly acrid and irritating. The distressing feelings excited in
many dyspeptics by mutton fat, butter, and fish oils, are, in this way,
readily accounted for. Butter contains no less than three volatile,
fatty acids, namely--the butyric, capric, and capröic. Fats, by
exposure to the air, become rancid, and in this state are _exceedingly_
obnoxious to the digestive organs. Their injurious qualities depend
on the presence of volatile acids, and in part also on non-acid
substances.”
These statements show the reasons why the _fried_ food of all kinds
is injurious. Fat is an unhealthful aliment, and when heated becomes
still more so. This mode of cooking, then, should be given up by every
housekeeper, who intends to take all reasonable means of preserving
the health of her family. There are an abundance of other modes of
preparing food, without resorting to one which involves danger,
especially to children and invalids, whose powers of digestion are
feeble.
The most common modes of preparing unhealthful food, is by frying food,
and by furnishing _bread that is heavy, or sour, or so newly baked_, as
to become clammy and indigestible when chewed. Though there are many
stomachs that can for a long time take such food without trouble, it
always is injurious to weak stomachs, and often renders a healthful
stomach a weak one. A housekeeper that will always keep a supply of
sweet, light bread on her table, and avoid oily dishes, oily cooking,
and condiments, will double the chances of good health for her family.
Minuteness of division is a great aid to easy digestion. For this
reason food should be well chewed before swallowing, not only to divide
it minutely, but to mix it with the saliva, which aids in digestion.
The cooking of food, in most cases, does not alter its nature; it only
renders it more tender, and thus more easily divided and digested.
When a person is feverish and loathes food, it should never be
given, as the stomach has not sufficient gastric juice to secure its
digestion. The practice of tempting the sick by favorite articles,
should therefore be avoided.
LIQUID ALIMENTS, OR DRINKS.
“_Water_” says Dr. Pereira, “is probably the natural drink of
all adults. It serves several important purposes in the animal
economy:--firstly, it repairs the loss of the aqueous part of the
blood, caused by evaporation, and the action of the secreting and
exhaling organs; secondly, it is a solvent of various alimentary
substances, and, therefore, assists the stomach in digestion, though,
if taken in very large quantities, it may have an opposite effect, by
diluting the gastric juice; thirdly, it is a nutritive agent, that is,
it assists in the formation of the solid parts of the body.”
The health of communities and of individuals is often affected by the
nature of the water used for drink, and it is therefore important to
know how to secure pure and good water.
_Rain water_ is the purest of all water, purer than the best spring
water. Of course every person who fears that the water used is the
cause of any evil, can obtain that which is known to be pure and good.
The cheapest mode of obtaining good rain water, is to have a large
cistern dug in the vicinity of some large building, with conducting
spouts. This can be lined with water lime, and the water thus obtained,
when cooled with ice, is as pure as any that can be found.
A distinguished medical writer, Dr. Cheyne, remarking on the effects of
foreign substances in water, states these facts:—
“At the Nottingham Assizes, July, 1836, it was proved on trial, at
which I was a witness, that dysentery, in an aggravated form, was
caused in cattle by the use of water contaminated with putrescent
vegetable matter, produced by the refuse of a _starch_ manufactory.
The fish were destroyed, and all the animals that drank of this water
became seriously ill, and many died. It was shown, also, that the
mortality was in proportion to the quantity of starch made at different
times, and that when the putrescent matter (of the manufactory) was
not allowed to pass to the brook, the fish and frogs returned, and the
mortality ceased among the cattle.”
Dr. Barry, an English physician, states, that when the troops at Cork
were supplied with water from the river Lee, which, in passing through
the city, is rendered unfit for drinking by the influx from sewers, Mr.
Bell suspected that a dysentery, prevailing at the time, arose from
this cause. Upon assuming the care of the troops, he had a number of
water carts to bring water from a spring, and did not allow the use of
river water, and very shortly the dysentery disappeared.
Sir James McGregor states, that, at one time in the Spanish war, when
during three months 20,000 dead bodies were interred at Ciudad Rodrigo,
all those exposed to emanations from the soil, and who were obliged to
use water from sunken wells, were affected by low malignant fevers, or
dysenteries.
This shows that burying in large towns affects the health of the
inhabitants, first by emanations from the soil, and secondly by
poisoning the water percolating through that soil.
Many such facts as these, show the importance of keeping wells and
cisterns from the drainings of sinks, barn-yards, and from decayed
dead animals. And it is probable that much sickness in families and
communities has been caused by neglecting to preserve the water pure,
that is used for drink and cooking.
Water is sometimes rendered unhealthful by being conducted through lead
pipes, or kept in lead reservoirs, or vessels. It is found that the
purer the water, the more easily it is affected by the lead through
which it passes. When the water has certain neutral salts in it, they
are deposited on the surface of the lead, and thus protect from its
poisonous influence. Immersing a very bright piece of lead for some
hours in water, will show whether it is safe to use lead in conducting
the water. If the lead is tarnished, it proves that the water exerts
a solvent power, and that it is unsafe to employ lead in carrying the
water.
The continued use of water containing lead, gives rise to the _lead
cholic_, or _painter’s cholic_, and if the water is still drank,
_palsy_ succeeds. One indication of this disease is a narrow leaden
blue line on the edge of the gums of the front teeth.
The following are methods to be employed in purifying water:—
The most thorough and effectual way of obtaining perfectly pure water,
from that which is noxious, is, to _distill_ it, collecting only the
steam.
In cases where water is injured by the presence of animal or vegetable
matter, _boiling_ sometimes removes much of the evil.
Two grains of powdered alum to every quart of water, will often serve
to remove many impurities.
Filtering through fine sand and powdered charcoal, removes all animal
and vegetable substances which are not held in chemical solution.
Sea water serves both as a cathartic and emetic, and the only mode of
obtaining pure water from it is by distillation.
The impure water used often at sea, is owing wholly to the casks in
which it is carried. When new, the water imbibes vegetable ingredients
from the cask, which become putrid. Water, if carried to sea in iron
casks, if good and pure, always continues so. Cistern water is often
impure, when held in new wooden cisterns, owing to vegetable matter
absorbed by the water.
Dr. Lee remarks, “We are satisfied that impure water is more
frequently the cause of disease than is generally supposed. It has been
thought that decaying vegetable matter, received into the stomach, was
innoxious, owing to the antiseptic properties of the gastric juice. But
this opinion is evidently erroneous. An immense number of facts could
be adduced, to show that this is the frequent cause of disease. The
British army ‘Medical Reports,’ and our own Medical Journals, contain
many facts of a similar kind. The fever which carried off so many of
the United States Dragoons, on a visit to the Pawnees, was occasioned
chiefly by drinking stagnant water, filled with animal and vegetable
matter. We know that calculus diseases are most frequent in countries
that abound in lime water.”
OTHER LIQUID ALIMENTS, OR DRINKS.
The other drinks in most common use are arranged thus,—
1. _The Mucilaginous, Farinaceous, or Saccharine drinks._
These are water chiefly, with substances slightly nutritive, softening,
and soothing. _Toast water_, _Sugar water_, _Rice water_, _Barley
water_, and the various _Gruels_, are of this kind.
2. _The Aromatic and Astringent drinks._
These include Tea, Coffee, Chicory, Chocolate, and Cocoa.
The following remarks on these drinks are taken from the work of Dr.
Pereira.
“The peculiar flavor of _tea_ depends upon the _volatile oil_, which
has the taste and smell of tea. Alone, it acts as a narcotic, but when
combined (as in tea) with tannin, it acts as a diuretic and diaphoretic
(i. e. to promote the flow of urine and perspiration). Its astringency,
proved by its chemical properties, depends upon the presence of tannin.
Of this quality we may beneficially avail ourselves in some cases of
poisoning, as by poisonous mushrooms, by opium, or laudanum.”
“The peculiar influence of tea, especially the _green_ variety, over
the nervous system, depends upon the vegetable oil referred to. The
influence is analogous to that of foxglove; for both green tea and
foxglove occasion watchfulness, and act as sedatives on the heart and
bloodvessels. Strong green tea produces, on some constitutions, usually
those popularly known as nervous, very severe effects. It gives rise to
tremor, anxiety, sleeplessness, and most distressing feelings.”
“As a diluent and sedative, tea is well adapted to febrile and
inflammatory disorders. To its sedative influence should be ascribed
the relief of headache sometimes experienced.”
On this subject, Dr. Lee remarks, “_Green tea_ undoubtedly possesses
very active medicinal properties; for a very strong decoction of it,
or the extract, speedily destroys life in the inferior animals, even
when given in very small doses. The strongly marked effects of tea
upon persons of a highly nervous temperament, in causing wakefulness,
tremors, palpitations, and other distressing feelings, prove, also,
that it is an agent of considerable power. It not unfrequently
occasions vertigo, and sick headache, together with a sinking sensation
at the pit of the stomach, shortly after eating. It is also opposed to
active nutrition, and should, therefore, be used with great moderation
by those who are thin in flesh. From its astringent properties it often
is useful in a relaxed state of bowels.”
“We are satisfied that _green_ tea does not, in any case, form a
salubrious beverage to people in health, and should give place to milk,
milk and water, black tea, milk and sugar, which, when taken tepid,
form very agreeable and healthy drinks.”
_Coffee._ “The infusion, or decoction of coffee, forms a well known
favorite beverage. Like tea, it diminishes the disposition to sleep,
and hence it is often resorted to by those who desire nocturnal
study. It may also be used to counteract the stupor induced by opium,
alcoholic drinks, and other narcotics. In some constitutions it acts as
a mild laxative, yet it is usually described as producing constipation.
The immoderate use of coffee produces various nervous diseases, such as
anxiety, tremor, disordered vision, palpitation, and feverishness.”
_Chicory, or Succory._ This is the roasted root of the Wild Endive, or
Wild Succory. It is prepared like coffee, and some prefer its flavor to
that of coffee.
_Chocolate._ This is prepared by roasting the seeds of the Cacoa, or
Cocoa, then grinding them and forming them into cakes. “Chocolate,
though devoid of the disagreeable qualities of tea and coffee, which
disturb the nervous functions, yet is difficult of digestion, on
account of the large quantity of oil which it contains, and is,
therefore, very apt to disturb the stomach of dyspeptics.”
_Cocoa._ This is made of the nuts and husks of the cocoa, roasted and
ground, and is somewhat less oily than chocolate, and being rather
astringent, is adapted to looseness of the bowels. The _shells_ alone
are often used to make a drink, which is less rich than the Cocoa, and
especially adapted to weak digestive powers.
The seeds of the vegetable called Ochra, roasted and prepared like
coffee, are said to equal it in flavor.
3. _Acidulous Drinks._
“The employment of vegetable _acid_, as an aliment, is necessary
to health. It seems pretty clearly established, that complete and
prolonged abstinence from succulent vegetables, or fruits, or their
preserved juices, as articles of food, is a cause of scurvy.”
“Water, sharpened with vegetable acids, oftentimes proves a most
refreshing beverage, allaying thirst, and moderating excessive heat.
Various acids form cooling, refreshing, and antiscorbutic drinks, and
are well adapted for hot seasons, and for febrile and inflammatory
cases.”
These drinks are prepared by dissolving vegetable acids or acidulous
salts in water, sweetening and flavoring it. Also, by decoctions of
acid fruits, which promote secretions in the alimentary canal, and act
as laxatives.
The carbonated or effervescing drinks belong to this class. They owe
their sparkling briskness to carbonic acid gas confined in the liquid.
4. _Drinks containing Gelatine and Osmazome._
_Gelatine_ is that part of animal and vegetable matter that forms jelly.
_Osmazome_ is that principle in meats which impart their flavor.
Beef Tea, Mutton, Veal, and Chicken Broths are the principal drinks of
this description, and usually are prepared for invalids.
5. _Emulsive, or Milky Drinks._
_Animal milk_ is the principal drink of this class, and as this is
the aliment of a large portion of young children, the necessity of
guarding against abuses connected with the supplies furnished should be
generally known.
A great portion of the milk furnished in New York and other large
cities, is obtained from cows _fed on distillery slops_, and crowded
in filthy pens, without regard to ventilation or cleanliness. Thus
deprived of pure air and exercise, and fed with unhealthy food, their
milk becomes diseased, and is the cause of extensive mortality among
young children. Many cows, also, are fed on decayed vegetables, and
the sour and putrid offals of kitchens, and these, also, become thus
diseased.
A work on this subject, by R. M. Hartly, Esq., of New York, has been
published, which contains these facts. Of five hundred dairies near
New York and Brooklyn, all, except five or six, feed their cows on
distillery slops. And the reason is, that it yields more milk at a
cheaper rate than any other food. But it soon destroys the health of
the animals, and after most of their fluids are, by this process,
changed to unhealthy milk, and the cows become diseased, they are sent
to a cattle market and a new supply obtained.
The physicians in New York, in a body, have testified to the
unhealthiness of this practice, but as yet no inspectors have been
secured to preserve the public from this danger, while the great mass
of the people are ignorant or negligent on the subject. Chemists
have analyzed this unhealthful milk, and find that, while pure milk
is alkaline, slop milk is acid, and also contains less than half the
nourishment contained in pure milk. Scarcely any cream rises on slop
milk, and what does collect can never be turned into butter; but, by
churning, only changes to froth. We have inspectors of flour, meat,
fish, and most other food, and every town and city supplied by milk
carts ought to have inspectors of milk; and where this is not done,
every mistress of a family should narrowly watch her supplies of milk,
and ascertain the mode in which the cows are fed.
In cases where children, or adults, find that milk troubles the
stomach, it is often owing to its _richness_, and water should then
be mixed with it. Infants generally require diluted milk, a little
sweetened, as cow’s milk is, when good, considerably richer than
mother’s milk. The fact that oil is placed among the articles most
difficult to digest, shows the mistake of many, who give diluted cream
instead of milk, supposing it to be better for infants. In all ordinary
cases, where an infant is deprived of the mother’s nourishment, the
milk of a new milch cow, diluted with one-third, or one-fourth water,
and sweetened a little with white sugar, is the safest substitute.
Sometimes oat-meal gruel, or arrowroot, are found to agree better with
the child’s peculiar constitution.
6. _Alcoholic Drinks._
Beer, Wine, Cider, and Distilled Liquors, are the chief of the
alcoholic drinks.
“To persons in health,” says Dr. Pereira, in his “Elements of
Materia Medica,” “the dietical employment of wine is either useless
or pernicious.“ Dr. Beaumont, in his celebrated experiments on St.
Martin,[1] found that wines, as well as distilled spirits, invariably
interfered with the regularity and completeness of digestion, and
always produced morbid changes in the mucous membrane of the stomach.
And this, too, was the case when neither unpleasant feelings nor
diminished appetite indicated such an effect.
[1] This case of St. Martin’s referred to, was that of a soldier, who
by a gun shot, had an opening made into his stomach, which healed up,
leaving so large an orifice, that all the process of digestion could be
examined, after he was restored to perfect health.
Dr. Bell, of Philadelphia, remarks thus: “The recorded experience
of men in all situations and climates, under all kinds of labor and
exposure, prove that abstinence from alcoholic drinks gives increased
ability to go through the labors of the farm and the workshop, to
resist heat and cold, to encounter hardships on sea and land, beyond
what has ever been done under the unnatural excitement of alcohol,
followed, as it is, by depression and debility, if not by fever and
disease. The observation and testimony of naval and military surgeons
and commanders are adverse to the issue of alcoholic drinks to men in
the army and navy.”
The reports from all our chief state prisons also prove that
intemperate men can be instantly deprived of all alcoholic drinks, not
only without danger, but with an immediate improvement of the health.
Wine is often useful as a medicine, under the direction of a physician,
but its stimulating, alcoholic principle, makes it an improper agent
to be drank in health. The same is true of cider and strong beer. Some
wine, beer, and cider drinkers do, by the force of a good constitution,
live to a good old age, and so do some persons, also, who live in
districts infected by a malaria, which destroys the health and life of
thousands. But these _exceptions_ do not prove that either wine, or
malaria are favorable to health, or long life. They are only exceptions
to a general rule.
Meantime, the general rule is established by an incredible amount of
experience and testimony, that alcoholic drinks, _in no cases_, are
needed by those in health, and that the indulgence in drinking them
awakens a gnawing thirst and longing for them, that leads the vast
majority of those who use them, to disease, debility, poverty, folly,
crime, and death.
* * * * *
In this detail of the various drinks that may be used by man, we find
that _pure water_ is always satisfying, safe, and sufficient. We find
that acid and effervescing drinks, so acceptable in hot weather, are
also demanded by the system, and are safe and healthful. We find that
milk and broths are also healthful and nourishing.
Black tea, also, when taken weak and not above blood heat, is a
perfectly safe and agreeable warm drink.
Chocolate and cocoa are nourishing and safe to persons who can bear the
oil they contain; and shells are perfectly healthful and safe to all.
In the vast variety of drinks provided for man, we find very few that
are not safe and healthful. Green tea and coffee, as ordinarily used,
are very injurious to very many constitutions. They contain but very
little nourishment, except what is added by the milk and sugar, and
training a family of children to love them (for no child loves them
till trained to do it) is making it probable that all of them will be
less healthful and comfortable, and certain that some will be great
sufferers. Training children to drink tea and coffee is as unreasonable
and unchristian, as training them to drink foxglove and opium would
be--the only difference is, that in one case it is customary, and the
other it is not; and custom makes a practice appear less foolish and
sinful.
There is no need, at this period of the world, to point out the
wickedness and folly of training children to love alcoholic drinks.
In regard to the use of green tea and coffee, one suggestion will be
offered. These are drinks which contain very little nourishment, and
their effect is to stimulate the nervous system without nourishing it.
They are, also, usually drank hot, and heat also is a stimulant to the
nerves of the mouth, teeth, throat, and stomach, inducing consequent
reacting debility. For it is the unvarying law of the nervous system,
that the reacting debility is always in exact proportion to the degree
of stimulation.
It is in vain to expect that the great multitudes, who have been
accustomed, from childhood, to drink hot tea and coffee, once, twice,
and sometimes thrice a day, will give up such a favorite practice.
But it is hoped that some may be induced to modify their course, by
reducing the _strength_ and the _heat_ of their daily potations.
It will be found by housekeepers that, if _once a month_ the daily
quantity of tea, or coffee is _slightly_ reduced, the taste will
imperceptibly accommodate; and that, in the course of six or eight
months, the habits of a family, by these slight monthly variations, may
be changed so as that, eventually, they will love weak tea and coffee
as much as they once loved the strong.
Young housekeepers, who are just beginning to rear a family of
children, will perhaps permit one plea for the young beings, whose fate
in life so much depends on their physical training. It is the weak and
delicate children who are the sufferers, where the habits of a family
lead them to love stimulating drinks. The strong and healthy children
may escape unharmed, the whole evil falls on those, who are least able
to bear it. Oh mother, save the weak lambs of your fold! Save them
from those untold agonies that result from rasped and debilitated
nerves, worn out by unhealthful stimulus! And set before your household
the Divine injunction--“We, then, that are strong ought to bear the
infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”
In regard to the selection of food, a housekeeper can have small excuse
for ever risking the health of her family by providing unhealthy food,
or cooking it in an unhealthful manner. Innumerable dishes, and enough
to furnish a new variety for every day of the year, can be made of food
that is safe and healthful, and cooked in a healthful manner.
_Avoid condiments, fats, and food cooked in fats, and always provide
light and sweet yeast bread_, is the rule which shuts out almost
everything that is pernicious to health, and leaves an immense variety
from which to select what is both healthful and grateful to the palate.
There are some directions in regard to times and manner of taking
food, that are given more at large, with the reasons for them, in the
“Domestic Economy,” but which will briefly be referred to, because so
important.
Eating _too fast_ is unhealthful, because the food is not properly
masticated, or mixed with the saliva, nor has the stomach sufficient
time to perform its office on the last portion swallowed before another
enters.
Eating _too often_ is unhealthful, because it is weakening and
injurious to mix fresh food with that which is partly digested, and
because the stomach needs rest after the labor of digesting a meal. In
grown persons four or five hours should intervene between each meal.
Children, who are growing fast, need a luncheon of simple bread between
meals.
Eating _too much_ is unhealthful, because the stomach can properly
digest only that amount which is needed to nourish the system. The rest
is thrown off undigested, or crowded into parts of the system where it
is injurious.
Eating food when _too hot_ is injurious, as weakening the nerves of the
teeth and stomach by the stimulus of heat.
Eating _highly seasoned food_ is unhealthful, because it stimulates too
much, provokes the appetite too much, and often is indigestible.
_Badly cooked_ food is unhealthful, because it is indigestible, and in
other ways injurious.
_Excessive fatigue_ weakens the power of digestion, and in such cases,
a meal should be delayed till a little rest is gained.
_Bathing_ should never follow a meal, as it withdraws the blood and
nervous vigor demanded for digestion, from the stomach to the skin.
_Violent exercise_ should not follow a full meal, as that also
withdraws the blood and nervous energies from the stomach to the
muscles.
_Water_, and other drinks, should never be taken in large quantities,
either with, or immediately after a meal, as they dilute the gastric
juice, and tend to prevent perfect digestion. But it is proper to drink
a moderate quantity of liquid while eating.
Where there is a strong constitution and much exercise in the open air,
children and adults may sometimes violate these and all other laws of
health, and yet remain strong and well.
But all, and especially those, who have delicate constitutions, and
are deprived of fresh air and exercise, will have health and strength
increased and prolonged by attending to these rules.