common cause of disease. They generally pay some attention to what they
eat and drink, but seldom regard what goes into the lungs, though the
latter often proves more fatal than the former. Air vitiated by the
different processes of respiration, combustion, and putrefaction, or
which is suffered to stagnate, is highly injurious to health, and
productive of contagious disorders. Whatever greatly alters its degree
of heat or cold, also renders it unwholesome. If too hot, it produces
bilious and inflammatory affections: if too cold, it obstructs
perspiration, and occasions rheumatism, coughs, and colds, and other
diseases of the throat and breast. A damp air disposes the body to
agues, intermitting fevers, and dropsies, and should be studiously
avoided. Some careful housewives, for the sake of bright and polished
stoves, frequently expose the health of the family in an improper
manner; but fires should always be made, if in the height of summer,
when the weather is wet or cold, to render the air wholesome; and let
the fire-irons take care of themselves. No house can be wholesome,
unless the air has a free passage through it: dwellings ought therefore
to be daily ventilated, by opening the windows and admitting a current
of fresh air into every room. Instead of making up beds as soon as
people rise out of them, a practice much too common, they ought to be
turned down, and exposed to dry fresh air from the open windows. This
would expel any noxious vapours, and promote the health of the family.
Houses surrounded with high walls, trees, or plantations, are rendered
unwholesome. Wood, not only obstructs the free current of air, but sends
forth exhalations, which render it damp and unhealthy. Houses situated
on low ground, or near lakes and ponds of stagnant water, are the same:
the air is charged with putrid exhalations, which produce the most
malignant effects. Persons obliged to occupy such situations should
live well, and pay the strictest regard to cleanliness. The effluvia
arising from church-yards and other burying grounds is very infectious;
and parish churches, in which many corpses are interred, become tainted
with an atmosphere so corrupt, especially in the spring, when the ground
begins to grow warm, that it is one of the principal sources of putrid
fevers, which so often prevail at that season of the year. Such places
ought to be kept perfectly clean, and frequently ventilated, by opening
opposite doors and windows; and no human dwelling should be allowed in
the immediate vicinity of a burying ground.--The air of large towns and
cities is greatly contaminated, by being repeatedly respired; by the
vapours arising from dirty streets, the smoke of chimneys, and the
innumerable putrid substances occasioned by the crowd of inhabitants.
Persons of a delicate habit should avoid cities as they would the
plague; or if this be impracticable, they should go abroad as much as
possible, frequently admit fresh air into their rooms, and be careful to
keep them very clean. If they can sleep in the country, so much the
better, as breathing free air in the night will in some degree make up
for the want of it in the day time. Air which stagnates in mines, wells,
and cellars, is extremely noxious; it kills nearly as quick as
lightning, and ought therefore to be carefully avoided. Accidents
occasioned by foul air might often be prevented, by only letting down
into such places a lighted candle, and forbearing to enter when it is
perceived to go out. The foul air may be expelled by leaving the place
open a sufficient time, or pouring into it a quantity of boiling water.
Introducing fresh air into confined rooms and places, by means of
ventilators, is one of the most important of modern improvements.--Dyers,
gilders, plumbers, refiners of metals, and artisans employed over or
near a charcoal fire, are exposed to great danger from the vitiated
state of the air. To avert the injury to which their lungs are thus
exposed, it would be proper to place near them a flat open vessel filled
with lime water, and to renew it as often as a variegated film appears
on the surface. This powerfully attracts and absorbs the noxious
effluvia emitted by the burning charcoal.--But if fresh air be necessary
for those in health, much more so for the sick, who often lose their
lives for want of it. The notion that sick people require to be kept hot
is very common, but no less dangerous, for no medicine is so beneficial
to them as fresh air, in ordinary cases, especially if administered with
prudence. Doors and windows are not to be opened at random; but the air
should be admitted gradually, and chiefly by opening the windows of some
other apartment which communicates with the sick room. The air may
likewise be purified by wetting a cloth in water impregnated with quick
lime, then hanging it in the room till it becomes dry, and removing it
as often as it appears necessary. In chronic diseases, especially those
of the lungs, where there is no inflammation, a change of air is much to
be recommended. Independently of any other circumstance, it has often
proved highly beneficial; and such patients have breathed more freely,
even though removed to a damp and confined situation. In short, fresh
air contains the vitals of health, and must be sought for in every
situation, as the only medium of human existence.
ALABASTER. The proper way of cleaning elegant chimney pieces, or other
articles made of alabaster, is to reduce some pumice stone to a very
fine powder, and mix it up with verjuice. Let it stand two hours, then
dip into it a sponge, and rub the alabaster with it: wash it with fresh
water and a linen cloth, and dry it with clean linen rags.
ALAMODE BEEF. Choose a piece of thick flank of a fine heifer or ox. Cut
some fat bacon into long slices nearly an inch thick, but quite free
from yellow. Dip them into vinegar, and then into a seasoning ready
prepared, of salt, black pepper, allspice, and a clove, all in fine
powder, with parsley, chives, thyme, savoury, and knotted marjoram,
shred as small as possible, and well mixed. With a sharp knife make
holes deep enough to let in the larding; then rub the beef over with the
seasoning, and bind it up tight with a tape. Set it in a well tinned pot
over a fire, or rather a stove: three or four onions must be fried brown
and put to the beef, with two or three carrots, one turnip, a head or
two of celery, and a small quantity of water. Let it simmer gently ten
or twelve hours, or till extremely tender, turning the meat twice. Put
the gravy into a pan, remove the fat, keep the beef covered, then put
them together, and add a glass of port wine. Take off the tape, and
serve with vegetables; or strain them off, and cut them into dice for
garnish. Onions roasted, and then stewed with the gravy, are a great
improvement. A tea-cupful of vinegar should be stewed with the
beef.--Another way is to take about eleven pounds of the mouse-buttock,
or clod of beef, or a blade bone, or the sticking piece, and cut it into
pieces of three or four ounces each. Put two or three ounces of beef
drippings, and two large onions, into a large deep stewpan; as soon as
it is quite hot, flour the meat, put it into the stewpan, and keep
stirring it with a wooden spoon. When it has been on about ten minutes,
dredge it with flour, and keep doing so till you have stirred in as much
as will thicken it. Then cover it with about a gallon of boiling water,
adding it by degrees, and stirring it together. Skim it when it boils,
and then put in a dram of ground black pepper, and two drams of
allspice. Set the pan by the side of the fire, or at a distance over it,
and let it stew very slowly for about three hours. When the meat is
sufficiently tender, put it into a tureen, and send it to table with a
nice sallad.
ALE, allowing eight bushels of malt to the hogshead, should be brewed in
the beginning of March. Pour on at once the whole quantity of hot water,
not boiling, and let it infuse three hours close covered. Mash it in the
first half hour, and let it stand the remainder of the time. Run it on
the hops, half a pound to the bushel, previously infused in water, and
boil them with the wort two hours. Cool a pailful after it has boiled,
add to it two quarts of yeast, which will prepare it for putting to the
rest when ready, the same night or the next day. When tunned, and the
beer has done working, cover the bung-hole with paper. If the working
requires to be stopped, dry a pound and a half of hops before the fire,
put them into the bung-hole, and fasten it up. Ale should stand twelve
months in casks, and twelve in bottles, before it be drank; and if well
brewed, it will keep and be very fine for eight or ten years. It will
however be ready for use in three or four months; and if the vent-peg be
never removed, it will have strength and spirit to the very last. But if
bottled, great care must be taken to have the bottles perfectly sweet
and clean, and the corks of the best quality. If the ale requires to be
refined, put two ounces of isinglass shavings to soak in a quart of the
liquor, and beat it with a whisk every day till dissolved. Draw off a
third part of the cask, and mix the above with it: likewise a quarter of
an ounce of pearl ashes, one ounce of salt of tartar calcined, and one
ounce of burnt alum powdered. Stir it well, then return the liquor into
the cask, and stir it with a clean stick. Stop it up, and in a few days
it will be fine. See BEER, BREWING.
ALE POSSET. Beat up the yolks of ten eggs, and the whites of four; then
put them into a quart of cream, mixed with a pint of ale. Grate some
nutmeg into it, sweeten it with sugar, set it on the fire, and keep it
stirring. When it is thick, and before it boils, take it off, and pour
it into a china bason. This is called King William's Posset. A very good
one may however be made by warming a pint of milk, with a bit of white
bread in it, and then warming a pint of ale with a little sugar and
nutmeg. When the milk boils, pour it upon the ale; let it stand a few
minutes to clear, and it will make a fine cordial.
ALEGAR. Take some good sweet wort before it is hopped, put it into a
jar, and a little yeast when it becomes lukewarm, and cover it over. In
three or four days it will have done fermenting; set it in the sun, and
it will be fit for use in three or four months, or much sooner, if
fermented with sour yeast, and mixed with an equal quantity of sour ale.
ALLSPICE, used as an essence, is made of a dram of the oil of pimento,
apothecaries' measure, mixed by degrees with two ounces of strong
spirits of wine. The tincture, which has a finer flavour than the
essence, is made of three ounces of bruised allspice, steeped in a quart
of brandy. Shake it occasionally for a fortnight, and then pour off the
clear liquor. A few drops of either will be a grateful addition to a
pint of gravy, or mulled wine, or in any case where allspice is used.
ALMOND BISCUITS. Blanch a quarter of a pound of sweet almonds, and pound
them fine in a mortar, sprinkling them from time to time with a little
fine sugar. Then beat them a quarter of an hour with an ounce of flour,
the yolks of three eggs, and four ounces of fine sugar, adding
afterward the whites of four eggs whipped to a froth. Prepare some paper
moulds like boxes, about the length of two fingers square; butter them
within, and put in the biscuits, throwing over them equal quantities of
flour and powdered sugar. Bake them in a cool oven; and when of a good
colour, take them out of the papers. Bitter almond biscuits are made in
the same manner, except with this difference; that to every two ounces
of bitter almonds must be added an ounce of sweet almonds.
ALMOND CHEESECAKES. Blanch and pound four ounces of almonds, and a few
bitter ones, with a spoonful of water. Add four ounces of pounded sugar,
a spoonful of cream, and the whites of two eggs well beaten. Mix all as
quick as possible, put it into very small pattipans, and bake in a
tolerable warm oven, under twenty minutes. Or blanch and pound four
ounces of almonds, with a little orange-flower or rose-water; then stir
in the yolks of six and the whites of three eggs well beaten, five
ounces of butter warmed, the peel of a lemon grated, and a little of the
juice, sweetened with fine moist sugar. When well mixed, bake in a
delicate paste, in small pans. Another way is, to press the whey from as
much curd as will make two dozen small cheesecakes. Then put the curd on
the back of a sieve, and with half an ounce of butter rub it through
with the back of a spoon; put to it six yolks and three whites of eggs,
and a few bitter almonds pounded, with as much sugar as will sweeten the
curd. Mix with it the grated rind of a lemon, and a glass of brandy; put
a puff-paste into the pans, and ten minutes will bake them.
ALMOND CREAM. Beat in a mortar four ounces of sweet almonds, and a few
bitter ones, with a tea-spoonful of water to prevent oiling, both having
first been blanched. Put the paste to a quart of cream, and add the
juice of three lemons sweetened; beat it with a whisk to a froth, which
take off on the shallow part of a sieve, and fill the glasses with some
of the liquor and the froth.
ALMOND CUSTARD. Blanch and beat four ounces of almonds fine, with a
spoonful of water. Beat a pint of cream with two spoonfuls of
rose-water, put them to the yolks of four eggs, and as much sugar as
will make it tolerably sweet. Then add the almonds, stir it all over a
slow fire till of a proper thickness, without boiling, and pour it into
cups.
ALMOND JUMBLES. Rub half a pound of butter into a pound of flour, with
half a pound of loaf sugar powdered, a quarter of a pound of almonds
beat fine with rose-water, the yolks of two eggs, and two spoonfuls of
cream. Make them all into a paste, roll it into any shape, and bake on
tins. Ice them with a mixture of fine sugar, rose-water, and the white
of an egg, beat up together, and lay the icing on with a feather, before
the jumbles are put into the oven.
ALMOND PUDDINGS. Beat half a pound of sweet and a few bitter almonds
with a spoonful of water; then mix four ounces of butter, four eggs, two
spoonfuls of cream, warm with the butter, one of brandy, a little nutmeg
and sugar to taste. Butter some cups, half fill them, and bake the
puddings. Serve with butter, wine, and sugar.--For baked almond
puddings, beat a quarter of a pound of sweet and a few bitter almonds
with a little wine, the yolks of six eggs, the peel of two lemons
grated, six ounces of butter, nearly a quart of cream, and the juice of
one lemon. When well mixed, bake it half an hour, with paste round the
dish, and serve it with pudding sauce. Small almond puddings are made of
eight ounces of almonds, and a few bitter ones, pounded with a spoonful
of water. Then mix four ounces of butter warmed, four yolks and two
whites of eggs, sugar to taste, two spoonfuls of cream, and one of
brandy. Mix it together well, and bake in little cups buttered.
ALMONDS BURNT. Add three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar to a pound of
almonds, picked and cleaned, and a few spoonfuls of water. Set them on
the fire, keep them stirring till the sugar is candied, and they are
done.
ALMONDS ICED. Make an iceing similar to that for twelfth-night cakes,
with fine sifted loaf sugar, orange-flower water, and whisked white of
eggs. Having blanched the almonds, roll them well in this iceing, and
dry them in a cool oven.
AMBER PUDDING. Put a pound of butter into a saucepan, with three
quarters of a pound of loaf sugar finely powdered. Melt the butter, and
mix well with it; then add the yolks of fifteen eggs well beaten, and as
much fresh candied orange as will add colour and flavour to it, being
first beaten to a fine paste. Line the dish with paste for turning out;
and when filled with the above, lay a crust over as you would a pie, and
bake it in a slow oven. This makes a fine pudding as good cold as hot.
AMERICAN CAKES, though but little known in this country, form an article
of some importance in domestic economy: they are cheap, easily made, and
very nutritious. Mix a quarter of a pound of butter with a pound of
flour; then, having dissolved and well stirred a quarter of a pound of
sugar in half a pint of milk, and made a solution of about half a
tea-spoonful of crystal of soda, salt of tartar, or any other purified
potash, in half a tea-cupful of cold water, pour them also among the
flour; work up the paste to a good consistence, roll it out, and form it
into cakes or biscuits. The lightness of these cakes depending much on
the expedition with which they are baked, they should be set in a brisk
oven.
AMERICAN SPRUCE. In the spring of the year, this valuable extract is
obtained from the young shoots and tops of the pine or fir trees; and in
autumn, from their cones. These are merely boiled in water, to the
consistence of honey or molasses. The bark and softer part of the tops
and young shoots, being easily dissolved, make the finest essence; while
the cones and bark of larger branches, undergoing only a partial
solution, form an inferior article, after being strained from the dregs.
Both sorts, when decanted clear off, are put up in casks or bottles, and
preserved for making spruce beer.
ANCHOVIES. These delicate fish are preserved in barrels with bay salt,
and no other of the finny tribe has so fine a flavour. Choose those
which look red and mellow, and the bones moist and oily. They should be
high-flavoured, and have a fine smell; but beware of their being mixed
with red paint, to improve their colour and appearance. When the liquor
dries, pour on them some beef brine, and keep the jar close tied down
with paper and leather. Sprats are sometimes sold for anchovies, but by
washing them the imposition may be detected. See SPRATS.
ANCHOVY ESSENCE. Chop two dozen of anchovies, without the bone, add some
of their own liquor strained, and sixteen large spoonfuls of water. Boil
them gently till dissolved, which will be in a few minutes; and when
cold, strain and bottle the liquor. The essence can generally be bought
cheaper than you can make it.
ANCHOVY PASTE. Pound them in a mortar, rub the pulp through a fine
sieve, pot it, cover it with clarified butter, and keep it in a cool
place. The paste may also be made by rubbing the essence with as much
flour as will make a paste; but this is only intended for immediate use,
and will not keep. This is sometimes made stiffer and hotter, by the
addition of a little flour of mustard, a pickled walnut, spice, or
cayenne.
ANCHOVY POWDER. Pound the fish in a mortar, rub them through a sieve,
make them into a paste with dried flour, roll it into thin cakes, and
dry them in a Dutch oven before a slow fire. To this may be added a
small portion of cayenne, grated lemon peel, and citric acid. Pounded to
a fine powder, and put into a well-stopped bottle, it will keep for
years. It is a very savoury relish, sprinkled on bread and butter for a
sandwich.
ANCHOVY SAUCE. Chop one or two anchovies without washing, put them into
a saucepan with flour and butter, and a spoonful of water. Stir it over
the fire till it boils once or twice. When the anchovies are good, they
will soon be dissolved, and distinguished both by their colour and
fragrance.
ANCHOVY TOAST. Bone and skin six or eight anchovies, pound them to a
mass with an ounce of fine butter till the colour is equal, and then
spread it on toast or rusks. Or, cut thin slices of bread, and fry them
in clarified butter. Wash three anchovies split, pound them in a mortar
with a little fresh butter, rub them through a hair sieve, and spread on
the toast when cold. Garnish with parsley or pickles.
ANGELICA TARTS. Take an equal quantity of apples and angelica, pare and
peel them, and cut them separately into small pieces. Boil the apples
gently in a little water, with fine sugar and lemon peel, till they
become a thin syrup: then boil the angelica about ten minutes. Put some
paste at the bottom of the pattipans, with alternate layers of apples
and angelica: pour in some of the syrup, put on the lid, and bake them
carefully.
ANGLING APPARATUS. Fishing rods should be oiled and dried in the sun, to
prevent their being worm eaten, and render them tough; and if the joints
get swelled and set fast, turn the part over the flame of a candle, and
it will soon be set at liberty. Silk or hemp lines dyed in a decoction
of oak bark, will render them more durable and capable of resisting the
wet; and after they have been used they should be well dried before they
are wound up, or they will be liable to rot. To make a cork float, take
a good new cork, and pass a small red-hot iron through the centre of it
lengthways; then round one end of it with a sharp knife, and reduce the
other to a point, resembling a small peg top. The quill which is to pass
through it may be secured at the bottom by putting in a little cotton
wool and sealing wax, and the upper end is to be fitted with a piece of
hazel like a plug, cemented like the other, with a piece of wire on the
top formed into an eye, and two small hoops cut from another quill to
regulate the line which passes through the float. To render it the more
visible, the cork may be coloured with red wax. For fly fishing, either
natural or artificial flies may be used, especially such as are found
under hollow stones by the river's side, on the trunk of an oak or ash,
on hawthorns, and on ant hills. In clear water the angler may use small
flies with slender wings, but in muddy water a large fly is better: in a
clear day the fly should be light coloured, and in dark water the fly
should be dark. The rod and line require to be long; the fly when
fastened to the hook should be allowed to float gently on the surface of
the water, keeping the line from touching it, and the angler should
stand as far as may be from the water's edge with the sun at his back,
having a watchful eye and a quick hand. Fish may be intoxicated and
taken in the following manner. Take an equal quantity of cocculus
indicus, coriander, fenugreek, and cummin seeds, and reduce them to a
powder. Make it into a paste with rice flour and water, roll it up into
pills as large as peas, and throw them into ponds or rivers which abound
with fish. After eating the paste, the fish will rise to the surface of
the water almost motionless, and may be taken out by the hand.
ANTIDOTE to opium or laudanum. The deleterious effects of opium, which
are so often experienced in the form of laudanum, may in great measure
be counteracted by taking a proper quantity of lemon juice immediately
afterwards. Four grains of opium, or a hundred drops of laudanum, are
often sufficient for a fatal dose; but if an ounce of pure lemon juice,
or twice that quantity of good vinegar be added to every grain of opium,
or every twenty-five drops of laudanum, it will relieve both the head
and the bowels; and the use of vegetable acids cannot be too strongly
recommended to those who are under the necessity of taking considerable
doses of opiates.
ANTS. Though it does not become us to be prodigal of life in any form,
nor wantonly to seek its extinction, yet where any species of animals
are found to be really noxious or annoying, the good of man requires
that they should be destroyed. Houses are sometimes so infested with
ants, that they are not to be endured. In this case, sprinkle the places
they frequent with a strong decoction of walnut-tree leaves; or take
half a pound of sulphur, and a quarter of a pound of potash, and
dissolve them together over the fire. Afterwards beat them to a powder,
add some water to it; and when sprinkled, the ants will either die or
leave the place. When they are found to traverse garden walls or
hot-houses, and to injure the fruit, several holes should be drilled in
the ground with an iron crow, close to the side of the wall, and as deep
as the soil will admit. The earth being stirred, the insects will begin
to move about: the sides of the holes are then to be made smooth, so
that the ants may fall in as soon as they approach, and they will be
unable to climb upwards. Water being then poured on them, great numbers
may easily be destroyed. The same end may be answered by strewing a
mixture of quick lime and soot along such places as are much frequented
by the ants; or by adding water to it, and pouring it at the roots of
trees infested by them. To prevent their descending from a tree which
they visit, it is only necessary to mark with a piece of common chalk a
circle round its trunk, an inch or two broad, and about two feet from
the ground. This experiment should be performed in dry weather, and the
ring must be renewed: as soon as the ants arrive at it, not one of them
will attempt to cross over.--Ant hills are very injurious in dry
pastures, not only by wasting the soil, but yielding a pernicious kind
of grass, and impeding the operation of the scythe. The turf of the ant
hill should be pared off, the core taken out and scattered at a
distance; and when the turf is laid down again, the place should be left
lower than the ground around it, that when the wet settles into it, the
ants may be prevented from returning to their haunt. The nests may more
effectually be destroyed by putting quick lime into them, and pouring on
some water; or by putting in some night soil, and closing it up.
APPLE TREES may be preserved from the innumerable insects with which
they are annoyed, by painting the stems and branches with a thick wash
of lime and water, as soon as the sap begins to rise. This will be
found, in the course of the ensuing summer to have removed all the moss
and insects, and given to the bark a fresh and green appearance. Other
fruit trees may be treated in the same manner, and they will soon become
more healthy and vigorous. Trees exposed to cattle, hares and rabbits,
may be preserved from these depredators, without the expense of fence or
rails, by any of the following experiments. Wash the stems of the trees
or plants to a proper height with tanner's liquor, or such as they use
for dressing hides. If this does not succeed, make a mixture of night
soil, lime and water, and brush it on the stems and branches, two or
three times in a year: this will effectually preserve the trees from
being barked. A mixture of fresh cow dung and urine has been found to
answer the same purpose, and also to destroy the canker, which is so
fatal to the growth of trees.