[Transcriber's Notes]
Some of the suggestions in this book may be helpful or at least have a
placebo effect. Beware of the many recipes that include kerosene (coal
oil), turpentine, ammonium chloride, lead, lye (sodium hydroxide),
strychnine, arsenic, mercury, creosote, sodium phosphate, opium, cocaine
and other illegal, poisonous or corrosive items. Many recipes do not
specify if it is to be taken internally or topically (on the skin). There
is an extreme preoccupation with poultices (applied to the skin, 324
references) and "keeping the bowels open" (1498 references, including
related terms).
I view this material as a window into the terror endured by mothers and
family members when a child or adult took ill. The doctors available (if
you could afford one) could offer little more than this book. The guilt of
failing to cure the child was probably easier to endure than the
helplessness of doing nothing.
There are many recipes for foods I fondly remember eating as a child.
Note the many recipes for a single serving that involve lengthy and
labor-intensive preparation. Refrigeration was uncommon and the
temperature of iceboxes was well above freezing, so food had to be
consumed quickly.
Many recipes use uncooked meat and eggs that can lead to several diseases.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected but contemporary spelling
and usage are unchanged. Page headers are retained, but are moved to the
beginning of the paragraph where the text is interrupted. Page numbers are
shown in brackets [ ].
The author claims the material is directed toward non-medical "family"
members, but many passages are obviously copied from medical textbooks.
The following glossary of unfamiliar (to me) terms is quite lengthy and
does not include incomprehensible (to me) medical terms and many words and
names I could not find in several reference books. The book's own 16 page
dictionary is on page 893.
I recommend the article on "hydrophobia" (page 241) as an interesting
history of the Pasture treatment.