Dr. Chase

   A while ago I posted about The Rawleigh's Man (from a 1928 flyer). Well, a friend from the Theatre Guild, Sean Scally, knows I love to read old books, so he lent me "Dr. Chase's Third, Last & Complete Receipt Book & Household Physician" (I know, its got a ring to it...). This beauty is from 1893!  
   In an act of pure irony (o.k., not real irony, more like Alanis Morissette's idea of irony), while reading this book, I would often be sitting with the iPad or laptop so I could look up the many (many!) things I wasn't sure about!
   Anywho, I just wanted to share some snippets I enjoyed from this amazing book!

The book, and the inside cover with a picture of Dr. Chase. Gotta love the beard style!

   People always say "back when things were more simple"-um, I bet if you lived back in the day with Dr. Chase you may argue that point! There is 3 whole pages alone about making butter, and problem solving, etc. That doesn't sound terribly simple! 
   The book is divided into many parts, the first two are "Symptoms of Diseases", & "Treating Diseases". One title in treating diseases is "FAT PEOPLE-Food to Reduce Their Fleshiness". Yikes, that was harsh. Or how about the simple cure for "LIQUOR-A Cure for the Love of it". The advice is to eat an orange in the morning, half an hour before breakfast. As a patient told Dr. Chase, "I have done so regularly, and find that liquor has become repulsive. The taste of the orange is in the saliva of my tongue, and it would be as well to mix water and oil, as rum, with my taste". Wow, that was easy. Oh boy.   

For real, read that fantastic caption under the picture!

   A third of the book is dedicated to "receipts" or recipes. Dr. Chase clarifies (because I know you were wondering) that a "recipe" is directions with proper spelling, but a "receipt" is written in "much the more common manner of speaking", and can often be found in a poem or a song.   
   One of my favourite parts of the food section of the book is Dr. Chase's remarks on good flour: "The first requisite to good bread is good flour (and sifted to enliven it and make it mix more readily). If the very best seems too expensive, make up the difference in cost by eating less cake. With really delicious bread you will do this naturally, and almost unconsciously". Isn't that the best? I love it.
   Fun (disgusting...) fact: What we think of as "Minced Meat Pie", is really called a "Mock Minced Pie". As a child I never wanted to try "minced meat pies" because the name had meat in it, but it appeared disguised as a fruit pie! My Mom assured me it was just raisins, currants, etc., but I wasn't feeling good about it. Well, reading a section of this book confirmed what I thought to be true! Here is a snippet for a recipe for proper Minced Meat Pie: "Boil a fresh beef's tongue, remove the skin and roots (and any remains of the wind-pipe, blood vessels, etc.), and chop it very fine. When cold add one pound of chopped suet (my note: this is the hard, white fat from the kidney's or loin of cattle, sheep, and other animals); 2 pounds each stoned raisins; english currants; citron, cut in fine pieces; 6 cloves; 2 teaspoons-ful cinnamon;....(etc., etc.)". For real....FOR REAL!!! I knew Minced Meat Pies had meat in them! And it's worse than I thought because it's cow tongue! At least now I know I was right, and so was my Mom, who's pie would just be "Mock Minced". Phew.  

The caption under this photo reads: Patient Husband. "Well, our daughter must be taught how to cook if you were not".

   I could go on all day about this book! From health, to cleaning, receipts and recipes, even animal care (including bee-keeping!)-Dr. Chase pretty much knows it all (maybe he's related to my family...?). Seriously though, it is quite the collection of knowledge all put together in one book. This bad boy is 816 pages, minus the glossary, medical index, and general index. 
   The "Publisher Notice" at the beginning of the book says, "We desire to place a copy of this work in the hands of every family, and if the neighbourhood has been canvassed and there is no agent through whom it can be purchased, we will send by mail, free of postage, single copies to any address on receipt of the regular subscription price". Apparently they felt strongly about how awesome this book was!  
   I plan on attempting some of these recipes in the near future (even some of the hand written recipes that were tucked in between pages), so, you'll be hearing more about Dr. Chase!