The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families
TekstSUFFOLK CHEESE. The curd is broken up in the whey, which is poured off as soon as the former has subsided. The remainder, with the curd, is put into a coarse strainer, left to cool, and is then pressed as tightly as possible. After this it is put into the vat, and set in a press to discharge the remaining whey. The curd is then taken out, broken again as finely as possible, salted, and returned to the press.
SUFFOLK DUMPLINS. Make a very light dough with yeast, as for bread; add a little salt, and use milk instead of water. Let it rise an hour before the fire. Round the dough into balls, the size of a middling apple; throw them into boiling water, and let them boil twenty minutes. To ascertain when they are done enough, stick a clean fork into one; and if it come out clear, they are ready to take up. Do not cut, but tear them apart on the top with two forks, for they become heavy by their own steam. They should be eaten immediately, with gravy or cold butter, or with meat.
SUGARS. These being an article of considerable expense in all families, the purchase demands particular attention. The cheapest does not go so far as the more refined, and there is a difference even in the degree of sweetness. Of white sugar that should be preferred which is close, heavy, and shining. The best sort of brown sugar has a bright gravelly appearance, and it is often to be bought pure as imported. East India sugars are finer for the price, but not so strong, consequently unfit for wines and sweetmeats, but do well for common purposes, if good of their kind. To prepare white sugar pounded, rolling it with a bottle and sifting it, wastes less than pounding it in a mortar.
SUGAR CAKES. Make into a paste a pound of flour, twelve ounces of fine sugar sifted, the yolks of two eggs, a little nutmeg, and orange-flower water. Roll it out thin, cut out the cakes with a tin or glass, sift sugar over them, and bake them in a quick oven.
SUGAR PASTE. To a pound of flour put two ounces of loaf sugar rolled and sifted, and rub in half a pound of butter. Mix it up with one egg well beaten, and cold water sufficient to make it into a paste. Mould it with the hand till it is quite smooth, and roll it out for use.
SUGAR VINEGAR. To every gallon of water, add two pounds of the coarsest sugar; then boil and skim it thoroughly, and add one quart of cold water for every gallon of hot. When cool, put in a toast spread with yeast. Stir it nine days, then barrel it off, and set it in the sun, with a piece of slate on the bung hole. Make the vinegar in March, and it will be ready in six months. When sufficiently sour it may be bottled, or may be used from the cask with a wooden spigot and faucet.
SUN FLOWER. The valuable properties of the sun flower are too much neglected, and might be rendered of general advantage. The leaves furnish abundance of agreeable fodder for cattle, the flower is enriched with honey for the bees, the dry stalks burn well, affording a considerable quantity of alkali from the ashes, and the seed is highly valuable in feeding pigs and poultry. The cultivation of this plant cannot be too much recommended, and requires but little management.
SUPPER DISH. To make a pretty supper dish, wash a tea-cupful of rice in milk, and boil it tender. Strain off the milk, lay the rice in small heaps on a dish, strew over them some finely-powdered sugar and cinnamon, and put warm wine and a little butter into the dish.
SUPPERS. Hot suppers are not much in use where people dine late, nor indeed in ordinary cases. When required, the top and bottom of the table may be furnished with game, fowls, rabbit; boiled fish, such as soles, mackarel, oysters, stewed or scalloped; French beans, cauliflower, or Jerusalem artichokes, in white sauce; brocoli with eggs, stewed spinach with eggs, sweetbreads, small birds, mushrooms, scalloped potatoes; cutlets, roast onions, salmagundi, buttered eggs on toast, cold neat's tongue, ham, collared things, sliced hunter's beef, buttered rusks with anchovies, grated hung beef with butter, with or without rusks; grated cheese round, and butter dressed in the middle of a plate; radishes the same, custards in glasses with sippets, oysters cold or pickled; potted meats, fish, birds, cheese; good plain cake sliced, pies of birds or fruit; lobsters, prawns, cray fish, any sweet things, and fruits. A sandwich set with any of the above articles, placed on the table at a little distance from each other, will look well. The lighter the things, the better they appear, and glass intermixed has the best effect. Jellies, different coloured things, and flowers, add to the beauty of the table. An elegant supper may be served at a small expense, by those who know how to make trifles that are in the house form the greatest part of the entertainment.
SUSAN PUDDING. Boil some Windsor beans, just as they begin to be black-eyed, till they are quite tender. Then peel them, and beat up half a pound of them very smooth in a marble mortar. Add four spoonfuls of thick cream, sugar to taste, half a pound of clarified butter, and eight eggs, leaving out half the whites. Beat up the eggs well with a little salt, and white wine sufficient to give it an agreeable flavour. Line a dish with puff paste, add a pretty good layer of candied citron cut in long pieces, pour in the other ingredients, and bake it in a moderate oven three quarters of an hour.
SWEEPING OF CHIMNIES. The common practice of employing poor children to sweep narrow chimnies, is most inhuman and unwise: many lives are lost by this means, and much injury is done to the building. The children being obliged to work themselves up by pressing with their feet and knees on one side, and their back on the other, often force out the bricks which divide the chimnies, and thereby encrease the danger, in case a foul chimney should take fire, as the flames frequently communicate by those apertures to other apartments, which were not suspected to be in any danger. To avoid these consequences, a rope twice the length of the chimney should be provided, to the middle of which a bunch of furze or broom is to be tied, sufficient to fill the cavity of the chimney. Put one end of the rope down the chimney, with a stone fastened to it, and draw the brush after it, which will clear the sides of the chimney, and bring down the soot. If necessary, a person at top may draw the brush up again to the top of the chimney, keeping hold of the rope, and thus clean the chimney thoroughly without difficulty or danger.
SWEET HERBS. It is of some importance to know when the various seasons commence for procuring sweet and savoury herbs, fit for culinary purposes. All vegetables are in the highest state of perfection, and fullest of juice and flavour, just before they begin to flower. The first and last crop have neither the fine flavour nor the perfume of those which are gathered in the height of the season; that is, when the greater part of the crop of each species is ripe. Let them be gathered on a dry day, and they will have a better colour after being preserved. Cleanse them well from dust and dirt, cut off the roots, separate the bunches into smaller ones, and dry them by the heat of a stove, or in a Dutch oven before the fire. Take them in small quantities, that the process may be speedily finished, and thus their flavour will be preserved. Drying them in the sun exhausts some of their best qualities. In the application of artificial heat, the only caution requisite is to avoid burning; and of this, a sufficient test is afforded by the preservation of the colour. The common custom is, when they are perfectly dried, to put them in bags, and lay them in a dry place. But the best way to preserve the flavour of aromatic plants, is to pick off the leaves as soon as they are dried; then to pound and pass them through a hair sieve, and keep them in well-stopped bottles. – Basil is in the best state for drying, from the middle of August, and three weeks afterwards. Knotted marjoram, from the beginning of July to the end of the month. Winter savoury, the latter end of July, and throughout August. Thyme, lemon thyme, and orange thyme, during June and July. Mint, the latter end of June, and throughout July. Sage, August and September. Tarragon, June, July, and August. Chervil, May, June, and July. Burnet, June, July, and August. Parsley, May, June, and July. Fennel, the same. Elder flowers, and orange flowers, May, June, and July. Herbs carefully dried, are a very agreeable substitute; but when fresh ones can be had, their flavour and fragrance are much finer, and therefore to be preferred.
SWEET LAMB PIE. Make a good puff paste; then cut a loin of lamb into chops, and season with salt and nutmeg; lay a paste over the bottom of your dish; put in your chops, with a handful of currants washed and picked very clean; lay on your lid, and bake it. When it comes from the oven, take off the lid nicely, and pour over a caudle made of white wine, the yolks of eggs, a little nutmeg, and sugar pounded: lay the lid on again, and send it to table as hot as you can.
SWEET MACARONI. To make a very nice dish of macaroni, boil two ounces of it in a pint of milk, with a bit of cinnamon and lemon peel, till the pipes are swelled to their utmost size without breaking. Lay them on a custard dish, pour a custard over them, and serve them up cold.
SWEET PATTIES. Chop the meat of a boiled calf's foot, the liquor of which is intended for jelly; two apples, one ounce of orange and lemon peel candied, and some fresh peel and juice. Mix with them half a nutmeg grated, the yolk of an egg, a spoonful of brandy, and four ounces of currants washed and dried. Fill some small pattipans lined with paste, and bake them. – To make patties resembling mince pies, chop the kidney and fat of cold veal, apple, orange and lemon peel candied; adding some fresh currants, a little wine, two or three cloves, a little brandy and sugar.
SWEET POT. Take three handfuls of orange flowers, three of clove gilliflowers, three of damask roses, one of knotted marjoram, one of lemon thyme, six bay leaves, a handful of rosemary, one of myrtle, one of lavender, half one of mint, the rind of a lemon, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves. Chop all together, and put them in layers, with pounded bay-salt between, up to the top of the jar. If all the ingredients cannot be got at once, put them in when obtained, always throwing in salt with every fresh article. This will be found a quick and easy way of making a sweet-scented pot.
SWEET SAUCE. Put some currant jelly into a stewpan, and when melted, pour it into a sauce boat. This is a more salubrious relish for venison or hare, than either spice or salt, and is an agreeable accompaniment to roast or hashed meats.
SWEETBREADS FRICASSEE. Cut the sweetbreads in pretty thick slices, boil them till about half done, with a little more water than just to cover them. Add a little salt, white pepper, and mace. Then some butter, the yolks of four eggs beaten with a little white wine, and some verjuice. Keep this over the fire, shaking it well, till the sauce is properly thickened. Serve it up with the juice of a Seville orange squeezed over it. If it is to be a brown fricassee, fry the sweetbreads first in butter till the outside is browned. Then pour away the butter, put water to the sweetbreads, and boil and finish them as before. An onion or a clove of garlic may be added to the water; or if broth be used instead of water, it will make the fricassee more savoury.
SWEETBREADS FRIED. Cut them into long slices, rub them over with egg, season with pepper, salt, and grated bread, and fry them in butter. Serve them up with melted butter and ketchup, garnished with crisped parsley, and thin slices of toasted bacon.
SWEETBREADS RAGOUT. Cut them about the size of a walnut, wash and dry them, then fry them of a fine brown. Pour on them a good gravy, seasoned with salt, pepper, allspice, and either mushrooms or mushroom ketchup, adding truffles and morels, if approved. Strain, and thicken with butter and a little flour.
SWEETBREADS ROASTED. Parboil two large ones; when cold, lard them with bacon, and roast them in a Dutch oven. For sauce, plain butter and mushroom ketchup.
SWEETMEATS. Preserves or sweetmeats should be carefully kept from the air, and set in a very dry place. If they have only a small proportion of sugar, a warm situation would not injure them; but if they have not been sufficiently boiled, the heat will make them ferment, and the damp will cause them to grow mouldy. They should be inspected two or three times in the first two months that they may be gently boiled again, if not likely to keep. It is necessary to observe, that the boiling of sugar more or less, constitutes the chief art of the confectioner; and those who are not practically acquainted with the subject, and only preserve fruit in a plain way for family use, are not aware that in two or three minutes, a syrup over the fire will pass from one gradation to another, called by the confectioners, degrees of boiling, of which there are six, and those sub-divided. Without entering, however, into the minutiæ of the business, it is only necessary to make the observation in order to guard against under boiling, which prevents sweetmeats from keeping; and quick and long boiling, which reduces them to candy. Attention, without much practice, will enable a person to do any of the following sorts of sweetmeats and preserves, which are quite sufficient for a private family. The higher articles of preserved fruits may be bought at less expense than made. Jellies of fruit are made with an equal quantity of sugar, that is, a pound to a pint, and require no very long boiling. A pan should be kept for the purpose of preserving, of double block tin, with a bow handle for safety, opposite the straight one: and if when done with, it be carefully cleaned and set by in a dry place, it will last for several years. Pans of copper or brass are extremely improper, as the tinning wears out by the scraping of the ladle. Sieves and spoons should likewise be kept on purpose for sweetmeats. Sweetmeats keep best in drawers that are not connected with a wall. If there be the least damp, cover them only with paper dipped in brandy, and laid on quite close; and to prevent the mouldiness occasioned by insects, cover them with fresh paper in the spring. When any sweetmeats are to be dried in the sun, or in a stove, it will be best in private families, where there is not a regular stove for the purpose, to place them in the sun on flag stones, which reflect the heat, and to cover them with a garden glass to keep off the insects. If put into an oven, take care that it be not too warm, and watch to see them done properly and slowly. When green fruits are to be preserved, take pippins, apricots, pears, plums, or peaches, and put them into a block tin preserving pan, with vine leaves under and over them, and cover them with spring water. Put on the tin cover to exclude the air, and set the pan on the side of the fire. When the fruit begins to simmer, remove the pan from the fire, pour off the water, and if not green, put fresh leaves when cold, and repeat the same. Take them out carefully with a slice, peel and do them as directed for the different kinds of preserves. When fruit is plentiful, and sweetmeats are wanted for tarts, divide two pounds of apricots just ripe, and take out and break the stones. Put the kernels without their skins to the fruit; add three pounds of greengages, and two pounds and a half of lump sugar. The sugar should be broken in large pieces, and just dipped in water, and added to the fruit over a slow fire. Simmer it till reduced to a clear jam, but observe that it does not boil, and skim it well. If the sugar be clarified, it will make the jam the better. Put it into small pots, which art the best for preserving sweetmeats.
SWEETMEAT PIES. Sweetmeats made with syrups are made into pies the same as raw fruit, and the same crusts may be used for them. Tarts made of any kind of jam are commonly made with a crust round the bottom of the dish, the sweetmeat then put in, and only little ornaments of crust cut with a jagging iron, and laid over the top. Sugar paste may be used if preferred. Little tartlets are made in the same way, only baked in tins and turned out.
SWOONS. In a swooning fit, the patient should immediately be exposed to the open air, and the face and neck sprinkled with cold water. Pungent odours, or volatile spirits, should be held to the nostrils, and the feet rubbed with hot flannels, or put into warm water.
SYLLABUB. Put a pint of cider and a bottle of strong beer into a large punch bowl, grate in a nutmeg, and sweeten it. Put in as much new milk from the cow as will make a strong froth, and let it stand an hour. Clean and wash some currants, and make them plump before the fire: then strew them over the syllabub, and it will be fit for use. A good imitation of this may be made by those who do not keep cows, by pouring new milk out of a tea-pot into the cider and beer, or wine. – A fine syllabub from the cow. Make your syllabub either of wine or cyder, (if cyder, put a spoonful of brandy in) sweeten it, and grate in some nutmeg; then milk into the liquor till you have a fine light curd; pour over it half a pint, or a pint of good cream, according to the quantity of syllabub you make: you may send it in the basin it was made in, or put it into custard-cups, and tea-spoons with it on a salver. – To make very fine syllabubs. Take a quart and half a pint of cream, a pint of Rhenish, and half a pint of sack; grate the rind of three lemons into the cream; with near a pound of double-refined sugar; squeeze the juice of three lemons into the wine, and put it to the cream; then beat all together with a whisk half an hour, take it up together with a spoon, and fill the glasses. It is best at three or four days old, and will keep good nine or ten days. These are called the everlasting syllabubs.
SYMPATHETIC INK. Write on paper with a solution of nitrate of bismuth, and smear the writing over with a feather, moistened with an infusion of galls. The letters which were before invisible, will now appear of a brown colour. Or write with a solution of muriate of antimony, and smear the writing over with a feather dipped in a solution of galls. The writing before invisible, will now turn yellow. Or write with a transparent infusion of gall nuts, and smear it over with a solution of metallic salt; and on a slight exposure to the air, the writing will turn quite black. If written with a solution of sulphate of iron, and rubbed over with a solution of prussiate of potass, it will appear of a beautiful blue colour.
SYRUP OF CREAM. Scald a pint of perfectly fresh cream, add to it a pound and a quarter of powdered lump sugar. Keep it in a cool place for two or three hours, then put it into small phials, holding one or two ounces each, and cork it close. It will keep good thus for several weeks, and will be found very useful in voyages.
SYRUP OF DIACODIUM. Steep two pounds and a quarter of poppy heads in a gallon of water, and let it infuse twenty-four hours. Boil the infusion till reduced to three pints, and add to it a pound and a half of sugar.
SYRUP OF MULBERRIES. Put the mulberries into a jar, and the jar into a kettle of water over the fire, till the juice runs from them. Then squeeze the fruit, and add to the juice twice its weight in sugar. Set it over a slow fire, skim it clean, and keep it simmering till the sugar is all dissolved.
T
Table beer. If the quantity to be brewed is taken as a barrel, or six and thirty gallons, two bushels and a half of malt will be sufficient. The dimensions of the vessels may be supposed to correspond with those used in a moderate family, and the copper holding about thirty gallons. A quantity of boiling water being poured into the mash tub, is suffered to remain there till the steam is nearly all evaporated. The malt previously ground, is then thrown into the water, and thoroughly stirred and mixed with it. This agitation of the malt and water, commonly called mashing, is kept up for a quarter of an hour, by which the malt is more effectually brought into contact with the water, and a greater proportion of its soluble matter extracted. After this the mash tub is covered over in order to retain as much heat as possible, and the whole is suffered to remain undisturbed for an hour and a half or two hours. At the end of that time, the water thus impregnated with the malt, in which state it is commonly called sweet wort, is slowly drawn off into another vessel. The quantity of water used in the first mashing is about twenty-five gallons; of which, not above fifteen are afterwards obtained, the rest being absorbed by the malt, with the exception of a small quantity carried off by evaporation. This first wort being drawn off from the malt, a fresh portion of hot water is thrown into the mash tub, and the process of mashing is repeated for ten minutes. The tub being again covered, the whole is suffered to remain for about an hour, when a second wort is drawn off. The quantity of water used in this second mashing is about fifteen gallons; and the malt having already retained as much water as is sufficient to saturate it, the whole amount of the fifteen gallons is afterwards recovered from the mash tub. About twelve gallons of hot water is now added to the malt, and the mixture being mashed for a few minutes, is suffered to remain another hour, in order to form a third wort. In the meantime a part of the two first worts is poured into the copper, with a pound and a half or two pounds of hops, and boiled for an hour, or an hour and a half; after which it is strained through a sieve into another vessel. The third wort is now drawn off from the mash tub, and being mixed with the remaining part of the first and second wort, it is boiled for an hour or more, with the hops used in the former instance. The three worts are then distributed into shallow vessels or coolers, and suffered to remain there till the liquor is reduced to a lukewarm state. It is then collected into the tun tub, and fermented with about a quart of yeast, which converts it into beer. But as table beer is sometimes brewed in considerable quantities for the use of large families, and in a still more economical manner, an estimate will be given, in order to show the saving that is made in private brewing. The following is a preparation for ten barrels.
Liquorice root and other flavouring substances may be added: what are here inserted are only the general requisites. – Another way of making a cheap and wholesome table beer, is to dissolve four pounds of coarse sugar in ten gallons of water. Then put in three ounces of hops, boil the whole for three quarters of an hour, and let it work as usual. It should be kept a week or ten days before it is tapped, and it will improve daily afterwards, if not kept too long. Or for a still smaller quantity, put a pound of treacle to eight quarts of boiling water: add two bay leaves, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered ginger. Boil the whole for fifteen minutes, then let it cool, and work it with yeast.
TAINTED MEAT. When the weather is so hot that meat will scarcely keep from day to day, wrapping it in a thin cloth dipped in vinegar, and not wrung very dry, will help to keep it from being tainted. Or rubbing the meat with black pepper will preserve it, and let it be hung up as usual. It is much better however, that meat should not be kept so long as to risk its being tainted.
TAN GLOVES. To dye gloves to look like York tan or Limerick, put some saffron into a pint of water boiling hot, and let it infuse all night. Next morning wet the leather over with a brush, but take care that the tops of the gloves be sewn close, to prevent the colour from getting in.
TANSEY. To make a tansey, beat up seven eggs, yolks and whites separately. Add a pint of cream, nearly the same of spinach juice, and a little tansey juice, gained by pounding it in a stone mortar; a quarter of a pound of Naples biscuit, a glass of white wine, and a little sugar and nutmeg. Set all in a saucepan, just to thicken, over the fire; then put it into a dish, lined with paste to turn out, and bake it. – Another. Beat ten eggs very well with a little salt, half a pound of loaf sugar pounded, half a pint of spinach juice, and a spoonful of the juice of tansey; mix them well together, and strain it to a quart of cream; grate in half a pound of Naples biscuits, and a nutmeg; add a quarter of a pound of Jordan almonds blanched and beat fine, with a little rose water, and mix all well together; put it into a stewpan, with a piece of butter the bigness of a golden pippin. Set it over a slow charcoal fire; keep it stirring till it is hardened; then butter a dish very well, that will just hold it: put in the tansey, bake it in a moderate oven, taking care that it is not scorched. When it comes home, turn it upon a pie plate, cut Seville oranges in small quarters, and lay round it, and on the tansey, citron, and orange peel cut thin, with double refined sugar laid in little heaps between. If you have not Naples biscuits, grate seven ounces of the finest stale bread you have. —A boiled tansey. Cut the crumb of a stale penny loaf thin, pour over as much hot cream as will wet it, and cover it over till cold; then beat and strain six eggs to it, a little lemon peel shred fine, a little grated nutmeg, and salt; green it as you did the baked tansey, and sweeten it to your taste; stir all very well together, butter a bason, that will hold it, butter also a cloth to lay over the top, tie it tight, and boil it an hour and quarter; turn it into a dish, and garnish with Seville orange; stick candied orange cut thin on the top.
TANSEY PUDDING. Grate four ounces of bread, blanch two ounces of sweet almonds, and beat them fine in a marble mortar, with orange-flower water. Mix these, and four ounces of fine powdered sugar with the bread. Add five eggs, a little salt, a pint of cream, a grated nutmeg, half a pint of spinach juice expressed from the leaves, beaten in a marble mortar, and strained through a cloth, and two or three spoonfuls of tansey juice beaten out and strained in the same manner. Stir the whole together, and put it into a saucepan with a small piece of butter. Set it over the fire till it thickens, stirring it all the time, but do not let it boil. When done, cool it in a basin, then pour it into a dish well buttered, and bake it half an hour. Turn it out of the dish before it is sent to table, sift some fine sugar over it, and lay a Seville orange round it cut in pieces, and squeeze the juice upon it.
TAPIOCA JELLY. Choose the largest sort, pour on cold water to wash in two or three times, and then soak it in fresh water five or six times. Simmer it in the same until it become quite clear, with a bit of lemon peel. Then add lemon juice, wine, and sugar.
TAPIOCA PUDDING. Wash six spoonfuls of the large kind of tapioca, and stew it gently in a quart of milk till it is pretty thick. Let it stand uncovered to cool. Add two eggs well beaten with some salt, and sugar to the taste. Bake it with a crust round the edge of a dish, in a moderate oven, for an hour.
TAR WATER. Pour a gallon of cold water on a quart of tar, and stir and mix them thoroughly with a ladle or flat stick, for the space of three or four minutes; after which the vessel must stand forty-eight hours, that the tar may have time to subside; when the clear water is to be poured off, and kept for use, no more being made from the same tar, which may still serve for common purposes. The general rule for taking it is, about half a pint night and morning, on an empty stomach, which quantity may be varied according to the case and age of the patient; provided it be always taken on an empty stomach, and about two hours before or after a meal. Tar water cures indigestion, and gives a good appetite. It is an excellent medicine in an asthma; it imparts a kindly warmth, and quick circulation to the juices, without heating, and is therefore useful, not only as a pectoral and balsamic, but also as a powerful and a safe deobstruent in cachectic and hysteric cases. As it is both healing and diuretic, it is very good for the gravel. It is believed to be of great use in a dropsy, having been known to cure a very bad anasarca in a person whose thirst, though very extraordinary, was in a short time removed by the drinking of tar water. It is also believed to be the best and safest medicine, either for preventing the gout, or for so strengthening nature against the fit, as to drive it from the vitals. It may likewise be safely used in inflammatory cases; and, in fact, hath been found an admirable febrifuge, at once the safest cooler and cordial. The salts and more active spirits of tar are got by infusion in cold water; but the resinous part is not to be dissolved thereby. Hence the prejudice which some, perhaps, may entertain against tar water, the use of which might inflame the blood by its sulphur and resin, as a medicine, appears not to be well grounded. It is observed by chemists, that all sorts of balsamic wood afford an acid spirit, which is the volatile oily salt of the vegetable. Herein is chiefly contained their medicinal virtues; and it appears that the acid spirit in tar water possesses the virtues, in an eminent degree, of that of guaiacum, and other medicinal woods. It is certain tar water warms, and therefore some may perhaps still think it cannot cool. The more effectually to remove this prejudice, let it be farther considered, that, as on one hand, opposite causes do sometimes produce the same effect; for instance, heat by rarefaction, and cold by condensation, do both increase the air's elasticity; so, on the other hand, the same cause shall sometimes produce opposite effects. Heat, for instance, in one degree thins, in another coagulates, the blood. It is not therefore strange, that tar water should warm one habit and cool another; have one good effect on a cold constitution, and another good effect on an inflamed one; nor, if this be so, that it should cure opposite disorders. A medicine of so great virtue in so many different disorders, and especially in that grand enemy the fever, must needs be a benefit to mankind in general. There are nevertheless three sorts of people to whom it may be peculiarly recommended; seafaring persons, ladies, and men of studious and sedentary lives. If it be asked, what precise quantity, or degree of strength is required in tar water? It is answered, that the palate, the stomach, the particular case and constitution of the patient, the very season of the year, will dispose and require him to drink more or less in quantity, stronger or weaker in degree. Precisely to measure its strength by a scrupulous exactness, is by no means necessary. It is to be observed, that tar water should not be made in unglazed earthen vessels, these being apt to communicate a nauseous sweetness to the water. Tar water is also recommended in the plague, and for the distemper among horned cattle; with what success must be left to experience.