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laying before them a list of the most approved Dishes served up at the tables of the great; so that when a Physician happens to be called in tó visit a sick Lord, an Earl, or a Duke, he may be able to prescribe scientifically, having obtained from me the analysis of a great man's mode of living. The celebrated Ramazini's Treatise on the diseases to which artizans are subject from their manner of working in their respective trades, first suggested to me the idea, that a similar attention to the DIET of certain classes of men would be of use to the medical practitioner.

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Unwilling, however, to

appear as a professional Cook, I have occasionally treated the subject with a degree of levity. But at the same time, I wish to be understood as thinking the subject worthy of serious consideration.

I do not consider myself as hazarding any thing when I say, that no man can be a good physician who has not a competent knowledge of Cookery. And in this I am supported by every eminent physician, from Hippocrates down to Sydenham; all of whom were strenuous promoters of the practice named DIETETICS; in other words, "COOKERY." Culina medicine Famulatrix.DONATUS.

As a subordinate consideration to my design, I had in view the benefit that would arise to some future member of the Society of Antiquaries, who may be disposed to employ his time in tracing the progress of Cookery from the time of Apicius to his own day.

All the books of Cookery that I have perused, seem to be greatly deficient in the directions given for preparing the respective Dishes. A pennyworth of this, and a pinch of that, are vague expressions, and may prove the source of much doubt in the mind of some future Culinary Historian. Even at this day, the same dish cannot be prepared exactly alike by two different persons. A Book of Cookery should, as nearly as possible, resemble a College Dispensatory, where the quantities are correctly stated, in consequence of the bulk of the composition being previously determined upon; but in the Culinary Art, where the quantity contained in the dish cannot be ascertained, we are unavoidably left, in many cases, to depend on the taste and judgment of the Cook, into whose hands we commit the health of ourselves and posterity.

This work being a collection of the most approved Culinary Receipts, without order or method, I flatter myself that the correct Housekeeper will not deem it the less worthy on that account.

I have not made this Collection for the use of the

ignorant Cook; I therefore wish the Receipts to be perused only by such as have made a considerable progress in the Culinary Art, and who may be desirous of knowing the alterations and improvements that are daily making by those who have a pride and interest in being considered as at the head of their profession.

I do not deny my intention of giving a pleasing gratification to those Gentlemen who unfortunately seem to live only for the "pleasure of eating;" but at the same time I hope to obtain some credit for making the Faculty better acquainted with that part of medicine which passes under the name of DIETETICS.

Some persons may consider me (being a medical man) as one who has stepped out of the line of his profession; but having good grounds for my conduct, I do not feel myself disposed to be

of their opinion: On the contrary, I consider myself as having contributed to the advancement of my profession by a due mixture of the UTILE and DULCE.

I have not the vanity to suppose that every dish in this small volume will stand the criticism of professed Cooks; but in justification of my selection, I beg leave to observe, that most of the receipts have been transmitted to me from persons of established reputation in the Culinary Art. Throughout the whole of this collection I have steadily adhered to the opinion of Archæus, for whom I entertain the greatest veneration, on account of his impartiality and judgment in all matters that concern the stomach; an organ, over which the ancients supposed that he held an uncontrolled dominion.

When we consider the delicacy of the internal structure of the stomach, and the high and essential consequence of its office, we may truly say, that in spite of the guardianship of Archæus, it is treated with too little tenderness and respect on our parts. The stomach is the prime organ of

the human system, upon the state of which all the powers and feelings of the individual depend.

Qui Stomachum regem totius corporis esse contendunt, vera niti ratione videntur. ..... .....Serenus Sammonicus.

The Stomach is the kitchen that prepares our discordant food, and which, after due maceration, it delivers over by a certain undulatory motion, to the intestines, where it receives a further concoction. Being now reduced into a white balmy fluid, it is sucked up by a set of small vessels, called Lacteals, and carried to the Thoracic duct. This duct runs up the back-bone and is in length about sixteen inches, but in diameter it hardly exceeds a crow quill. Through this small tube, the greatest part of what is taken in at the mouth passes, and when it has arrived at its greatest height, it is discharged into the left subclavian vein, when mixing with the general mass of blood, it becomes, very soon, blood itself.

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A thousand other operations are carried on in the animal machine, but which it will be unnecessary to mention in this place, they being only secondary agents to the stomach and intestines.

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