The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life Part 14

N.B. TEA made with dried and bruised _Seville Orange Peel_, (in the same manner as common Tea,) and drank with milk and sugar, has been taken for Breakfast by _Nervous_ and _Dyspeptic_ persons with great benefit.

CHEWING a bit of _Orange Peel_ twice a day when the Stomach is empty, will be found very grateful, and strengthening to it.--

STOMACHIC TINCTURES.

Two ounces of CASCARILLA Bark (bruised)--or dried ORANGE PEEL,--or COLOMBA ROOT--infused for a fortnight in a pint of Brandy, will give you the Tinctures called by those names.

Dose--one or two teaspoonsful in a wine-gla.s.s of water.

TINCTURE OF CINNAMON, (No. 416*).

This excellent Cordial is made by pouring a bottle of genuine Cogniac (No. 471) on three ounces of bruised Cinnamon (Ca.s.sia will not do). This cordial restorative was more in vogue formerly, than it is now;--a teaspoonful of it, and a lump of Sugar, in a gla.s.s of good Sherry or Madeira, with the yolk of an Egg beat up in it--was called "_Balsamum Vitae_."

"_Cur moriatur h.o.m.o, qui sumit de Cinnamomo?_"--"Cinnamon is verie comfortable to the Stomacke, and the princ.i.p.all partes of the bodie."

"_Ventriculum, Jecur, Lienem Cerebrum, nervosque juvant et roborat._"--"I reckon it a great treasure for a student to have by him, in his closet, to take now and then a spoonfull."--COGAN'S _Haven of Health_, 4to. 1584, p. 111.

_Obs._--Two teaspoonsful in a winegla.s.s of water--are a present and pleasant remedy in Nervous Languors--and in relaxations of the Bowels--in the latter case five drops of Laudanum may be added to each dose.

SODA WATER, (No. 481*.)

The best way of producing agreeable _Pneumatic Punch_, as a learned Chemist has called this refres.h.i.+ng refrigerant, is to fill two half-pint Tumblers half full of Water,--stir into one 30 grains of _Carbonate of Potash_,--into the other 25 grains of _Citric[111] Acid_, (both being previously finely pounded,)--when the powders are perfectly dissolved--pour the contents of one tumbler into the other--and sparkling Soda Water is instantaneously produced.

To make DOUBLE SODA WATER, use double the quant.i.ty of the Powder.

_Single Soda Water_ is a delightful drink in sultry weather--and may be very agreeably flavoured by dissolving a little Raspberry or Red Currant Jelly in the Water, (before you add the Carbonate of Potash to it), or a little Tincture of Ginger, (No. 411,)--or Syrup of Ginger, (No.

394,)--or Syrup of Lemon Peel, (No. 393,)--or infuse a roll of fresh and thin-cut Lemon Peel, and a bit of Sugar in the water--or rub down a few drops of (No. 408,) with a bit of Lump Sugar, with or without a little grated Ginger;--a gla.s.s of Sherry or a tablespoonful of Brandy is sometimes added.

The addition of a teaspoonful of the TONIC TINCTURE (No. 569,) will give you a very refres.h.i.+ng Stomachic--and ten drops of _Tinct. Ferri Muriati_ put into the water in which you dissolve the Citric Acid--a fine effervescing Chalybeate.

_The day after a Feast_, if you feel fevered and heated, you cannot do better than drink a half-pint gla.s.s or two of _Single Soda Water_ between Breakfast and Dinner.

DOUBLE SODA WATER (especially if made with tepid water) is an excellent auxiliary to accelerate the operation of Aperient Medicine--and, if taken in the Morning fasting, will sometimes move the Bowels without further a.s.sistance.

If some good _Cogniac_ or Essence of Ginger (No. 411) be added to it, it is one of the best helps to set the Stomach to work--and remove the distressing languor which sometimes follows hard drinking.

ESSENCE OF GINGER, (No. 411).

The fragrant _aroma_ of Ginger is so extremely volatile, that it evaporates almost as soon as it is pounded--the fine Lemon peel _got_ flies off presently.

If Ginger is taken to produce an immediate effect--to warm the Stomach--dispel Flatulence, &c., or as an addition to Aperient Medicine--the following is the best preparation of it:--

Steep three ounces of _fresh grated_ Ginger, and one ounce of fresh Lemon Peel, (cut thin) in a quart of Brandy--or Proof Spirit, for ten days, shaking it up each day.

N.B. TINCTURE OF ALLSPICE, which is sometimes called _Essence of Bishop_, for making _Mulled Wine_, _&c._ extempore, is prepared in the same manner.

GRUEL, (No. 252).

1st. Ask those who are to eat it, if they like it _THICK_ or _thin_; if the latter, mix well together by degrees, in a pint basin, _one_ tablespoonful of Oatmeal with three of cold water;--if the former, _two_ spoonsful.

Have ready, in a Stewpan, a pint of boiling water or milk--pour this by degrees to the Oatmeal you have mixed--return it into the Stewpan--set it on the fire--and let it boil for five minutes--stirring it all the time to prevent the Oatmeal from burning at the bottom of the Stewpan--skim--and strain it through a Hair Sieve.

2d. To convert this into CAUDLE--add a little Ale--Wine--or Brandy--with Sugar--and _if the Bowels are disordered_, a little Nutmeg or Ginger grated.

Gruel may be made with Broth[112] (No. 490,) or (No. 252,) or (No. 564,) instead of Water--(to make _Crowdie_, see No. 205*,)--and may be flavoured with _Sweet Herbs_--_Soup Roots_ and _Savoury Spices_--by boiling them for a few minutes in the water you are going to make the Gruel with--or ZEST (No. 255)--Pea Powder (No. 458)--or dried Mint--Mushroom Catsup (No. 439)--or a few grains of Curry Powder (No.

455)--or Savoury Ragout Powder (No. 457)--or Cayenne (No. 404)--or Celery Seed bruised--or Soup Herb Powder (No. 459)--or an Onion minced very fine and bruised in with the Oatmeal--or a little Eschalot Wine (No. 402)--or Essence of Celery (No. 409)--or (No. 413)--(No. 417)--or (No. 420), &c.

PLAIN GRUEL, such as is directed in the first part of this Recipe, is one of the best Breakfasts and Suppers that we can recommend to the rational Epicure;--is the most comforting soother of an irritable Stomach that we know--and particularly acceptable to it _after a hard day's work of Intemperate Feasting_--when the addition of half an ounce of b.u.t.ter, and a teaspoonful of Epsom Salt will give it an aperient quality, which will a.s.sist the princ.i.p.al Viscera to get rid of their burden.

"_Water Gruel_" (says Tryon in his Obs. on Health, 16mo. 1688, p. 42,) is "the KING _of Spoon Meats_," and "the QUEEN _of Soups_," and gratifies nature beyond all others.

In the "_Art of Thriving_," 1697, p. 8, are directions for preparing Fourscore n.o.ble and Wholesome Dishes, upon most of which _a Man may live excellent well for Twopence a_ _day_: the author's _Obs._ on _Water Gruel_ is, that "ESSENCE OF OATMEAL" makes "_a n.o.ble and exhilarating meal_!"

Dr. FRANKLIN'S favourite Breakfast was a good basin of warm Gruel, in which there was a small slice of b.u.t.ter with Toasted Bread and Nutmeg--the expense of this, he reckoned at three half-pence.

"Mastication is a very necessary Preparation of solid Aliment, without which there can be no good Digestion."--The above are the first lines in ARBUTHNOT'S _Essay on Aliment_.

This first act of the important process of Digestion, is most perfectly performed, when the flavour, &c. of our Food is agreeable to our Taste;--we naturally detain upon our Palate those things which please it,--and the Meat we relish most, is consequently most broken down by chewing, and most intimately incorporated with the Saliva--this is the reason why what we desire most, we digest best.

Here, is a sufficient answer, to the Folios which have sprung from the Pens of cynical and senseless Scribblers--on whom Nature not having bestowed a Palate, they have proscribed those pleasures they had not Sense[113] to taste, or comprehend the wise purposes for which they were given to us, and

"Compound for Sins they are inclin'd to, By d.a.m.ning those they have no mind to."

How large a share of the business of Digestion is managed by Mastication, has been shown by the experiments of _Spallanzani_[114].

To Chew long, and leisurely, is the only way to extract the essence of our food--to enjoy the taste of it, and to render it easily convertible into laudable Chyle, by the facility it gives to the gastric juices to dissolve it without trouble.

The pleasure of the _Palate_, and the health of the _Stomach_, are equally promoted by this salutary habit, which all should be taught to acquire in their infancy.

The more tender meat is, the more we may eat of it.--That which is most difficult to Chew, is of course most difficult to Digest.

From 30 to 40 (according to the tenderness of the meat) has been calculated as the mean number of Munches, that solid meat requires, to prepare it for its journey down _the Red Lane_; less will be sufficient for tender, delicate, and easily digestible white meats.

The sagacious _Gourmand_, will calculate this precisely,--and not waste his precious moments in useless Jaw-work, or invite an Indigestion by neglecting _Mastication_.

I cannot give any positive rules for this, it depends on the state of the Teeth[115]; every one, especially _the Dyspeptic_, ought to ascertain the condition of these useful working tools; and to use them with proportionate diligence, is an indispensable exercise which every rational Epicure will most cheerfully perform, who has any regard for the welfare of his Stomach[116].

It has been recommended, that those whose Teeth are defective, should mince their meat--this will certainly save trouble to both Teeth and Stomach--nevertheless, it is advisable, let the meat be minced ever so fine, to endeavour to mumble it into a pulp before it be introduced to the Stomach--on account of the advantage derived from its admixture with the SALIVA.