Call Number:

Ms. Codex 1854

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1 volume (+ 1 leaf)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Quack recipe book by James Woodhouse, 1788-1809, Ms. Codex 1854, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1788-1809 (inclusive)

Creator:

Woodhouse, James

Form:

Recipes and Codices (bound manuscripts)

Abstract:

A volume comprising medicinal remedies and formulas compiled by James Woodhouse during the years from 1788 to circa 1790.

James Woodhouse was born in Philadelphia to English immigrant parents William and Ann Woodhouse. William Woodhouse was a Philadelphia bookseller. James Woodhouse studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush at the University of Pennsylvania and received his B.A. in 1787. Woodhouse received his M.A. in medicine in 1790, but went on to become a chemist. In 1792 he founded the Chemical Society of Philadelphia, where he was president until his death. Woodhouse was named chair of the chemistry department at the University of Pennsylvania in 1795.

A worn leather bound volume comprising medicinal remedies and formulas compiled by James Woodhouse during the years from 1788 to circa 1790. Written on the front and back cover is Quack recipe book, April 1788. Despite the title, the recipes in the volume were not considered quackery, but standard medicinal cures of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Benjamin Rush urged his students to preserve facts obtained from all manner of sources, not just the medical community and encouraged his students to give this title to this compilation of observations. The first forty-one pages of the volume were compiled by Woodhouse. These pages contain prescriptions and remedies for numerous ailments including burns, cancers, colds, colic, coughs, dysentery, fevers, rhuematism, skin diseases, small pox, toothaches, and worms. There are formulas for balsams, cordials, drops, elixirs, injections, laxatives, liniments, lozenges, pills, and plasters. The recipes have attributions including lay people and physicians, such as Dr. John Redman. One recipe for a rattlesnake bite is attributed to American Indians. At the top of a section beginning on page thirteen are directions for treatments of disorders common in Philadelphia by Benjamin Rush, 1787, listing numerous ailments and diseases along with a remedy. "Quack recipes continued by Wm. Hembel" is written at the top of page forty-two. Hembel complied the remainder of the recipes in the volume with some attributed to Woodhouse. Included in this section is a list of items needed for a sea medicine chest. Hembel added a table of contents at the end of the volume. Some household recipes in the volume include ink, patent yellow, preserving wood from fire, and sealing wax. Each page in the volume consists of two or more recipes or cures. A list of apothecary weights is on the verso of the title page. A bookplate on the inside front cover reads J. Woodhouse. An inscription from William Woodhouse presenting the volume to William Hembel is on the title page dated 1809. One folded leaf of recipes is laid in the volume. The covers are detached, the spine is broken, and there are many loose leaves.