Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2244

Repository:

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

Extent:

1 volume(s) (344 pages)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

James Petrie Kay pharmaceutical recipe book, 1856, Ms. Codex 2244, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1856

Creator:

Kay, James Petrie, 1839-1922

Form:

Codices (bound manuscripts)

Abstract:

This volume contains around 570 pharmaceutical recipes and medical remedies written and compiled by chemist and druggist James Petrie Kay (1839-1922) in 1856 in Aberdeen, Scotland.

James Petrie Kay was a chemist and druggist born around 1839 in Elgin, Scotland. He later lived in Aberdeen, Scotland where he apprenticed with pharmacist Charles Davidson in 1854. Kay and Davidson later became business partners, forming Davidson & Kay, a pharmacy in Aberdeen, Scotland.

According to the 1891 Scotland census, Kay was married to Mary Kay with whom he had seven children; Harvey G, Frederick W, Beatrice, Mabel J, Hilda E, Phyllis Ethel, and Mary W Kay.

Kay died on April 9, 1922, at which time he was living at 52 Forest Road in Aberdeen, though probate records indicate he died at 9 Lawn Crescent, Kew Gardens, Surrey.

Stoughton Bitters, a recipe for which is in this volume, was first developed in the late 17th century by Richard Stoughton and was initially used for medicinal purposes.

Seidlitz powder was a laxative and digestive remedy composed of tartaric acid, potassium sodium tartrate, and sodium bicarbonate and sold by numerous manufacturers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Anderson's pills, a recipe for which is in this volume, were a remedy first marketed by Patrick Anderson around 1635 in Scotland. They contained aloes, colocynth, and gamboge and were meant to cleanse the system after over-indulgence, presumably of alcohol.

Macassar oil, the base for a recipe in this volume, was a hair conditioning and styling ingredient used by European men in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was first popularized by Alexander Rowland, a London-based barber around 1793.

Jockey Club scent, a recipe for which is in this volume, is a cologne created by Caswell-Massey and first introduced at the Plaza Hotel in New York in 1840. It is considered America's first sport cologne and has been popular with public figures including John F. Kennedy.

Sources:

"Anderson's Pills / Scotch Pills." The Cullen Project, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, www.cullenproject.ac.uk/items/i63/. Accessed 5 June 2024.

"History of the Scent: Jockey Club Cologne by Caswell-Massey." Caswell-Massey, www.caswellmassey.com/pages/history-jockeyclub#:~:text=The%20original%20Jockey%20Club%2C%20first,from%20Saratoga%20to%20Churchill%20Downs. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

Rowley, Matthew. "Stoughton's Elixir, an Early Example." Stoughton's Elixir, an Early Example, matthew-rowley.blogspot.com/2010/03/stoughtons-elixir-early-example.html. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

This volume contains around 570 pharmaceutical recipes and remedies written and compiled by chemist and druggist James Petrie Kay in 1856.

The volume is bound in quarter leather with cloth covered boards. There is an index (p. vii-lv) and several blank pages (p. lvi-lxviii). Most of the recipes are written in pharmaceutical notation and the titles are in both Latin and English.

The recipes include those for pulvs, pessaries, liqs, syrups, tincts, bouquets, pills, decocts, mistura, enema, lotios, and pastes. There are also recipes for select household and personal products including furniture polish, inks, dental and haircare, and perfumes.

Examples of recipes include Thatcher's carminative mixture (p. 1), Stoughton bitters (p. 2), Dr. Dyce's toothache pills (p. 7), Seidlitz powder (p. 19), BellaDonna suppository (p. 22), cholera recipe (p. 25), Chinese blue lights (p. 34), crimson fire (p. 34), common blue fire (p 35), Anderson's pills (p. 37), nipple powder (p. 51), Leidlitz powder (p. 102), Dr. Coult's Altherial Sol of Phosphorus (p. 119), macassar pomade (p. 174), M. Felix Boudet's Depilatory (p. 175), imitation of Lily of the Valley (p. 187), bouquet d'amour (p. 195), Jockey Club bouquet (p. 199), and curious essence (p. 216).