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Medicine, c.1700

December 4th, 2006 (10:08 am)
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The Snail watter famous to cure consumpttions.


Take a peck of Garden Snails in there shells wash ym in a Bole of Beer then make the hearth of your Chimney verey clean & lay half a Basket of Charcole thereon & when tis cleare kinled throw on your snails a live scatter some coles a mong them Lett ym brogle as Long as you heare ym hiss then take ym off & wipe of all ye green froth then bruise ym of shells & all in a stone mortar take allso a quart of Earth woorms alive slite ym & strow ym with salt tow or three times yn wash ym & put ym in to a mortat & beat ym in to pices, yn put first in to your Limbeck Sallandine, Bares fott & Rew of Each one handfall Angellica Egerimony Harefott Red Dock roots Barberrie bark, wood sorrell, Bittany of Each tow handfulls two quarts of Rosemary flowers then put in the snails & worms of Fenigrick, & Turmarick of Each one ounc Cloves two onces saffron in powder ye weight of six pence six ounces of hartshorn yn power in three Gallons of the strongest all one quart of sack in on ye Limbreck & distill it of in Bowells of the strongest one spoonfull is enough for a weak body given in all or wine if it be mixt all together the patient msay take four spoonfulls coulered with sirrip of Giliflowers & fast tow hours ater it & not slep in that time.

Bod MS North b 24 fo. 317

Comments

Posted by: The Mezzo Mongoose ([info]miss_next)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 10:23 am (UTC)

That makes quite alarming reading.

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Posted by: parrot_knight ([info]parrot_knight)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 10:55 am (UTC)

I have to stress that I have no plans to try this recipe!

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Posted by: helflaed ([info]helflaed)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 11:12 am (UTC)

I think I'd rather have chicken stewed in wine with the "oil that comes from French nuts" (believed to be walnuts)"ele to the beo of frencissen hnutu"

Sounds much nicer.

Cockayne 1851, Peri Did

Barbarians. Snails should be served with garlic butter.

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Posted by: parrot_knight ([info]parrot_knight)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 10:03 pm (UTC)
 parrot

I'm not particularly fond of chicken or snail, as a non-carnivorous person, but I think almost everyone would agree that 'French nut' oil is better than earthworm puree.

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Posted by: helflaed ([info]helflaed)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 11:04 pm (UTC)

Did you ever hear about the Army recruitment advert which featured that all time basic training classic worm omlette?

It actually worked. Recruitment rates rose when they were informed that they would be eating worm omlette.Makes you wonder about what they normally eat......

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Posted by: parrot_knight ([info]parrot_knight)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 11:15 pm (UTC)
 salmon

I hadn't heard that one! The army do complain that latterday recruits aren't the best physical specimens they could wish for, after all.

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Posted by: helflaed ([info]helflaed)
Posted at: December 5th, 2006 08:14 am (UTC)

Mind you, they've been saying that since 1900....

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Posted by: bunn ([info]bunn)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 12:36 pm (UTC)

one spoonfull is enough for a weak body

I should think so too!

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Posted by: parrot_knight ([info]parrot_knight)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 10:04 pm (UTC)
 salmon

I don't think they'd have any problem not sleeping after the dose afterwards either...

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Posted by: Delia ([info]chainmailmaiden)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 01:15 pm (UTC)

It's not a recipe from Culpeper's Herbal is it? It reminds me of a number of the recipes in that book. Other gems involved the use of sparrows and earthworms as I recall, though I can't remember what they were supposed to be good for...

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Posted by: parrot_knight ([info]parrot_knight)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 10:08 pm (UTC)
 arthurelaineletr

I don't know if it's from Culpeper, as it was one of several loose handwritten sheets bound into one of the volumes of manuscripts in the Bodleian which once belonged to the North family (as in the prime minister who fought and lost the American War of Independence). There were a lot like this, in different sets of handwriting, in the volume; they would have been used in the North household at its various residences.

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Posted by: tovaglia ([info]tovaglia)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 07:37 pm (UTC)

What a great recipe!
Would be interested if you find any others!

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Posted by: parrot_knight ([info]parrot_knight)
Posted at: December 4th, 2006 10:09 pm (UTC)

I don't plan to be going back to this particular volume, but there may well be others like this in other MS from this period, whether in the North series or not.

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The journal of an historian errant

So: why 'Parrot Knight'? It's an Arthurian reference, to a story called 'The Knight of the Parrot' in which an unknown young knight turns out to be King Arthur himself, which must be something of a poisoned chalice.

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