Dr. Chase's Recipes; or, Information for Everybody: An Invaluable Collection of About Eight Hundred Practical Recipes, for Merchants, Grocers, Saloon-Keepers, Physicians, Druggists, Tanners, Shoe Makers, Harness Makers, Painters, Jewelers, Blacksmiths, T…

xxxi, [2], 34-384, [2] pp. 6 3/4" x 4 3/4". Hoolihan-Atwater 587: "Chase attended courses of lectures in the medical department of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1856-58), and claims to be a graduate the Electric Medical Institute in Cincinnati. In the preface he writes, 'The author, after having carried on the drug and grocery business for a number of years, read medicine, after being thirty-eight years of age, and graduated as a physician to qualify himself for the work he was undertaking; for, having been familiar with some of the recipes, adapted to these branches of trade, more than twenty years, he began in 'fifty-six'... to publish them in a pamphlet of only a few pages' (p. v). The first edition of this pamphlet, the predecessor of Dr. Chase's Recipes, was published at Ann Arbor under the title: A Guide to Wealth! Over One Hundred Valuable Recipes. According to Chase, it was first published in 1856; the earliest copy recorded in NUC Pre-1956 Imprints is an 1858 edition of 32 pages. By the end of 1858 a fifth edition was in print, increased in size to 42 pages. A sixth edition of 56 pages was published in 1859 under the title: Information for Everybody. By 1860 the work had increased to 224 pages, and thereafter was published as Dr. Chases's Recipes; or, Information for Everybody. The text was Stereotyped with the tenth edition in 1864. The text of the tenth edition remained in print through the early 1870s, though the numeration of each issue changed. The "Medical Department" (pp. 75-214) constitutes thirty-six percent of the text, making it the lengthiest section in the book. An index at the front of the volume provides alphabetical access to names of diseases, conditions, remedies and procedures (e.g. bleeding). Unlike most domestic encyclopedias, the entries for many diseases in Chase include descriptions of symptoms and prognosis, or hygienic and preventative measures (as well as treatments) equivalent to what may be found in most domestic medicines of the period. Many of the remedies are from the eclectic armamentarium, but the majority from folk practice gathered by the author. Extravagant claims are made for quite a few recipes, e.g. Chase's syrup for "consumption" (p. 119); the "toad ointment" for "sprains, strains, lame-back, rheumatism, caked breasts, caked udders, &c., &c." (p. 130); the "Dutch Remedy" (goose oil and urine) for croup (p. 150); and the twenty-two drops, salves, washes, poultices, etc. for sore or inflamed eyes (p. 154-59). No recipes are provided for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases."