himself and his
patient, than--_What do you wish me to eat?_

The most judicious choice of aliment will avail nothing, unless the
culinary preparation of it be equally judicious. How often is the skill
of a pains-taking physician counteracted by want of corresponding
attention to the preparation of food; and the poor patient, instead of
deriving nourishment, is distressed by indigestion!

PARMENTIER, in his _Code Pharmaceutique_, has given a chapter on the
preparation of food: some of the following receipts are offered as an
humble attempt to form a sort of _Appendix to the Pharmacopoeia_, and
like pharmaceutic prescriptions, they are precisely adjusted by _weight_
and _measure_. The author of a cookery book, first published in 1824,
has claimed this act of industry of mine as his own original invention;
the only notice I shall take of his pretensions is to say, that the
first edition of "_The Cook's Oracle_" appeared in 1817.

By ordering such receipts of the _Cook's Oracle_ as appear adapted to
the case, the recovery of the patient and the credit of the physician,
as far as relates to the administration of aliment, need no longer
depend on the discretion of the cook. For instance: _Mutton Broth_, No.
490, or No. 564; _Toast and Water_, No. 463; _Water Gruel_, No. 572;
_Beef Tea_, No. 563; and _Portable Soup_, No. 252. This concentrated
_Essence of Meat_ will be found a great acquisition to the comfort of
the army, the navy, the traveller, and the invalid. By dissolving half
an ounce of it in half a pint of hot water, you have in a few minutes
_half a pint of good Broth for three halfpence_. The utility of such
accurate and precise directions for preparing food, is to _travellers_
incalculable; for, by translating the receipt, any person may prepare
what is desired as perfectly as a good English cook.

He has also circumstantially detailed the easiest, least expensive, and
most salubrious methods of preparing those highly finished soups,
sauces, ragouts, and _piquante_ relishes, which the most ingenious
"officers of the mouth" have invented for the amusement of thorough-bred
"_grands gourmands_."

It has been his aim to render food acceptable to the palate, without
being expensive to the purse, or offensive to the stomach; nourishing
without being inflammatory, and savoury without being surfeiting;
constantly endeavouring to hold the balance equal, between the agreeable
and the wholesome, the epicure and the econo