College of Physicians of Philadelphia: Robert Pryor Richardson notes on the lectures of John Syng Dorsey, 1817 (10a-198)

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than soft boiling. When you use them for your patients don't forget to cut off the hard part. poaching eggs by putting them into hot water is a good way of cooking them. When boiled they should only be left in two & 1/2 minutes after the water begins to boil. Eggs are often used to give flavour to other food—as veal cutlet, oysters et&c. When these are cooked with flour, they are not so good. But I shall resume this subject when I get upon cooking. Eggs with brandy & wine constitutes the most nourishing & supporting diet we can use in Typhoid diseases. Eggs and sugar are extremely nutritious I now speak of both parts of the Egg. Galen preferred the yolk I also prefer it as the most valuable part of the egg. But we should always be careful to have our eggs fresh. Stale eggs are not so good.

Fishes

if they have the least odour which does not belong to the fresh egg, they are not fit for use. As I before mentioned they are among the best articles for patients in diseases of a typhoid type, & in the typhoid pleurisy which raged in this country a few years past they where mixed with wine & brandy forming forming what is called Eggnog, were very efficacious in supporting and raising the patient.

The next animal substance we shall mention is fish. In some countries as in the north of Europe they constitute the only diet of the inhabitants. Haller said it was probable that fish was the first animal used by man as food, because he would take that one which died without a groan. Herring & shad afford subistance to more people than any thing else, and the quantities caught as a haul are almost incredible. It has been said that at the Potowmac 372,500 were caught at

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one draw. There seems to be as much difference in different kinds of fish as in flesh. Cat fish and some others are more difficult of digestion than perch, sheeps head et&c. Mackarel, eel & cat fish are to most people difficult, but the palatte should govern us in their use. It is said that a diet of fish is favourable to generation. This is not confirmed by experience The esquimaut & other people live almost entirely on fish and are by no means fruitful. From what I have learnt I believe fish are not favourable to longevity, it appears that the people who live on them never survive 50 or 60 years. Fryer Bacon said that fish were antiseptic, but but as the doctrine of putrescency in the living body has been exploded, the conclusions must fall with the original proposition. We do not think that people subsisting on fish are less subject to inflammatory diseases than such

Shell fishes

as live on vegatables. When the Catholics use them for 5 or 6 weeks they mostly become weak, it maybe determined positively that fish is less nutritious than flesh. D^r Cullen appoved the opinion of Haller but we can decide pretty correctly by reflecting on the comparative qualities of Bacon & fish.

Shell fishes. Oysters. These are a species of shellfish more perfect in the U.S. than in any part of the world. Some Europeans don't like our oysters at first, but after using them for some time prefer them to all others. The English oysters are smaller & much inferiour in quality to ours.

There are some animals also used as condiments, among these are oysters. The best way of using oysters is raw or roasted. When fried they are not so good the fat & flour that is used with them makes them indigestable. Bread soaked in oyster liquor constitutes one of the most pleasant and agreeable aliments that sick people can take

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D^r Physic was the first person who used it, & has found patients take it when every thing else was rejected—I wish you to remember this.

Clams are tougher and harder than the oyster and used mostly to give flavour to soup. With respect to snails &c which are eaten in some countries, I shall say little of them, but they are used by cancer curers—They first kill the snail with salt and water then put it to phagadennik ulcers. I avoid the natural history of all these you will perceive, and include them under the general name of shell fish. But these last are insects. D^r Cullen has made no distinction between the lobster & crab. But the lobster is much more tough & has less oil than the crab. The crab being less dense & tough is therefore easier of digestion. We have a soft crab in the Chesapeake which is very good. But the lobster is the most indigestable of all