Mackenzie's ten thousand receipts, in all the useful and domestic arts

Front matter

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Preface

TO THE NEW AND EEVISED EDITION OP OCTOBER, 1865.

In preparing a new edition of this popular work, the Editors have endeavored to incorporate all the improvements in the various branches, which have been introduced, since the publication of the last edition. Much of the work has been entirely re-written, and new articles have been added on Photography, Pyrotechnics, Angling, Pisciculture, etc. The matter has not been simply scissored from newspapers, but carefully digested from standard authorities, the scientific journals, and from the practical knowledge of the Editors and contributors. The Editors have to acknowledge valuable assistance from gentlemen, eminent in the departments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Wine-making, Perfumery, Cements, Engraviug, Photography, Angling, Tanning, etc. The work, it is believed, will be found more reliable and thorough than any one of its class now in print. The Miscellaneous department is almost entirely new, and contains much valuable and interesting information. Some matters properly belonging under other heads, but received too late, have been transferred to it. The reader is especially requested to refer to the index, when seeking information.

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OPINIO.NS OF THE PRESS.

From the Phila. North American, Dec. 22, 1865. Theyast amount of useful knowledge bearing on every-iliiy life wtiich constantly flits thTongh the world, hni often led to efforts forgathering and rendering it available by those who want it, when they want it. Mr. Zdl having made a previons successful effort in tliis direction, has enlarged the field of his usefulnes.s by a new cditic n of his work, which will be exceedingly useful to all, and almost indispen.sable to some. He has gatheied the formulas and directions of all the most recent discoveries in the useful and domestic arts, and has made it as nearly complete aa possible. Though the work is designed for popular rather than scientific use, it contains much that will interest Bcii'n^ific men, as well as general readers. Agriculture, horticulture, domestic economy, farriery, medicine, biewing, distillation, dyeing, paints and varnishes, metallurgy, photography, engraving, pottery, weights and mea-sures — these are among the subjects treated very fully, and which are of first importance. There is no effort to prepare treatises upon any of these. The kernel alone is retiiined, an<l that in the best form for use by practical men. There is a great body of what may be termed the cream of useful knowledge, under the general head of agriculture, which it were well all farmers should have for perusal at leisure moments. Manures, cropc, drainage, and the care of animals, are all treated in a condensed manner, with directions and information which cannot fail to advantage readers. The gardener, poulterer, and apiarian, are provided with excellent receipts. The half-hundred pages devoted to medicine will be useful where a physician cannot be procured; and under the miscellaneous head there are a variety of facts ou horsemanship and knitting, gunpowder and book-keeping, dogs and crocheting, which could not readily be found elsewhere. A great deal of the information hitherto published in this form has been of doulitful use, and h;is discredited honest efforts to aid the community. The counterfeit only proves the worth of what is genuine, and this really careful and useful vaiie mecum ought not to suffer from the reputation of the trash which it seeks to supplant. The index — an essential in such a comjiilation — has been carefully arranged, at much length. There are diagnims and illustrations where they are needed, and the whole forms a volume which ought to be very widely circulated, and which will repay its cost in almost any family within a year.

From the Phila. Sunday Dispatch, Nov. 26, 1865. Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts, containing new discoveries and processes in use up to October, 1865. 487 pages. To describe this volume projierly would require the space given to a catalogue, and the volubility of an auctioneer. We find in it almost everything that can be conceived as an object of inquiry involving the special preparation of materials or the management of processes. Agriculture, chemistry, cooking, maiuifactures, medicine, the decorative arts, household management, and a thousand other things which defy classification, are embraced in this closelyprinted book, which, in the way of condensation, contains enough to stock a library with volumes printed in fashionably large type. We could not undertake to recite the whole title-page, which is of itself prodigious, affording but a feeble idea of what is within. Suffice it to say, that almost anything that anybody wants to know how to do will be found in this volume properly described, and illustrated in some cases by useful engravings. It has been re-written by a corps of scientific gentlemen, and is really a book which should be found ia every house.

From the Germantown (Pa.) Telegraph, Nov. 22, 1S65. The editor and publisher of this extremely well gotten-up edition, has been many months in its preparation, haying employed in this time a corps of able experts, in order that the work might be brought out not only in a style hitherto unapproached, but with intrinsic claims upon the commnnity which cannot but be acknowledged. Truthfully, these "Ten Thousand Receipts in the Domestic Arts," constitute a "complete and practical library," relating to the hundreds of subjects treated of, connected with the indispi-nsable every-day affairs of family life The clearness of the print, the arrangement of the receipts, with the comprehensive index, render recourse to it at all times as easy almost as turning over the pages of a magazine, and obtaining from it the information sought in plain language and in condensed form, so that all can quickly see and readily understand. But this is not a work designed exclusively for domestio purposes, as the word "Domestic" is most generally understood ; but it contains valuable suggestions and advice upon almost every practical pursuit. There is scarcely anything omitted in which any considerable number of people are interested.

From the Phila. Press, Nov. 24, 1865.

This is a domestic cyclopaedia, of nearly 500 pages, in new type, small but clear. We are assured that two years' labor, by very competent gentlemen, has been bestowed upon tliis large and improved edition, and can well believe it. There is scarcely a subject connected with the useful and domestio arts about which a seeker for information cannot find what he wants in this book. The most recent improvements and discoveries, up to October, 1865, when the work was stereotyped, have been included. The quantity of information in this volume is very great — so far as we have tested it we can vouch for its accuracy. As a work of reference, it has been made complete by the addition of a copious index.

From the Phila. Sunday Transcript, Dec. 10, 1865.

It is one ofthe most remarkable books of the day, containing, as it does, a reference to every conceivable subject under the sun. In itself it is a complete and practical library, so arranged as to be invaluable in the household, on the farm, and in the counting-room. Pastry and petroleum, agriculture and knitting, receive equal atteution, while the entire volume presents a fund of information not accessible in any other form. The thrifty housekeeper can pick up numerous capital receipts for pies, or can learn the art of carving, which is treated as one of the exact sciences ; the merchant will find merciintjle calculations; the artist will find a dissertation upon oil colors, water colors, and meaeotints; the farmer will learn something about gardening. In fact, there is no branch of trade but can be benefited by a perusal of this book. Although the receipts are quoted as 10,000, judging from the book they will doubla that figure.

From the Phila. Inqlirer, Nov. 24, 1865.

The present issue of this useful work by Mr. Zell, is a new and improved edition, carefully revised and re-written liy a corps of gentlemen eminently qualified for the peculiar task. To it has been likewise added all the impi-ovements and discoveries in the useful and domestic arts up to the date of publication, October, 1865. Two years of labor have been necessary to bring the book out in the present improved shape.

From the Phila. EvENiNa Telegraph, Dec. 23, 1805. Mr. Zell maintains his position among the first-class houses of our land, principally through his agencies and tb« few well-selected works to which he has given life. Principal among the latter is " Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts," a work of universal information. In it are found, in fact, all the useful knowledge of the age comprettsej Into this universal compendium of information. If a man be familiar with all the contents of this book, he «ill bo an accomplished gentleman, a practical doctor, and in many respects a professional man. The work is one we can recommend as likely to be every day useful. We understand it is prepared by a gentleman well known in the world of science; it bears the impress of a well-informed mind. It is specific in its directions, and illustrated by numerous wood-cuts. Too much credit cannot be given to both the compiler and publisher for the remarkable care and skill exercised in compressing into onevolume, and that so carefully printed, so great an amount of useful information.

From the Phila. Evening Rolletin, Dec. 12, 1865. This work has been thoroughly re-written, and comprises all manner of improvements and discoveries, brought up to October of this year. It forms a c-omplete library of valuable knowledge upon almost every imaginable subject connected with the useful and domestic arts, and is a most important volume of reference for th» mauufuciurer, agriculturalist and housekeeper.

PEEEACE

TO THE LATEST LONDON EDITION.

As the object of all study, and the end of all wisdom, is practical utility, so a collection of the most approved Receipts, in all the arts of Domestic and Social Life, may be considered as a volume containing nearly the whole of the wisdom of man, worthy of preservation. In truth, the present volume has been compiled under the feeling, that if all other books of Science in the world were destroyed, this single volume would be found to embody the results of the useful experience, observations, and discoveries of mankind during the past ages of the world.

Theoretical reasonings and historical details have, of course, been avoided, and the object of the compiler has been to economize his space, and come at once to the point. Whatever men do, or desire to do, with the materials with which nature has supplied them, and with the powers which they possess, is here plainly taught and succinctly preserved ; whether it regard complicated manufactures, means of curing diseases, simple processes of various kinds, or the economy, happiness, and preservation of life.

The best authorities have been resorted to, and innumerable volumes consulted, and •wherever different processes of apparently equal value, for attaining the same end, have been found, they have been introduced.

Among the works consulted have been,

The Monthly Magazine, 56 vols.

The Repertory of Arts and Sciences, 60 vols.

The London Journal of Arts and Sciences.

The Transactions of the Society of Arts, 30 vols.

The Magazine of Trade and Manufactures, 6

vols.

The Gazette of Health, 9 vols.

The Series of the Horticultural Society, 5 vols. The Series of the Agricultural Society, 30 vols. The Farmer's Magazine, 16 vols.

Young's Farmer's Calendar.

Loudon on Gardening, 1 vol.

Jennings's Domestic Cyclopaedia, 2 vols. TiNGREY on Varnishing.

Richardson on the Metallic Arts.

Thomas's Practice of Physic.

Thornton's British Herbal.

Waller's British Herbal.

Imison's School of Arts.

Handmaid to the Arts.

Smith's Laboratory of the Arts.

Hamilton on Drawing.

The Editor's Thousand Experiments in Manufactures and Chemistry.

Davy's Agricultural Chemistry.

Henry's Elements of Chemistry.

Chaptal's Chemistry applied to the Arts. Gregory's Cyclopaedia.

The English and other Cyclopaedias.

Besides innumerable treatises on special subjects, minor journals, and a great variety of manuscript communications from friends and connections of the editor and publisher,

A general, rather than a scientific, arrangement has been adopted, because the object of the work is popular and universal, and, though likely to be useful to men of science, it is more especially addressed to the public at large. In like manner, as far as possible, technical and scientific language has been avoided, and popular names and simple descriptions have been preferred.

Every care has been taken in the printing to avoid errors in quantities, as veil as to select the best receipts of each kind ; but notices of errors, omissions, or experimental improvements, will be thankfully received by the publisher, for the use of future editions.

The Index will render it easy to refer to every article of importance.

PEEFACE

TO THE EAELY AMEEICAN EDITION,

In fulfilling the duty of preparing for the press a new and enlarged edition of the valuable work of Mackenzie, the Editor has steadily borne in mind its evident aim at general practical utility ; and consequently he has submitted both alterations and additions to its rules. While the former will be found but few — a circumstance arising from the nature of the book; the latter are both numerous and important — amounting to about fifty pages, exclusive of those contained in the Miscellaneous Department and the Appendix.

The Medical part has been condensed, simplified, and adapted to the climate and diseases of the United States. A short, but complete manual of " Directions for rearing the Silk Worm, and the Culture of the White Mulberry Tree," together with an extensive article on the Diseases of the Horse, may be noticed as among the important additions. The Culinary art has not been neglected — the numerous original receipts from the best modern authorities of the " Kitchen," for preparing various delicacies of the animal and vegetable kingdom, including Pastry, Puddings, etc., will no doubt prove acceptable to American housekeepers. The man of family, the Sportsman, the Artist, the Mechanic, and the Farmer, have all been remembered. And an unusually large and correct Index gives every facility of reference that could be wished.

The attention of the Reader is called to the "Miscellaneous Receipts." In this portion, which is very copious, numerous receipts have been placed, which could not with propriety be elsewhere arranged. It has also been made the receptacle of much valuable matter obtained from several kind female friends, and the fruH of researches into many curious and rare books ; and which was prepared at too late a period for insertion in the appropriate departments. The Appendix of " Instructions in the Art of Carving," with its numerous wood cuts, will, it is hoped, prove acceptable and useful to our country readers, for whose accommodatioc thb work waa originally designed.

The Editor more especially notices the following works, as sources from which he has derived considerable assistance : The Franklin Journal ; Willich's Domestic Encyclopsedia, by Professor Cooper; a Tract published by the Pennsylvania Society for the Rearing of Silk-Worms, etc. ; and the curious work of Colonel Hanger, of sporting memory.

In conclusion, the publishers beg leave to state, that neither time nor expense has been considered in endeavoring to render this edition cheaper and better than any other which has been published, and at the same time worthy of the patronage which is solicited for it. They have availed themselves of the services of a gentleman as Editor, who has been for a considerable time engaged in the preparatory researches. The type, though small, is very legible and distinct ; and in the selection of the paper, whilst regard has been had to the color, it has been deemed of main importance that it should be sufficiently durable to resist the frequent usage into which a work of thia description must necessarily be called.