Absurd Texts in American History (VII, b)

I cannot get enough of Alice L. McLean's, Cooking in America, 1840-1945.

This bit is a homeopahtic recipe from Annabella P. Hill's, Mrs. Hill's New Cook Book, from 1867. This is the treatment for scarlet fever:

"As soon as the nature of the disease is ascertained, rub the patient night and morning with fat bacon, rubbing every part of the body but the head slowly and carefully."

I can see the headlines now--"Man Saved From Scarlet Fever, Killed by Pack of Wild Dogs"