A haggard old woman carelessly mixing a recipe for corns on the fire in her sordid bedroom. Etching by G. Cruikshank, 1819, after Captain F. Marryat.

[London] (26 Haymarket) : Thos. McLean, 1 August 1835.

1 print : etching ; platemark 35.5 x 24.8 cm

Recipe for corns. ... G. Cruikshank fect. Lettering continues: "Take tacamahacca, an ounce & a half, a pound of good suet, from the skin of a calf, 3 barbicued apples, a ha'p'orth of pears, 3 dragon flies pounded, the ear wax of bears, a small peice of cheese, a little gum copal, some putrified salt with some essence of opal, some rue, & some rosemary pounded together, with a worn out old shoe, well exposed to ye̲ weather, the tooth of a sparrow, some well powder'd mastick, with gum elemi, the juice of a cobweb, a ten penny nail, and scrape 'gainst ye̲ grain, a jack-as's tail, an old small tooth comb, powder'd quite fine, aqua-pura ad lib: with some spirits of wine; these carefully mix'd, must be pounded until there's not enough left, a thimble to fill, put quick in a bottle, that has a glass stopper, to add as below, will then be found proper. To sarsaparilla, add quassia & senna, digitalis a spoonfull with 2 ounces of manna, the tail of a mole, some gambage & borax, with camphor, magnesia, styrax & storax, to give it a colour - quercitron a load, some cochineal, indigo, shumach & woad, to give it a smell, use the following drugs, assafoetida an ounce, with a handful of bugs, taste the last, to see they are quite fresh & good and then see the whole in a silver pan stewed; stewd down to a pint, with much care & art, and then let it boil, till it comes to a quart: this mixed with the former & carefully sifted, is the best panacea that ever existed.

Not found in: British Museum Catalogue of political and personal satires, London 1870-1954

Wellcome Collection 11869i