Medicinal uses of the tomato

An excerpt from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, by Isabella Beeton, 1861

THE TOMATO MEDICINAL.--To many persons there is something unpleasant, not to say offensive, in the flavour of this excellent fruit. It has, however, long been used for culinary purposes in various countries of Europe. Dr. Bennett, a professor of some celebrity, considers it an invaluable article of diet, and ascribes to it very important medicinal properties. He declares:--1. That the tomato is one of the most powerful deobstruents of the materia medica; and that, in all those affections of the liver and other organs where calomel is indicated, it is probably the most effective and least harmful remedial agent known in the profession. 2. That a chemical extract can be obtained from it, which will altogether supersede the use of calomel in the cure of diseases. 3. That he has successfully treated diarrhoea with this article alone. 4. That when used as an article of diet, it is almost a sovereign remedy for dyspepsia and indigestion. -- Dictionary of Victorian London

Mrs. Beeton, pictured above, began writing articles and books for her husband Samuel Beeton's publishing house from the age of 21 until her death at 28 from puerperal fever. A Guardian review of a book on Beeton by Kathryn Hughes explains how she gained such a breadth of knowlege in such a short time:

"The answer is she copied everything," Hughes said.

It took Hughes five years to track down the recipes which she discovered had been brazenly copied by Mrs Beeton, almost word for word, from books as far back as the Restoration.

Comments

[Ana]

Moral of the Story: You plagiarize, you'll be struck down.

Moral number two: Tomatoes don't work on puerperal fever.

[Ana]

Childbed fever. Is what it is.

[prairie biker]

It might be said, however, that puerperal fever is a noted cure for plagiarism.

[Ana]

Yes. There's that.It will stop you dead in your tracks.