MEDICAL CLASSICS

摘要

Unstoppable epistaxis presents commonly enough to junior doctors in accident and emergency departments. What occasionally bemused me was not these patients' condition but their odd reply, when they were asked what remedies had been tried. One answer was that neither a key dropped down the back nor a cold compress between the shoulder blades had halted the bleecUt was only laterthat I discovered both these treatments in chapter43 of Mrs Beeton.The book's propertitle is The Book of Household Management, though it is commonly referred to as. "Mrs Beeton's cookbook." The common mistitling is no accident, for 38ofher44chaptersdealwithfp;odahd its preparation. Mrs Beeton comprehensively explored the range oftopics relevantto managinga householdi providing advice on the legal process of purchasinga house, engaging domestic servants, and bookkeeping. Her book was a best seller amongthe growing Victorian middle class (many of whom had but recently ascended to that rungof the ladder), with 60000 copies in the first year of its publication.