Household Cyclopedia

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The Household Cyclopedia is a book of general knowledge published in 1881. It was scanned and reproduced as a website by Matthew Spong in 1998, and then converted to a printable file in 2005.

We should become familiar with the knowledge of that era, so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel for everything. That said, we need to be careful as we sort through this material. For example, in those times people were unaware of the dangers of lead, and used it widely. We may have forgotten a lot of knowledge, but we have also gained a tremendous amount of other knowledge. Some chapters (e.g. photography, enamelly) are probably of minor importance.

Relevant Content Elsewhere on the OSE Wiki

List of Chapters

  1. AGRICULTURE
  2. HORTICULTURE
  3. RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY
  4. FARRIERY
  5. MEDICINE
  6. CULINARY ARTS
  7. BREWING
  8. DISTILLATION
  9. PERFUMERY
  10. BLEACHING AND SCOURING
  11. DYING
  12. PAINTS AND COLORS
  13. VARNISHES
  14. INKS
  15. METALLURGY
  16. PYROTECHNY
  17. TANNING
  18. ENAMELLING
  19. POTTERY
  20. GLASS
  21. PHOTOGRAPHY
  22. ENGRAVING
  23. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
  24. CHEMICAL RECEIPTS
  25. WEATHER PROGNOSTICS
  26. ANGLING
  27. MISCELLANEOUS
  28. IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE

Discussion

Please share your thoughts: what of this old knowledge and technology to dismiss, to reconsider, to redesign for the 21st century. Much of this material is valuable but may need to be updated with new scientific insights and modern materials.

External links