This section is from the book "Facts Worth Knowing", by Robert Kemp Philip. Also available from Amazon: Inquire Within for Anything You Want to Know.
One pint of flour, half a pound of butter, quarter of a pound of pounded lump sugar half a nutmeg grated, a handful of currants, two eggs, and a large pinch of carbonate of soda, or volatile salts To be baked in a slack oven for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. The above quantity will make about thirty cakes. The cakes are excellent.
 
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