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The Thibetian [Tibetan] Musk, Native of Asia. Sir William Jardine. Source: Wikimedia Commons.By Susan BrandtPopular eighteenth-century pharmacopoeias often included animal-basedsubstances such as musk, which might seem nauseating to the modern palate. In The New Dispensatory&#160;Containing the Theory and Practice ofPharmacy (London, 1753), William Lewis describes musk or moschus as “a grumus substance likeclotted blood, found in a little bag in the umbilical region” of the Asian muskdeer, “an animal met with in China, Tartary, and the East Indies” (162). Toharvest the musk gland, male deer were trapped and killed in large numbers,leading to musk deer’s current endangered status. According to Lewis, the “muskpod” was “the size of a pigeon’s egg, covered with short brown hairs” and itexuded a scent that attracted female deer (162). Although musk was an expensiveproduct, in minute quantities it formed the basis for perfumes, as well as for pharmaceuticals and culinary recipes. Based on Lewis’ description, eighteenth-century users werelikely ambivalent about the idea of ingesting the pungent-smelling contents ofan animal’s gland with the texture of coagulated blood. However, users weretorn between their potential aversion and their desire for a substance withaphrodisiac and medical potential. &#160;Contents of a Musk Deer’s Gland. Source: Abdes Attar, www.&#160;profumo.it.Unpleasant medicines, such as musk, were often mixed with sugar orsweet tasting substances to form a more palatable “julep.” The New Dispensatory’s author admitted thatalthough the musk ingredient was often dried into a powder, musk julep stillhad a feral-smelling “strong perfume.” Nonetheless, for those who could bearthe repugnant taste, it “proves of great service in lowness, fainting,&#38;c.,” as well as for convulsions and “the bite of a mad dog.” &#160;In humoral medicine, musk julep’s “bitterishsub-acrid taste” might even&#160;convince reluctant sufferers of its efficacyin expellingmaladaptive humours from the body. (162, 434).William Lewis,&#160;The New Dispensatory Containing The Theory and Practice of Pharmacy&#160;(London, 1753). Source:&#160;Archive.org&#160;Despite musk julep’s loathsome savor, the remedy appears ineighteenth-century English and North American pharmacopoeias, popular medicalmanuals, and women healers’ recipe books, which demonstrates the overlapbetween the prescribing practices of doctors and non-physician practitioners. Tomake “Julepum e Moscho or Musk Julep,” William Lewis advised the reader to “Takeof Damask rose water, six ounces by measure; Musk, twelve grains; Double-refinedsugar, one dram. Grind the sugar and the musk together, and gradually add tothe rose water” (433). Due to its expense and pungency, musk was measured ingrains or 6.5% of a gram. Nonetheless, in his popular self-help manual, DomesticMedicine, William Buchan gave directions for a larger batch ofmusk julep by increasing the amount of musk in his recipe to half a drachm (30grains) and adding eight times as much sugar. He substituted cinnamon andpeppermint water for the rose water. Like Lewis, he recommended musk julep forconvulsions, “nervous fevers,” and “spasmodic affections.” Although themedicinal uses of musk had its origins in ancient Asian medical practice, it cameinto increasingly popular use in eighteenth-century Britain and its colonies. During the American Revolution, the widowed Quaker healer, Margaret Hill Morris prescribed musk julep in her Burlington, New Jersey medical and apothecary practice. Creating medicines such as musk julep required hands-on skills in chemistry and botany, and it allowed women to produce novel scientific knowledge and products. Morris likely obtained the musk julep recipe from her personal copy of Buchan’s Domestic Medicine. Women’s home-production of medicines was particularly important in the face of shortages of imported pharmaceuticals due to the Royal Navy’s blockades of American port cities during the war. However, while Morris was compounding musk julep one afternoon, her fetid concoction spilled onto a letter that she was writing to her sister. The sugary liquid pooled and stained the fabric-like texture of the cotton and linen paper. Morris apologized and explained, “Son John [and I] had been making musk julep for [Neighbor] Carey, on the Counter where my paper laid and scented it.” Although Morris had apprenticed her son to her physician brother-in-law, she relished his visits home, where “the business of an Apothecary be still carried on by a diligent apprentice, &#38; watchful Mother.”[i] Morris’s kitchen was a site of medical education as well as odiferous medicinal production.  As new Western European theories of the nervous and vascular systems influenced humoral medicine in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world, doctors and non-physician healers became interested in the stimulating power of musk. The expense, exotic origins, pungent taste, and gelatinous consistency of the fur-encrusted musk gland added to the medicine’s mystique. The intermixture of cinnamon, peppermint or rose water, along with sugar, added complexity and sweetness, making musk julep’s earthy taste more appetizing. Musk julep recipes highlight how the unique flavors and textures of a global trade in pharmaceuticals enlivened eighteenth-century medical prescriptions and practices. [i] MargaretHill Morris to Hannah Hill Moore, ca. 1780,G. M. Howland MS Coll. 1000, Haverford College Quaker and Special Collections,Haverford, PA; Susan Hanket Brandt, “‘Getting into a Little Business’: MargaretHill Morris and Women’s Medical Entrepreneurship during the AmericanRevolution,” Early American Studies4, no. 4 (2015): 774-807.SusanBrandt teaches historyat the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Her dissertation, "Gifted Womenand Skilled Practitioners:&#160; Gender and Healing Authority in the DelawareValley, 1740-1830," was awarded the 2016 Lerner-Scott Prize for the best doctoraldissertation in U.S. Women's History by the Organization of AmericanHistorians. Brandt has published an article in Early American Studiesand a chapter in Barbara Oberg, ed., Women in the American Revolution:Gender, Politics, and the Domestic World. She is under contract with Penn Press to publish a book basedon her dissertation. Prior to pursuing a career in history, Brandt worked as anurse practitioner. 