Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Geology, Education

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Architecture, Natural Theology, Design, Education, Religious Authority

    Discussing the idea of opening the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >> on Sundays, points out that the building 'will contain wonders of creation' which can help preachers demonstrate 'the benevolence, justice and wisdom, presiding over the universe'. Suggests that some 'heterodox wretch might even propose to have services, in the spirit of the Bridgewater treatises Chalmers, Thomas et al. 1833–36. The Bridgewater Treatises on the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation, 12 vols, London: William Pickering
Close   View the register entry >>' in the building 'amidst objects which would certainly afford the strongest evidences of the principles asserted in those volumes'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Chemistry, Lecturing

People mentioned:

John H Pepper Pepper, John Henry (1821–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Polytechnic Institution Royal Polytechnic Institution
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Instruments, Light, Politics

    Subtitled, 'Or, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Making it Quite Clear to Mr. Bull'. Shows John Bull peering through the crooked eyepiece of a telescope, while Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> holds his hat over the other end of the instrument.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Light, Instruments, Politics, Agriculture

    Responds to news of a pocket telescope that enables somebody to be seen 'at a distance of a mile and a half'. Regards the invention as useful for scrutinising distant parliamentary candidates and for protectionist voters to recognise remote 'agricultural prospects'.

See also:

Anon, 'Something "Looms in the Future;"', Punch, 23 (1852), 15

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Vulcanology, Amusement, Government, Agriculture

    Responds to the suggestion of George J Finch-Hatton (Viscount Maidstone) Finch-Hatton, George James, 11th Earl of Winchilsea and 6th Earl of Nottingham (formerly styled 'Viscount Maidstone') (1815–1887) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> that the downfall of the protectionist ministry of Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby) Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> would be followed by a deluge, or that Vesuvius was its 'only possible successor'. Thinks the 'mock lava of the mimic mountain' of the volcano at the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> is better than 'the unmeaning palaver of the pseudo-Protectionist ministry'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Electricity, Gender, Psychology, Biology

    Believes the 'science' of electrobiology, rather than biology, is 'famous', because it 'requires very great skill to practise it', and produces amusing effects. Illustrates this point with an account of 'MR JONES' who, by staring and arguing with his wife, or by applying pressure to her wrist and ankle, makes her succumb to his will. Points out that 'husbands are not so susceptible as wives', but describes the case of 'MR DOVE' who succumbs easily to his wife's 'Biological influence'—an influence consisting 'of a frown first, and a pinch afterwards' that Punch describes with examples drawn from the Doves' behaviour in polite society. Notes the 'entertaining experiments' that can be made when placing a sovereign in the wife's hand.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Electricity, Politics, Agriculture

    Claims that Fitzroy Kelly Kelly, Sir Fitzroy (1796–1880) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has been 'studying electro-biology and trying to impress the susceptible subjects of East Suffolk' and that the repeal of the Corn Laws has not raised 'the food, the comforts and enjoyments of the people'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Crystallography, Steam-power, Engineering, Light, Politics, Race

    Illustrates the attempt to increase the luminosity of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, an object that was the centrepiece of the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> and is here represented by a Turk with a diamond-shaped head. The diamond is surrounded by several 'Eminent Scientific Men', the 'Dook' (i.e. Arthur Wellesley, (1st Duke of Wellington) Wellesley, Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769–1852) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>), and some 'Dutch' artisans who are seen operating 'requisite machinery' to solve the problem of increasing the diamond's luminosity.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Crystallography, Steam-power, Engineering

    Following on from Anon, 'The Poor Old Koh-i-Noor Again!', Punch, 23 (1852), 54, details the attempt to make the Koh-i-Noor diamond shine. Notes that the chemist James Tennant Tennant, James (1808–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> reported on the possibility of cutting the diamond, while two Dutch artisans, 'under the direction of MR. JOSHUA FIELD Field, Joshua (1786–1863) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, of the firm MAUDSLEY, FIELD AND SON Maudslay Sons & Field Ltd, firm
Close   View the register entry >>', used a steam-powered machine to perform the cutting operation. (54)

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Instruments, Navigation, Observation, Skill

    Believes a good test for a 'finished yachtsman' is the 'way he carries his "Dollond" Dollond, John (1706–61) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' and that the '"GUNTER's Gunter, Edmund (1581–1626) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> scale" [...] is a most useful scientific instrument'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Vaccination, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Heroism, Aesthetics

    Argues that her appearance would have suffered had she not been vaccinated and offers to contribute to a proposed statue of Edward Jenner Jenner, Edward (1749–1823) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Invention, Nutrition

    Comments on the possibility of supplying street lamps with gas produced from vegetables. Anticipates 'a tremendous explosion some day among our friends the Vegetarians'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Magnetism, Psychology, Observation

    Describes Mr Punch's visit to the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >> and wonders whether 'the iced champagne / Or Beauty's power magnetic, / Or both, that acting on his brain [...] Gave him a sort of clairvoyance' that enabled him to see 'The Palace of the People'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Crime

    Depicts a 'Swell Mobsman' reacting to news that police officers are to be connected by electric telegraph.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Crime, Electricity, Anti-Scientism

    Describes an 'Important Meeting of the Swell Mob' concerning proposals to 'connect all Police Officers with the Electric Telegraph'. Participants agree that the proposal posed a serious threat to their livelihoods. For example, 'MR. MONTGOMERY MORTIMER' complains that 'They were to be nabbed through electricity' and this would prevent him from continuing his 'arduous profession' overseas. The 'REVEREND MR. CAVENDISH BELGRAVE' announces the existence of 'clerical gents' in the Legislature which 'existed to restrict ingenuity and enterprise'. The meeting ends with 'three groans' being given to Charles Wheatstone Wheatstone, Charles (1802–75) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Amusement

Institutions mentioned:

Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>

    Describes some omissions from William J Broderip's Broderip, William John (1789–1859) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Zoological Recreations Broderip, William John 1847. Zoological Recreations, London: H. Colburn
Close   View the register entry >>, including the 'zoological recreation' of 'riding on the elephant's back for twopence' and 'poking at the monkeys with the points of parasols'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Progress, Amusement

    Doubts whether science is 'being aided' by Mme Poitevin's Poitevin, Mme. (fl. 1850) http://www.balloonlife.com/publications/balloon_life/9512/history.htm
Close   View the register entry >> foolhardy ballooning exploits.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoology, Amusement

    Responding to the appearance of a pig in a play at the Haymarket, asks why dramatists do not go to the Zoological Society Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> to select animals, and why they do not choose an elephant because 'elephants and pigs are proved by MR BUFFON Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de (1707–88) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> to be of the same family'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, Chemistry

    Advises the Lords of the Admiralty to use 'Quadrochloride of Nitrogen [...] one of the most explosive compounds known', to save money on firing salutes. The substance is so potent that the author fails to finish his concluding sentence stating that he would risk his life to prove the truth of his claims.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Discovery, Amusement

    Responds to news of John R Hind's Hind, John Russell (1823–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> discovery of a new planet between Mars and Jupiter, and is pleased with the decision to name the planet Melpomene. Suggests, however, that to settle the 'ticklish' state of affairs between England and America, the planet should be called 'SUSAN CUSHMAN', after the contemporary American star of the London stage.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Accidents, Technology, Medical Treatment

    Describes the dangers of participating in the balloon rides offered by the 'Proprietors of the GRAND COCKAIGNE PLEASURE GROUNDS'. Puffs the strong possibility that witnesses to the ascents have a good chance of seeing 'HALF-A-DOZEN PERSONS KILLED AT ONCE!' which will lead to the spectacle of seeing 'Eminent SURGEONS' perform amputations at St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital
Close   View the register entry >> and 'THE OPERATION OF TREPANNING'. The illustration shows a young man lifted upside down under a ballon on which is displayed an ominous skull and cross-bones.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Medical Treatment, Education, Anaesthesia, Transport

    Announces to the 'STAFF OF EXPERIENCED SURGEONS' that the 'BOARD OF DIRECTORS of the KILLBURY and MAIMSWORTH line of RAILWAY' are putting on their trains. Notes that their service will provide ample opportunities for medical students to practise 'AMPUTATIONS, (under Chloroform)'.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Archaeology, Societies

    Claims that the 'Archaeologist's Progress' is notorious for such absurdities as tracing 'the bees'-wing in a bottle of port at Newark to the bees that swarmed about the mouth of Plato Plato (428–348/7 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes Professor Pinchy's support for the archaeologists' claim that eating and drinking were 'necessities of human nature'. Reports his proposal that the archaeologists should, the following year, 'sit upon Dorking fowls—a subject hitherto neglected', and consider similarly trivial subjects, such as 'the brawn of Canterbury' and the 'sausages of Epping'.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Technology, Transport, Commerce, Engineering

    Describes a meeting of railway shareholders to discuss a proposed amalgamation of all railway companies—an allusion to the proposal to amalgamate the South Eastern South Eastern Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> and London, Brighton & South Coast London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> railway companies—as a way of raising fares. During the discussion the chairman stresses the desirability of adopting a universal level and gauge (of the narrowest possible kind) for all railways.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Aeronautics

    Explains that balloons have a worse effect on crops than showers or thunderbolts owing to the fact that they scare animals into trampling fields of crops.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Medical Treatment, Accidents, Hospitals

    The 'Directors of the Great North Southern and East Western Railway' announce to 'MEDICAL STUDENTS, PARENTS, AND GUARDIANS' their 'SCHOOL of SURGERY', consisting of hospitals in railway stations where frequent victims of railway accidents provide material for instruction. The illustration shows the figure of death as a signalman standing outside a railway tunnel.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment, Statistics

    Notes the fact that quack medicines are always promoted as substances which have caused '50,000' cures, but insists that the constancy of this figure over the past three years indicates the ineffectiveness of the medicine.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Instruments, Religion, Politics

Institutions mentioned:

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Close   View the register entry >>

    Claims that a 'celebrated political Priest' has invented forceps for 'the extraction of any oath which may threaten to choke a witness or juryman'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Education, Chemistry, Societies, Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism, Astronomy, Evolution, Aeronautics, Ethnology, Electricity, Physics

People mentioned:

Edwin Lankester, Lankester, Edwin (1814–74) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Robert Hunt, Hunt, Robert (1807–87) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Thomas Pettigrew Pettigrew, Thomas Joseph (1791–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Written by Professor Puffy, who explains that he learnt the science of mechanics from his toys and the chemistry of alcoholic drinks from his college gyp. Puffs his contributions to the 'Transactions' of the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> and his other scientific achievements. This include his correspondence with Karl L Reichenbach Reichenbach, Karl (or Carl) Ludwig ()1788–1869 DSB
Close   View the register entry >> by 'sympathetic snails', his authorship of the Vestiges [Chambers, Robert] 1844. Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, London: John Churchill
Close   View the register entry >>, and his priority over Alfred Smee Smee, Alfred (1818–77) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> in identifying man as a 'voltaic battery'. Reports the approbation with which the association received his paper on comets and notes how he accompanied Roderick I Murchison Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey, 1st Baronet (1792–1871) DSBODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Charles R Weld Weld, Charles Richard (1813–69) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> on a balloon ride to the 'Glimpses of the Moon', armed with a lactometer for Mr Woods Woods, Mr (fl. 1852) PU1/23/13/1
Close   View the register entry >> and Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Describes a fantastic voyage and battle 'amongst the planets', in which the planets and constellations are the mythical beings whose names they bear. Notes how Edward Sabine Sabine, Edward (1788–1883) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'got us all into a mighty scrape, / By proposing that in MERCURY (I think the man was daft), / With the help of URSA MINOR, we should try to sink a shaft', and how John R Hind Hind, John Russell (1823–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> tried to save the travellers from the 'dogstar'. Concluding lines of poem reveal that the voyage has been Puffy's dream. The illustration shows Puffy ascending above crowds with an umbrella.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Psychology, Medical Treatment

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anatomy, Cultural Geography

Publications cited:

Grattan 1853

    Observes with interest that in his paper on Irish crania to the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >>, John Grattan Grattan, John (fl. 1852) Grattan 1853
Close   View the register entry >> found that most skulls had been broken.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Transport

    Shows an undertaker asking a railway passenger to accept one of his business cards. In the background is a railway carriage marked 'Surgery'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment, Gender, Class

People mentioned:

Thomas Holloway, Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> James Morison Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Noting that physicians are forbidden to advertise, responds to an advertisement in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> from 'L.C.', putatively Dr Linkumfeedle, a 'fashionable physician' who defends women against charges that they find childrearing 'a great bore'. Linkumfeedle insists that upper and middle-class women have to be persuaded to relinquish this duty to wet nurses but the writer believes 'vulgar medical science' favours nurses in this role. Responding to Linkumfeedle's criticism of high-born mothers who ruin their health through childcare, considers that Linkumfeedle is the physician who attends, makes considerable profit from, and advertises himself to serve the 'highborn and wealthy'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Phrenology, Crime, Progress, Periodicals

    Observes with some relish that an article in a 'penny-a-liner' used phrenology to judge a criminal, rather than simply narrate his story. Believes this indicates that 'the scientific spirit is gradually prevailing'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Railways, Telegraphy, Electricity, Accidents, Transport, Travel

    General reflections on the dangers of railway travel for a second-class passenger. For instance, 'In Tunnels, where 'tis pitchy dark, / He moralises thus:— / "How very soon life's little spark / May be put out for us!" / Electric Telegraphs, of course, / Remind him of a shock'. Agrees that with the railway 'we conquer Time and Space' but balances this with the fatalities it causes.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Medical Treatment, Transport

    Depicts a bookstall keeper inviting a woman to either buy a surgeon's book on 'BROKEN LEGS' or a copy of 'THE RAILWAY OPERATOR'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Agriculture, Disease, Class

    Urges 'savans' to elucidate the causes of the disease afflicting vegetables—a disease that already affects the lives of 'lower orders of the population' but which, as Punch cynically observes, only gains the attention of the higher orders when it affects their wine.

Genre:

Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Technology, Domestic Economy, Education, Steam-power, Gender

    Describes the responses of members of the Fogie family to their new lamp. Their exchanges about the lamp reveal their worries about the dangers of the lamp exploding. Contrasts are developed between Mr Fogie, who explains the mechanism of the lamp in terms of a steam engine, to his wife, who finds it difficult to understand the lamp, and the scientific explanation of the lamp mechanism offered by Miss Winterbottom.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Political Economy, Scientific Practitioners, Progress

    Criticises a correspondent in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> for poor mathematical arguments concerning taxation, and attacks mathematicians for having 'progressed so far in their own science' that they have lost sight of their ridiculous postulates.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Sanitation, Medical Practitioners

    Describes the imminent arrival of 'KING CHOLERA' from Northern Europe. Attacks England's 'curs'd Boards of Health, / Its sewers, and drains, and inspectors' who 'keep poking their nose' wherever cholera goes. Believes cholera's friends include the boards of the health and the 'doctors and drainers' who consider self-government to be the solution to the problem of the disease.

Genre:

Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Disease, Pollution, Human Development

    Shows a crowded thoroughfare flanked by 'Logins for travellers' on one side, and dominated by a pile of filth on the other. Several children play on and around the pile, while a woman crouches over it, evidently in search of something valuable or useful.

Genre:

News-Commentary; Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Technology, Accidents

    Anticipates that the air will soon be as full of balloons as the sea is of ships, and accordingly appends a spoof notice of 'Ballooning Intelligence'—a list of balloon accidents in the style of 'Shipping Intelligence'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Sound, Supernaturalism, Government, Politics

    Reports on strange humming noises, often accompanied by utterances of numbers, emanating from the Chancellor of the Exchequer's office. Argues that these 'acoustical phenomena' are not supernatural in origin but Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> calculating his budget aloud.

Genre:

Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Animal Behaviour, Crime, Politics, Agriculture

    Spoof trial of Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (the Chancellor of the Exchequer), charged with harming 'a Protectionist donkey' which the accused and his allies attached to the bottom of a balloon.

Genre:

Essay, Spoof, Polemic

Subjects:

Public Health, Sanitation, Disease, Government, Statistics

    Attacks recent legislation on public health, including the Public Health Act of 1848 and the Baths and Wash-Houses Act, as threats to 'the Briton's inestimable privilege of self-government'. Expresses approval that 'Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> is awake to the levelling and dangerous principles of the so-called "Sanitary-Reformers"'. Upholds the fact that in many London districts self-government flourishes and the drainage and other sanitary ideas of the reformers do not work. Rebutts reformers' sanitary ideas concerning the operation of standpipes and the location of water butts and the notions of 'that despotic and un-English body, the Commissioners of Sewers City of London Commissioners of Sewers
Close   View the register entry >>' concerning ditches. Relishes the victories of the independent landlord over the commissioners and denies the use of sanitary statistics.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Crime, Aeronautics

Institutions mentioned:

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Sanitation, Manufactories

    Seeks to dispose of a number of 'Plague Walks, doing a great stroke of business', by stressing the proximity of such requisites for the 'successful prosecution of the business' as 'Patent Manure' factories and Thames water.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Astrology, Charlatanry, Quackery

    Ridicules an advertisement from an 'impostor' who offers to 'cast Nativities [...] "in accordance with the purest [...] principles of science"' and who has the impudence to attack 'illiterate pretenders to the Science of Astrology'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Ornithology

People mentioned:

J D Marshall Marshall, J D (fl. 1852) PU1/23/16/1
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition

    Given the frequent adulteration of milk with chalk, denies the plausibility of the expression 'as different as Chalk is from Cheese'.

Genre:

Essay; Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Transport

    Announcing the certainty of accidents on railways, considers the railway engine to be the new infantine 'hobgoblin' and sets verses about railway accidents to the tune of several nursery rhymes.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Sound, Human Development, Cruelty

    Describes a visit to a performance by practitioners of 'the science of ventriloquism'. So struck by the apparently painful contortions which the ventriloquists showed on their faces that it is suggested that the Animals' Friend Society Animals' Friend Society
Close   View the register entry >> could have interfered for their protection.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment

    Cynically notes that a medical man has promoted his practice by moving it to the proximity of a railway station.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery / Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Medical Practitioners

People mentioned:

James Clark Clark, Sir James (1788–1870) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Describes Mr Punch's visit to the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, where he observed the injured badger and an ape, which turns out to be the badger's doctor. Appends a copy of the doctor's bulletin signed 'Pugsy Cocoatop, M.D.'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Invention, Government

    Reports on the Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli's Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> invention of a 'Reaping Machine' which will help farmers reap the benefit of what he believes to be 'looming in the future'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Microscopy, Neurology

    Explains how the thought of Christmas pantomimes develops within the minds of London theatre managers. Notes that the thought begins deep within the pia mater of the brain—a region so small that 'when microscopes are brought to perfection' it will be 'shown at so much a head'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Hospitals, Medical Treatment, Cruelty

People mentioned:

John Conolly Conolly, John (1794–1866) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Expresses shock at the evidence given to the Commissioners in Lunacy Commissioners in Lunacy
Close   View the register entry >> regarding the management of patients at Hanwell Lunatic Asylum County Lunatic Asylum, Hanwell
Close   View the register entry >>. Urges Peter Laurie Laurie, Sir Peter (1778–1861) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to abandon the 'inhuman and restraint system' of treating patients.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Vulcanology, Technology, Homeopathy

    Suggests that the continuing blaze from Mount Etna be extinguished with Mr Philip's Philips, Mr (fl. 1850) PU1/19/19/4
Close   View the register entry >> 'Fire Annihilator' which should be used to give doses of water in the large quantities found in successful homeopathic treatment. Believes Philips's invention will have its credibility proved by the successful extinction of the fire.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Military Technology

    Discusses the apparently awesome explosive power of a liquid prepared by a Mr Radley Radley, Mr (fl. 1852) PU1/23/19/1
Close   View the register entry >> of the Cockersdale Chemical Works, Leeds Cockersdale Chemical Works, Leeds
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Anti-Scientism, Scientific Practitioners, Unbelief

    Describes a visit to the 'Hall of Tongues' in 'SAINT PATRICK's Purgatory' where one speaker at a 'Monster Meeting' ridicules Isaac Newton Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> as a 'pig-faced, ewe-neck'd brute, on whom no faith should ever take root; on whom no student e'er should pore' and asserts that Galileo Galilei Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Francis Bacon (1st Viscount St Alban) Bacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban (1561–1626) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, John Locke Locke, John (1632–1704) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and William Herschel Herschel, Sir William (1738–1822) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> were 'godless'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Surgery, Mental Illness, Hospitals, Cruelty

    From a Daily News Daily News (1846–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report, claims that dentistry is being practised at the Bethlehem Royal Hospital Bethlehem Royal Hospital
Close   View the register entry >> by the keeper who punches patients in the face. Thinks the hospital should be rebuilt with glass, thus revealing the inhumane treatment of patients.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Agriculture

    Denies that a report of a fasting squirrel is novel, since 'Distressed Agriculturalists' have 'been living on nothing for the last six years'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Scientific Practitioners, Expertise

    Ridicules proprietors of bitter ale breweries for puffing their product with the support of numerous 'eminent scientific and medical men of the day', including Justus von Liebig Liebig, Justus von (1803–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Thomas Graham Graham, Thomas (1805–69) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, August W von Hofmann Hofmann, August Wilhelm von (1818–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and James Muspratt Muspratt, James (1793–1886) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Argues that Liebig is a poor judge of beer and suggests the proprietors ask instead the opinion of 'eminent agricultural and bucolic men'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Transport

    Baffled by the argument that railway accidents are caused by 'inattention to "Points"', suggests several 'points' which need to be found. These all involve ways of maximising inconvenience and accidents on railways. For example, a '"point" of regulating the traffic entirely by the laws of eccentric motion', and a '"point" of selecting for a "trial trip" that period of the day when the line is fullest'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Heat, Controversy, Politics, Religion, Religious Authority

    Reflecting on two new Irish Catholic members of parliament, notes that 'MR. SERJEANT SHEE Shee, Sir William (1804–68) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> repudiates the doctrine of caloric evidently held by MR. LUCAS Lucas, Frederick (1812–55) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and denies the theory of combustion as applied to heretics'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Imperialism

    Reports that the submarine telegraph 'was for the first time worked on the 1st instant' but laments the fact that the message sent was to Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes that the senders of the message, the directors of the Submarine Telegraph Company Submarine Telegraph Company
Close   View the register entry >>, hoped the telegraph would serve 'under the Empire', and is deeply worried that this implies a British allegiance to the French empire.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Chemistry

    Insists that beer at the University of Cambridge University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >> is 'very good physic and bark. / Not to name a French chemist's unguarded remark', and that it abounds with substances that neither a chemist nor druggist can 'compound'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Alchemy, Government, Politics, Agriculture, Political Economy, Charlatanry

People mentioned:

Kenelm Digby, Digby, Sir Kenelm (1603–65) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> William Lilly Lilly, William (1602–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Subtitled 'Paracelsus Paracelsus (Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim) (1493–1541) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> the Alchemist to Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> the Financier', pursues Punch's ongoing identification of Disraeli, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as a cunning wizard. Believes Disraeli has inherited his tremendous skill at transmuting 'the base dross of Protection at will / To the Gold of Free Trade' from himself. The author traces his skill in deluding 'half Europe' to a 'long line of sages', but warns Disraeli that he has inherited some of the more dangerous qualities of these sages, including 'too fluent a speech' from Pythagoras of Samos Pythagoras of Samos (c. 560–c. 480 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Believes Disraeli has inherited 'All the tact that ever distinguished our race' and gives him much advice about economics, including promising 'vaguely, and wildly, and grandly, but still / Promise on, leaving Fortune our words to fulfil'. Compares Disraeli's financial work to that of alchemists pursuing chimeras. For example, he tells Disraeli that 'when your fine spirit racks / Its wits in preparing a budget or tax, / It recalls [...] The days when it sought the philosopher's stone', and reassures him that the spirit which enabled him to stop the 'Burgher of Lubeck' stealing his principle of making gold, can be used to defend himself against the statesmen Lord John Russell Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Joseph Hume Hume, Joseph (1777–1855) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who might accuse him of stealing their 'measure'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Disease, Agriculture, Politics

    Reports on Edward Ball's Ball, Edward (1793–1865) Stenton 1976
Close   View the register entry >> claim that the first free-trade sheep imported into England have been impregnated with smallpox.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Cruelty, Hospitals, Politics, Government, Cultural Geography

    Notes the benefits of the 'non-restraint system of treating lunatics' but allows that Peter Laurie's Laurie, Sir Peter (1778–1861) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> opposition to this method has much truth to it and that 'there are some cases in which the opposite plan alone will answer'. Describes an 'example of this sort', the 'National Bethlehem'—a representation of the French nation as a mental hospital like the Bethlehem Royal Hospital Bethlehem Royal Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>. Observes that the 'deranged community possesses, in great measure, the extraordinary power of constituting its own Government', and describes the succession of directors the inmates have appointed, down to the time of their present ruler, Lewis Nap (a reference to Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>). Describes how Nap has found his disciplinary regime 'singularly well relished' and how his patients worship him as the 'Supreme Ruler'. Thinks lunatics should be allowed to 'enjoy their own management peaceably, so long as they will only leave us at peace'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Education, Institutions, Patronage, Government

    Reports on Queen Victoria's Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> homage to 'the claims of science' and the proposal of the Prime Minister Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby) Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to give a pension to George Birkbeck's Birkbeck, George (1776–1841) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> widow.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Zoology, Taxonomy, Time, Geology, Controversy

    Ponders the nature of the 'Sea-Serpent', including the possibility that it might be a 'serpent of the mind', 'a giant adder', or an enormous fish. Discussing the possible age of the serpent, asks, 'What fossil Saurians in thy time have been?' and, 'What geologic periods has thou seen, / Long as the tail thou doubtless canst unfold?'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Nutrition

    Miss Legume and another woman are dining and the latter, a vegetarian, complains that she has eaten an earwig in her salad.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T, pseud.  [John Tenniel] Tenniel, Sir John (1820–1914) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Geology, Telegraphy, Vulcanology

    Discusses the Limerick Chronicle's Limerick Chronicle (1766–1900+) North, 1986
Close   View the register entry >> report that 'Scientific men' have linked a recent earthquake to the electric telegraph. Concludes that such a claim threatens the future of 'a system of communication so dangerous to the tranquillity of the earth'. Adds that the discontinuation of telegraph lines will please vendors of railway tickets. The illustration shows 'some tottering Trotty Veck [an allusion to the impoverished messenger in Charles Dickens's Dickens, Charles (1837–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> The Chimes Dickens, Charles John Huffan 1845 [1844]. The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In, London: Chapman & Hall
Close   View the register entry >>] contemplating' telegraph lines.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Astrology, Charlatanry

    Ridicules a Lincoln 'Professor' and 'Mathematical Projector of Zodiacal Planispheres' who makes money as a consultant addressing people's emotional, medical, and financial problems.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism, Nutrition, Belief, Magnetism, Animal Behaviour, Comparative Philology

    Speculates on the possibility that animals 'can indulge in polite conversation' and recalls a meeting with a mesmerist 'whose OD force [...] Makes you see your stomach instead of your eyes' and who is capable of making people believe that their crude items of food are in fact of high quality. Explains how the mesmerist took him to the Baker Street cattle show where he immobilised a 'two-year-old-boar' with a glance and caused a pig to speak. The pig points out that St Anthony cured animals by 'sprinkling and stroking' and relates other myths concerning the ability of animals to speak. Adds that electro-biology is now 'spread through the land' and that the stomach has 'quite lost its relish for eating and drinking' owing to its 'new task of thinking'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Education, Institutions, Government, Patronage

    Reports on Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell's Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> praise for mechanics' institutes and his offer of a pension to George Birkbeck's Birkbeck, George (1776–1841) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> widow.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Astronomy, Discovery, Display

    Discusses the latest planetary discovery of John R Hind Hind, John Russell (1823–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'astronomical "detective"'. Expresses pleasure that the planet, named 'THALIA', is to be included in John C Adams's Adams, John Couch (1819–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> '"Galaxy" of attraction that shines forth in his annual Orrery'.