Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Telegraphy, Pollution, Sanitation, Public Health

    Reports that an announcement was made in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> that 'all the Telegraphs had been bought by the Government', and later notes Austen H Layard's Layard, Sir Austen Henry (1817–94) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> proposal to 'cleanse the Serpentine, at the bottom of which is an abominable mess, the result of years of now discontinued drainage' (2).

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pharmaceuticals, Medical Treatment, Quackery, Commerce

    Discusses a Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> advertisement for 'Milk of Cucumbers' (a tonic for 'rendering the skin fair') and 'American Pick-me-up Bitters'. Believes the former utlizes a similar process to that enunciated in Swift 1726 [Swift, Jonathan] 1726. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, 2 vols, London, B. Motte
Close   View the register entry >>—the cucumbers 'absorbing the solar rays' so as to prevent facial blemishes. Suggests a simple alternative to this treatment and speculates on the intended consumers of both products.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Vaccination, Human Development, Disease, Heroism, Education

    Notes that during a recent House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> discussion on royal parks, Edgar A Bowring Bowring, Edgar Alfred (1826–1911) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> lamented the state of statues in Kensington Gardens Kensington Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, notably those of John H Speke Speke, John Hanning (1827–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Edward Jenner Jenner, Edward (1749–1823) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Objects to the proposal to move the Jenner statue to Trafalgar Square on the grounds that in Kensington Gardens it can be seen by 'little boys and girls' who 'might be taught [...] to look up to it as the image of their great benefactor, to whom they should remember that they owe that prophylactic against disfigurement and destruction'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Physics, Natural Philosophy, Discovery, Invention, Instruments, Telegraphy, Electricity, Electromagnetism, Electrochemistry, Magnetism, Force, Chemistry, Light, Navigation, Theory, Nationalism, Cultural Geography

    Upholds the need for Faraday to have a statue; he is a 'Philosopher' who ought to have one 'if anyone ought'. Justifies this argument by claiming that 'Nobody, for a long time, has adorned life with more discoveries ministering to its uses' than Faraday, including such discoveries as 'The manufactures of steel and glass, electro-telegraphy, and the magneto-electric illumination of lighthouses'. Suggests that just as the names of the battles of military heroes are inscribed on their monuments, so Faraday's should be emblazoned with 'Researches, Theory of Induction, Course of Electric Currents, Magneto-Electricity, Diamagnetism, Liquefaction and Solidification of Gases, Conservation of Force, Chemistry of a Candle'. Stresses the importance of the last, likening Faraday himself to a bright candle who illuminated electricity and 'turned magnetism into electricity, and electricity into light'. Notes that France has named a Parisian street after him and notes that Prince Edward Edward VII, King of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, Emperor of India (1841–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> is leading the movement to build a Faraday statue.

Genre:

Regular Feature—Proceedings, Spoof; Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Religion, Astronomy, Observation, Instruments, Animal Husbandry, Disease

    Provides a fictionalized report, in dialogue form, of the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> debate on the Disestablishment of the Irish Church Church of Ireland
Close   View the register entry >> Bill. Reports Philip H Stanhope (5th Earl Stanhope) Stanhope, Philip Henry, 5th Earl Stanhope (1805–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as arguing that the Armagh Observatory Armagh Observatory
Close   View the register entry >> should retain its tithes, a proposal he considers 'in accord with the spirit of the Bill, as the Observatory looks after the Lunatics'. Reports that Frederick T H-T Blackwood (5th Baron Dufferin and Clandeboye) Blackwood, Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (1826–1902) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> replied that the bill did not include telescopes but that the Lords would 'take care of them'. Later notes a House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> discussion of the 'Contagious Diseases in Animals Bill', and upholds the need for contagious animals to be kept separate from those that are not.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Health, Disease, Class, Sanitation, Human Development, Gender, Patronage

    Noting the usually pleasant nature of garden parties, describes 'parties which are still more pleasant things', namely those where poor children are allowed to play and enjoy the fresh air. Notes that during the previous eight summers 'one Society' has made this possible for 'some thousands of poor children' at less than a 'half-penny a head'. Stresses how 'great a pleasure may be given with a very little money' and praises the Ladies' Sanitary Association Ladies' National Association for the Diffusion of Sanitary Knowledge
Close   View the register entry >> for enabling this to happen. Concludes by inviting financial donations to the association.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [8]

Illustrators:

C K Keene, Charles Samuel (1823–91) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Military Technology

    Depicts the attempt of Private Rickshaw to win a medal at the annual rifle shooting contest held at Wimbledon Camp Wimbledon Camp
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T 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:

Medical Practitioners, Gender, Politics, Government, Religion, Religious Authorities

    This illustration shows Nurse Canterbury (the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archibald C Tait Tait, Archibald Campbell (1811–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) presenting a baby, labelled 'Irish Church Church of Ireland
Close   View the register entry >> Bill', to Mrs Prime Minister and her assistant (William E Gladstone Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> respectively). The nurse explains that she has taken 'the greatest care of 'im' and hopes they will 'think 'im grow'd'. Mrs Prime Minister denies that the child is hers or looks like her. This plays on the fact that Tait had amended Gladstone's original Irish Church Disestablishment Bill (which had been rejected by the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> and Tait himself in 1868) in order to make it more acceptable to the Irish clergy and to both Liberals and Tories.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Sanitation, Engineering

    A spoof diary that is a sequel to the 'Happy Thoughts' which began with [Francis C Burnand], 'Happy Thoughts (Collected in Happy Hours: Including Some Instructive Facts in Natural History, and Other Domestic and Rural Information)', Punch, 50 (1866), 265.

Reprinted:

Burnand 1871 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1871. More Happy Thoughts, 2nd edn, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L S Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Gender, Medical Treatment, Disease

    Shows a somewhat distraught-looking woman playing a piano and singing a song that refers to the toxic substances she has applied to her body (notably 'Bismuthive Cream' on her brow and 'Belladonna' in her eye) in order to make her more attractive to a suitor.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment

    Likening Gladstone to a medical practitioner, this song describes the reactions of the Irish 'Orange Boys' savouring the prospect of reconstructing the Church of Ireland Church of Ireland
Close   View the register entry >> after it has been disestablished and thus 'released from State control'. They praise Dr Gladstone for his 'pills' which excel 'All the pills / For Ireland's ills'. Stresses that the disestablishment of the Church means that it is no longer a perpetual blister. Describes the ways in which they will now banish various religious groups from Ireland (including 'Each heretic, / And all free-thinkers', and 'Ritualists'), and concludes by praising 'gentle surgeon, DOCTOR GLADSTONE', for creating religious 'Free Trade' and thus the conditions for reconciling the Irish.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Spiritualism, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Heterodoxy, Vaccination, Utilitarianism, Class, Quackery

    Begins by identifying spiritualists as 'Persons of education, out of Colney Hatch [Asylum] Colney Hatch Asylum
Close   View the register entry >>'. Recounts that a surgeon recalled that 'in the early days of vaccination', some people swore that people who had been vaccinated had developed 'cowhorns' on their heads. Suggests that there are some 'very sensible' people who might believe this claim, and identifies two such individuals from a recent report in the British Medical Journal British Medical Journal (1857–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>. Presents an extract from the periodical which describes how two guardians of the Croydon Poor Law Union Croydon Poor Law Union
Close   View the register entry >> refused to vaccinate workhouse children because they believed this caused the 'itch' associated with small pox. Points out that the symptoms of the disease, however, occur 'in a great many Workhouses'. Ironically suggests that since the Guardians are 'wise men [...] their idea of the consequence of vaccination is to be respected'. Proceeds to a second extract describing the ineptitude of poor-law guardians in medical matters. This concerns the Holyhead Poor Law Union Holyhead Poor Law Union
Close   View the register entry >>, whose guardians objected to the proposal of the medical officer, Mr Walthew Walthew, Mr (fl. 1869) PU1/57/2/8
Close   View the register entry >>, that the dislocated shoulder-bone of a pauper should have been treated months earlier. Considers that the guardians at the Croydon and Holyhead Poor Law Unions are 'Medical Dissenters' in the manner the 'great original advertiser of Universal Medicine', James Morison Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (this is possibly an ironic reflection on the fact that the poor-law unions clearly did not provide medicine for all). Concludes that while 'Freedom of medical conscience [...] ought to be respected much more than it has been by a too scientific legislature', medical dissenters have often upheld ridiculous claims. Urges ratepayers to decide whether they wish their poor-law unions to be 'directed by Medical Dissenters'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Animal Development, Disease

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Cruelty, Animal Behaviour, Class

    Responds to the argument that pigeon-shooting is 'not more cruel than game-shooting' and is therefore not objectionable. Agrees that pigeon-shooting is as sportsman-like as game-shooting if the latter means 'battue', and points out that so many other blood sports (including cock-fighting and bear-baiting) are far more cruel than pigeon-shooting even though they are considered acceptable sports. Concludes by suggesting that for these reasons 'the Roughs' have grounds for reviving the old English sport of pigeon-shooting and thus be on par with 'the Swells'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Commerce, Language

    Begins by agreeing with the opinion of The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> that the government purchase of telegraph lines will reduce the cost of telegrams and thus diminish the burden of letter writing. Suggests that letter-writing might be altogether superseded by telegrams, with lovers exchanging messages by the 'sixpenny wire' rather than the 'penny post'. Warns that this will also mean a 'condensation' of messages and demonstrates, using a prosaic love-letter recently read in a court at Reading, how letters could be abridged for telegraphic purposes. Discusses how other communications including 'Erotic telegrams' and the 'Germanised telegram' will be worded.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Pollution, Sanitation, Commerce, Agriculture, Chemistry, Nutrition

    Notes William Hope's Hope, William (fl. 1835) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> belief in the potential utility and commercial value of metropolitan sewage. Suggests that the Metropolitan Board of Works Metropolitan Board of Works
Close   View the register entry >> probably shares this belief given its habit of poisoning Barking residents with Thames sewage. Hopes the profit that might result from utilizing sewage will 'prove to be real' and that, 'by the chemistry of nature', that sewage might turn into 'bread, potatoes, and pasture'.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Societies

People mentioned:

Daniel D Home Home, Daniel Dunglas (1833–86) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

London Dialectical Society London Dialectical Society
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Electricity, Instruments, Progress, Internationalism, Commerce, War, Morality, Religion

    Begins by reflecting on 'Another tie', or 'Another path of lightning', laid between the Old and New Worlds, and turns to the rapid progress of the cable ship and of the world which so 'spins down the stream of thought and act, / That what was last year's marvel is this year's familiar fact'. Stresses what a 'small thing' it now seems to communicate across the Atlantic 'By the twinkle of a lamp [a possible reference to the mirror galvanometer used in telegraphic signalling], and the quiver of a wire'. Wonders whether the telegraph will aid or hinder 'good' and international harmony, but is confident that the invention will do more than help commerce, and that it has 'conquered' time and space. Concludes by noting that the destinies of men are ruled by a 'mysterious power', and that submarine cables conceal 'The secrets of the future, and the ends of good and ill'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Military Technology, Education, Human Development, Crime

    Begins by presenting Admiral Punch's question to the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> board concerning the use 'of keeping afloat a lot of obsolete old hulks at some half-dozen of our dockyards'. Notes that Admiral Punch thinks 'thousands of pounds yearly' would be saved by destroying them, and also suggests that a better use would be as 'Homes for Homeless Children'. Explains that Admiral Punch has reached this conclusion after inspecting the decommissioned HMS Chicester HMS Chichester
Close   View the register entry >>, a ship kept afloat 'by voluntary charity' and which shows how financing floating schools can reduce the number of children who turn to crime, and thus reduce the costs of prisons.

Genre:

Diary,

Subjects:

Amusement, Exhibitions, Transport, Photography, Nutrition, Manufactories, Museums, Horticulture, Astronomy, Light, Display

    Describes a trip to the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >> on St Swithun's day, where the writer's pursuits included riding a velocipede, enjoying the 'Camera Obscura' and draughts of cream soda 'manufactured by a wheel', being introduced to the 'automaton Chess Player' and its 'checkered career', visiting the 'rosary and geraniumry', studying the 'raw material in the Technological Museum', and observing a display of artificial asteroids and of magnesium lights.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Ornithology, Cruelty

Publications cited:

Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Museums

Institutions mentioned:

South Kensington Museum South Kensington Museum
Close   View the register entry >> British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Physiognomy, Human Development

Reprinted:

Burnand 1871 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1871. More Happy Thoughts, 2nd edn, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology

    Discusses a report that the 'Military Authorities' are now having to decide whether to attach spades to the ends of rifles.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Engineering, Transport, Railways, Amusement

    Notes that the Thames Tunnel Thames Tunnel
Close   View the register entry >> has been 'dis-established' (a topical term at the time of the passage of the Irish Church Church of Ireland
Close   View the register entry >> Disestablishment Bill) and bought by a railway, but complains that this has deprived London of one of its attractions.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Representation, Display, Spiritualism, Telegraphy

    Notes a discussion on a Rembrandt Rembrandt (properly Harmensz van Rijn) (1606–69) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> painting in the National Gallery National Gallery
Close   View the register entry >> which prompted James H Harris (3rd Earl of Malmesbury) Harris, James Howard, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury (1807–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to suggest that 'the only way of assuring oneself as to the origin of an old picture was Spiritualism' (46). Also notes the 'immense majorities' in favour of the Electric Telegraphs Bill.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Zoology, Animal Behaviour

    Points out that 'of all the animals in the Zoological Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, the lion is the most saving and careful in his habits'. Thinks this explains why the lion 'looks sharply after the denkeeping expenses' incurred by the lioness.

Genre:

Announcement, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Nutrition

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Class, Health, Disease, Quackery, Morality, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Government

    An attack on the new guardians of the St Pancras Poor Law Union St Pancras Poor Law Union
Close   View the register entry >>, condemning them for 'Bringing Local Self-Government into contempt at a most alarming rate' and for threatening to 'bring back the bad old time'. Notes their greed, their use of 'under-paid officers', and their killing of paupers. Points out that the new guardians hold 'All medical men' to be 'humbugs' and consider 'all paupers' ailments feints', while they 'have the sick-wards cleared, double-quick' whatever the cost to patients' lives. They 'soon find a Doctor who'll make short work of paupers and their complaints'. Adds that they refuse to have inquests into paupers' deaths, oppose centralisation, and punish the master of the workhouse who 'splits' on them.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Internationalism

    Begins by noting the decline in number of admirers of originality and then discusses a Journal Officiel Gazette Nationale; ou, le Moniteur Universel (1789–1810) Moniteur Universel (1811–68) Journal Officiel de l'Empire Français (1869–70) Journal Officiel de la République Français (1870–1900+) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >> article on the French Atlantic telegraph, an article anticipating that the telegraph will improve the friendship between France and the United States.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Transport, Invention, Animal Behaviour, Machinery

    The author, a velocipede rider, compares himself favourably with a 'man who doth bestride' a 'gallant steed', emphasizing that the velocipede rider does not need to 'stop to bait', pay road tolls, or keep a paddock. Adds that the velocipede, unlike a horse, 'never jibs, never shies', 'runs away', stumbles 'as he flies' or is seized with 'fits of kicking', and that the machine does not need a whip or rein.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Gender, Physiognomy

People mentioned:

Franz J Gall, Gall, Franz Joseph (1758–1828) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Johann C Spurzheim Spurzheim, Johann Christoph (1776–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Internationalism, Surgery

Institutions mentioned:

Army Army
Close   View the register entry >>

    Begins by describing the new bayonet to be supplied to British soliders, which will allow them to devour animals and cut wood. Presents an extract from a report noting that the new design of bayonet reflects both peaceful and offensive purposes. Punch notes that 'Arms of precision are abolishing hand-to-hand combats' and have 'semi-civilised' the bayonet. Proceeds to wonder whether the 'excessive destructiveness of improved guns' will lead to the 'destruction of war itself', a trend possibly evident in the conversion of bayonets for more 'pacific' purposes. Concludes by suggesting that the new bayonet could be used as a surgical instrument.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Animal Husbandry, Cruelty, Railways, Military Technology

    Notes discussion on the cattle bill, which prevents animals from being starved for longer than thirty hours while confined to railway carts. Notes that Charles J Ellicott Ellicott, Charles John (1819–1905) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, 'pleaded for twelve hours' for the measure, but points out that it would inconvenience the 'railway people'. Later discusses the 'Fortifications Debate'. (56)

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Progress, War

Institutions mentioned:

Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses William G Armstrong's Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'Newcastle address' in which he claimed that guns were superior in strength to armour. Notes Armstrong's suggestion that given the weakness of armour plating, it is best to design ships so that enemy shots pass right through them 'leaving a between-decks full of the death-dealing splinters behind it'. Believes this is an 'old story', insofar as ships' armour has become so thick that the vessels have become difficult to sail and manoeuvre, and concludes by praising Armstrong for reaching a 'common sense conclusion' that Punch 'came to [...] long ago'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Government, Politics

    Responds to news of the radical politician Peter A Taylor's Taylor, Peter Alfred (1819–91) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> attack on the government's bill for the 'completion of our inchoate dockyard defences'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [8]

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Monstrosities, Zoology, Animal Development, Music, Instruments, Railways, Transport, Commerce, Palaeontology, Domestic Economy, Comparative Philology

    Similar to George L P B Du Maurier, 'Specimens Not Yet Included in the Collection at Regent's Park', Punch, 56 (1869), 258, this illustration shows a series of strange animals that have developed anatomical features associated with human society. These include 'Mandoline Turtles' (whose necks and undersides have turned into the body of a mandolin), 'The Railway Buffalo (Bos Buffer-Cornutus)' which sports railway buffers for horns, and 'Itchysaurus Attacked by Phleasyosauri', in which a antediluvian reptile (a relative of the ichthyosaurus) is attacked by tiny fleas.

Genre:

Travelogue, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners

Genre:

Editorial Reply, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Botany, Spectroscopy, Supernaturalism

    Explains that Punch informed a correspondent that the Ray Society Ray Society
Close   View the register entry >> is 'a Society for Spectrum Analysis' which 'means an association for the investigation of Ghost Stories'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Religion, Education, Telegraphy, Animal Husbandry

    Notes discussion of the Education (Scotland) Bill, including Lyon Playfair's Playfair, Sir Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair of St Andrews (1818–98) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> view that 'everybody in Scotland wished for a Religious Education', a view that Punch challenges (66). Also notes that Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> was advised to mention the 'Cattle Act' and the Electric Telegraphs Act in her speech before Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Photography, Light, Magnetism, Charlatanry

    Begins by presenting an extract from a Spiritual Magazine Spiritual Magazine (1860–77) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> article that rebuts Punch's recent criticism of spirit photography. The extract ridicules Punch's dismissal of the possibility of photographing objects that are invisible to the eye, and points out that the '[photographic] plate is more sensitive than the eye', appealing to the 'evidences' of the 'magnetic or odic lights, which BARON REICHENBACH Reichenbach, Karl (or Carl) Ludwig ()1788–1869 DSB
Close   View the register entry >> photographed'. Punch denies that Reichenbach's work supports the possibility of photographing ghosts, and quotes a passage in which Reichenbach states that his researches support the existence of light emanating from magnets. Proceeds to note that the Spiritual Magazine has adopted the argument that, while photographs of séance 'sitters' are produced from 'rays of daylight', those of the ghosts depend on the 'odic light' emitted by the spectre which is 'too faint to affect the eye'. Notes that while 'spirits' insist on darkness in séances, they appear not to need darkness for being photographed. Wonders why spirits can do without darkness given that this is a reasonable condition for a ghost shining by odic light. Concludes that one solution to this apparent contradiction in the conditions for observing spirits is that 'their photography [...] is moonshine'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Instinct, Narcotics

    Describes what he considers to be 'an uncommon instance of the "Sagacity in a Dog"'. Explains that he owns a Skye terrier that responds to an unknown rap on the front door with violent barking, and replies to familiar raps with an identifiable subdued barking. The author boasts that he can identify regular callers from the nature of his dog's bark but that one day he made a mistake in interpretation: he thought his dog's bark signified the regular water-carrier when it was a man bringing alcohol from the public house (the dog apparently displayed more hostility to this caller than the water-carrier).

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Heat

    Given the recent hot weather, envies the polar bear for being 'polarised at [its] own Pole'. Notes that other bears have a pole which they can climb, but that however hard they might try to ascend the pole 'They'd into bear's grease melt and run / With such an effort this hot day'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Surgery, Instruments, Invention

    Notes that Benjamin W Richardson Richardson, Benjamin Ward (1828–96) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has 'invented a knife that cuts so fast that nobody can feel it', but points out that this is not original since 'People in society cut each other every day' and do not feel it.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Animal Development, Nutrition, Railways, Transport

    Discusses a Standard Standard (1827–60) Evening Standard (1860–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report on some 'articles, principally metallic, lately found inside of a dead horse'. Notes that owing to the large number of nails found in the horse, some 'offenders' might suggest that the animal might 'have grown into a locomotive, or iron horse'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Entomology, Animal Behaviour, Instinct

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Human Development, Animal Behaviour, Animal Development, Evolution, Race

    Begins by considering the advantages of replacing his 'servant girl' with 'the Missing Link / Which negro binds to monkey'. However, explains that while the anthropoid ape could fulfil this role, the orang-utan, chimpanzee, and gorilla could not. Identifies the 'Missing Link' as a species 'beneath the Sable Moor' and 'Quashee' (a personification of the 'negro' race), but above 'Jocko' (a chimpanzee). Explains the advantages of such an employee: it could ably complete such tasks as cleaning knives and waiting at the table, be able to 'execute our orders' and sustain a 'licking' like a dog, it could be dismissed without the employee being its 'debtor', it would 'Ne'er trouble you for wages', and it would never attract any 'followers' and thus cause complicated 'relations'. Concludes by noting that while 'The nigger is a sort of man', the author wants a slave who will not be made 'a man and a brother' and has sense without a soul 'behind it'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L S Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Transport, Technology, Invention, Domestic Economy, Nutrition

    Shows a man riding a velocipede whose wheels have been adapted to grind coffee and churn butter.