Genre:

Poetry, Drollery; Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Invention, Engineers, Commerce, Government, Patents

    Attacks the avaricious legal and political institutions associated with patents through a tale of a medieval 'wight', Childe Johnson, who tries to secure a patent while fighting the monsters connected with those institutions. Describes how the 'fairy, hight Invention, gave her CHILDE a certain treasure' to protect with 'A magic scroll—a talisman—a thing yclept a Patent', and how Johnson was attacked by such 'monsters' as 'foul vultures' at the Court of Chancery Court of Chancery
Close   View the register entry >>. Other beasts that impede his progress include 'rapacious birds' from the 'Ravens' Patent Nest' in Lincoln's Inn Lincoln's Inn
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'hawk and wolf of Government', 'Griffins grim and savage' of 'Signet's Haunt' and, again, the 'Patent Ravens' that, 'with bill, and stamp, and docket, / Engrossings, fees, and recipes, come picking at his pocket'. Proudly proclaims that Childe, despite 'Monster, Ogre, Cockatrice, and Dragon, / Has got Patent Talisman' and hopes the latter possession never fails him 'Gainst wiles of legal conjurers'. Illustrations show Childe, with medieval armour and sword, attacking legal 'vultures', and finally grasping a patent at the feet of a fairy.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Public Health

    Reports on the invention of 'Ventilating Hats and Ventilating Wigs'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Music, Exhibitions

    Responds to news that a 'musical bed' will be displayed at the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Religious Authority, Periodicals

    Boasts that 'Punch [...] is allowed to be the very best of physic' and is 'infinitely superior [...] to the Roman Pretender's [Edward B Pusey Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1800–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>] prescription of a bishop'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Commerce

    Regards his doctor as that person who sends him 'a daily draft and pill' followed by 'a tremendous bill'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Commerce

    Supports the plausibility of clairvoyance on the grounds that in trade reports, such substances as cotton 'are capable of "looking up" without eyes'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Commerce, Quackery

    Responding to an attack on medical practitioners and their extortionate fees by a correspondent in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, blames the public for making medical practitioners 'dwarfish, sycophantic, ridiculously nimble and consequential'. Attacking patients for their 'squeamish imbecile flunkeyism' towards medical practitioners, advises the correspondent to dismiss the 'agreeable' practitioner (since a doctor and his physic should be 'disagreeable'), to pay only for 'necessary attendance', and to learn enough medicine to be able to judge when doctors are really necessary.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Crime, Domestic Economy

    Outlines Mr Punch's simple mechanical 'contrivance' for thwarting burglaries.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Industry, Invention, Technology

    Argues that the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> should display paintings of 'the INDUSTRIOUS' as well as their productions. Asks whether it is shameful 'to disclose the condition of those whom we have to thank' for 'all manner of articles of comfort and luxury'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Adulteration, Chemistry, Commerce, Alchemy, Cultural Geography, Race

    Subtitled 'To the Grocer', insists on the 'Great [...] villany of the Chinese', and claims that 'certain books of the working chemist' show that the 'roguery of the Englishman [...] may outblush the pale face of the Tartar trickster'. Sympathises with the 'Chinaman' for adulterating tea-leaves but, quoting Jöns J Berzelius Berzelius, Jöns Jacob (1779–1848) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, attacks the avaricious Christian grocers of England for perpetrating the same crime. Analyses the alarming ways in which grocers adulterate such foodstuffs as coffee and honey and invites his imaginary congregation of 'adulterate' grocers to partake of their own dubious goods.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Sanitation, Public Health, Chemistry, Education, Putrefaction

    Anticipating that foreign visitors to the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> will have a great thirst for beer, identifies and condemns the gruesome contents of the 'brewage' drunk by Londoners—'diluted sewage'. Describes how a mechanic broke his pledge to renounce fermented liquor. On being found drunk, he claimed that he had heard 'a learn'd Professor' give a lecture 'On Chemistry' at 'our Institute', in which he identified putrefaction with fermentation. In consequence, he was convinced that London water was a 'fermented drink' and decided that he would 'rather break the pledge with malt and hops' than with 'slush and slops'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Progress, Military Technology, Light, Technology, Steam-power, Aeronautics

    Observes that the 'inventions actually produced and perfected by men of genius are by no means as numerous as their plans'. Explores the effects on existing technologies, and on those with interests in such technologies, of such new inventions as Samuel A Warner's Warner, Samuel Alfred (1793/4–1853) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'long range' device, balloons, and steam-carriages. Argues for the 'pace of improvement' of invention to be 'as a slow as scarcely to be felt'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Universities, Medical Practitioners, Pharmaceuticals, Reading

    Baffled by the description of Henry J H Bond Bond, Henry John Hayles (1801–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as 'Reader in Physic' at the University of Cambridge University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >>. Suggests that 'reading' physic involves translating the terms 'we find on the doctor's bottles'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Ornithology, Societies, Taxonomy, Analogy, Human Species

    Reports on first meeting of the Philoperisteron Society Philoperisteron Society
Close   View the register entry >>, a society for cultivating 'every variety of Pigeon', and a similar meeting at the same time attended by people who, as Punch implies, can be classified like pigeons: 'Baldheads', 'Beards', 'Carriers', and 'Trumpeters'. The illustration shows pigeons dressed in tailcoats at a social gathering.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Zoology, Monstrosities, Cultural Geography, Exhibitions

    Shows a black figure sitting on a giraffe (apparently on its way to the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>) while a boy looks on and asks, 'Please, sir, shall I hold your horse?'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Crime, Periodicals

    Applauds the Lancet Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> for establishing a 'Scientific Detective Police', its Analytical Sanitary Commission Lancet—Analytical Sanitary Commission
Close   View the register entry >>, to expose adulterated food. Reports that the Lancet is publishing the names and addresses of the grocers who perpetrate this crime.

Genre:

Poetry, Spoof

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Universities, Education, Mathematics

    Reviewing British converts to the Roman Catholic Church, the narrator, in the persona of the pope, laments that the University of Cambridge University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >>, which pursues 'EUCLID'S Euclid (fl. 295 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> lore', 'Sends scare a soul to kiss [his] shoes'. The 'chief recruits' come from the University of Oxford University of Oxford
Close   View the register entry >>, and are 'in Science quite untaught'. Observes the absence of scientific practitioners amongst the converts.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Agriculture, Chemistry, Politics, Government

    Written in a style to represent a yokel, points out that when Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> spoke of 'the theory of M. LIEBNITZ Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646–1716) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' regarding 'mineral manure', he meant 't'other feller whose neam begin wi' LIE, as taches us to cure the poorness of the land by givn of physick—LIE-BIG Liebig, Justus von (1803–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>'. Asks Punch to explain Disraeli's advice to 'apply more capital to the land', thinking that the statesman means flinging sieved money over the fields.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Lecturing, Geology

    Discusses the complaint of a wooden-legged correspondent who proposes to solve the problem of walking through the vast lengths of the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> by having a 'Moving Panorama of the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>', whose attractions include a 'Professor of all the Arts and Sciences' lecturing on the 'history and rise of the various products of the earth as they respectively appear on the canvas'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof; Illustration, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Archaeology, Religious Authority, Nationalism

    Announces discovering 'a piece of sculpture' that 'smacks of Popery' but which shows a Bull being sat upon by the 'British Lion'. The illustration depicts the putative archaeological find.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment

    Wonders why 'advertising doctors' tend to promise to cure 'a bad leg of so many years standing' and what the world would say to such comparable promises as curing noses and eyes 'of twenty years running'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Morality, Psychology, Human Development

People mentioned:

Francis Bacon (1st Viscount St Alban) Bacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban (1561–1626) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Criticises vegetarians' belief in the 'grand union between the market-garden and the moral and mental attributes', by denying that a man whose life is dominated by vegetables 'can attain to any very high degree of intellectual culture'. Concludes that the whole system is an absurdity but stands 'open to correction'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Time, Instruments, Technology

    Complains about the stopping and 'eccentric strikings' of the St James' clock. Notes that this 'horological outrage' has been caused by 'a paltry plan of economy'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Phrenology, Psychology, Heterodoxy, Charlatanry, Periodicals, Reading

    Announces the progress of 'a new system of theology, and mental and moral philosophy' which generally derives from the mouths of 'nervous and epileptic youths' and hysterical women—mesmerism. Explains that the discourse of the sleeper, is usually incoherent, but that 'useful information' regarding the 'constitution of the mind' can be obtained by touching the sleeper's head and thus exciting his phrenological faculties. Points out that different mesmerisers produce 'contradictory wonders' and notes the extraordinary power of vision possessed by mesmerized subjects. Warns that the 'doctors of the epileptic Church' will not quell public incredulity until they perform such feats as 'causing a patient to read Punch with the crown [...] in the Royal College of Surgeons Royal College of Surgeons
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Physiology, Education, Government, Public Health, Sanitation, Crime

    Upholding the need for a 'College for Statesmen', suggests that the college should teach physiology to show the effect of that science on 'sanitary enactments or fiscal measures affecting the public health, and on criminal legislation'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Display, Physical Geography, Geology, Amusement

    Reports on the composition and structure of the earth as represented by Wyld's Great Globe Wyld's Great Globe, Leicester Square
Close   View the register entry >>, a structure still under construction. The report includes such observations as that the 'primary strata of the earth consisted of oyster shells, old marrow-bones, lobster claws and broken bricks', the 'shape of the Earth partakes very much of the appearance of a lady's powder-box', and the Earth 'is as stationary [...] as any other London nuisance can be'. Notes that the principal deposits of the earth will be 'money paid at the door'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Medical Treatment, Government, Commerce, Crime

    Concerns 'Special Constable Punch's' charging of two lads, thinly-veiled representations of Robert Peel Peel, Sir Robert, 2nd Baronet (1788–1850) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Lord John Russell Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (the Prime Minister), for mugging John Bull with a chloroform-soaked cloth marked 'Repeal of the Window Tax'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Medical Treatment, Government, Commerce, Crime

    Following Anon, 'Police Case Extraordinary', Punch, 20 (1851), 148, also depicts two lads, Robert Peel Peel, Sir Robert, 2nd Baronet (1788–1850) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Lord John Russell Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (the Prime Minister) mugging John Bull with a chloroform-soaked cloth marked 'Repeal of the Window Tax'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Education, Universities, Reading, Amusement

    Contemplating his imminent Tripos examinations at the University of Cambridge University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >>, observes that, despite studying mathematics against his will, and not having read William Whewell Whewell, William (1794–1866) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'or a man of equal note', he has learnt mathematical techniques from rowing.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Instruments

Institutions mentioned:

Zoological Society—Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports on a new orrery at the Haymarket that will feature thirteen new moons. Warns that the orrery stands little chance of attracting the public that have a great appetite for such novelties as comets.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Electricity, Mesmerism, Homeopathy, Magic, Spiritualism, Psychology, Belief

    Laments the 'extraordinary power of deglutition' shared by members of genteel society and their appetite for the new 'Electro-Biology'. Describes Mr Punch's visit to 'an exhibition of this so-called "science"' in which 'very suspicious and unprepossessing' individuals' were, under the influence of Dr Darling Darling, Dr (fl. 1850) PU1/20/15/6
Close   View the register entry >>, rendered unable to remember their location and 'induced to mistake' pure water for such liquids as champagne. Wryly reports that in a test of the phenomenon, the stiff arm of an electro-biologised 'patient' proved weaker than that of a 'compact and muscular gentleman'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Gender, Crime

    Reports that 'A Lady—yes, a lady—has invented an elastic ring' which will stop people picking pockets.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Natural Law, Theodicy, Universities, Education, Anti-Scientism

    Argues that those who have 'gone over to Rome' have done so out of stupidity rather than cleverness, and notes that the converts do not include Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, William T Brande Brande, William Thomas (1788–1866) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, William Whewell Whewell, William (1794–1866) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, or Adam Sedgwick Sedgwick, Adam (1785–1873) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Insists that an acquaintance with 'the sublime laws' of the universe will reveal the 'imbecile ordinances and clumsy fabrications of priestcraft'. Hopes that the Royal Commission on Oxbridge Royal Commission on Oxbridge
Close   View the register entry >> will remedy the poor natural science teaching at the University of Oxford University of Oxford
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'chief nursery for Rome'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Phrenology, Psychology, Exhibitions

    Claims that, 'Some individuals, with a rather large development of the bumps of "cautiousness" anticipate disturbances in consequence' of 'socialist foreigners' visiting the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Electricity, Mesmerism, Psychology, Spiritualism

    Invites an electrobiologist to deal with the question of where the subjects being treated derive their knowledge of English from, enabling them to respond to practictioners' questions, if, as is claimed, they have been deprived of their power of memory.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Manufactories, Exhibitions

    Reports the imminent display of Mr Urquhart's Urquhart, Mr (fl. 1851) PU1/20/17/4
Close   View the register entry >> 'riveting machine' at the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Government, Crime, Charlatanry

    Demands, on the basis of 'health' and 'conviviality', that the Lancet's Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> Analytical Sanitary Commission Lancet—Analytical Sanitary Commission
Close   View the register entry >> enquire into the 'mysteries of the Wine Trade' and that the Lancet expose wine merchants' 'poisonous tricks'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Invention, Technology, Domestic Economy, Music

    Describes briefly some of the items on display at Mr Punch's counter at the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>, most of which attempt to solve problems encountered in the home. Examples include 'A Latch Key' enabling the late-returning husband to turn back the clocks in the house by three hours, and a 'Verdi Ear Protector', enabling a 'young lady' to 'sit out' one of Giuseppe F F Verdi's Verdi, Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco (1813–1901) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> operas 'without hearing any of the noise'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Magic

People mentioned:

Emanuel Swedenborg Swedenborg, Emanuel (1688–1772) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Notes that 'small boys, of a nervous temperament and high family', claim to be able to see 'wonderful things' and communicate with spirits of the dead using a crystal. Adds that Mr Punch has been 'peeping into the Crystal Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>; THE PAXTON Paxton, Sir Joseph (1803–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> CRYSTAL: that beats DR. DEE's Dee, John (1527–1608) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> or any other conjuror's'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Geology, Mechanics

    Claims evidence for the rotation of the earth which, dismissing such technical questions such as 'latitude or longitude', is based on his observation of a ceiling after drinking 'brandy-and-water'.

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:

Zoological Gardens, Display, Animal Behaviour, Gender

    Shows a crowd of women and young children around a young elephant dressed as a young woman. In the background a black figure reassures the hippopotamus that the elephant is ugly.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Hospitals, Homeopathy, Pharmaceuticals

    Welcomes an advertisement for the London Homeopathic Hospital London Homeopathic Hospital
Close   View the register entry >> under the Duchess of Cambridge's Sarah ('Louisa'), Duchess of Cambridge (1816–90) Cokayne 1910-59
Close   View the register entry >> patronage, not least because homeopathy gives 'certain and instantaneous relief' with only 'the billionth part of a grain of medicine'. Ironically wonders why the hospital has not published details of those cases in which homeopathy has cured fractures and dislocation, or publicized the decisions of the Royal College of Physicians Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >> and Royal College of Surgeons Royal College of Surgeons
Close   View the register entry >> to make the award of their diplomas dependent on 'walk[ing]' the hospital's wards.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Instruments, Technology, Exhibitions

    Thinks that the oxy-hydrogen and electric lights on display at the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> cannot surpass the brilliancy of a candle at Rochester Cathedral which 'has been made by a gradual process of accretion'—a reference to a dispute concerning the use of the cathedral's trusts.

Genre:

Ballad, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Agriculture, Invention, Technology, Steam-power, Political Economy

    Written in a yokel-style, presents the narrator's doubts about the agricultural use of some of the objects on show at 'your Palace of Crystal Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>'. Argues that 'minerals, and physic, and chymical drugs [...] wun't affoord no relief to the land', and that 'gurt big steam-engines for fairings and toys, / Which I dare say amuses the Manchester boys' will only 'screw up the prices of grain'. Yearns for the 'Fair as was held [...] in the old turnpike-days afore railways was know'd' and thinks the 'wicked inventions for grindun the earth [...] be nought wurth'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Electricity, Mesmerism, Psychology, Politics, Belief

    Contends that electro-biology is not new because the 'effects of gazing on coin' have been known for ages. Noting how 'susceptible subjects' can make a 'solemn vote' when offered money, argues that the St Albans election is an example of 'Electro (Elective) Bribery and Corruption'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Magnetism, Mesmerism, Astronomy

    Compares the 'magnetic' attraction of the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> to the power of the mesmerist over his subjects. Notes that 'hysteric patients, mesmerised [...] Yield to the conjuror's control / With absolute submission; / But all the nation gives its soul / Up to the Exhibition'. Compares the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >> to the crystals of John Dee Dee, John (1527–1608) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and Karl L Reichenbach Reichenbach, Karl (or Carl) Ludwig ()1788–1869 DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Believes Hyde Park Hyde Park
Close   View the register entry >> now constitutes the centre of the new orbit of the solar system.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens, Amusement, Animal Behaviour

    The hippopotamus of the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> laments the fact that its popularity has faded with the appeal of the baby elephant on show in the gardens.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Education, Crime

    Repudiates a Bow Street Bow Street Magistrates' Court
Close   View the register entry >> magistrate's claims that London medical students are the 'most disorderly class with whom the Police and the Magistrates has to deal'. Insists that the magistrate has confused medical students with 'youthful visitors' to Exeter Hall Exeter Hall, Strand
Close   View the register entry >>, and hopes medical students will 'spare no amount of money, noise, and beer' in publicly restoring their reputation.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Ornithology, Animal Behaviour

    Noting that 'Certain insects are coloured by their food', suggests that John Gould's Gould, John (1804–81) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> hummingbirds at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> must have eaten coloured jewels to produce their magnificent colours. Thinks the birds are greater marvels than the hippopotamus and baby elephant on display at the gardens.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Invention, Gender

    Discusses Joseph Paxton's Paxton, Sir Joseph (1803–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> claim that his machine for sweeping the floor of the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> is redundant because 'the long dresses of the ladies' perform the work.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Morality, Manufactories, Political Economy, Gender, Class

    Noting the various morals that 'grow out of' the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>, presents 'a sample' of the morals drawn by different sections of the population. These include the 'Protectionist' and 'Free Trader', who claim the moral of the exhibition to be the 'humbug' and virtues of free trade respectively; the wife, who believes the moral to be to 'Get the men to take you to see that stupid machinery'; and the artisan who wonders 'how they'd get on without us?—Or we without them, for that matter'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Astronomy, Anti-Scientism

    Presents the items of 'ennobling dogmata' announced by Pope Pius IX Pius IX, Pope (1792–1878) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>. These include such ridiculous astronomical claims as 'the earth does not move, and—under the present Pontiff—never shall' and the 'Moon is made of green cheese'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Mesmerism, Electricity, Electrochemistry, Spiritualism

Publications cited:

Gregory 1851 Gregory, William 1851. Letters to a Candid Enquirer on Animal Magnetism, London: Taylor [and 2 others]
Close   View the register entry >>

    Complains about the cost of postage on letters from the United Kingdom to 'foreign parts' and describes several solutions to this problem. These include the 'truly marvellous time and space annihilator', the 'Snail Telegraph' of M. Benoit Benoit, M (fl. 1851) PU1/20/23/2
Close   View the register entry >> and M. Allix Allix, M. (fl. 1850) http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/aig/staff/toby/writing/Skeptic/pd26.html
Close   View the register entry >>, a telegraph exploiting the strong mutual magnetic sympathy felt by snails, even when separated by the Atlantic ocean. Reports William Gregory's Gregory, William (1803–58) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> analysis of the phenomenon, but adds that Mr Punch could not make snails sympathise with each other when only six inches apart.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Invention

    Discusses one of the Great Exhibition's Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> 'wonders'—'a Bed that upsets itself by machinery at a certain hour'. The illustration depicts this invention in action.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Universities, Mathematics, Education

    Subtitled 'Signs of the Commission Royal Commission on Oxbridge
Close   View the register entry >>', shows two students at the University of Oxford University of Oxford
Close   View the register entry >> or University of Cambridge University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >>, and reveals that one student cannot cope with his friend's simple arithmetical question about a bet on a horse.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Treatment, Quackery, Methodology, Surgery

    Explains that Mr Punch has received gifts (including some sticking plaster labelled 'Arnica Plaster' and a book 'Arnica and Rhus, with Directions for their Use, in Mechanical Injuries, and in other Affections' Anon. 1852. Arnica, Rhus, and Calendula: With Directions for their Use in Mechanical Injuries and Other Affections, London: W. Headland
Close   View the register entry >>) from a clergyman 'for the benefit of the Hahnemann Hospital London Homeopathic Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>'. These have been sent to Mr Punch 'to enable him to satisfy himself, experimentally, of the truth of homeopathy'. Points out that Mr Punch's constitution is so sound that he does not see how 'Arnica Plaster' can be better than common court-plaster in treating wounds. Points out that Mr Punch is not prepared to take the trouble to conduct a thorough comparison of different plasters, but adds that neither were homeopathic practitioners—who 'pretend to be scientific men' and followers of 'Inductive philosophy', whatever may be thought of the pretence'. Proceeds to consider the book accompanying the plaster. Explains that Mr Punch accepts the claim of homeopathic practitioners that they do profess to be able to treat 'dislocations and fractures', but that he does not think their treatment works for any disease. Draws attention to extracts in the book which appear to show how homeopathic remedies still depend on surgery and are ultimately chimerical.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Status, Human Species, Sociology

    Describes the principal circles in high society in terms of their 'geometry'. For example, 'An Illustrious Circle is a Circle having for centre a royal duke, and for radii peers and nobles of high rank'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Lecturing, Zoology, Anatomy, Microscopy

    Reports that the Lord Mayor of London (John Musgrove Musgrove, John (fl. 1850) http://www.steeljam.dircon.co.uk/lordmayorchrono.htm
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Close   View the register entry >> chief magistrate' becoming the 'best exponent of the dainty', or 'LORD MAYOR ERASMUS WILSON Wilson, Sir William James Erasmus (1809–84) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> being called upon to display human skin. An adjoining paragraph, entitled 'Another Account', suggests that the display is not new to the Greenwich Pensioners, since whilst the mayor magnifies the legs of only spiders and flies, the pensioners magnify the full-blooded native cockroach.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Adulteration, Medical Practitioners, Public Health

    Reports on Thomas Wakley's Wakley, Thomas (1795–1862) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> investigations revealing that coffee consists of such substances as 'chicory, corn, and potatoes'. Extracts from Coffee and its Adulterations Anon. 1851. Adulteration of Coffee: A Verbatim Report of the Proceedings of a Public Meeting [...] to Which is Appended, Comments on the Subject from 'The Times', 'Chronicle', and 'The Lancet', London: T.M. Inchbold
Close   View the register entry >> reveal the alarming amount of chicory and corn in various types of coffee. Suggests that this information will allow people to see through labels in grocers' shop windows. Discusses the possible consequences of the fact that tradesmen have defended their use of chicory in coffee by arguing that the public are so accustomed to it that they would be indignant if it were removed.