Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Scientific Practitioners

People mentioned:

Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J 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:

Nutrition, Exhibitions

    Shows a family looking at a display of people who have turned into the vegetables upon which they were exclusively fed.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Instruments

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Nutrition

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Chemistry, Telegraphy, Geology, Nutrition

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Chemistry, Putrefaction, Anti-Scientism, Gender

    Expresses disgust at a report in the Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> of a lecture by Lyon Playfair Playfair, Sir Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair of St Andrews (1818–98) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> in which the chemist claimed that fragrances are made from such disagreeable substances as 'the offal of the streets'. The author is even more shocked by Playfair's claim that plants and food develop from the remains of 'a past generation' of animal 'ancestors' and wishes 'such unpleasant secrets [...] had never been discovered'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Instrument-makers, Ornithology

    Describes Johannes Regiomontanus Regiomontanus, Johannes (1436–76) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> as the 'subtle mechanist' who 'made a Wooden Eagle'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Quackery, Medical Treatment, Health, Patronage

People mentioned:

Galileo Galilei Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Responds to an advertisement inviting 'Philanthropic Gentlemen' to meet the 'hundreds' who have been cured by 'Dr. G—'s MIRACULOUS RECIPE'. Insists that gentlemen and ladies should not rubbish 'Dr. G—'s pills', since they had not tested 'the powers of his "miraculous recipe"', and should accept homeopathic remedies without question. Adds that such 'persons of quality' know nothing of the 'laws of health and disease' and regard 'Personal recovery, after recourse to an alleged remedy, without reference to the question of post hoc or propter hoc' as sufficient proof. Invites such people to contradict the sceptical view 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 >>. Ends by alluding to the support of Mason G Stratford (5th Earl of Aldborough) Stratford, Mason Gerard, 5th Earl of Aldborough (1784–1849) Cokayne 1910-59
Close   View the register entry >> for Thomas Holloway Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment, Health, Patronage

    Announces that 'Fifty Years' UNINTERRUPTED HEALTH has been succeeded' by a litany of diseases 'after trying BOSH's good-for-nothing stuff, called the Health-restoring AMBROSIA OLYMPICA ALIMENT'. Appends testimonials from such 'equally well-known and respectable parties' as 'LORD REWITT DE QUOTIES'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Technology

    Describes the dangers of gas jets protruding from the outside of buildings. The illustration shows a gentleman getting his hat singed by an ignited gas jet darting horizontally out from a wall.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Politics, Race, Government

    Announces that 'M. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> will continue his Series of Experiments on People in a Perfectly Wakeful State', and who will bend to his will and 'imagine themselves' to be 'Negroes' and Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> to be Alexander the Great Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia (356–323 BC) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Mesmerism, Politics

    Claims that Prof. Taylor Taylor, Prof. (practitioner of 'Magic, Clairvoyance, and Ventriloquism, Parisian Delusions') (fl. 1852) PU1/22/5/3
Close   View the register entry >>, a practitioner of 'Magic, Clairvoyance, and Ventriloquism, Parisian Delusions', cannot compete with Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> 'in the production of Parisian Delusions'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Palaeontology, Nutrition

    Notes William J Broderip's Broderip, William John (1789–1859) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> observation, made in Leaves from the Note-Book of a Naturalist Broderip, William John 1852. Leaves from the Note-Book of a Naturalist, London: J. W. Parker
Close   View the register entry >>, that Georges Cuvier Cuvier, Georges (1769–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> had been struck by the 'tortue' whilst dining at the Albion. Believes Cuvier has discovered endless numbers of fossil reptiles but that no reptile pleased him more than this turtle.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Politics, Medical Treatment, Government

    Shows Lord John Russell Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (the Prime Minister) reminding John Bull that 'large doses of reform are bad for your constitution' and offering him 'a globule, or infinitesimal bill'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Mesmerism, Politics

    Claims that 'an eminent Chemist of our acquaintance has, by the aid of a highly powerful Chemico-Mesmeric Analysing Apparatus' found the 'circulating medium' of Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> 'to consist almost wholly of sang froid'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Education, Medical Treatment

    Responds to news of an inventor who proposes 'to teach children their letters through the medium of lozenges' and anticipates the 'wholesome effect' produced by 'conveying information in a medical form' and combining 'salubrity with science'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Homeopathy, Medical Treatment, Politics, Analogy

    Argues that 'the system of politics now dominant in Europe conforms with marvellous regularity to the "Hygeian or Morisonian System" in medicine', a reference to James Morison's Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> quack remedies. Supports this by drawing analogies between the propositions in a hand-bill for Morison's system and features of European politics. For example, while Morison proposes that 'All diseases arise from impurity of the Blood, or, in other words, acrimonious humours lodged in the body', Punch notes that 'it is impossible to deny that "acrimonious humours"—very bad humours indeed—prevail in the body politic, everywhere to a very great extent'. Extending the analogy, desires the equivalent of the 'Vegetable Compound' which will cure the diseases of the European body politic.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Controversy

People mentioned:

John C Adams, Adams, John Couch (1819–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Urbain J J Leverrier Le Verrier, Urbain Jean Joseph (1811–77) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Lecturing, Magic, Politics

    Reports on the lecture on optics delivered to the Académie des Sciences Académie des Sciences, Paris
Close   View the register entry >> in Paris by statesman Henry P Brougham (1st Baron Brougham and Vaux) Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, later published as Brougham 1853 Brougham, Henry Peter 1853. 'Recherches Expérimentales et Analytiques sur la Lumière', Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences, 36, 691–94
Close   View the register entry >>. Purports to be shocked that Brougham promised to give 'the greatest Optical Illusion that ever visited a nation' and proceeded to produce 'a phantasm of Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Public Health, Sound, Architecture

    Considers David B Reid's Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> ventilation system for the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> to have made 'the temperature pleasant— in the heat, too, of the debate', so that 'the only draughts one suffered from, were the drafts of Bills'. Admits that the building's roof is not built upon 'acoustic principles' but adds that 'one still heard what Members said, wherever they might stand'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Education, Physical Geography, Astronomy, Political Economy, Physiology, Medical Treatment, Quackery, Homeopathy, Geology

    Argues against the hereditary principle as sufficient for admission to the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes that 'nobody is a physician by birth', and argues that neither should a peer be able to 'practise his profession without examination'. Insists that a peer should learn such scientific subjects as 'the physiology of the Constitution which he will have to treat', medicine—so that 'he may understand the analogies of national and individual therapeutics'—and geology, so that he may 'acquire a philosophical idea of pedigree, by comparing the bones of his ancestors with those of the ichthyosaurus'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Technology, Public Health, Pollution, Agriculture, Expertise, Scientific Practitioners, Charlatanry

    Complains about the disastrous ventilation system in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>, which has led to such dire consequences as members of parliament 'breathing sulphuretted— / What d'ye call it?— hydrogen'. Pointing out that 'this is ventilation / Upon scientific grounds / Which cost the British nation / Near a hundred thousand pounds', denies that 'men of science' know anything about chemistry and condemns 'your FARADAYS Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and BRANDES Brande, William Thomas (1788–1866) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, / And your LIEBIGS Liebig, Justus von (1803–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' who advocate chemical fertilisers.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Technology, Public Health, Politics, Architecture, Charlatanry

    Responds to the woefully poor ventilation system in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>. Believes that David B Reid Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Charles Barry Barry, Sir Charles (1795–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> have 'nearly blown us / Out of the window to the skies'. Explains the excessive heat and icy breezes generated by the ventilation system and asks 'Shall we boil, or freeze, or fry?'. Resolves to 'throw the doctors [Reid and Barry]' 'Overboard' until 'by these great air-decocters / Something definite is known'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Technology, Invention, Light, Public Health, Government, Chemistry, Education

    Responds to the solution suggested by Edward A Seymour (Lord Seymour) St Maur [formerly Seymour], Edward Adolphus, 12th Duke of Somerset (1804–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to the presence of 'the products of combustion of lights' in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>. Points out that Seymour's solution, replacing gas lamps with wax candles, would not solve the problem. Suggests that Seymour ask his father to take him to the Royal Institution Royal Institution of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >> to 'learn all about combustion and its products'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Menageries, Monstrosities, Animal Behaviour, Government, Politics

    Reports an apparent fulfilment of François M A Voltaire's Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de (1694–1778) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'animal combination' of the 'Monkey and the Tiger'—a story about a monkey at Wombwell's Menagerie Wombwell's Menagerie
Close   View the register entry >> which, escaping from chastisement by a keeper, was eaten by a tiger. Thinks the resulting monster 'Monkey-Tiger' or 'Tiger-Monkey' would, if trained to walk on its hind legs, 'pass in certain circles for a great practical statesman'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Anatomy, Phrenology, Class, Charlatanry

    Reports on Frederick Gray's Gray, Frederick (fl. 1855) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> invention of a compound that closely resembles human skin. Believes the invention 'will open a door to gross imposition' and anticipates the appearance of false hands and no end 'to the mending of faces'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Technology, Invention, Public Health, Politics, Charlatanry

    Laments the £200,000 spent by David B Reid Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Charles Barry Barry, Sir Charles (1795–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>in ventilating the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Exploration, Human Species

Institutions mentioned:

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

    Discusses 'an extraordinary mode of salutation practised by the Thibetans at Lassa' mentioned by Evaristé R Huc Huc, Evariste Régis (1813–60) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> in his Souveniers d'un Voyage dans la Tartarie Huc, Evaristé Regis 1850. Souvenirs d'un voyage dans la Tarterie, le Thibet et la Chine, pendant les années 1844, 1845 et 1846, 2 vols, Paris: A. Le Clère
Close   View the register entry >>. Expecting readers to regard such gestures as 'idiotic', points out that the Lord Chamberlain walks backwards before the face of royalty.

Genre:

Illustration, Satire; Reportage, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

McC, pseud.  [William McConnell] McConnell, William (1831–67) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Monstrosities, Politics, Government, Political Economy, Agriculture

    Describes a sighting by 'One of our Foreign Correspondents' of the 'Protectionist Sea-Serpent' which was attacked by 'a native, named JACK RUSSELL' (i.e. Lord John Russell Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the Prime Minister), 'the mate of the Free-Trader', Richard Cobden Cobden, Richard (1804–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and other members of the boat crew. The illustration shows a sea-serpent, with John Bull's head and a body marked 'Protection', in pursuit of 'The [Agricultural] League Agricultural League
Close   View the register entry >>' ship, at whose stern John Russell sits.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Practitioners, Heroism

    Responding to news of a proposed monument to James Morison Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, suggests that the inscription should be 'Si monumentum quæris circumspice!'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Adulteration, Public Health, Nutrition

    Responding to an advertisement for a new machine for testing the 'genuineness of milk', insists that nobody is interested in testing 'that chalky article' and thinks it is 'Far better to swallow it [milk] with all its faults, than attempt to dive too deeply into its mysteries'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Politics

    Notes the ability of mesmerised subjects to 'see through walls and relate what is occurring at any distance', and warns Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> that the discussions of his senate and legislative assembly will be 'got at'.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Hunting

    The song is supposed to be sung by the 'Serpent's Head', which identifies itself as 'a mere chimaera of the sea'. It describes his capture by Charles Seabury Seabury, Charles (master of the ship Monongahela) (fl. 1852) PU1/22/12/5 The Times, 10 March 1852, p. 8a
Close   View the register entry >>, master of the whaling ship Monongahela Monongahela, ship
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Invention, Technology, Public Health, Architecture, Controversy, Charlatanry, Engineers

    Comments on the 'breeze existing between the Architect and the Ventilator of the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>'—Charles Barry Barry, Sir Charles (1795–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and David B Reid Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> respectively.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Technology, Invention, Public Health, Nutrition, Charlatanry

    Expresses approval that the progress of the 'milk-tester' into the 'milk-cans and milk-jugs of the metropolis' has broken the partnership between 'the cow and the pump', because it will prevent the cow 'exhausting all its resources on a dishonourable connection with a Pump' which has helped 'a system of fraud and trickery'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Anaesthesia, Mesmerism, Psychology, Exhibitions, Commerce

    Shocked to see an advertisement for the sale of the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>, Punch tries to convince himself that 'somebody had chloroformed or electro-biologised us unawares'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Illustration, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

Mc, pseud.  [William McConnell] McConnell, William (1831–67) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Practitioners, Heroism

    Agrees with the proposal to erect a monument of James Morison Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and supports this view with arguments that play on words associated with his medical trade. For instance, a monument should be erected 'Because Morison was one of the most remarkable pillers of society'. Suggests, by means of an illustration, that it should consist of a brass head stone resting on a brass disk marked '13 1/2 D'—possibly the cost of one of his celebrated pills.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Crime, Gender, Human Development

    Responding to news of a severe sentence given to a man for 'an error in the administration of a remedy', thinks medical men should 'give up practice; because in their case an error in judgement' is inexcusable. Blames 'other parties'—undoubtedly patent medicine sellers—for causing 'ignorant females' to give poisonous substances to infants.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Mental Illness, Politics, Mental Illness, Psychology

    Notes Alfred S Taylor's Taylor, Alfred Swaine (1806–80) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> argument, in On Poisons Taylor, Alfred Swaine 1848. On Poisons in Relation to Medical Jurisprudence and Medicine, London: John Churchill
Close   View the register entry >>, concerning the 'extraordinary' effect of some types of bread and fish on the human body. Links the 'mental alteration' of a thinly-veiled Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, to a consumption of these loaves and fishes. Believes that the effect of 'Treasury bread' and fish upon Disraeli's mind preaches to us 'the wonderful impartiality of nature'. Using Taylor, attributes Disraeli's recent 'irritation' to his consumption of oysters and periwinkles at Downing Street.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Ornithology, Politics

    Description of the habits of the 'Protectionist Cuckoo' which alludes to the poor state of the protectionist cause. For example, the bird is described as 'one of the rarest of birds' whose 'whole family will soon fade from the eye of the Political Naturalist', and which is 'incapable of any high flight whatever'.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Public Health, Sanitation, Pollution, Disease, Commerce

    A 'Humble Petition of the Metropolitan Water Companies' to Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> that makes cynical digs at the profits made from consumers by the water companies, and upholds the shortcomings of such companies as virtues. For example, it urges 'That your Petitioners have supplied Water of a very superior quality; viz. Thames water, of a much more nutritious character than any soft water' owing to its enrichment by 'a large percentage of animal matter'. Other items on the petition are attacks on the refusal of metropolitan water companies to supply soft water constantly and at high pressure.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Pollution, Nutrition, Controversy

Institutions mentioned:

Lancet—Analytical Sanitary Commission Lancet—Analytical Sanitary Commission
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses reports that strychnine has been used in the production of bitter ale and although the Lancet Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> has 'made the public suspicious of nearly everything that is sold for food', believes 'Everything, however bad, has some redeeming quality'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hydropathy, Medical Treatment

    Comments on the claim that several people, including a clergyman, were cured by a specially prepared ale.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Practitioners, Education, Gender

    Responding to news that in America nine women are studying homeopathy, hopes that nurses soothe babies with 'infinitesimal doses of 'Daffy and Dalby'—an allusion to Anthony Daffy's Daffy, Anthony (fl. 1673) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >>'Elixir Salutis' and Joseph Dalby's Dalby, Joseph (fl. 1760) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> work on the medicinal qualities of cinnabar and musk (see Daffy 1673 Daffy, Anthony 1673. Elixir Salutis: The Choise Drink of Health, or, Health-Bringing Drink ... a Secret Far Beyond any Medicament yet Known, London: T. Milbourn
Close   View the register entry >> and Dalby 1762 Dalby, Joseph 1762. The Virtues of Cinnabar and Musk, Against the Bite of a Mad Dog, Illustrated, in a Letter to Sir George Cobb, Baronet, with a Word or Two Concerning Dr. Henry Bracken's Newly Discovered Specifick, of Near Eighteen-Hundred Years Standing, Being a Sufficient Refutation of the Flimsy Arguments Advanced by this Celebrated Writer, in a Learned Rant on the Virtues of Goose-Grease [...] Birmingham: John Baskerville
Close   View the register entry >>).

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Publishing

    Written by 'Our own Clairvoyant' discusses several works that have not 'as yet reached even the blotting paper of its author', each one being a mere 'baby-bookling in the brain'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pharmaceuticals, Medical Treatment, Crime, Mental Illness, Phrenology, Education, Human Development

    Notes the strange cure for epilepsy prescribed by George Bate Bate, George (1608–68) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> in his Pharmacopeia Bate, George 1688. Pharmacopeia Bateana, in qua octingenta circiter pharmaca, pleruq; Omnia è praxi G. Batei [...] Excertpa, ordine alphabetico coreise exhibibentur [...] Accessit orthotonia edicorum observata: Annexa item est [...] tabula posologica dosibus pharmacorum [...] expeditius computandis acconmodata [...] Cura Ja. Shipton, 3 pts, London: Sam. Smith
Close   View the register entry >> but points out that physicians of Bates' day 'practised according to the science of the period'. Comparing medical practitioners to lawyers, notes that 'judges and magistrates' only 'administer punishments [...] conformably to the rules of the faculty' but regards this as a reason for criticising a sentence without attacking the judge. Objects strongly to a judge's decision to flog a ten year-old child for theft, and thinks education rather than flagellation is the proper way of removing the child's 'constitutional propensity to steal'. Discusses the phrenologists' claims regarding the faculty of 'acquisitiveness' and points out that illustrations of this can be seen in the London shop of Cornelius Donovan Donovan, Cornelius (c. 1820–72) DNBS
Close   View the register entry >>, the phrenologist.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Health, Nutrition

    Written 'By a Scottish Philosopher who has tried them all', these rules play on stereotypes of Scottish people and include such injunctions as 'Never eat anything but oatmeal', and 'Walk fifteen miles regularly every day'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Amusement, Music

    Believes the 'Astronomy of the Stage presents phenomena which would startle even the indefatigable astronomer' who sends such observations of the 'sky blue, milky way, or the electric currents' to The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>. Points out that the stars referred to in the title are not the 'ADDITIONAL PLANETS' or the 'pretty little twinkling stars' that John C Adams Adams, John Couch (1819–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> keeps discovering, but the moon represented in the Royal Italian Opera's production of Gioacchino A Rossini's Rossini, Gioacchino Antonio (1792–1868) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Guglielmo Tell. Observes that the moon's conduct 'was consistent with the rules of Astronomy'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Discovery, Status

    Reports that an aristocratic astronomer 'declines to inspect LEVERRIER's Le Verrier, Urbain Jean Joseph (1811–77) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> new planet' because 'it is a parvenu'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry

    Announces that 'communication with the other world' is 'an established fact' in America and presents a newspaper report of two mediums who produced libellous 'sundry communications' from the spirit of a gentleman who patronised them. Concludes that the 'miscalled Rappers' are 'clearly not worth a rap'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Sound, Politics

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Quackery, Medical Treatment, Hospitals, Patronage

Institutions mentioned:

Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >> Royal College of Surgeons Royal College of Surgeons
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reporting on a banquet held by supporters of the London Homeopathic Hospital London Homeopathic Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>, notes sarcastically that the chairman, George T Keppel (6th Earl of Albermarle) Keppel, George Thomas, 6th Earl of Albemarle (1799–1891) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, was 'doubtless [...] so distinguished in the scientific world [... as] to form a sound judgement on a medical question', and 'considered well what he was about' before supporting the subversive medical system of homeopathy. Suggests the 'HAHNEMANNITES' (followers Christian F S Hahnemann Hahnemann, Christian Friedrich Samuel (1755–1843) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>) do not entirely carry out their principle of "similia similibus" owing to the non-infinitesimal quantities of food they consumed at the banquet. Notes the non-infinitesimal patronage of the hospital offered by 'certain bankers'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Invention, Light

    Reports on experiments to test whether a Minie rifle, a weapon designed to fire balls to 'the distance whereat the marksman can see', can fire balls to a greater distance once it is fitted with a telescopic sight.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Education, Homeopathy, Heterodoxy, Hydropathy

    Asks whether the 'paths' in hydropathy, allopathy, and homeopathy 'lead more or less to the College Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry

    Believes the chemists' evaporating dish is the 'pigeon pie-dish' which, when taken to Epsom, 'evaporates immediately'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Zoology, Charlatanry, Observation

    Considers that reports of the sea serpent suggest that humans have little 'regard for truth' but explains why it was reasonable for sailors to mistake a steamer for the monster.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Scientific Practitioners, Observation

    Responding to an astronomer's report of 'a fine group of spots on the sun', suggests anybody who considers spots to be fine to be observing the sun 'with the eye of a Macassar'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Electricity, Commerce, Psychology, Charlatanry, Crime, Belief

    Explains the practice of electro-biology and electro-biologists' ability to make people 'the victims of the most extraordinary delusions'. Responding to an advertisement in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> for a 'CLASS for INSTRUCTION in this SCIENCE', concludes that electro-biology is less a science than an art for extracting money from people whose 'pecuniary substance' dominates their 'cerebral development'. Deplores the fact that entire assemblies of people can fall under the sway of the electro-biologist and regards this demonstration of the 'gullible portion of the human species' to be 'psychologically interesting'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Electricity, Psychology, Spiritualism, Government, Politics

    Notes that 'French Senators are expressly required to legislate with their eyes shut, and on no account permitted to appear in what an electro-biologist would term "a wakeful state"'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Quackery, Medical Treatment, Surgery

    Discusses a Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of the London Homeopathic Hospital London Homeopathic Hospital
Close   View the register entry >> dinner. Notes the non-infinitesimal amounts of food eaten and rejects the idea that the Queen's health should depend on 'the power of homeopathy or allopathy'. Following John Epps's Epps, John (1805–69) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> remarks, thinks 'the globule reputation is what some people seek [...] when, by agitating for the diffusion of nonsense, they acquire infinitesimal celebrity'. Notes Henry R Madden's Madden, Henry Ridewood (fl. 1851) PU1/22/21/1
Close   View the register entry >> argument that Benjamin C Brodie's Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins, 1st Baronet (1783–1862) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> practice has improved since he discontinued bleeding, and claims that homeopathic patients would have ascribed this success to homeopathy 'no less' than the discontinuance of bleeding. Reminds those ladies and gentleman ignorant of medicine that 'many diseases will get well without the aid of medicine' and that homeopathic globules 'do infinitely small harm'. Introduces 'oudenopathy' as a treatment for the 'really ill' and those who have nothing wrong with them, and, following John Kennaway's Kennaway, Sir John, 2nd Baronet (1797–1873) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> remarks, ponders the possibility that homeopathy, like astrology, will outlive the ridicule aimed at it.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Treatment

    Notes that one of the speakers at the meeting was 'DOCTOR BECCAFICO (the great homeopathist)' who 'practised medicine upon the principles of the immortal HAHNEMANN Hahnemann, Christian Friedrich Samuel (1755–1843) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners

    Argues that, while 'it may be desirable that a physician's prescription should sometimes be written in ciphers and contractions unintelligible to the patient', there is no reason for butchers' bills to be illegible.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustration, Caricature

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:

Mesmerism, Electricity, Psychology, Politics, Government, Belief

    Surprised that electro-biology has not been adopted by politicians to make John Bull 'swallow whatever the Minister should desire to force down the throat of the victim'. Points out that the 'great advantage of electro-biology over common-place Mesmerism' is that it can be performed while the patient is awake—a state that John Bull is in for most of the time. Notes that electrobiologized patients apparently find it difficult to get rid of an object that they have stared at for a long time; the author believes that this is the situation with regard to John Bull (the patient) and income tax (the object). The illustration shows the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (standing), as the electrobiological 'Professor' who, while pointing to a lump of sugar (marked 'Income Tax') in the hands of a transfixed John Bull, exclaims, 'There, Sir That's a Lump of Sugar—You Can't Move it, Sir; I Defy You to Get Rid of It'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Instruments, Government

    Responds to news of the introduction into England of a 'Diurnal Reflector, which is intended to invest dark places with the light of day'. Notes that the instrument was banned from Paris where newspapers are suppressed for trying to illuminate the dark operations of the French government. Suggests the instruments are used to illuminate the 'dark doings' of the Court of Chancery Court of Chancery
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens, Politics, Government

    Objects strongly to Chancellor of the Exchequer Benjamin Disraeli's Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> sneer at the proposal to give parliamentary representation to the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. The elephant puffs himself as 'the brute model of the human politician', identifying his trunk as representing 'the very philosophy of statesmanship'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Scientific Practitioners, Politics, Observatories

    Regards Dominique F J Arago's Arago, Dominique François Jean (1786–1853) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> decision to resign as director of the Observatoire de Paris Observatoire de Paris
Close   View the register entry >> rather than swear an 'oath of fidelity' to Louis Napoleon Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>, as proof that Arago does not recognise Napoleon's 'lucky star'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Disease, Anthropomorphism

    Discusses solutions to the problem of the 'disgusting state' of the Serpentine as if it were a patient undergoing a medical examination.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Electricity, Psychology, Belief

    Argues that electrobiology is not novel since the landlords of taverns have long used similar practices: when dealing with complaints about the quality of wine, they invite customers to focus on the 'bees wing' in the glass and expatiate on the history of the wine to convince customers that what they have is 'an excellent glass of port'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Botany, Societies, Zoological Gardens

    Reports on Anthony Waterer's Waterer, Anthony (fl. 1852) PU1/22/25/1
Close   View the register entry >> display of American plants at the Botanic Society Royal Botanic Society of London
Close   View the register entry >>, a display attended, ironically enough, by a shower. Observes that the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> should have staged a rival show of raining 'cats and dogs'.