Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Magic, Charlatanry

    Announces the imminent arrival of the 'REV. GLENDOWER S. FIBBS', an American 'WIZARD' whose powers include proving 'the REALITY OF SORCERY and MAGIC by the OCULAR DEMONSTRATION' and who is accompanied by a 'WITCH' who can demonstrate the 'power of SORCERY over the elements' and her ability to transform herself into various animals.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Quackery, Gender, Faith, Proof, Induction

    Agreeing with Michael Faraday's Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> claims regarding the 'scientific reasoning' of the 'public mind', responds to a Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of Edward Miall's Miall, Edward (1809–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> conversion to 'the truth of the principles of homeopathy'. Believes anybody who has only 'the slightest glimmering of an idea of inductive proof' will be shocked at this news, and likens Miall's grounds for believing in something so absurd to those held by an 'old woman'. Insists that science, unlike homeopathy, is not a question of faith and has no converts because its 'truths are self-evident or demonstrable'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Observation, Expertise, Superstition, Charlatanry, Mesmerism, Magic, Homeopathy

    Subtitled 'On His Astonishment at the Extent of Popular Delusion which has been Disclosed by "Table-Turning"' (see Faraday 1853 Faraday, Michael 1853. 'On Table-Turning', The Times, 30 June 1853, p. 8
Close   View the register entry >>), this poem is evidently a response to Michael Faraday's Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> attack on public credulity, as evidenced by the craze for table-turning. Wonders why 'simple Mr. Faraday', despite his skill at 'touching chemic laws and powers' has only just noticed how many 'dunces' and incompetent observers there are in the world. Considers him an 'unsophisticated sage' for thinking that this was an age of 'enlightenment' when 'Weak Superstition' was dead. Laments the fact that 'simple Mr. Faraday' is apparently unaware of the public's belief in the claims of 'Yankee' mediums and in homeopathy, and his apparent assumption that the 'days of DR. DEE Dee, John (1527–1608) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' were past. Attacks 'Men of learning, who [...] should know better' for testifying to various miraculous events and explains that Faraday has not 'tried' experiments on 'Society's weak side' because he is 'all Philosopher and nothing of a Quack'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Phrenology, Nomenclature

    Urges Cornelius Donovan Donovan, Cornelius (c. 1820–72) DNBS
Close   View the register entry >> to explain the meaning of the term 'Enlarged Benevolence'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology

    Responding to a regular weather report in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, Punch provides meteorological observations of its own. These include such banal remarks as 'Barometer fell—to the ground and smashed'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Amusement

    Noting reports of parties being given 'for the purpose of trying the hat-moving experiment', questions the use of such events given the fact that hats are normally 'moved' at parties or 'operated upon'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Electricity, Spiritualism, Hunting, Cultural Geography, Race, Exhibitions, Ethnography

    Putatively written by a black author, the poem dismisses the interest in 'magnetic attraction, / Electro-biology, media' and 'Rapping for Spirits', but appreciates Roualeyn G G Cumming's Cumming, Roualeyn George Gordon- (1820–66) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> display at Hyde Park Corner Hyde Park Corner
Close   View the register entry >> of skins of animals from around the world. Notes how fashionable society is entertained there by 'Kafirs from Borioboola' who act out 'Their business of marriage, and murder, and war', rituals 'which, of course, we abhorr'. Insists that the highlight of the exhibition is meeting the visitors and admiring their babies. Explains the ease of finding a white baby ('for a pet') in 'the back courts of St Giles' but there is a 'penchant' for black babies 'roused' by Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe, Harriet Beecher 1852. Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, Boston: John P. Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington
Close   View the register entry >>. Comparing white and black babies, insists that the latter 'could never have vices / Like those which degrade us in civilised life', and notes the extinction of savages by 'Civilisation'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Quackery, Spiritualism, Homeopathy, Patronage

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Natural History

    Alluding to the recent formation of a military camp at Chobham, shows a military officer emptying frogs out of his boots.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C B, pseud.  [Edward Bradley] Bradley, Edward (pseud Cuthbert Bede) (1827–89) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Photography, Gender, Amusement

    Shows a mother and daughter standing before a counter in an apothecary's shop. The mother complains to the proprietor about the 'Photographic Chemicals' that have stained her daughter's face.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Agriculture, Nutrition

    Records Michael Faraday's Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> annoyance at witnessing elite members of the Royal Agricultural Society Royal Agricultural Society of England
Close   View the register entry >> using the power of table-turning to transform a tub of cream into butter.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Agriculture, Mechanics, Invention

    Asks for 'the ghost of any good old British farmer' to rap out his opinion on the newly-invented 'Dynamometer'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Physiology, Psychology

    Subtitle explains that the poem shows 'how the Round Table moved of its own accord, and of the terrible Adventure of the Rapping Spirits, and how SIR LANCELOT took upon him the quest of a medium'. Goes on to describe how the ladies of King Arthur's court were 'rapt in admiration' of 'Rapping Spirits' in case there was '"something wicked" mingled with a sport so dear' and notes that the sages argue '[a]gainst reason' about 'ideo-motor systems, motive wills, and vital force'. Describes how the Round Table began to rotate and dragged with it the knights and their ladies, with King Arthur sitting in the middle of the 'great Cartesian whirlwind'. (58) Later in the poem 'the ghost of [...] MERLIN' communicates by spirit-rapping and 'LINETTE' is described as 'the damsel Sauvage' who held '"mesmeriques séances" every afternoon at four'. 'Dame LYONS', a medium in King Arthur's court, explains how she had 'with her quick clairvoyant spirit seen the merry scene' involving the table and warns that 'media' cannot explain the 'mystic raps [...] for a fee'. (59) Illustration shows the Round Table in full flight, with King Arthur in the centre and his knights and ladies being dragged around the circumference.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Homeopathy

People mentioned:

Thomas Holloway Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Commerce, Class

    Addressed to 'The Right Hon. the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>', the petition claims that the signatories are all 'medical professionals' who make their living from selling treatments to the sick, that they are 'deeply interested in the condition of the poor', that they oppose the Sunday-opening of the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>, and that the expansion of parks threatens to reduce the number of working-class patients and thus business.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Quackery, Patronage

    Responds to the death (in 1849) of the nobleman, Mason G Stratford (5th Earl of Aldborough) Stratford, Mason Gerard, 5th Earl of Aldborough (1784–1849) Cokayne 1910-59
Close   View the register entry >>, who was a notorious patron of 'certain pills'. Includes a poem, 'Wanted, a Nobleman!' which seeks a nobleman who is ready to claim that a 'Popular Pill' cured him of his myriad diseases and surpassed the efforts of a litany of orthodox medical practitioners.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Disease, Public Health

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Religious Authority

    Criticises the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> for having specimens from the 'German Ocean and the Bristol Channel' but none from the 'Sees of London, Durham, Rochester, or Salisbury'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

Cuthbert Bede, pseud.  [Edward Bradley] Bradley, Edward (pseud Cuthbert Bede) (1827–89) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Photography, Superstition, Military Technology, Progress

    Shows an old lady standing in front of a photographer, whose head is covered by the cloth at the back of his photographic camera. The old lady who, as the caption indicates, is 'not used to these new-fangled notions' (of photography), confuses the camera with a gun and urges the photographer not to shoot.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C B, pseud.  [Edward Bradley] Bradley, Edward (pseud Cuthbert Bede) (1827–89) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Spiritualism

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment, Heterodoxy, Boundary Formation

    Believes that the 'novel' system of medicine called 'Coffinism' is 'very appropriate' and applicable to 'all manner of therapeutical schemes which deviate from true medical science'. Coffinism is an allusion to the alternative medical practice of Albert I Coffin Coffin, Albert Isaiah (c. 1790/1–1866) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Illustration; Introduction, Drollery; Proceedings, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Manufactories, Analytical Chemistry

    Response to the Smoke Nuisance Bill. The illustration shows six typical smoke-producers (including a chimney sweep, a naval captain, and a butcher) who wear chimneys, funnels, or other structures for channeling smoke. During the proceedings of the 'Smoke Makers', 'MR. LONGSHAFT' insists that the 'Smoke Bill was at variance with the constitution of England' because it restricted the freedom of carbon. Adds that he has sent samples of smoke to a 'German chemist' who certified that they contained substances which could be used in antiseptics, tonics, and perfumes.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Treatment

    Ridicules an advertisement in an Edinburgh newspaper from a 'Medical Herbalist' who claims to have removed a 'Serpent from the breast of a lady labouring under Cancer'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Commerce, Nutrition

    Discusses the invention of 'a new Lactometer for testing the milk of human kindness', which consists of a 'blank sheet of paper' with a 'Government Stamp' in its corner.

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:

Railways, Technology, Progress, Cultural Geography

    Shows the resistance of a Chinese dignitary and troops to a steam locomotive labelled 'Progress'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Gender

Genre:

Serial, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Education, Universities, Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens

    Describes the mercenary habits of the 'Ornithorhyncus—the Beast with a [College] Bill', of the University of Oxford University of Oxford
Close   View the register entry >>. Thinks that 'this curious beast' would make an interesting exhibit at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> (103).

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Societies, Palaeontology, Geology, Botany, Astronomy, Instruments, Evolution, Botany, Animal Development, Engineering, Steam-power, Cosmology, Heroism

People mentioned:

George Busk, Busk, George (1807–86) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Galileo Galilei, Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> René Du P Descartes Descartes, René Du Perron (1596–1650) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

Chambers 1844 [Chambers, Robert] 1844. Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, London: John Churchill
Close   View the register entry >>

    Dedicated 'By Permission of the President and Council, to the British Association British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >>', the poem describes the procession of diverse participants towards the 'House of Fame' (the association's annual meeting), including people from 'every nation, / From each calling, class, or station' and 'Poets jostling grave logicians; botanists by politicians'. Describes the activities of several natural philosophers including Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> who carries a 'fossil tusk or femur', Roderick I Murchison Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey, 1st Baronet (1792–1871) DSBODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Robert Chambers Chambers, Robert (1802–71) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> who discuss 'striated rocks', the 'dying' Dominique F J Arago Arago, Dominique François Jean (1786–1853) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> who sighs 'for his country's broken laws', and Alexander von Humboldt Humboldt, Alexander von (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von) (1769–1859) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> who divines the 'Common Cause' from his knowledge of nature. Notes John R Hind's Hind, John Russell (1823–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> skill at determining 'Every wandering planet's station', the 'cortège' of scientific instruments passing into the meeting, Karl L Reichenbach's Reichenbach, Karl (or Carl) Ludwig ()1788–1869 DSB
Close   View the register entry >> work on marsh lights, and Chambers's search for 'the geese that spring from the barnacles that grow on trees'. (106) Goes on to note engineers' protests about 'the tractive power / Of steam'. Having reached the basement of the 'House of Fame', observes several broken relics including the 'Systems of Anaximander Anaximander (610–546/5 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' and fossil 'Pterodactyles'. On proceeding to the 'higher rooms' (and evidently higher forms of knowledge), it notes how 'predecessors' make way for the precession newcomers—notably Georges Cuvier Cuvier, Georges (1769–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> to Owen and Humphry Davy Davy, Sir Humphry, Baronet (1778–1829) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. (107)

Genre:

Introduction; Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens

    Introduces a letter from the 'Rhinoceros of our Zoological Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>' to the 'Rhinoceros of the Jardin des Plantes Jardin des Plantes, Paris
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Health, Mathematics,

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Disease, Public Health

    Describes the costumes of the 'Medical Staff of the Metropolis' and their preparations for dealing with disease.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Politics

    Following the worsening relations between Russia and Turkey, this poem likens the diplomatic efforts of statesmen to avert conflict to doctors administering 'the paper-pill' to 'a dying nation [Turkey]'. Observes that while the 'diplomatic doctors' disagree over the best course of treatment and treat Turkey with 'replies', the patient finally dies.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Amusement, Heroism, Animal Behaviour

    Letter in which the hippopotamus at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> warns his more famous counterpart at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris Jardin des Plantes, Paris
Close   View the register entry >>, about the transitoriness and disappointments of fame.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Agriculture

Genre:

News-Digest, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Astrology, Societies

    Reports on Professor Glimm who, at the recent meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >>, outlined his plans for rearranging the signs of the zodiac 'in accordance with the spirit of the age'. His plans include retiring Sagittarius on the grounds that his 'mode of conducting the chase' is obsolete, and that his duties should be taken up by 'shooting stars'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Sound, Phrenology, Crime

    Responding to an advertisement for an prison organist, notes that phrenologists stress the need to play the 'organ of tune' against that of theft.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Technology, Invention

    An Irish reaper addresses his beloved 'MOLLY' and complains about the grief that his labours have caused him. He hails Cyrus H McCormick McCormick, Cyrus Hall (1809–84) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> and Patrick Bell Bell, Patrick (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, inventors of reaping-machines, and Mr Hussey Hussey, Mr (fl. 1853) PU1/25/13/2
Close   View the register entry >>. He reflects on the advances made in 'machines for sowing, and thrashing, and reaping', and speculates: 'ye'll have a machine for eating it next'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Steam-power, Domestic Economy, Machinery, Electricity, Spiritualism

People mentioned:

Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses a Cambridge Chronicle Cambridge Chronicle (1744–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> advertisement for a footman 'which' can undertake gardening. Believes this is a request for a 'Garden Engine—endowed with intellectual faculties' and wonders how 'such a domestic could have been constructed'. Considers the extent to which Alfred Smee's Smee, Alfred (1818–77) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> connection between electrical action and thought could account for the machine. Suggests that 'the mysterious agency concerned in Table Turning' is 'the animating principle'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Pollution

    Written from the perspective of 'King Cholera', describes his westward journey from Russia, his anticipation of the hoards of victims, and the places where he will flourish, including the 'foetid dens', 'alleys where the sun ne'er smiled', 'yards, whose heaps of dust and bone / Breathe poison all around'. Notes that his favourite 'perfumes', 'music', and 'lieges' are 'oozing gas from opened trench', 'slow death-bell's muffled tones', and vestrymen respectively.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Botany, Discovery, Natural History, Nationalism

    Discusses responses to the alleged discovery of a plant that contains soap within its stalk.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Public Health, Pollution, Government

    Written from the perspective of 'VESTED RIGHT'. Observes: 'On Boards of Health I glide by stealth'. Describes his enjoyment of the repulsive locations in his kingdom, including Smithfield Market Smithfield Market
Close   View the register entry >>, where 'odours [are] flung from [...] dung', and the graveyards which keep him in pocket.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Disease, Health, Pollution, Homeopathy, Medical Treatment

    Following the homeopathic principle of 'like cures like', suggests that 'seleniureted hydrogen', a trace gas found in the air, will provide an antidote to the chief cause of cholera—sulphuretted hydrogen.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Religion, Supernaturalism, Politics, Religious Authority

    Discusses Nathaniel S Godfrey's Godfrey, Nathaniel Stedman (1817–83) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> and Edward Gillson's Gillson, Edward (fl. 1853) PU1/25/15/1
Close   View the register entry >> claim that table-turning is caused by 'Satanic Agency' (a reference to Godfrey 1853 Godfrey, Nathaniel Stedman 1853. Table-Moving Tested, and Proved to be the Result of Satanic Agency, London: Seeleys
Close   View the register entry >> and Gillson 1853 Gillson, Edward [1853]. Table-Talking: Disclosures of Satanic Wonders & Prophetic Signs: A Word for the Wise, Bath: Binns and Goodwin; London: Longman
Close   View the register entry >>). Concludes from an appraisal of these investigators' experiences of the nonsense spoken by tables that '"The Devil is an Ass" is now something more than the title of a comedy [i.e. Ben Jonson's Jonson, Benjamin ('Ben Johnson') (1572–1637) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> play]'. Reports that 'our venerated Rector, the REV. DR. DRYPORT' denied 'supernatural events' and insisted that the table's identification of the Pope with Satan was caused by 'a very zealous Protestant'. Adds a description of an attempt to replicate one of Gillson's experiments with the conclusion that Emperor Nicholas I Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia (1796–1855) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> of Russia was on intimate terms with the Devil.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Instruments, Gender

    Responds to news of the invention of a 'Lunarium', an instrument allowing close inspection of the lunar surface and determination of its age. Regards this interest in the age of a body which is 'a lady' to be 'impertinent'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Medical Practitioners

    Responds to an Athenaeum Athenaeum (1828–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of a medical breakfast served at the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Narcotics

    Describes 'Inn-fluenza', Punch's thinly-veiled reference to drunkenness, whose symptoms include 'ocular delusions' and impaired taste. Hopes 'efficient means will be at once devised to stop it'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Steam-power, Railways, Time, Accidents, Travel

    Criticises the notion that 'Steam annihilates both Time and Space' by pointing out that it annihilates human beings.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Public Health, Pollution, Disease, Sanitation

    Reports on a banquet held to commemorate an 'extensive bone-boiling and horse-slaughtering concern' in Southwark. Wryly observes that the food was 'decorated with chloride of lime' and notes how, during a toast to himself, the senior partner in the concern upheld the 'salubrity' of the odours given off by his business, and bade 'Success to Sulphuretted Hydrogen and Ammonia'.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Animal Behaviour

    Reports on a meeting of rabbits at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, at which the chair upholds the need for rabbits to cultivate 'a deeper trust and wider confidence in the animal world about them'. The meeting ends abruptly owing to the chair being attacked by a boa constrictor.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C B, pseud.  [Edward Bradley] Bradley, Edward (pseud Cuthbert Bede) (1827–89) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens, Amusement

    Written from the perspective of the hippopotamus at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, complains about the public's 'inconstant' interest in him and their preference for 'a nasty' American anteater. Explains that he put up with people's ignorance of his existence but will not accept competition from the anteater. Compares himself favourably with his competitor and wishes he could 'make myself a Fellow [...] Of this Zoological Society Zoological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >>' to send the anteater 'back to his Ants, / Or to my French rival at the Jardin des Plantes Jardin des Plantes, Paris
Close   View the register entry >>'. The illustration shows black figures running away from a giant anteater wearing zoo-keeper's clothes.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Disease, Religious Authority, Medical Practitioners, Supernaturalism, Homeopathy

    Criticises a claim made by a clergyman in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> that a mixture of charcoal, brandy, and opium offers a cure for cholera. The author urges the clergyman to 'confine himself to pointing the way to Heaven' and, noting that the 'gift of healing' has 'ceased to be supernaturally imparted', invites clergymen to gain medical expertise in hospitals. Warns divines who practise homeopathy to 'stick to theological mysticism'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Public Health, Disease, Death, Chemistry, Religion, Religious Authority, Supernaturalism

    Responding to the evidence of the Bishop of London (Charles J Blomfield Blomfield, Charles James (1786–1857) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) given before the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> committee on the Great Extramural Cemetery Bill, imagines that 'chemists—who are ghost-seers—for ghost and gas "are all one reckonings, save the phrase is a little variations"'—would see the bishop 'praying [...] against pestilence with the cause of it steaming up all around him in the shape of sulphuretted hydrogen' from corpses.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Class

    Discusses the marriage of a relative of William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse) Parsons, William, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800–67) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, a 'scientific nobleman' who, 'on the strength of his title and his telescope, would liked to be looked upon as near relations'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology

    Despite having had miserable experiences being shaved, expresses reservations about a 'shaving machine'. The author is particularly alarmed by the fact that the customer has to sit amidst cylinders to which are fixed 'a forest of blades'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Engineering

    Reports on the progressive decay of Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Illustrators:

W, pseud.  [T Harrington Wilson] Wilson, T Harrington (fl. 1853) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Domestic Economy, Crime

    Describes the benefits of the 'warm climate' produced by Mr Jeffreys Jeffreys, Mr (fl. 1853) PU1/25/19/3
Close   View the register entry >> 'Respirator', but points out that people who wear this apparatus look so terrifying that they would frighten away burglars. Illustrations show this latter contingency, and a family sleeping whilst wearing their respirators.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Disease, Superstition, Supernaturalism, Religious Authority, Religion, Sanitation, Public Health, Class

    Reports on the advocacy by Home Secretary Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> of good diet, washing and, as a last resort, prayer, as a means of preventing cholera. Denies the power of prayer to thwart cholera but attacks the views of the Presbytery of Edinburgh Church of Scotland—Presbytery of Edinburgh
Close   View the register entry >> who advocate fasting to check the disease.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Crime, Race, Cultural Geography, Commerce

    Discusses a report in the New York Journal of Commerce New York Journal of Commerce (1827–93) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >> concerning a scheme for marking the noses of white convicts with black dye. Believes that if 'Chemistry [...] could afford' a 'cosmetic' for leaving a white mark on black convicts' noses, 'it would emancipate several millions of persons in America' who could 'obtain their freedom as easily as insolvent debtors' if they could whitewash themselves.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Religion, Supernaturalism, Religious Authority, Sanitation, Nutrition, Public Health

    In the first verse, members of the Presbytery of Edinburgh Church of Scotland—Presbytery of Edinburgh
Close   View the register entry >> ask the Home Secretary Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to 'fix a day / Whereon all men may fast and pray' for the end of the cholera epidemic. In the following verses Palmerston explains to the presbyters his strategies by which 'Miserable Sinners' can deal with the disease. He agrees that they should 'Bow down [...] to ask for grace', but urges them to 'use brush and limewash pail'. They may fast, but should 'feed those for want who fail'. He also identifies 'Plagues' as evils from God rather than the Devil, and that 'he that breaks [God's law] must endure / The penalty which works the cure'.

See also:

Anon, 'The Fast Men of Edinburgh', Punch, 25 (1853), 192

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Analytical Chemistry, Human Species, Cultural Geography

    Challenges the plausibility of a Quarterly Review Quarterly Review (1809–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> claim that 'Chemically speaking' man is composed of carbon, nitrogen, and water. Wonders, for example, how a Russian can be produced without hemp.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Public Health, Nutrition, Disease, Religious Authority, Religion, Supernaturalism

    Written to represent an author of limited literary ability, describes the death of her children from asthma but believes this was due to 'bad hare in our place' rather than her own asthmatic condition (which she denies having). Ridicules the proposal to 'ave a day of fastin [...] as a purwentive to the colleher' and points out that while fasting may be a 'Christian hact', she and her family 'hace been a fastin hever so laon an donte feel no better Christens for that'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Commerce

    Describes Mr Punch's proposed 'New General Electric Telegraph Company', a scheme for destroying existing telegraph companies and which will pay 'on the principle of large sales at low prices'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Natural History, Textbooks, Taxonomy, Nomenclature

    Suggests that in 'juvenile editions of our Natural History books' innkeepers might be represented as 'a species [...] of the Ornithorynchus, or Beast with a Bill'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mechanics, Invention

    Comments on news of the invention of a perpetual motion machine.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Geology, Palaeontology

    'Adapted by a late President', the song describes his favourite geological regions and features including 'the west, / For there Silurian beds abound', the 'trilobites in the Bala bed', and the 'Auld, Auld Red' where there is 'mony a fish [...] Wi' heteorcercal tail'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Discovery

    Describes reactions on earth and in the heavens to John R Hind's Hind, John Russell (1823–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> discovery of 'another new planet'. These include 'SATURN'S' relief at the discovery of more of his 'children' (the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter) whom he had not devoured. Details the proceedings of a meeting of various constellations, nebulae, and planets to 'consider the best means of expressing their gratitude' to Hind. The meeting resolved to christen the 'newly discovered sidereal bodies [...] HIND's Night Lights'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Public Health, Sanitation, Class, Disease, Anatomy

    Discusses the problem of rehousing the inhabitants of slums. Agrees with the proposal to put them in 'Model Lodging Houses' but insists that such a term is patronising to the lower classes and does not respect the fact that they have the 'same number of members' and the 'same passions and feelings' as the higher classes.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Nutrition

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Time, Instruments, Technology

People mentioned:

George B Airy Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801–92) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Religion, Class, Railways, Travel, Steam-power, Religious Authority

    Responding to a proposal to establish churches for the ragged, suggests the possibility of churches for first, second, and third-class members of society (in line with railway travel). Accordingly, envisions the adoption of 'steam-organs' and 'the substitution of locomotives for clergymen'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Religion, Religious Authority, Superstition, Proof

    Rejecting Robert W Dibdin's Dibdin, Robert William (fl. 1838–62) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> allegations (published as Dibdin 1853 Dibdin, Robert W. 1853. Table-Turning: A Lecture by the Rev. R. W. Dibdin Delivered in the Music Hall, Stone St., on Tuesday Evening, November the 8th, 1853, London: W. H. Collingridge
Close   View the register entry >>) that Punch Punch (1841–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> is an enemy of 'true piety', insists that it 'holds religion [...] inviolate' and that 'religion is not, in all people, allied with superstition, or with cant and hypocrisy'. Upholding his right to ridicule 'delusions [...] preached beneath the cover of religion', refuses to quote the blasphemous remarks that Dibdin solicited from the Devil via table-turning. Having been invited to 'admit the infallibility of MR. DIBDIN's sense as well as his good faith', points to the 'opposing testimony of Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' regarding table-turning (an allusion to Faraday 1853 Faraday, Michael 1853. 'On Table-Turning', The Times, 30 June 1853, p. 8
Close   View the register entry >>) and that 'there has been no one satisfactory exhibition of the wonder in public'. Notes Dibdin's attack on Faraday's 'spiritual attainments'. Reports that Punch's own table-turning trials proved that the table-turners were responsible for the effect and goes on to ridicule the idea of 'evil spirit' emanating from table-turners' fingers.

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:

Spiritualism, Gender

    Shows two seated women. One, who evidently lies about her age, tells the other that she does not believe in table-turning because it failed to predict her age.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Technology, Invention, Machinery

    Discusses the potential of new inventions for milling and bruising agricultural produce.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Politics

    Claims that the practice of 'table-talking' 'has been recognised by the City of London Corporation Corporation of London
Close   View the register entry >> Commission' and includes the details of the interrogation with the Mansion House Mansion House
Close   View the register entry >> table.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Animal Behaviour

    Droll observations of the habits and habitats of various animals living in London.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Phrenology, Sound, Amusement, Music, Education

    Discusses an advertisement in which the 'Practical Phrenologist' Mrs Hamilton Hamilton, Mrs (fl. 1840–56) Cooter 1989
Close   View the register entry >> announces her performances of 'Phrenology illustrated by Music'. Elaborates on the connections between music and phrenology, including the remark that 'Handel Händel, Georg Friedrich (1685–1759) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> [...] displayed the organ of Veneration in his Oratorios'. Recognising the difficulties of illustrating 'the whole of Phrenology by Music in one evening', advises Mrs Hamilton to do it by means of a symphony of thirty-five movements, each one consisting of music carefully chosen to represent a phrenological organ ('Self-esteem', for instance, 'would blow its own trumpet'). Contends that Mrs Hamilton's lecture 'on living heads from the audience' will be more suitable than arias on 'anatomical and physiological facts'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

W, pseud.  [Henry R Howard] Howard, Henry R (fl. 1853) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Amusement, Animal Behaviour, Race

    Discusses the attempt by the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> to attract more visitors by displaying such 'Star' exhibits as the hippopotamus and 'a whole forest-full of humming birds'. Insists that the 'Star-system' will not be 'so ruinous here as at most places of entertainment', since these stars are not paid except for board and lodging. Details the appearance and behaviour of the latest attraction at the gardens: the giant anteater. The illustration shows a man entering the gardens offering 'some new laid Ants' Eggs for the Mummy-Cough-Ague Jewbeater', a reference to the Latin name of anteater, Myrmecophaga jubata.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Religion

    The narrator describes his 'experience in the practise [sic] of Spirit Rapping in connection with the Tables' and wryly points out that the 'Satanic agency' possesses cheap furniture, as shown by its tendency to groan and split its sides. Unlike the 'Clerical Table Turners', who 'seem to imagine that the Satanic agency is confined to a particular kind of furniture', believes it can inhabit a wide range of domestic hardware.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery; Recipe, Spoof

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Hospitals, Nutrition

    Following the 'progress' made towards the 'humane treatment of insane persons' notes that inmates now perform the indoor work in lunatic asylums and that the directors of Hanwell Lunatic Asylum County Lunatic Asylum, Hanwell
Close   View the register entry >> have employed inmates in kitchens. Includes some appropriate recipes from the system of 'insane cookery' practised by inmates.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Invention, Religious Authority

    Reporting that 'DR. CHURCH Church, Dr (fl. 1853) PU1/25/27/2
Close   View the register entry >> has invented some pieces of artillery' which have been successfully tested at Royal Arsenal, Woolwich Royal Arsenal, Woolwich
Close   View the register entry >>, welcomes a 'CHURCH whose cannons are a hit'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Instruments, Music, Sound, Disease

    Discusses Mr Sommer's Sommer, Mr (fl. 1853) PU1/25/27/3
Close   View the register entry >> claim that his 'Sommerphone' musical instrument is strongly affected by severe weather. Anticipates the possibility that musical instruments, as well as singers, will be complaining of colds.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Religion, Amusement

    Responding to news that 'clerical gentleman' are touring with exhibitions of 'table-turning' and 'spirit-rapping', suggests a sensationally worded programme designed to attract audiences.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Pollution, Sanitation, Politics

    Includes an advertisement from 'MESSRS. BORAX AND CO.' for their 'White Curdy Soft Windsor Antigrimeopolis', a product which it recommends to Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> following his 'admirable Smoke Prevention Act'.

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:

Animal Behaviour, Amusement

    Shows three performing elephants at Astley's Royal Amphitheatre Astley's Royal Amphitheatre, Lambeth
Close   View the register entry >>.