Genre:

Regular Feature, Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Medical Treatment, Government

    Notes the speeches of Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> on the government's position on the bill concerning the General Board of Health General Board of Health
Close   View the register entry >> (1).

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition

    Shows a waiter standing near a 'Matter-of-fact old gentleman' sitting in a '"cheap" chop-house'. The gentleman's answer to the waiter's question 'Whataveyeradsir?' consists of a list of all the gruesome ingredients with which his meal was adulterated.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Quackery, Medical Treatment, Politics

    Explains that the reason why the statesman Lord Robert Grosvenor Grosvenor, Lord Robert, 1st Baron Ebury (1801–93) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> is a 'Homeopathist and Sabbatarian' is because 'he patronises infinitesimal globules' whose inertness allows him to use them on a Sunday.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Botany

    Discusses a notice issued by James de C Sowerby Sowerby, James de Carle (1787–1871) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> of the Royal Botanic Society of London Royal Botanic Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> expressing the society's policy on the occupation of academic chairs.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Military Technology, Invention, Patronage, Charlatanry, Photography

    Discusses government scepticism towards the secret military invention of Thomas Cochrane (10th Earl of Dundonald) Cochrane, Thomas, 10th Earl of Dundonald (1775–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who suggested using poisonous gases against the enemy. Argues that while the invention 'may be a mistake', it may be a 'fact', but that it is an invention that governments would 'continue to resist [...] as long as they had a shadow of an excuse for their opposition'. Accuses 'Unjust people' of disbelieving 'everything in advance of their own ideas' and wants to know more about Dundonald's plan before uniting 'with these gentlemen of "common sense", in sneering at an invention which is capable of destroying Cronstadt'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Progress

    Discusses an advertisement in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> reporting the transmission of a box by the telegraph. Upholds the 'quick transmission of packages' to be a 'desiderata of the age' but, having been puzzled by the meaning of the advertisement, notes that the transmission of a box by telegraph 'is surely quite enough to startle the scientific world'.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, War

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, Government, Patronage, War, Invention

    Addressed to Thomas Cochrane (10th Earl of Dundonald) Cochrane, Thomas, 10th Earl of Dundonald (1775–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, this letter discusses his argument that the 'facts' of his 'plan' (to use poisonous gas against the enemy), despite government scepticism, 'admit of no doubt', and his refusal to divulge such facts until the government rejects the most speedy method of ending the Crimean war. Questions Dundonald's objections to divulging his plan to the government (which might result in the government yielding to public support for the invention) and asks whether he would explain it 'to a commission of scientific men'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Education, Quackery, Surgery

People mentioned:

John Abernethy, Abernethy, John (1764–1831) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Thomas Holloway Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Attacks a parliamentary bill brought in by 'Messrs. Headlam Headlam, Thomas Emerson (1813–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Brady Brady, John (1812–87) Stenton 1976WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, and Craufurd Craufurd, Edward Henry John (1816–1887) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>' that will levy a tax of £10 on all those in 'lawful' medical practice. Notes that failure to submit to this 'spoilation' will result in disqualification. Sarcastically notes how the poor law union medical officer, a professional who gains a pittance for seeing 'thousands' of patients, 'will bless HEADLAM and his confederates', and points out that taxing 'pauper' medical practitioners will be like trying to subtract 'one from nought'. Explains that the tax has been designed to raise money for 'greasing' a 'Medical Council' organized by the Royal College of Physicians Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >> and the Royal College of Surgeons Royal College of Surgeons
Close   View the register entry >>. Challenges the new council's proposal to include 'classics' in student examinations by pointing out that John Hunter Hunter, John (1728–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> was 'unclassical', and ridicules proposals to set a 'statutable age' for physicians and to distinguish between 'the science of "Surgery" and that of "Medicine"'. Urges Headlam to spend his energies on suppressing patent medicines rather than 'harassing and plaguing medical men with fines'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Medical Treatment, Light

    Claims that the 'sudden acquisition of a large fortune' provides such a cure since it 'will bring a person [...] prominently forward' who had 'previously been for years quite invisible to the naked eye'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Religion, Religious Authority, Amusement

    Identifying the Sabbatarian statesman Lord Robert Grosvenor Grosvenor, Lord Robert, 1st Baron Ebury (1801–93) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as a homeopath, explains how he would dish out 'infinitesimal' amounts of pleasurable activities and large amounts of 'abstinence and privation' and 'religious scruples'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Analytical Chemistry, Public Health, Sanitation, Disease, Accidents

    Announces the publication of Michael Faraday's Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'CHEMICAL work of small size and great importance'—a reference to Faraday 1855 Faraday, Michael 1855. 'The State of the Thames', The Times, 9 July 1855, p. 8
Close   View the register entry >>. Explains that the work reveals Faraday's 'views of the composition' of the Thames and the philosopher's experiments for gauging its quality. Rejoices in the fact that Faraday has thereby 'enabled the public to form a correct idea' of the river's constituents, not least because his work may save more lives from river pestilence than Humphry Davy's Davy, Sir Humphry, Baronet (1778–1829) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> safety-lamp reduced fatalities in mines.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Pollution, Analytical Chemistry, Scientific Practitioners, Public Health, Sanitation, Disease

    Subtitled 'And we hope the Dirty Fellow will consult the learned Professor', shows Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> leaning over the side of boat on the Thames. With one hand he hold his nose and with the other, he extends a white card (Faraday's device for gauging water pollution) to a filthy looking old man ('Father Thames') who is surrounded by gruesome objects floating on the surface of the water.

Genre:

Introduction; Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Ornithology, Natural History, Natural Law

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Pollution, Sanitation, Public Health

    Blames the public for pouring filth into the Thames and then abusing the river for being dirty.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Pneumatics, Invention, Progress, Commerce

    Responds to a proposal to propel bags of letters from the General Post Office General Post Office
Close   View the register entry >> through underground tubes by atmospheric pressure (a system promoted by George B Airy Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801–92) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>). Suggests that these tubes would lie next to the pipes conveying the gas 'by whose light we're enabled to read 'em'. Considers that Virgil's Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (70–19 BC) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> 'Jactata per æquora ventis' anticipated the new propulsion system. Invites two of the four winds, Notus and Eurus, to 'lend a favouring gale' on 'Foreign Post nights' and to 'provide a Monsoon for each Overland Mail'. Exploits similarities between the terms for representing the new system and the terms for describing social customs. For example, observes that while the 'Wintry Wind' may now be 'an ill-wind to blow nobody good', 'the Zephyrs and ROWLAND Hill, Sir Rowland (1795–1879) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' will make 'blowing' a letter between lovers 'as easy as blowing a kiss'. Concludes by noting that 'It is just the invention to prosper by puffing'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Ornithology, Animal Behaviour, Natural History, Religious Authority, Religion, Monstrosities

    Introduces 'evidence given by the London magistracy before the Sunday Beer Act Committee'. The witnesses include 'Bow Street' who denies the 'Chairman's' claim that swallows are travellers', but agrees that bees are travellers and should be stopped from singing on Sundays. Later, 'Worship Street' argues in favour of the sea serpent being regarded as a traveller.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Chemistry, Gender, Taxonomy, Nationalism, Race, Military Technology, War, Government

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    The writer informs Mr Punch that she 'is a young female, being a science of recent origin' but explains that she is 'a case of beauty in distress' because she is being employed by the Russian Government—'an odious and brutal tyrant and his thralls'—against the allies ('the champions of liberty, to whose assistance I would devote myself'). Lists the various chemical compounds which she believes will be used to arm 'savages with thunderbolts', and attacks 'that horrid man' Mortiz H von Jacobi Jacobi, Moritz Hermann von (1801–74) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> for using her and her 'sister, MECHANICS' against the Baltic fleet. Pleads with the British Government to let Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> exploit her 'tremendous powers of destruction' against the common enemy'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Narcotics, Pharmaceuticals, Analytical Chemistry, Crime

People mentioned:

Robert D Thomson Thomson, Robert Dundas (1810–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

St Thomas's Hospital St Thomas's Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>

    Analyses some of the alarming evidence of adulteration taken before a House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> committee. This includes dilute prussic acid, bread filled with 'animal matter', flour mixed with chalk, and sausages adulterated with horses tongues. The author considers this a good argument for becoming a vegetarian.

Genre:

Illustration, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J, 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:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Pharmaceuticals, Commerce, Crime

    Shows a young girl standing in front of a counter in an apothecary's shop. Behind the counter stands the proprietor with sacks of substances to adulterate food (e.g. red lead and sand). On behalf of her mother, the girl asks the proprietor for some tea for killing rats and chocolate for eradicating black beadles.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hydropathy, Medical Treatment, Quackery

    Reports on an 'aquatic enthusiast' who has grown so tired with his existence at 'a hydropathic establishment' that he 'renounces the Path-os and the Bath-os that are usually laid on'.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Disease, Sanitation

    Describes 'a youth who was sick night and day' owing to his 'pestilent quarters' on the riverside. On asking for the 'vile river' to be cleansed, the authorities could only answer 'Ur-ah-oh-ugh!'. The youth later complains of his illness and, preferring to drown than die of typhus, contemplates throwing himself in the river. However, he chooses to move 'apartments instead'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Disease, Charlatanry, Crime

    Mrs Grundy expresses bewilderment at 'The roguery that's in the world, the frauds in every trade and business' and lists the foul ways in which her foods and beverages have been adulterated.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Chemistry, Government, Laboratories

Genre:

News-Commentary,

Subjects:

Military Technology, Chemistry, War, Invention, Government, Patronage

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy, Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>Army Army
Close   View the register entry >>

    Opens with Mr Punch's request to the government to reveal the cost of 'applying the resources of chemical and mechanical science' against the Russians in the Crimean War. Believes the expenditure is 'ridiculously small', not least because of articles in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> revealing how the Board of Ordnance Board of Ordnance
Close   View the register entry >> neglected the invention of powerful weapons by Mr Scott Scott, Mr (fl. 1855) PU1/29/6/4
Close   View the register entry >> and Bashley Britten Britten, Bashley (fl. 1855) PU1/29/6/4
Close   View the register entry >>. Complains that while the government wastes money on fruitless experiments on large ships, they grudge 'the outlay of a little money' on an artillery experiment. Adds to this list of neglected military inventions the gunpowder of Alexander Parkes Parkes, Alexander (1813–90) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and the secret plan of Thomas Cochrane (10th Earl of Dundonald) Cochrane, Thomas, 10th Earl of Dundonald (1775–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Questions the government's reluctance to patronise Dundonald's plan. Draws attention to Benjamin W Richardson's Richardson, Benjamin Ward (1828–96) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> warning that the publication of Capt. Disney's Disney, Capt (fl. 1855) PU1/29/6/4
Close   View the register entry >> military invention will make it available to the enemy, and surmises that the government has refused to patronise military inventions because the Russians have not used such inventions against the British fleet.

Genre:

Introduction; Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Commerce, Invention, Patents, Quackery, Medical Treatment, Charlatanry

    Introduces a list of nineteen dubious ways of 'earning an income, all for the price of three-pence'. These include raising money for patenting an 'impossible invention', and selling a 'pill, paste, or liquor' that purports to 'cure everything'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Museums, Pollution, Public Health, Natural History, Palaeontology

Institutions mentioned:

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

    Laments the quantity of carbonic acid gas and steam given off by visitors to the British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >>, an atmospheric problem that threatens to destroy their enjoyment of the specimens of natural history and palaeontology.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Health, Disease, Exhibitions, Hydropathy, Temperance

    Reports that several 'confirmed Teetotallers' have started drinking wine after glimpsing the 'horrors of water' at the Royal Polytechnic Institution Royal Polytechnic Institution
Close   View the register entry >> exhibition. Concludes that 'the cause of Temperance runs the danger of being drowned in a ditch' owing to the scarcity of drinkable water. Adds that Father Thames himself will grow so disgusted with the 'abominable filth in which he is condemned to wallow' that he too will 'take to drinking'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Natural History

    Discusses the characteristics of the 'Sea Devil', a 'very odd fish' boasting a mouth so large that it can 'swallow anything or everything' submitted to its notice and 'a man with ease'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Disease

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Display, War, Amusement

    Assesses the display of the siege of Sebastopol being staged at the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Treatment, Analytical Chemistry, Politics, Government, Disease, Health, Religion

    Describes the political activities of Lord John Russell Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and John A Roebuck Roebuck, John Arthur (1802–79) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as if they were experts analysing the adulteration of 'political drugs'. Explains that Russell found that most political articles were 'as free from deleterious matter as they could be', although he found the specimen marked 'Reform Bill' extremely difficult to analyse. Russell recommends 'a little adulteration' with 'Whig's Paradise', which 'went down wonderfully with the multitude'. Believing in the purity of Whig principles, Russell opposes the election agent, James Coppock Coppock, James (1798–1857) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, 'whose wonderful laboratory at the Reform Club for the manufacture of votes' had shown the existence of 'tin' patronage. Goes on to explain Disraeli's expertise in the 'manufacture of retorts' and his conviction 'that Whig Government was a regular drug' that was so pernicious that it needed 'a strong infusion of Tory politics'. Disraeli's 'careful analyses' also reveal a 'Drab' constituent in the 'Peace Party' called 'GLADSTONE Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' which itself contains large quantities of 'Jesuit's Bark' but not 'a single grain of sense', and which creates feelings of nausea. Proceeds to discuss Roebuck, whose analysis of 'Parliamentary Loaves and Fishes' from both parties, reveals them to be poisonous to the 'Body Politic', and who urges the need for the 'plainest political food'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Nutrition

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Microscopy, Disease

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Medical Practitioners, Heroism, Patronage, Government, Homeopathy, Surgery, Medical Treatment, Quackery

People mentioned:

John Hunter, Hunter, John (1728–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> John Abernethy, Abernethy, John (1764–1831) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Christian F S Hahnemann Hahnemann, Christian Friedrich Samuel (1755–1843) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Praises the 'NIGHTINGALE Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> testimonial' reported in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>—a reference to Herbert 1855 Herbert, Elisabeth 1855. 'Miss Nightingale', The Times, 23 August 1855, p. 7
Close   View the register entry >> and H 1855 H 1855. 'Miss Nightingale', The Times, 23 August 1855, p. 7
Close   View the register entry >>. Contrasts the fact that it will be 'served by unpaid nurses' to the greed of railway company rogues and clerics. Believes that the foundation of the hospital will reward 'virtue'. Strongly supports the need for a military hospital, but fears that the only hospital that will gain support from the government will be a homeopathic one. Reports that the hospital will be served by one medical officer instead of a physician, surgeon, and apothecary, and continuing the homeopathic theme, sarcastically suggests that this officer should be a 'Patent Medicine Vendor', supplying patients with a wide variety of pills and ointments. Concludes with a cynical dig at the government's patronage of quack medicines.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, Invention, War, Commerce, Government

    Noting the formation of this company under the new 'principle of Limited Liability', upholds the success with which 'intelligent capitalists would pursue the arts of war'. Claims that the object of the company is to 'to test the merits of inventions calculated to bring the [Crimean] War to a conclusion by the / DESTRUCTION OF HER MAJESTY'S ENEMIES' and that it will do so irrespective of the government's attitude. Stresses that one of the 'immediate proceedings' of the company will be to investigate the secretive plan of Thomas Cochrane (10th Earl of Dundonald) Cochrane, Thomas, 10th Earl of Dundonald (1775–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Pollution, Disease, Public Health, Analytical Chemistry, Government

    Complains that, as a steamship captain on the Thames, he lives on 'liquefied manure' which makes him ill. Laments the garbage, out-pourings from bone-mills, 'gaseous filth from gas-works', and dead cats and dogs, that fill the river, but expects that Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> will not 'listen to the advice from FARADAY Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' on cleansing the river.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Entomology, Natural History, Disease, Domestic Economy, Nomenclature

    Details her complaints about 'the usual torment of the season, / Them nasty good-for-nothing flies. Rejects 'what you call your Recreations / In Natural History' and questions the 'use of Latin terms for good-for-nothing moths and millers'. Describes the domestic places that the 'plaguy things' have chosen as their homes including the larder, 'behind the grate', and in fruit. The illustration shows a large female figure about to club a snail with her parasol.

Genre:

Catechism, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Treatment, Narcotics, Astrology, Quackery, Charlatanry, Crime

    List of twenty-six descriptions concerning the wide range of practices associated with adulteration, quackery, and charlatanry, one for each letter of the alphabet. The list includes 'D is the Druggist—the Lancet Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> explains / How he poisons each drug, / and increases your pains', 'N is the Nurse who your suffering insults— / Who gives GODFREY to babies and plunders adults', and 'Z's ZADKIEL [Richard J Morrison Morrison, Richard James ('Zadkiel') (1795–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>], the quack who, with "Venus" and "Mars", / Diddles Zanies, by lying reports from the stars'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Metallurgy, Industry, Commerce

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Patronage, Government

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Aeronautics, Amusement

People mentioned:

Johannes Regiomontanus Regiomontanus, Johannes (1436–76) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Public Health, Disease, Sanitation, Crime

    Claims that one of the clauses in the new Health of Towns Act seems to legitimate suicide: that for a place declared to be 'injurious to health' it is 'unlawful to live in it'. Wonders whether 'all persons whose existence is declared unlawful' will be executed.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Engineers, Heroism, Methodology, Imagination, Philosphy, Reasoning, Rationalism, Charlatanry

    Responds to a Liverpool Standard Liverpool Standard (1832–56) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> article identifying Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Isambard K Brunel Brunel, Isambard Kingdom (1806–59) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, George Stephenson Stephenson, George (1781–1848) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and 'other masters of science' as some of the few remaining 'great men' who have allowed 'the materialism of hard facts' to displace 'the imaginative faculties'. Points out that William Shakespeare Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> is an example of 'superhuman wisdom' and, like Francis Bacon (1st Viscount St Alban) Bacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban (1561–1626) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, possessed rare qualities. Argues that Bacon's philosophy is 'precisely the basis on which modern science is cultivated' and suggests that it is 'a considerable advantage' that 'the materialism of fact' has superseded the 'imaginative faculties', because searching for truth with the latter method is foolish. Attributes the apparent deficiency in 'great men' to the paucity of 'solemn prosers and pompous mouthers'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Observation, Animal Behaviour, Amusement

    Mr Punch invites his 'brother citizens and Fellow Englishmen to indulge in a little philosophic and scientific contemplation' of the geese and ducks in St James's Park St James's Park
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Heroism, Telegraphy, Government, Class

    Reports that the British ambassador in Paris, Henry R C Wellesley (2nd Baron Cowley) Wellesley, Henry Richard Charles, 1st Earl Cowley and 2nd Baron Cowley (1804–1884) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, when invited to dine at a banquet in honour of 'the English men of science forming part of the English jury' for the Exposition Universelle de Paris Exposition Universelle (1855), Paris
Close   View the register entry >>, allegedly 'caused it to be made known [...] that it was not his custom to dine with low people'. Ironically adds that science ought to know its place and compares the telegraph unfavourably to a blue riband.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Societies, Chemistry, Domestic Economy

    Discusses Arthur H Hassall's Hassall, Arthur Hill (1817–94) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> claim made at the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> that the fluid from 'street-oysters' consists largely of sulphuric acid and water and is correspondingly a good scourer for copper kettles.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Scientific Practitioners, Sanitation

People mentioned:

George D Campbell (8th Duke of Argyll) Campbell, George Douglas, 8th Duke of Argyll (1823–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Instruments, Crime, Comparative Philology, Cultural Geography

    Discusses charges that Greek corn merchants have been tampering with a barometer in 'one of our large towns'. Having noted that 'the Greeks always paid great homage to Mercury, because he was the God of thieves', wishes the merchants had insisted that their tampering was a form of 'religious worship'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Experiment

    Discusses an 'experiment' to send a 'live lizard' through the post to Thomas J Pettigrew Pettigrew, Thomas Joseph (1791–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Hunting, Zoology, Natural History, Comparative Philology, Charlatanry, Superstition

    Discusses reports of the capture of the 'Great American Water-Snake' in a lake near New York and analyses the snake's characteristics. Relates that the snake's power of 'heavy, short puffs' gives it the ability to write its own advertisements from Barnum's American Museum Barnum's American Museum, New York
Close   View the register entry >>. Reports that one eminent 'naturalist of the day' has pronounced the beast to be 'a huge specimen of monstrous sea calf, resulting from a cock-and-a-bull and a nightmare'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Sanitation, Technology, Invention

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Meteorology, Electricity, Animal Behaviour, Archaeology, Superstition

    Presents descriptions of seven deliberately absurd reports from various English locales including news that some people in Gloucestershire attribute the decline in lightning strikes on a church steeple to the erection of a lightning conductor, the prediction of severe winter weather from the flight of birds over the Salisbury Plain, and the excavation, near Petersham, of a knife marked 'R. O. G. E. R.' which was attributed to Roger Bacon Bacon, Roger (c. 1219–c. 1292) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Quackery, Commerce

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Societies, Commerce

People mentioned:

George D Campbell (8th Duke of Argyll) Campbell, George Douglas, 8th Duke of Argyll (1823–1900) ODNB
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    Concludes from the title of Robert Fitzroy's Fitzroy, Robert (1805–65) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> paper delivered before the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> (a version of which was published in Fitzroy 1856 Fitzroy, Robert 1856. 'Wind-charts of the Atlantic, compiled from Maury's Pilot Charts', Report of the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; Held at Glasgow in September 1855, Reports on the State of Science, 39–40
Close   View the register entry >>), that the Board of Trade Board of Trade
Close   View the register entry >> 'directs the Movements of the Wind', and notes the effect of this on insurance. Believes that such a power will enable Britain to give a' heavy blow as well as a great discouragement to all competition'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Cultural Geography, Animal Behaviour, Analogy, Taxonomy

    Responding to claims that Prussia is 'like a noble animal of the forest' waiting to 'spring on the first' who 'irritates her', likens the country to 'something between a mad dog and a donkey at bray' and insists that the best 'zoological representative for Prussia' is the 'beast'.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Time

    Informs 'RAILWAY DIRECTORS, FATHERS OF FAMILIES, AND THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL' of a 'most amusing game of chance' for Christmas time—'Railway Accident'. Explains that one player of the game starts his train according to a timetable while the starting time of other players is regulated by 'the cast of dice'. Adds that the 'great amusement of the game consists in each train endeavouring either to overtake or come into collision with the trains of other players'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Display, Zoological Gardens, Human Development

    Reflects on the staging of baby shows 'in Lunnun', and compares them with cattle shows. Lamenting the appearance of baby shows 'Among the wild beasties at Bartlemy Fair', anticipates a similar event being held at Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. Considers such displays to be degrading to mothers and babies. The illustration shows a baby inside a cage with a female lion.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Narcotics, Adulteration, Nutrition, Analytical Chemistry, Disease, Commerce

    Discusses an extract from Waring's Practical Therapeutics Waring, Edward John 1854. A Manual of Practical Therapeutics, Considered Chiefly with Reference to Articles of the Materia Medica, London: Smith, Elder and Co.
Close   View the register entry >> describing the intoxicating properties of Cocculus Indicus. Regards the adulteration of porter with the latter is a 'dead swindle', and, because it can lead to the death of one's customers, which would be commercially 'suicidal'. Resolves to avoid drinking Cocculus Indicus and to take legal action against those landlords who do not produce their 'chemical diplomas' on request.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Hunting

    Responding to alarming news that the population of Singapore is being rapidly diminshed by tigers, suggests that one solution to the problem is to 'enter into an arrangement with the brute-slayer at the top of the Haymarket'—a reference to the museum of the celebrated lion hunter, Roualeyn G G Cumming Cumming, Roualeyn George Gordon- (1820–66) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Concludes by regarding such news reports as a 'little romance'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Extract, Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Hunting, Museums, Exhibitions, Ethnology

    Describes the ways in which 'The celebrated Lion-hunter of Belgravia, MRS. NIMROD' lured and hunted literary lions 'all over the Metropolis', exhibiting those she caught at gatherings of 'three or four hundred fashionable people'. Reports that she intends to open a museum of the 'trophies and curiosities' she has collected during her hunting career, in competition with Roualeyn G G Cumming's Cumming, Roualeyn George Gordon- (1820–66) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> museum in the Haymarket. Lists items from the catalogue of the museum, which include 'The iron ring that fell from the nose of one of the Ojibbeway chiefs'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Comparative Philology, Monstrosities, Politics

    Compares the Cerberus to William E Gladstone's Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> speeches— a beast with three heads.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Hunting, Politics, War

    Shows the Russian bear, wearing a crown and boots, being trapped by British troops.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Natural Law, Providence, Anatomy, Human Development, Government

Institutions mentioned:

Army Army
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    Discusses a passage from Henry Fielding's Fielding, Henry (1707–54) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Joseph Andrews Fielding, Henry 1742. The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of Mr. Abraham Adams: Written in Imitation of the Manner of Cervantes, Author of Don Quixote, London: A. Millar
Close   View the register entry >>, in which the novelist insists that nature 'takes a provident care' of people inasmuch as it gives 'thick skulls' to those meant for violent 'encounters' and skulls with cavities for those '"designed to exercise" rational talents'. Thinks this passage describes the heads of the army that served in the Crimea.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Politics

    Responds to an article in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> claiming that the horse of King Frederick William IV Frederick William IV, King of Prussia (1795–1861) CBD CBE
Close   View the register entry >> of Prussia canters on one leg. Following the claim of George L Leclerc, comte de Buffon Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de (1707–88) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> that 'Style is the man', insists that the king's horse is the man since the horse follows the king's policy of going 'his own way upon one leg'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Heroism, Scientific Practitioners

    Unsurpised that the city of Naples has blocked a proposal to erect of statue of Macedonio Melloni Melloni, Macedonio (1798–1854) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> because 'The Lion preys not on the dead: it is only the Hyæna that outrages the grave'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Specimen Trading, Commerce

    Responding to an announcement of the sale of 'Royal Beasts' in Windsor Great Park Windsor Great Park
Close   View the register entry >>, expresses concern that the announcement will give the impression of live lions roaming Windsor Park, or the sale of the corpses of dead monarchs.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration, Medical Practitioners, Charlatanry, Commerce

    Addressed to the 'Editor of Punch', argues that bakers have been unduly attacked for 'putting a little alum in their bread'. Explaining how alum attacks the lime of teeth and thus creates employment for himself and 'other members of my profession'. He expresses his thanks to confectioners whose tendency to leave small stones in plum buns results in cracked teeth and therefore more business.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Subjects:

Astronomy, Race

    Shows the eclipse of the moon (bearing the face of the retiring Lord Mayor of London, Francis G Moon Moon, Sir Francis Graham (1796–1871) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) by the face (caricatured in profile) of the new Jewish Lord Mayor, David Salomons Salomons, Sir David, 1st Baronet (1797–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Specimen Trading, Commerce, Human Development, Zoological Gardens, Gender

    Notes that at the sale of beasts at the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
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Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Surgery, Commerce

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Time, Instruments

    Discusses the appeal of the clock at Somerset House Somerset House
Close   View the register entry >> 'against the injustice' of being made to chime a time different from that indicated by its hands.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Specimen Trading, Commerce, Amusement, Animal Behaviour

    Startled to learn of the sale of animals at the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, a move reflecting the 'superior attraction' of the garden's musical concerts. Discusses possible problems with auctioning animals and resolves to 'keep an eye on the sale', but to 'remain at a respectful distance from the various lots' which may react violently to those in the auction room.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Industry, Scientific Practitioners, Patronage, Government, Cultural Geography, Nationalism, Heroism

    Reports that following the French government's decoration of British scientists at the Exposition Universelle de Paris Exposition Universelle (1855), Paris
Close   View the register entry >> (including the rank of 'Commander' for Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>), the British government is considering conferring on Faraday the Order of the Bath to give the impression that it does 'encourage Science'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment

    Defines a doctor as 'One who kills us to-day to prevent us dying tomorrow'.

Genre:

Introduction; Address, Spoof

Subjects:

Entomology, Ancient Authorities, Religion, Wonder, Government, Politics, Animal Behaviour

    Introduces a spoof lecture on entomology given by Lord Fitz-Mountebank to the Young Men's Mutual Instruction Society. The lecture opens by defining entomology as 'talk about insects' and proceeds to discuss the contributions of Aristotle Aristotle (384–322 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Pliny Pliny (Gaius Plinius Secundus) (c. 23–79) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and the ancient Egyptians to the subject. Notes how the Egyptians worshipped beetles and upholds the beauties of the spider's web (which he likens to 'the arts of diplomacy') and the ant's nest. Draws out social and political lessons from the behaviour of various insects, including the claim that the snail and the slug were reminiscent of 'parliamentary proceedings'. Concludes by insisting that 'No station [...] could exempt any man from the attacks of insects' and by hoping that the each of the Russians involved in the Crimean War would find himself with 'a flea in his ear'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Government

    Criticises 'the Vegetarians' for toasting Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> with iced water at a meeting in Birmingham. Ridicules the claims that some gentleman attending the meeting had spent a considerable number of years 'advocating Vegetarian principles', and expresses 'surprise and admiration' for an alderman (whose greed is a favourite subject of Punch satire) who claimed to have lived on vegetables for forty years. Declares that it does not 'grudge' the vegetarians 'their abstinence from animal food', but suggests that they popularise their movement with lectures and vocal entertainments.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Religion, Education

    Responds to the decision by Emperor Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary (1830–1916) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> of Austria to allow Roman Catholic bishops to 'superintend the education of the youth in all public and private schools' and to have 'the power to forbid any teaching in any study which they may consider contrary to the Papal Church'. Wonders where the 'pernicious teaching' of Galileo Galilei Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and Isaac Newton Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> would be 'if that authority had universally and always been enjoyed by the Roman prelates which was formerly conceded to them' by the emperor. (218)

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Nationalism, Invention, Cultural Geography

    Draws unfavourable comparisons between French and English attitudes towards railway management and invention. Compares the foreign railways, which are 'Check'd and cow'd by Government's power', with the British lines, which are the subject of 'unrestrain'd competition' and which 'Too often result in a smash' for 'travellers' and shareholders' ventures'. Adds that 'JOHN BULL's every town is a centre / Of inventions most useful to man', but laments the fate of 'JOHN's greatest inventor, / Unless he can patent his plan!'. Contrasts the fact that awards such as titles and ribands are for 'rank, or for wealth, or for war', but that 'great ones of science are martyrs / Who have still worn the cross , not the star', and that 'art and science are zeroes' in John Bull's court.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Heroism, War, Disease, Gender, Hospitals, Medical Treatment

Institutions mentioned:

Army

    Noting the public's over-zealous taste for worshipping heroes, advises against scorning 'a truly glorious name' simply because 'so many wreaths before unworthiest shrines are hung'. Insists that although people 'Oft find false gods', 'Deep and true England's heart has glow'd in this great woman's [Florence Nightingale Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>]' holy cause. Champions her cause, which is described as stepping 'calm and humble to the front' despite disease, despair, carnage, and an English army taking 'its path, slowly, to an inglorious grave'. Comparing her to a Christian martyr, the author notes how she 'face to face with pain and death, bore bravely a worse battle's brunt / Than any soldier of all there'. Regards her 'little lamp' as 'hope's beacon light' and praises the 'young—gentle—ladies of the land' who assisted her and who fell 'like balm on passion wrung from festering wound', and who calmed the 'fierce thought in the brain'. Concludes by noting the 'Order out of Chaos' and the 'Hope [...] kindled from Despair' wrought by Nightingale and 'her sisters', and likens this transformation to 'Some holy influence bringing guards of Heaven, where, till they came, was Hell'. Doubts that the public can 'raise' a 'trophy' to meet the 'need' of this act.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Progress, Nationalism, Telegraphy, Steamships, Technology

    Reflects on the changes that have occurred since the American War of Independence, including the fact that when 'that first war broke out [...] No wires girt the earth, no steam the ocean spann'd'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Charlatanry, Race, Religion, Error, Commerce, War

    Addressed to the Lord Mayor of London, David Salomons Salomons, Sir David, 1st Baronet (1797–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, discusses a telegraphic communication from Berlin regarding a loan to the Russians organized by the leading banking house, Mendelssohn & Co. Mendelssohn & Co, Berlin, bankers
Close   View the register entry >> Reflecting that, like Salomons, the Mendelssohns are Jewish, observes that they would be a disgrace to the Jewish community should the report prove accurate. Notes that the 'Electric-Telegraph sometimes tells fibs', but asserts that, if the communication is true, 'the indignation and the power' of Salomons should be raised against the firm.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Invention

    Reports that one 'indignant Poulterer' has denounced Mr Cantelo's Cantelo, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/1/2
Close   View the register entry >> egg-hatching machine as 'A piece of most detestable chickenlerie'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Entomology, Animal Behaviour, Animal Development

    Discusses a story of a saint who 'trained a favourite fly with so much success' that the insect could work as an efficient book marker, and suggests 'Literary Police Regulations' for flies moving across a page.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Commerce

    Reports on the latest events in the sad history of Punch's spoof 'Kensington Railway'. Notes that the railway came into collision with 'a goods train on the Great Western Great Western Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>' and blames this on the fact that the railway has been idle for too long and 'playing tricks with one of its engines'. Laments the lack of business between the railway's termini at Wormwood Scrubs and Warwick Square and the fact that the railway officials do not even have market gardening to occupy them. Proposes to alleviate the situation by carrying 'the unhappy Railway by a bridge across the Great Western' and thus to 'extend the concern so as to make it available, as it might be, for very valuable traffic'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Steam-power, Animal Behaviour, Commerce, Charlatanry

    Draws comparisons between horses and railways. Regards both as 'Temples of Dishonesty' and insists that 'as railways have superseded horses' so 'the roguery of the one should in time supplant the roguery' of the other. Adds that 'as a steam-engine goes much faster than a racer, it was only to be expected that railways, in the race of dishonesty, would certainly run considerably a-head of horses'.