Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

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:

Medical Treatment, Technology, Accidents

    The first illustration shows a man in his bedroom beneath a mound of blankets into which steam is supplied by a pipe from a kettle on the fire, while the man is plied with broth by his wife. The second shows the commotion resulting from an accident, with the kettle upset and the couple in horrified disorder. The caption which runs beneath the two illustrations reads: 'For a Cold in the Head, There is Nothing Like a Steam Bath, And This Can Only Be Had in Your Bedroom With the Greatest Ease.—You Have Only To—Take Care That You Manage the Apparatus Properly'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Sound, Technology

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Astronomy

    Noting that Isaac Newton Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> did not marry, claims that 'He thought more of Saturn's rings than Hymen's'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Electricity, Time

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Veterinary Science

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Gender, Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Entomology, Animal Behaviour

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Botany, Natural History, Nomenclature

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Disease

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Entomology, Animal Behaviour, Natural History

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Education

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Ornithology, Taxonomy

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Military Technology

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Geology, Taxonomy

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Heroism, Patronage

People mentioned:

Elizabeth Fry, Fry, Elizabeth (1780–1845) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Grace Darling Darling, Grace Horsley (1815–42) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Responding to news that Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has conferred a 'decoration' on Florence Nightingale Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, suggests the establishment of an 'Order of Nightingale', an institution for representing 'all the womanly virtues', including 'Firmness and tenderness'. Believes this 'honour of the Queen of Women' would 'go down [...] to all time', and be extremely 'pretty'. Compares this order favourably to that associated with other animals.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Commerce

    Playing on the similarity between medical and commercial language, discusses the examination by the 'medical financier', Lionel N de Rothschild Rothschild, Lionel Nathan de, Baron de Rothschild in the nobility of the Austrian empire (1808–79) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, of the 'Chest of Spain'. Adds that Rothschild's analysis of the chests of Spain and Russia is pessimistic.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Homeopathy, Medical Treatment

    Describes 'The Gov'nor' who, as a child, used to gorge himself during Christmas but then always suffered an illness that had to be cured by 'a dose and a pill' and rest indoors. Reflects on how 'jolly we are now' since all that is eaten at Christmas is 'A tiny globule'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology, Prognostication, Charlatanry, Politics

    Following the publication of Punch's Pocket Book for 1856 Punch's Pocket Book (1842–80) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, Mr Punch relates how 'his auguries for November and December' have been fulfilled. This is presented as a comparison between the prophecy for each month and its supposed fulfilment, the latter being absurd social and political interpretations of equally ridiculous predictions concerning astronomical events. Boasts that Mr Punch has beaten 'all the Prophets on their own ground', including 'Raphael' (Robert C Smith Smith, Robert Cross ('Raphael') (1795–1832) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) and 'Zadkiel' (Richard J Morrison Morrison, Richard James ('Zadkiel') (1795–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>).

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Animal Behaviour, Cultural Geography

    Discusses consequences of the claim propounded by Isisdore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore (1805–61) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and other 'persons in France' that humans can eat horseflesh. Speculates on the taste of horseflesh, observing that 'the flesh of a thoroughbred horse would be characterised by a peculiar raciness of flavour' and that horses 'entered some time upon the turf [...] would be entered for cups in a minor proportion than for plates'. Anticipates the appearance of obese horses at cattle shows and the sending of the 'high-mettled racer' to 'M. de ST. HILAIRE and his disciples', rather than 'the hounds'. Wonders why 'humbler and cheaper' examples of the genus cannot be eaten, but expects that horseflesh will 'remain untouched as an article of food'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hunting, Animal Behaviour, Cruelty

    Relishes news of the campaign against 'Sparrow Clubs', which 'without mercy' slaughters thousands of sparrows—birds which perform the important function of destroying caterpillars. Also applauds the efforts of Thomas N Stephenson Stephenson, Thomas Nash (1812–76) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> for doing 'gallant battle' in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> against the slaughter of hedgehogs.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nomenclature, Language, Chemistry, Adulteration, Lecturing

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Institution Royal Institution of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses the excessively long name of a 'certain organic compound' published in Auguste Laurent's Laurent, Auguste (Augustin) (1807–53) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Chemical Method Laurent, Auguste 1856. Chemical Method, Notation, Classification, & Nomenclature, trans. by William Odling, [London]: Cavendish Society
Close   View the register entry >>. Explains that 'odd technical terms', while odd, are not absurd, and observes that 'compound things' require 'compound names'. Believes the utterance of such words is a 'stutterance—which incurs derision' and that this problem requires remedy owing to the 'rascality practised in the adulteration of food'. Suggests that chemical lecturers undertake a 'course of lessons from MR. CHARLES MATHEWS Mathews, Charles James (1803–78) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> in Chemical Elocution'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Extra-Terrestrial Life

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Steam-power

    Discusses news that a steamer had been detained at Southampton because 'two of the tubes of the boiler actually started of themselves'. Believes this event 'seems to promise wonderfully for the speed of the vessel'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Nutrition, Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Evolution

    Reports on a 'Professor in Berlin' who, having been a 'hippophagist' or eater of horsemeat for ten years, has developed the behaviour and physical features of a horse. Concludes by observing that while it is 'impossible to say' whether his transformation into a horse 'will proceed further', 'all the most learned philosophers of Berlin' agree 'that this singular absorption of the man in the animal is entirely owing to the practice [...] of eating horse's flesh'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Time, Accidents, Technology

    Responding to allusions to the 'permanent way' with regard to railway accidents, offers six 'ways which it would appear are permanent in railroad management' and which are potential sources of accident. These include 'A Way of choosing for excursion trains that precise period when the line is fullest', and 'A Way of managing the goods-traffic solely by the laws of eccentric motion: letting the trains start and stop themselves at any time'.

Genre:

Poetry, Satire

Subjects:

Astronomy, Meteorology, Superstition, Religious Authority, Eschatology

    Written in the style of a yokel, who describes his experiences of 'that 'ere vire-ball'. Explains how he took the phenomenon to be 'a gurt rocket at vust' whilst others regarded it as a 'viery sarpent' and a 'swoord all a-light'. Notes how he questioned why some people started 'cryun' over the phenomenon and how 'Methodies' interpreted the event as a sign of 'the end o' the wordle' whilst others saw it as a reason to 'mend our bad ways'. Contrary to claims that the meteor brings war, believes that it will bring peace, although he hopes the prospects for the latter will not, like the comet, 'all in smoke disappear'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Animal Behaviour

    Calls the attention of Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> to an advertisement for a Bath chair which can be drawn by a man or a pony painted maroon and 'lined with drab cloth and holland covers'. Believes the advertiser would be found insane by a British jury.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Morality

    Notes that 'our friend JENKINS' [the stock figure of the newspaper lackey] of the Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> has reprimanded William Whewell Whewell, William (1794–1866) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'for having written (according to JENKINS) that a promise of marriage may be fulfilled in an immoral manner'—'when the feelings that induced the formation of the engagement have ceased'. Notes that Whewell's remarks were 'evidently calculated to outrage Servants' Hall'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners

People mentioned:

Benjamin C Brodie Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins, 1st Baronet (1783–1862) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports on the case of a corpulent butler in Belgrave Square who died from the shock of reading an income tax paper.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology

    Resolves that the salaries of the 'gentlemen of this Club' should increase as their privilege of reading their masters' letters has been lost by 'noblemen and gentlemen' communicating their 'secrets' by electric telegraph.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Education, Pneumatics, Physics

    Shows a boy holding an upturned glass on a table, near which sits his elderly grandmother. He explains to his grandmother that he has been learning about pneumatics and a method of removing the wrinkles from her forehead.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Museums, Collecting, Cultural Geography, Natural Imperialism

    Discusses some of the puzzling acquisitions of the Australian Museum Australian Museum, Sydney
Close   View the register entry >>, Sydney, including 'a centipede' and 'the portions of an egg shell'. Observes that the latter allegedly 'formed a part of the habitation of some very strange bird, now said to be extinct'. Believes Australians are not very far behind Britain as 'collectors of scientific rubbish'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Class, Expertise, Patronage, Government

    Considers that the life peerage betowed on James Parke (Baron Wensleydale) Parke, Sir James, Baron Wensleydale (1782–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> will be considered by existing peers to be an attack on the hereditary principle. Argues: 'As the son of a doctor is not recognised as a born physician, so neither let the son of a peer be [...] accepted as a born lawmaker'. Observes that since the 'seventh son of a seventh son is popularly esteemed a naturally qualified practitioner', then the same principle should apply in the case of an entitlement to a peerage.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [15]

Illustrators:

C 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:

Animal Behaviour, Sanitation

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Narcotics, Adulteration, Homeopathy, Medical Treatment, Health

    Shocked at reports of 'accidental and wilful' poisoning, asks Mr Punch whether poisoning should be treated by such traditional methods as a 'stomach pump' and 'sulphate of zinc', or by homeopathic remedies. Observes that the latter would involve taking 'an infinitesimal quantity' of the poison in question and urges that the homeopathic antidote to poisons should be regarded as a serious question by surgeons, apothecaries, and undertakers.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Patronage, Politics, Government

    Reports on Lord Robert Grosvenor's Grosvenor, Lord Robert, 1st Baron Ebury (1801–93) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'puff for the Homeopathists' (81).

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Quackery, Politics, Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Government

People mentioned:

James Morison Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports on the 'frantic state of alarm' among 'all the quacks' caused by the statesman Thomas E Headlam's Headlam, Thomas Emerson (1813–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> introduction of a Medical Reform Bill that sought to quash the trade in quack medicines. However, explains that while the bill will force 'every medical man' to pay a fee to register his name, it will not 'prevent quacks from publishing as many falsehoods as they please'. Laments the fact that this bill will penalise 'many a qualified practitioner' and begs Headlam to 'let the poor Doctors alone'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Ornithology, Pneumatics

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Amusement, Race, Radicalism

    Reports on Phineas T Barnum's Barnum, Phineas Taylor (1810–91) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> invention of a gutta-percha machine enabling a safe descent of the Niagara Falls. Responding to a proposal to test the machine with a dog then with 'a Nigger or an Irishman', suggests choosing 'the patriotic JOHN MITCHELL Mitchel, John (1815–1875) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' as the subject.

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Patronage, War

People mentioned:

Florence Nightingale Nightingale, Florence (1820–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Machinery, Manufactories, Steam-power, Technology, Wonder, War, Politics, Charlatanry

    Describes the activities of John Bull, 'a calico-weaver and spinner' who preferred making money to eating food and who mastered the techniques of 'spinning-machinery'. Having explained the 'infinite pains' which John took to maintain his machine, notes how 'one day all Europe, including the Turk', visited John's 'wondrous machinery', which was loudly praised. However, while John Bull was showing off his machinery to his audience, a problem developed in the machine that John tried frantically to correct. Describes how he 'blew up his workmen left and right / Till winders and piecers were pale with fright' and, after discovering that the machine's stoker had fallen asleep, employed a new stoker who helped restore the machine to its 'famous pace'. Concludes by noting that the moral of the song is that the reason why the Crimean 'war-machinery [...] got so out of gear' was because the Commander-in-Chief of the Army Army
Close   View the register entry >>, Henry Hardinge (1st Viscount Hardinge) Hardinge, Sir Henry, 1st Viscount Hardinge of Lahore (1785–1856) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, was 'fast asleep' in the 'engine-room'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Sanitation, Public Health, Pollution, Natural Law, Supernaturalism, Disease

Institutions mentioned:

St Pancras Poor Law Union St Pancras Poor Law Union
Close   View the register entry >>

    Laments the shameful conditions of the workhouses in this London parish. Notes how paupers 'lie, / Not quite like pigs— for in a sty / There still is room and air' and unlike pigs, some paupers have to sleep 'on the naked floor'. Observes that the air inhaled is 'foul with carbonic gas which surges from beneath, / Where things unutterable seethe, / Gas yet more horrible to breathe, And stronger yet to kill'. Condemns St Pancras as a place 'Worse than Calcutta's hole' and wishes that 'Saints' could arrest 'Nature's laws' and stop typhus and cholera.

Genre:

Drama, Satire

Subjects:

War, Government, Sanitation, Charlatanry, Quackery, Politics

    Includes the character 'FOXEY', a reference to the Minister for War, Fox Maule (2nd Baron Panmure) Maule, Fox, 2nd Baron Penmure and 11th Earl of Dalhousie in the Scottish peerage (1801–74) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who is described as a 'Proprietor of the "Grand Commission Detergent", or "Universal Military Restorative"'. The latter alludes to Panmure's attempt to reform the Army Army
Close   View the register entry >>. Foxey distinguishes his 'Restorative' from 'your two-penny-half-penny catch-penny compositions of rouge, plate-power, salts-o'-lemons, soft-sawder, and rotten stone', and demonstrates the cleaning power of his detergent on the ink-stained coat of 'DICK', an 'Airey-sneak'. This is a reference to Richard Airey Airey, Richard, Baron Airey (1803–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the Quartermaster General to the Army in the Crimea, whose reputation had been stained following accusations of inefficiency. Later in the scene, Foxey demonstrates the power of his detergent on other characters.

See also:

Anon, 'Panmure's General Renovator', Punch, 30 (1856), 95

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Invention, Sanitation, War, Government, Politics

    Shows the Minister for War, Fox Maule (2nd Baron Panmure) Maule, Fox, 2nd Baron Penmure and 11th Earl of Dalhousie in the Scottish peerage (1801–74) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, pouring the substance of bottle inside the collar of Richard Airey Airey, Richard, Baron Airey (1803–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the Quartermaster General to the Army in the Crimea, who had been accused of inefficiency. He explains that the substance is his '"Grand, General Military Renovator", or "New Commission Detergent"' which can remove all kinds of stains, 'mud-spot, mould, or fungus'. This is possibly a reference to Panmure's reforms of the British Army's Army
Close   View the register entry >> élite.

See also:

Anon, 'A Street-Study in the Neighbourhood of the Horse-Guards', Punch, 30 (1856), 94, 97

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Class, Medical Treatment, Patronage, Disability

    Describes the functions of a new 'Royal Hospital Royal Hospital for Incurables
Close   View the register entry >> for the Permanent Care and Comfort of Those who by Disease, Accident, or Deformity, are Hopelessly Disqualified for the Duties of Life'. Explains that the hospital is to provide an alternative to paupers destined for the workhouse and argues that those wealthy individuals who save thousands of lives by patronising the hospital will 'depart this life worth something'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Commerce, Philosophy, Eschatology, Supernaturalism

    Comparing the 'principle' of currency to that of the life, likens the statesman George F Muntz Muntz, George Frederick (1794–1857) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to René Du P Descartes Descartes, René Du Perron (1596–1650) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, whose knowledge of 'the earthly abiding-place of the soul' may equal his knowledge of the pound.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Politics, War

    Notes that the problem for 'political chemists' is 'the neutralisation of the Black Sea'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Quackery, Religious Authority, Politics

    Discusses an advertisement from an 'M.R.C.S. (1835), and L.A.C. (1834)' who seeks to interest aristocrats and statesmen in his 'NERVO-ARTERIAL ESSENCE' which claims to counteract the nervous strains of 'fashionable and parliamentary life'. Questions why the advertiser offers to supply testimonials from a clergyman who is unlikely to lead such a life.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Transport, Technology, Invention

    Laments the failure of 'British ingenuity' to produce 'a simple, roomy, and properly ventilated omnibus', a feat which has been accomplished in Paris. Describes how the editor of the Builder Builder (1842–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> (George Godwin Godwin, George (1813–88) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) and others endured considerable physical discomfort in testing the qualities of British omnibuses and concluded that a 'convenient omnibus' is as elusive as 'perpetual motion' and 'the squaring of the circle'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Adulteration, Analytical Chemistry, Quackery, Public Health

    Astonished by the testimony of analytical chemist Robert D Thomson Thomson, Robert Dundas (1810–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who told the Parliamentary Committee on the Adulteration of Food Parliamentary Committee on the Adulteration of Food
Close   View the register entry >> that adulterating bread with alum had beneficial effects and that it was 'impossible' to adulterate beer. Further shocked that the chemist thinks that articles such as beer 'are sold in so pure a state as not to be injurious to the public health'. Hopes Thomson 'was not examined upon oath'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce

    Discusses the annual report of Punch's spoof Kensington railway which 'promises little in the way of shareholders'. Its dismal prospects include the fact that more customers are running away from the railway than are entering it.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment, Human Development, War

    Responds to an advertisement for 'DALBY's CARMINATIVE' which stresses that the remedy is being supplied to Crimean troops. Noting that this remedy is given to infants by 'old women', suggests that 'some official MRS. GAMP' must have prescribed it to the British Army Army
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Expertise

    Reports that 'no less an authority than George P Bidder' Bidder, George Parker (1806–78) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (the 'calculating phenomenon') was hired to establish the astonishing age of a piece of soap in the Old Commercial Inn.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Microscopy

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Narcotics, Animal Behaviour

    Discusses a report of a lecture by Karl H Reclam Reclam, Karl Heinrich (1821–87) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> which attempted to demonstrate the 'poisonous properties' of nicotine by administering some of it to a dog. After going into convulsions, the dog blew the substance back into Reclam's face, whose convulsions illustrated the topic of his lecture. Punch notes that its own dog had barked furiously at the report but hoped the lecturer 'has had a "sickener" of trying poison on the canine species'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Gender, Education, Domestic Economy

    Responds to news that 'an English lady', 'DR. EMILY' [i.e. Emily Davies Davies, (Sarah) Emily (1830–1921) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>], 'had just completed her medical studies at Paris and obtained a diploma to practice as a physician'. Regards a wife who can act like a physician as 'a treasure indeed' and a great improvement on incompetent and expensive domestic nurses. Notes other advantages of women doctors, including saving husbands 'the cost of those continual doctors' who attend their 'ignorant hypochondriacal' wives, and the expectation that women doctors will dispense with the need for 'travelling and change of scene', thanks to their 'sanitary knowledge'. Rejoices at the news of Davies's appointment and hopes that Thomas E Headlam's Headlam, Thomas Emerson (1813–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> medical bill will provide 'every facility for British ladies desirous of following the praiseworthy example'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Morality, Crime, Physiology, Government

People mentioned:

John Elliotson Elliotson, John (1791–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses the use of Bavarian beer as a 'reformatory agent' in German houses of correction. Notes that the beer is used as a 'moral medicine', acting as a 'stimulant of the moral sentiments' which has 'sometimes to be diminished or discontinued'. Believes it will be a thousand years before this is 'adopted and applied by British Legislature'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospital

    Ponders the reason why the crisis-ridden Chelsea Hospital Chelsea Hospital
Close   View the register entry >> has not thrown open its doors to Richard Cobden Cobden, Richard (1804–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who volunteered to work in the hospital if the enemy (the Russians) should land.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Time, Instruments, Disease, Medical Treatment

Genre:

Review-Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Health, Mental Illness, Libraries, Reading, Gender

    Draws attention to several omissions in Henry G Wright's Wright, Henry Goode (1828–69) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >> 'Little book' on Headaches Wright, Henry Goode 1856. Headaches: Their Causes and their Cure, London: [John Churchill]
Close   View the register entry >>. These comprise headaches of a decidedly non-clinical nature: 'THE SALMON HEADACHE' which results from people who have been 'drinking like a fish' the night before; '"THE DERBY HEADACHE" which attacks clerks the day before the Derby'; 'THE MUSEUM HEADACHE' which follows from 'poring over musty old books in a badly-ventilated room'; and 'THE FEMALE HEADACHE' which is divided into the 'Nervous' or 'irritable' and the 'Sick' or 'despondent' varieties. Explains that 'milder forms' of the last type of headache 'will vanish upon the application of a piece of jewellery'. Invites Wright to publish a companion volume entitled Heartaches, a volume aimed at men rather than women.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Accidents, Nationalism

    Discusses the campaign by some 'American Papers' to blame England for a disagreement between the underwriters and the Atlantic Telegraph Company Atlantic Telegraph Company
Close   View the register entry >> over the slippage of the cable rope into the sea. Laments the stupidity of the company and hopes 'a-nEw-ropian' company will be formed to continue the plan.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Textbooks, Physical Geography, Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, Education, Mathematics

    Discusses the possible effects on 'the greater part of our country's literature' if the British government and people were to 'embrace the blessing of that agreement with the Roman Pontiff Pius IX, Pope (1792–1878) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> termed a Concordat'. Explains that Leopold von Ranke Ranke, Leopold von (1795–1886) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> offended the Pope by passages published in his Elementary Geography, and notes the impossibility of not offending the Pope on any subject except pure mathematics. Laments the effect of this agreement on 'every kind of knowledge and science'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Politics, Government, Quackery

    Describes the medical bill passing through Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> as such as 'disagreeable dose' that the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> has 'pitched the measure to a Select Committee'. Warns that the bill will not achieve its goal of ending quackery because it will be hard to distinguish 'the vendor of the patent pill' from the 'family doctor, who continues to send medicine which he knows will do no good, for the mere purpose of running up a bill'. Believes that the legislation should be enforced against 'the more specious quacks, who get into one's house under the guise of regularly-qualified medical men'. Observes that hounding quacks would involve hounding those who make the 'first bold steps out of the ruts of routine', and therefore those who might 'make the most rapid advances in any science'. Suggests that quackery be traced 'in the ranks of regularly-qualified practitioners' and warns that examinations are not rigid enough to prevent quackery.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Morality, Quackery, Politics, Government, Progress

    Reporting on the discussion of Thomas E Headlam's Headlam, Thomas Emerson (1813–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> medical bill 'for registering our doctors', notes the lack of consensus over medical reform and the methods to thwart quackery. Notes that while Punch holds most medical professionals as 'honourable and kind-hearted men, sincerely desirous to do their best for science and humanity', condemns the 'old jobbers' who 'oppose the advances of enlightenment' and the 'advertising quacks'. Adds that this bill will 'affect neither nuisance' and notes the date when this legislation will next be considered. (142)

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Microscopy, Natural History, Education

    The illustration shows a portly gentleman peering through a microscope at a frog, which sits on a parlour table. Around the table are three young children.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Menageries, Collecting, Ornithology, Natural History

    Shows a room full of stuffed animals and a man being attacked by an owl chained to a perch.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Human Development, Machinery, Amusement, Politics, Government, Exhibitions

    Discusses some lifelike 'human' and 'brutal' individuals (automata) being exhibited at the Egyptian Hall Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly
Close   View the register entry >>. Noting that some of the machines speak and that all come from Paris, suggests that the machines' inventor also built members of the French Senate.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Vaccination, Medical Treatment

People mentioned:

Henry Letheby Letheby, Henry (1816–76) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses an 'open' door in the law against inoculation for smallpox: it suggests that anybody who wants to be inoculated should travel in a 'hack cab' which has just been vacated by a smallpox carrier on their way to the Institution for the Cure and Prevention of Infectious Fever Institution for the Cure and Prevention of Contagious Fever
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Government

    Suggests that the commissioners under the 'Smoke Prevention Act' burn the inscription 'PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE' onto chimneys.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Education, Reading

    Describes a girl who informs her father that her giddiness is not due to reading novels but to 'reading the letters about the moon's rotation'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Accidents

    Discusses 'the outrageous conduct' of the fire extinquisher at the Drury Lane Theatre Drury Lane Theatre
Close   View the register entry >> and explains that the invention would not have exploded and ejected 'burning material' if people had not laid their hands on the 'heated machine'. Observes that 'Accidents will happen with the best of regulated inventions' and that the fire extinguisher should not be discarded 'for having once blown its lid off'. Hopes the incident will encourage others to develop better ways of extinguishing fires.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Natural History, Zoology, Government

    A description of the physical features and habits of the red tapir, an animal which represents the evils of bureaucracy. The description notes that the animal's 'favourite haunt is Downing Street' and that it is difficult to remove from the government offices where it ensconces itself. Draws attention to its extremely 'slow and sluggish' movements, its obstinacy and its delight 'in making [progress] still slower by thrusting as many forms as it can in the way'. Adds that the animal's diet consists principally of 'government paper and sealing-wax' and that it 'wastes a great deal more than it consumes'. Thinks the species 'belongs to the class of Bores', is 'pig-headed', donkey-eared, and should be 'exterminated to-morrow'. The illustration shows a tapir dressed as a civil servant.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Amusement, Religion, Animal Behaviour, Music

    Reports on a petition from the 'beasts of the Zoological Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>' against 'Sabbath music in their neighbourhood' which they think will reduce visitors to the gardens.

Genre:

Epigram, Spoof

Subjects:

Political Economy, Commerce

    Explains that political economy 'ends where it begins—impressing upon us the high value we should attach to, and the great care we should always take of, Number One'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Analytical Chemistry, Heroism

    Reports that Arthur H Hassall Hassall, Arthur Hill (1817–94) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'man who has done the best to hunt Death out of the Pot', has received a testimonial from his friends and admirers. The testimonial represents the angel Ithuriel of Christian mythology, the touch of whose spear exposed deceit, and in particular exposed Satan squatting like a toad. Punch observes that Hassall's touch has exposed those who adulterate food and drink, and hopes he will long continue his work. Claims that Punch will subscribe to any testimonial to a senator who makes adulteration a felony.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Display, Amusement, Commerce

    Criticising the expense and wastage of the imminent firework display, points out that chemists regard fireworks as a 'monstrous bore' and the conversion of 'so much substance' and money into 'useless watery vapour' and 'so much unnecessary light'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Veterinary Science, Medical Practitioners, Class

    Shows a veterinary surgeon and a 'Proprietor of Quadruped' near a horse standing outside its stable. The veterinary surgeon, who drops his aitches, deals with the horse's 'queer' legs by asking the proprietor, 'Do you 'ack 'im or do you 'unt 'im?'. After hearing the proprietor explain that he sometimes hunts the horse but uses him as a hack, the surgeon explains that the affliction is caused not by the 'unting' but by the ''ammer, 'ammer, 'ammer, along the 'ard 'igh road'.

Genre:

Serial, Catechism, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Disease, Pharmaceuticals, Education

    Adapts some well-known proverbs for the purposes of exposing the dangers of homeopathy and standard medical practice, especially those relating to infinitesimal quantities. For example, insists that 'A little Medical learning is a dangerous thing', that 'The art is not to dispense medicine, but to dispense with it', and that 'Doctors make more diseases than they ever cure'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Meteorology, Astrology, Charlatanry, Prognostication

    To prove his 'good faith' as a prophet of the Derby Day races, the narrator intends 'carefully to abstain from prophesying what kind of weather it will be' on the day, but points out that he does not use his powers of 'vaticination' for weather predictions because while 'racing is reduced to a positive science of betting [...] meteorology is not'. However, he does offer some weather predictions.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Politics

    Reports on the 'alarming state of the KING OF NAPLES Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies (1810–59) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>' who took a 'morbid delight' in the 'sufferings and protracted pains of wise, amiable, and aged gentlemen', bound in irons and lodged in vaults. The 'Friends of Foreigners in a Bad Way', however, has decided against hiring Francis Willis Willis, Francis (1791?–1859) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> and John Conolly Conolly, John (1794–1866) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to 'bleed, blister and physic' the patient.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Education, Amusement, Controversy, Periodicals

    Reports that the 'Moon controversy' has moved from The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> to the Royal Polytechnic Institution Royal Polytechnic Institution
Close   View the register entry >>. Relates that there is public anxiety concerning 'the identity between the Moon which MR. JELINGER SYMONS Symons, Jelinger Cookson (1809–60) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has made his own' and the luminary which John H Pepper Pepper, John Henry (1821–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has '"secured" for his scientific purposes' at the Polytechnic Institution. Reassures anxious 'elderly females' that Pepper's 'moon' is a 'perfectly legitimate luminary' with geological features and rotation.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Psychology, Government, Nutrition

    Discusses the possibility that the aldermen of London exert a 'daemonic influence' (a term that Punch attributes to Johann W von Goethe Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>) over judges, 'to the augmentation of their gravity, composure of their feelings, [and] support of their minds'. Speculates on the nature of 'this extraordinary something [...] which, irrespectively of moral character and intellectual ability [...] some individuals appear to be endowed with'. Believes the influence derives from their consumption of cognac and other spirits which give them 'an atmosphere imbued with moral qualities'.

Genre:

Serial, Catechism, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Disease, Health, Pharmaceuticals

    List of proverbs and aphorisms designed to expose the fraudulence and avarice of homeopaths and standard medical practitioners. These include 'The Louder the Quack the longer will be the Bill' and 'The man who doctors himself has a fool for his patient'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Transport, Medical Treatment, Disease, Commerce

    Complains about the failure to tackle the danger of transporting patients to hospitals in cabs, but observes that cabmen are unlikely to refuse such trade.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Animal Behaviour

    Describes how the 'Russian Bear' enjoyed the Primrose Hill fireworks, thanks to the permission of David W Mitchell Mitchell, David William (1813–59) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> of the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour

    Reports on the sorry fate of the motion of Richard Dawson (3rd Baron Cremorne) Dawson, Richard, 1st Earl of Dartrey and 3rd Baron Cremorne (1817–97) Cokayne 1910–59
Close   View the register entry >> for the 'purgation of the Happy Family Club'. Explains that Cremorne's expectation that a variety of animals (including owls, a cat, and a goldfinch) could 'eat and drink in harmony' was shattered when they started attacking each other. Following the debate that followed it was resolved to leave matters as they were since 'things could not be mended'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hunting, Nutrition, Amusement, Cultural Geography

    Reports that Derby Day saw 'a vast attendance of connoisseurs of horseflesh' including 'a few Frenchmen, of like taste with Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore (1805–61) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Health

    Discusses the 'Movement Cure', a novel medical treatment in which a patient is pushed about rather than drugged. Points out that 'Humanity is to be treated like an old carpet, which is to be revived by a thorough good beating'. Explains that while in former medical treatments the 'gymnastics were purely active', in this new treatment 'the patient is passive' and receives beatings from an assistant. Adds that another form of the treatment involves the patient resisting the 'gymnast's effort of making a certain and determined form of movement', and believes that the 'Tipton Slasher' would be useful for this purpose. Concludes by stating that the narrator's 'nerves are scarcely in a fair state' to give the treatment a 'fair trial'.

Genre:

Notes, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Gender, Domestic Economy

    Includes motions to consider the petition of a 'Monthly Nurse', that her consumption of rum and water is 'absolutely necessary for her constitution', and Dr Frumpy's argument that he has 'strong medical testimony' to support the need for the 'Monthly Nurse' to take the children of the Grundy household to the seaside for the benefit of their health.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Religion, Chemistry, Death

    Responds to a Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report about Catholic priests refusing to bury Protestants when they do not have their own clergy. Regards this distinction between bodies as 'bigotry' and points out that the Protestant divine, unlike the 'popish parson', knows that the products of animal decomposition are gaseous and hence 'mingle', and that 'a 'denominational distinction in a burying-ground comes, ultimately, to a distinction' between the phosphates of lime of corpses of different denominations.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Machinery, Technology, Skill, Animal Behaviour

    Includes memoranda to 'study the properties of Babbage's Babbage, Charles (1792–1871) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>Calculating Machine, and see how far they are adaptable to oneself', and to 'teach the Parrot the Multiplication Table'.