Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Railways, Progress

Genre:

Regular Feature, Anecdote, Spoof

Subjects:

Botany, Natural History, Politics

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Horticultural Society—Gardens Royal Horticultural Society—Gardens, Chiswick
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses the 'Speaking Tree of Siam', a tree which allegedly speaks in contemptuous tones and in a Siamese dialect, noting that attention has recently been directed to the subject in consequence of the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1855.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Science Communication

Genre:

Regular Feature, Anecdote, Spoof

Subjects:

Hunting, Animal Behaviour

    Describes the techniques used by whalers to defend themselves against provoked whales, and some of the disastrous consequences of their actions.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens

People mentioned:

David W Mitchell Mitchell, David William (1813–59) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Botany

    Discusses the experiments of a 'mycologist' investigating the claim that 'Many of the British fungi [...] are good to eat'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Anecdote, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Narcotics

    Describes the behaviour of an owl which allegedly supplied tobacco to a shepherd with whom it had developed a relationship.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Anecdote, Spoof

Subjects:

Natural History, Animal Behaviour, Sound, Nutrition, Navigation

    Discusses the alleged singing power of bees and their apparent use of glow-worms as navigational aids.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology, Charlatanry

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Exploration, Ethnology, Religion, Race, Publishing

    A spoof report of a paper read by a missionary, Brother Erky Swunks, to the Aborigines Protection Society Aborigines Protection Society
Close   View the register entry >> about a visit to a South American tribe. The paper includes Swunks's description of the primitive clothes and of the French-style gestures of the tribe, and relates the violent response of the tribe to his distribution of religious tracts.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mining

    'The best thing that Miner can take when he goes down into a pit is to take his Davy', a reference to Humphry Davy's Davy, Sir Humphry, Baronet (1778–1829) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> lamp.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Entomology, Animal Behaviour

    'Honey for the bee; whacks for the wasp'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Health, Medical Treatment

    'If you have nothing the matter with you take infinitesimally less than nothing'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Health, Disease, Commerce

    Notes that only doctors 'live in the constant enjoyment of bad health'.

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Heroism

People mentioned:

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

Genre:

Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Alchemy, Chemistry, Magic

    Shows a figure kneeling before a large bright disk labelled 'Vol. XXXII' and nearby, Mr Punch is seen nearby, dressed as a magician. Surrounding the kneeling figure lie the material artefacts of an alchemist's laboratory including a furnace and retort.

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Surgery, Education, Quackery, Boundary Formation, Commerce

    Relishes the imminent foundation of a College of Dentistry College of Dentistry
Close   View the register entry >> 'with a view to the distinction of the respectable members of the profession from the quacks'. Believes this will allow the 'toothless' to be saved from the 'fangs of extortionate advertisers'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Sanitation, Public Health, Disease, Morality, Reading, Crime

    Responding to the definition of 'dirt' suggested by Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as 'nothing but matter in the wrong place', contemplates the possibility that poisonous matter in one place might be 'food' in another and points out that Palmerston's idea also applies to 'moral filth'. In the same way that 'sanitary doctors' argue that material filth is best used on the fields that 'crave' sewage, argues that 'tracts' crave 'moral filth'. Just as 'Fever-seeds' may turn into food, why may not 'felons' prove themselves 'brothers'?

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Treatment, Nutrition

    Having urged his 'staunch Assistant' to 'prepare to Pound' drugs, the narrator observes that he and his fellow surgeons can exploit the boom in the number of illnesses caused by the gluttony of the Christmas period. Gives precise details of the treatments for specific complaints and urges his assistant to make ready his other surgical and pharmaceutical resources.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Disease, Mental Illness, Medical Treatment, Crime, Politics, Government

    Presents a case for believing that the Home Secretary, George Grey Grey, Sir George (1799–1882) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, is suffering from dyspepsia. Points out that Grey exhibits many of the symptoms of this complaint including the inability of 'saying No when [the stomach] is distended' and being eccentric in his decisions about criminals. Following the 'atrocious injustice and cruelty' suffered by a man wrongly convicted of forgery, suggests that Grey take a 'blue-pill' to cure 'one of those hallucinations which often attend disorder of the liver in particular'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Mathematics, Amusement

    Reports on a poor husband who has been trying to 'Square the Circle of a Lady's dress'—his wife's milliner's bills.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Military Technology, Analogy

    Reports that planets are like shooting-stars because they are both 'revolvers'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Time, Technology, Menageries, Animal Behaviour

    Discusses the observation of a correspondent in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> that the 'wooden outside case' of the great clock of St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral
Close   View the register entry >> was like Wombwell's menagerie Wombwell's Menagerie
Close   View the register entry >>. The illustration shows animals frolicking at a menagerie, notably a swan balancing on its beak a rod on which a lizard perches.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Animal Behaviour, Acclimatization

    Reflects on 'the greatest of all domestic troubles'—domestic servants—and announces that the 'Jackanapes' Development Society' has been formed to provide 'Efficient substitutes for men and maid-servants'. Observes that dogs would make ideal servants were they to possess hands, but then explains the 'several varieties of the monkey tribe, particularly the ourang-outang, the ape, and the chimpanzee' that might be trained to 'render them fully equal to the performance of any menial function'. Notes that the society aims to 'acclimate and educate apes' for domestic service. Discusses some of the advantages of simian servants, notably their smart appearance in livery, their inability to answer back, their ability to 'remain in the parlour', their fondness for the young, and the fact that when they are 'past work' they can be shot rather than given financial support.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Disease, Light, Technology

    Discusses a report in Notes and Queries Notes and Queries (1849–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> revealing the number of Frenchmen exempted from military service on the grounds of myopia. Suggests that England manufactures and exports a large number of spectacles to France.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Telegraphy, Engineering, Amusement

    Discusses some possible uses of the 'innumerable air-tubes' used in crinoline-inflated petticoats, once the latter have gone out of fashion. Suggests using them for holding the electric telegraph wires, for building life-preservers, and for a speaking-tube between London and Paris.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Patronage, Government

    Imagines an argument between an 'ancient brocade; / From the days of QUEEN ANNE' and a 'ball-dress with jupe en tube' inside a Duchess's wardrobe. The ancient brocade criticises the taste of its target, rather than the cost, because in its time 'we'd no BABBAGE'—an allusion to the large government grant awarded to Charles Babbage Babbage, Charles (1792–1871) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> for his calculating engine.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

[John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Politics

    Shows 'SURGEON PAM' (Prime Minister Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) telling 'Lewis' (Chancellor of the Exchequer George C Lewis Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, 2nd Baronet (1806–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, represented as a figure holding a cat-o' nine-tails marked 'Income Tax'), to stop flogging John Bull, whose pulse is being taken by the surgeon.

Genre:

Serial, Dialogue, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration, Crime, Commerce, Analytical Chemistry

    Introduces a series of dialogues composed 'with the aid of the Ingenious Doctor of Medicine, ARTHUR HILL HASSALL Hassall, Arthur Hill (1817–94) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'. The first dialogue features 'MR. RANCID, the Butterman', 'PATTS, his Apprentice', and 'SCRAPE, the Boy', and describes the education of Patts by Mr Rancid in adulteration techniques. Having heard Patts give a satisfactory definition of butter, Rancid urges that 'it is needful to make, out of a pound of the original article, as much more than a pound as we can', and proceeds to explain how to adulterate butter with such substances as water, salt, and starch.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Public Health, Pollution

    Describing the possible unhealthy environment of linendrapers' shops, expresses concern at a Manchester Guardian Manchester Guardian (1821–63+) Newspaper Press Directory
Close   View the register entry >> advertisement for a 'DISSECTING CLERK' in a drapery establishment, a feature which it suggests might be due to an unhealthy environment.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Surgery, Accidents, Disease, Commerce

    Cynically describes how a surgeon relishes the business generated by people being blown onto 'hard flagstones'. Compares his trade favourably with that enjoyed by other medical men from 'Zymotic diseases' prevalent in the autumn. Concludes by emphasising that 'When the North-Easter whistles shrill, / It makes me think on the little bill / To many a patient that I shall send'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Mathematics, Amusement

    Reports on a new commission set up to 'take the exact measurement of the Circle of Fashion', and adds that a prize will be awarded to the 'clever mathematician' for reaching this goal, and that several old 'Calculating Boys' are 'hard at work upon the problem'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Magnetism, Supernaturalism, Spiritualism, Physiology, Telegraphy, Electricity, Superstition, Cruelty, Crime, Providence

    Responds to a decree in the Roman Catholic periodical, the Weekly Register Catholic Standard (1849–55) Weekly Register (1855–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, of the '"Holy Inquisition", against the abuses of "Magnetism"'. Notes that the latter term seems to indicate animal magnetism, in particular 'the alleged phenomena of somnambulism and clairvoyance', since these phenomena involve using physical means to produce 'non natural' effects. Wonders if 'natural means could produce any other than natural effects' and observes that the 'non-natural' effects of mesmeric passes are caused by 'metaphysical volition', not the actual passes. Questioning the definition of 'non-natural effects', points out that 'There was a time when the Inquisition would have deemed the agency of the electric telegraph preternatural; would perhaps have roasted MR. WHEATSTONE Wheatstone, Charles (1802–75) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> alive, and probably dug up and calcined the bones of OERSTED Oersted, Hans Christian (1777–1851) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

    Discusses a review in the same periodical of a work on natural history that legitimates cruelty to animals by appealing to the creator's decree that all animals are under man's dominion. Observes that this latter circumstance does not render the apparently illegitimate 'Protestant sympathy for the sufferings of brutes morbid'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Prognostication, Religious Authority

    Notes that 'One Doctor says that Puseyism is to Popery as Cow-pox is to Small-pox. Another, on the contrary, says that it is as Typhus Mitior to Typhus Gravior'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Exploration, Heroism, Government, Patronage

    Reports on Charles Wood's Wood, Charles, 1st Viscount Halifax (1800–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> announcement that the government has decided against sending a new expedition in search of John Franklin Franklin, Sir John (1786–1847) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, 'believing that it would be useless'. Thinks it is 'impossible to believe' that Franklin will be found, but 'almost as impossible to disbelieve' that the location where he and his 'brave companions' perished would not be found'. (91)

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Physiognomy, Time, Language

Institutions mentioned:

Zoological Society—Gardens, Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> Wombwell's menagerie Wombwell's Menagerie
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses an advertisement in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> for a lost cat, but questions the advertiser's assumption that the cat's age can be determined from its physical features.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Prognostication, Superstition, Astrology, Charlatanry, Death, Eschatology

    Addressed to the divine and writer on biblical prophecy, John Cumming Cumming, John (1807–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, this article describes some of the effects of the 'prognostication' of the comet. For example, notes how it will 'spread consternation, / And with prostration, / Old women swoon', how astrologers will declare that the comet 'will blow us into air, / Fouling this planet', that it will end the world 'so very soon', and that it will lead to ice which will be a 'boon [...] When the flies are humming on a sultry afternoon'.

Genre:

Serial, Dialogue, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Adulteration, Narcotics, Disease, Crime, Commerce

    Involves a dialogue between Mr Grig, 'of the Italian Warehouse', his wife and children, and the 'Shopman'. Mr Grig explains how he colours sprats with 'red earth full of iron' and sells them as anchovies, and stresses the beneficial effects of iron on the human body. He also evades his son's observation that another adulterating substance used by him—Venetian red—contains a toxic substance, red lead. The illustration shows a tradesman mixing sprats with Venetian red in a mortar marked 'Anchovy Paste'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Analytical Chemistry

People mentioned:

Arthur H Hassall Hassall, Arthur Hill (1817–94) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Review, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Physiognomy, Photography, Statistics, Photography

    Discusses a new pamphlet, Physic and its Phases Dickson, Samuel [Alciphron, "The Modern Athenian", pseud.] 1857. Physic and its Phases; or, The Rule of Night and the Reign of Wrong, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>. Suggests that the author re-title the work 'Physic and its Faces', given the different contortions of the face produced when swallowing different types of medicine. Upholding the need to preserve the 'line of beauty' of the face, reveals that it prefers 'drinking a black draught' in solitude. Believing in 'Laveterism' (a reference to the work of Johann K Lavater Lavater, Johann Kaspar (1741–1801) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>) and having 'some degree of faith in physiognomy', thinks doctors can learn something from the faces of patients swallowing medicines. Suggests producing a statistical survey and photographically illustrated works mapping the various distortions of the face when taking a given pill. Announces itself ready to have its features photographed 'in the cause of science' and suggests that the 'contemplation of our frightful faces might lead us by degrees to take physic without making them'. The illustration, which forms part of the initial letter of the text, shows a sickly Mr Punch sitting in a chair and being greeted by a box of pills and a black bottle labelled 'The Draught'.

Genre:

Serial, Letter, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Education, Lecturing, Physics, Electricity, Heat, Magnetism, Gender, Patronage, Narcotics, Health

    Mary Ann tells Mr Punch about her visit to the Royal Institution Royal Institution of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >>, where she and her friends saw the 'dear' Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> give a lecture in the presence of Prince Albert Albert [Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha], prince consort, consort of Queen Victoria (1819–61) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Describes the appearance and response of the Prince but complains about having been seated at the back of the lecture theatre in front of 'rows of old gentlemen, mostly with bald heads'. Considers the lecture 'lovely', and describes Faraday as somebody 'far more light and active than many a smoky stupid all-round collar-man that I know'. Intersperses her remarks on Faraday with warnings to Mr Punch about the dangerous medical consequences of smoking. Explains that governesses are not to bother children with discussions of gravitation because 'it is all Conservation of Forces', a concept that she attempts to support by confused reports of Faraday's experiments on heat, magnetism, and electricity. Concludes this description by noting 'what idiots men are to go on repeating gravitation [...] just because SIR ISAAC NEWTON Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> saw an apple fall out of a tree'. Goes on to explain Faraday's demonstration of the 'gold-leaf' experiment in electrostatics and notes how after the lecture, Faraday pleasurably conversed with the 'ladies' and showed them 'several little experiments' in electricity. Praises Faraday as 'a really great man, diving into the wonderful secrets of nature', but chastises other 'great men and statesmen' for not bothering to turn up to his lectures. The letter includes footnotes in which Punch objects to a 'silly little girl' taking liberties with Faraday's 'name or his teaching' and for not understanding 'one single link in DR. FARADAY's argument'. The illustration shows several fashionably dressed young women observing a suave Faraday experimenting with a gold-leaf electroscope on the bench of the Royal Institution.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Prognostication, Adulteration,

    Urging the 'British public' to look to its teapots, argues that the Chinese are a 'far-seeing people' who 'anticipated ARISTOTLE Aristotle (384–322 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>', and 'had nameless BACONS Bacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban (1561–1626) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> [...] ages before the time of the Novum Organon Bacon, Francis 1620. Instauratio magna, London: Joannem Billium typographum regium
Close   View the register entry >>', because they 'foresaw the coming atrocities to be inflicted upon them by the barbarian English', and accordingly 'poisoned a few thousand chests of tea shipped for the English market'.

Genre:

Extract, Essay, Spoof

Subjects:

Cultural Geography, Progress, Vaccination, Anaesthesia, Invention, Military Technology, Mathematics, Physiology, Exploration, Aeronautics, Mapping, Medical Treatment, Photography

    Following the British bombardment of Canton (the latest phase in Britain's Opium War with China), Punch lists spoof extracts from a glorious 'History of China' to be written by Richard Cobden Cobden, Richard (1804–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, a staunch opponent of the aggressive policy towards the Chinese of Prime Minister Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. The list reveals that 'some of our greatest discoveries and inventions were known amongst the Chinese long before Europe had emerged from the swaddling-clothes of her first childhood', and includes such items as 'Vaccination rigorously enforced' in 4999 B.C., 'Quadrature of the Circle satisfactorily proved' in 1658 B.C., 'The Circulation of the Blood and Penny Newspapers discovered' in 1287 B.C., and 'The Face of Nature photographed in all its features by Chinese artists' in 1202 B.C.

Genre:

Serial, Dialogue, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration, Analytical Chemistry, Narcotics, Crime, Commerce

    Consists of a dialogue between 'MR. BITTERS, Publican', 'MR. CRADLE, who is going to Australia', and 'MR. HOCUS, Brewer's Druggist'. Mr Hocus explains how he adulterates bitter and stout with such substances as water, treacle, sulphate of iron, and capiscum. Adds that 'another article that strengthens beer very much', which the 'regular chemists call [...] by the foolish name of Cocculus Indicus', and which they regard as 'downright poison', has been renamed 'multum' and is added to beer that is then sold for a profit.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Dynamics, Astronomy, Amusement

People mentioned:

Archimedes Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Notes that crinoline dresses are becoming so large that at a recent soiree they took up so much space that 'it was impossible for any laws of motion to be acted on' and that 'all the travelled stars of the evening became fixed ones'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment

Publications cited:

Moore 1856 Moore, Alfred William [1856]. Corpulency; i.e. Fat or Embonpoint in Excess. Letters to the Medical Times, by A. W. Moore, Explaining Briefly His Newly Discovered Diet System to Reduce Weight and Benefit the Health, London: printed for the author
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Disease

    Notes the Lancet's Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of an epidemic among the cows of London but also the 'non-medical opinion' which ascribes the disease to dropsy, which the cows caught from 'immoderate use of the pump'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Politics, Professionalization

    Urges Mr Punch to ask Prime Minister Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to support a new medical bill because it aims to quash quackery. Argues that any medical bill that does not prevent quackery and 'druggists' counter-practices' will only protect the 'superior and educated classes', while leaving the 'poor and ignorant to prescribe quack remedies for their own complaints' or to receive treatment from quacks. Presumes that the bill will contain a 'registration clause', but criticises the cost of registration and urges Mr Punch to ask Palmerston to reject the bill if it is prohibitive on the lives of 'poor doctors'. Concludes by suggesting that the medical profession look after itself and 'go the whole hog of Free Trade in physic'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Telegraphy, Railways, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment

    Attacking the Sabbatarian proposals of John T Baylee Baylee, John Tyrrell (d. 1859) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> and his allies, suggests that the 'election cries' of these 'hypocrites' would include 'No Railways', 'No Electric Telegraphs', and 'No Medical Attendance'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Human Species, Matter Theory, Amusement

    Shows two boys sitting on their beds in a nursery. Having heard Arthur remark that 'we are only made of dust', Freddy urges that they take more care how they 'pitch into each other' lest they crumble to pieces.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Matter Theory, Politics, Government, Analogy

    Notes the disgust of several statesmen including Richard Cobden Cobden, Richard (1804–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and William E Gladstone Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> that their 'fortuitous concourse of atoms' over the 'Chinese triumph should be called a Coalition'. Suggests a poem that statesmen might have penned about the general election, a 'paraphrase of a well-known passage', that develops the notion that the coalition over China was like a 'chaos' of atoms combining under 'some law occult'.

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Invention, Crime

    Reports on the invention by an Italian policeman of a new torturing apparatus that gags victims by choking them.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Phrenology

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

Serial, Dialogue, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Invention, Technolgy, Crime, Commerce

    Consists of a dialogue between 'LACTEA, the Milkmaid of the Poets', and 'AQUARIA, the Milkmaid of Society', who tells Lactea that 'the milk thou sellest is not pure' and that her school knowledge of the composition of milk is sadly wrong. At Lactea's request, Aquaria lists the substances with which she adulterates milk including water, treacle, and tragacanth. Lactea urges that 'milk should be the most nutritious of food' and claims that she has foreseen the invention by M. Donne Donne, M (fl. 1857) PU1/32/14/4
Close   View the register entry >> of a Lactoscope, or Milk-tester.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Disease

    Following the previous story about the diseased cows of London (see Anon, 'Sick Cows of London', Punch, 32 (1857), 127), reports that the government has 'taken measures to prevent further mischief' and suggests that the 'taking up so many streets has disturbed the wells'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Physics, Gravity, Measurement, Government

    Responding to news that Jacques Babinet Babinet, Jacques (1794–1872) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has calculated the weight of the earth to be 'six mille milliards de milliards de tonnes', observes that the 'parliament about to assemble will be not less heavy than the earth itself' because of 'the inordinate number of ciphers it will contain'.

Genre:

Serial, Dialogue, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration, Narcotics, Crime, Commerce, Chemistry, Pharmaceuticals

    Consists of a spoof dialogue between 'Mr. CROTON, the Chemist', who stands in his shop, and his apprentices, Mr Potash and Mr Glycyrrhizen. Opens with Croton reflecting on the fact that his firm has survived a trial for adulteration, and who then, with the help of Potash, explains to the Welsh novice assistant Glycyrrhizen, how opium is adulterated. Croton chastises Potash for using the word 'cooked' instead of 'vitiated' to describe the result of adulteration but gives Potash the chance to explain to the Welsh apprentice 'more of the secrets of the trade'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Crime, Invention

    Reports on the invention of a new torture weapon that is being used in the Neapolitan state dungeons.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Commerce

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Matter Theory, Government, Politics, Analogy, Microscopy

    Thinks that owing to 'the number of nobodies that are returned' to Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>, the next session may be like a 'fortuitous concourse of atoms', while the size of the atoms will require 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 >> to use a microscope to open the parliamentary session.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Education, Physical Geography, Government

    Thinks the Geographical Society Geographical Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> should invite members of the Civil Service Commission Civil Service Commission
Close   View the register entry >> to attend its meetings owing to the low standard of answers to geography questions in the Civil Service Civil Service
Close   View the register entry >> examination.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Transport, Animal Behaviour

    Attacks decisions to remove the 'knife-board' and other inconveniences from omnibuses but believes the improvements in omnibuses are 'like the improvements' to what Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> calls 'fellow creatures'—'they've been so long promised that we shall go on for ever and ever without 'em'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Military Technology, Adulteration

    Criticises historians' claim that the Chinese invented gunpowder and asserts that the historians mean 'Gunpowder Tea'—a reference to the adulterated tea exported from China to England.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Nutrition, Disease, Health, Menageries

    Discusses an Old Woman's Magazine Old Woman's Magazine (cited 1857) PU1/32/17/1
Close   View the register entry >> article linking excessive salmon-eating in men of a 'nervous excitable temperament' to headaches. Agrees with the argument and resolves to 'counteract this largely-spreading evil'. The illustration shows a man sleeping after a heavy meal which he has consumed in his menagerie.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Exhibitions, Animal Development

    Reports on the apparent escape then discovery of the mudfish on display in the aquarium in the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>. Adds that, when discovered, the fish had doubled in size and consumed many of the fish in its new habitat in the fountain in the north part of the palace.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Narcotics, Health, Disease

    In the first part, 'Glee', the dangers of smoking are considered and the particular danger of smoking in a chimney is noted.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition

    Discusses a Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of the horse meat dishes eaten by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore (1805–61) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and 'his disciples' at a recent banquet. Those present included a 'DR. YVAN' (probably Melchior H Yvan Yvan, Melchior Honoré ([1803–06]–73) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>), who is said to have eaten meat from all types of domestic and wild animals. Notes that this 'horse meal' was an experimental one but expects its readers would prefer to see its horse 'running with speed than with gravy'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Supernaturalism, Miracle, Medical Treatment, Mesmerism, Religion

    Responds to a Univers Tribune Catholique, La (1832) Univers (Religiuex, Politique, Philosophique, Scientifique et Litteraire) (1833–60) Bibliotheque Nationale
Close   View the register entry >> report of the allegedly miraculous healing powers of St Joseph de Cupertin Cupertin, Joseph de (fl. 1857) PU1/32/17/5
Close   View the register entry >>. Claims that he 'appears to have beaten the most miraculous of mesmeric patients into fits', healed without using physic, shown an ability to 'peep into the minds of people', and levitated on the 'slightest thought of heaven'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Taxonomy, Analogy, Class

    Opens with an extract from a news report of the mudfish at the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >> that escaped to a fountain in the palace, where it grew very stout on fish. The poem regards the 'golden fishes' in Joseph Paxton's Paxton, Sir Joseph (1803–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'marble dishes' as the 'Hupper Classes', and the 'nasty Mud-fish' as one of the 'Lower Horders'. Goes on to describe how the mudfish devoured 'all his betters [...] till he gets enormous, / Just as would them low reformers'. Concludes by urging: 'Don't give low folks too much freedom' and 'Keep the Mud-fish in their places'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Development, Nutrition

    Noting the 'fruitful' discussion among naturalists 'from CUVIER Cuvier, Georges (1769–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> to SAM WELLER' concerning a donkey's age, observes that all 'informed authorities' agree on its extraordinary length. Warns 'friends of the ass' of an article in the Union Union (1857–62) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >> announcing the formation of a society for eating the flesh of young asses, an institution which will shorten the lives of donkeys.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Address, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Amusement, Skill

    During her speech 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 >> praises theatre manager Benjamin Lumley Lumley, Benjamin (1811/12–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, 'whose talent for discovering the stars of the ballet rivals the skill of AIRY Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801–92) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> or ARAGO Arago, Dominique François Jean (1786–1853) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> in ransacking the firmament'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Navigation, Instruments

People mentioned:

Charles Napier Napier, Sir Charles (1786–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Shows a pig dressed as a naval officer holding a sextant.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Force, Physics, Electromagnetism, Electricity, Magnetism, Light, Electrochemistry, Heat, Chemistry, Politics

    Claims that following Michael Faraday's Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> lecture on the conservation of forces, Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> will be giving a lecture 'On the Conservatism of Weakness'.

Genre:

Review-Essay, Drollery

Publications reviewed:

Wilkinson 1857 Wilkinson, James John Garth 1857. The Homoeopathic Principle Applied to Insanity: A Proposal to Treat Lunacy by Spiritualism, London: [n. pub.]
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Spiritualism, Homeopathy, Hospitals, Medical Treatment, Analogy

    Notes that the work 'propounds a scheme for the cure of Insanity, on the principle that like cures like, by subjecting the lunatic to spiritual agency'. Puzzles over how such a cure is effected and the 'idea of infinitesimal doses of spiritualism'. Draws attention to an article in the Quarterly Review Quarterly Review (1809–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> about the use of dancing to cure insanity and, noting that 'no sane man ever dances', wonders whether dancing, like spiritualism, may work 'on the principle of like cures like?'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Supernaturalism, Miracle, Religious Authority, Superstition, Belief

    Discusses the exposure of an alleged sighting of the Virgin Mary on 'the hill of La Salette' and ridicules a report concerning the alleged power of water from this hill to cure 'all the evils of the body'. Concludes by urging the world to remember the 'miraculous discernment' evinced by Mr Punch 'nearly five years ago, in seeing through and elucidating that device of priestcraft'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Professionalization, Politics, Government, Commerce

    Notes the introduction into Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> of Thomas E Headlam's Headlam, Thomas Emerson (1813–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> medical bill and the rival measure of Francis R Charteris (Lord Elcho) Charteris (formerly Charteris-Wemyss-Douglas), Francis Richard, 8th Earl of Wemyss and 3rd Baron Wemyss (formerly styled 'Lord Elcho') (1818–1914) Cokayne 1910–59
Close   View the register entry >>. Urges doctors to 'be on the alert' lest these bills force them to pay a 'monstrous' registration fee. Regards the 'circulation of the profession' to be in a 'low state' and that such a penalty might cause a 'fatal collapse' in the profession.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Education, Mathematics

    Describes the agonies caused by learning Euclid Euclid (fl. 295 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>ian geometry and other mathematical topics.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Domestic Economy

    Reports on an advertisement for a 'Self-Breaking Perambulator', which is recommended to mothers who use nursemaids to wheel their children around.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Horticulture, Agriculture, Narcotics

    Discusses a report in the Glasgow Mail Glasgow Mail (1857) PU1/32/21/3
Close   View the register entry >> of an 'old gentleman' who is experimenting on 'irrigating garden plants with whiskey'. Notes that the outcome of the experiment is not reported but anticipates that whisky will produce 'the effect of seediness' in the vegetable economy as in the animal economy. Playing on a similarity between the effects of alcohol on humans and the features of plants, expects that plants might not be able to 'grow straight' and might be 'seized with a shakiness'.

Genre:

Letter; News-Commentary; Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Hospitals, Periodicals, Patronage, Reading, Gender

Publications cited:

Illustrated London News Illustrated London News (1842–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

    Introduces a letter concerning 'MOTHER SEACOLE' (the merchant trader Mary Seacole Seacole, Mary Jane (1805–1881) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) who expresses a 'mother's affection' for Punch owing to the fact that 'as she walked through the wards of the hospital at Spring Hill [...] the sufferers would plead for a glimpse of Punch', several copies of which were 'old and worn and frayed by many a strong hand brought low by the Russian bullet or pestilence'. The letter adds that Mother Seacole 'believes there will yet be work for her to do somewhere. Perhaps in China, perhaps some other distant country there may be women's work to do'. Punch contends that both the British army and the public 'will be disgraced if MOTHER SEACOLE, by reason of declining circumstances, should have to ascend into a garret' and asks England to help her, both by lending hands and giving money. The illustration shows a woman, holding up a copy of Punch and standing by the bedside of a wounded soldier.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Patronage

Publications cited:

Humboldt 1845–62 Humboldt, Alexander von 1845–62. Kosmos: Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung, 5 vols, Stuttgart; Tübingen: Cotta
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports on Emperor Napoleon III's Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> decoration of Alexander von Humboldt Humboldt, Alexander von (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von) (1769–1859) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> with the medal of the Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Narcotics, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Practitioners, Government

    A spoof letter informs Mr Punch of the use of wine in medicine, a claim supported by reference to the use of the term 'Vin:' in prescriptions. Gives some of the technical descriptions of such drinks as wine and sherry. Inquires whether, given the identity between alcoholic beverages and medicine, the legislature should allow the American temperance reformer Neal Dow Dow, Neal (1804ndash;97) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> to prohibit the sale of wine, beer, and spirits by a Maine liquor law. Questions who would be allowed to prescribe liquor if its sale were placed under the same terms as medicines. Describes some of the shortcomings of empowering only qualified medical practitioners to prescribe liquor, pointing out that druggists' shops would have to be conveniently located 'where negus might be "put up", and punch compounded', and where the dose administered 'would be adapted rather to the desire than to the constitution of the invalid'. Complains about this further restriction on the liquor trade and anticipates the merging of the businesses of the druggist and the publican, the pharmaceutical establishment and the gin-palace, the 'Medical Hall Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London—Apothecaries' Hall
Close   View the register entry >>' and public house.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Religious Authority

People mentioned:

David W Mitchell Mitchell, David William (1813–59) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics

People mentioned:

John Napier Napier, John (1550–1617) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Steamships, Amusement

    Describes some of the arrangements on board the SS Great Eastern SS Great Eastern
Close   View the register entry >> which, as Punch points out, is 'now lying like a red whale in MR. SCOTT RUSSELL'S Russell, John Scott (1808–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> yard at Millwall'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Human Development, Taxonomy, Animal Behaviour, Zoology, Race

    Claims that 'The Mormonites are a set of brutes little superior to the Baboon, and they may be ranked under the denomination of Orang-Utahng'.

Genre:

Serial, Reminiscences, Spoof

Subjects:

Electricity, Manufactories

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Photography, Patents, Invention, Patronage, Engineers, Heroism

    Reports on the death of Frederick S Archer Archer, Frederick Scott (1813–57) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'inventor of Collodion', whose failure to patent the invention has left his family 'unportioned, to the battle of life'. Draws on an analogy between the process of developing collodion prints and that of donating money (for example, how the deposition of silver can 'light up' faces in a dark chamber) to support its plea for photographers to 'sacrifice, according to your means, in memory of the benefactor who gave you the deity for a household god'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Astronomy, Extra-Terrestrial Life, Controversy, Quackery, Commerce

    Noting the impact of the 'Great Comet' on the earth, lists some of the beneficial effects of the event 'upon great numbers of persons'. These effects include William Whewell's Whewell, William (1794–1866) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> visit to David Brewster Brewster, Sir David (1781–1868) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. On arriving, Whewell 'sent up [...] a hope that whether other worlds contained matter or not, Sir David would come and take a friendly smoke with him'. Brewster allegedly ran down the stairs, dragged Whewell up to a 'whiskey toddy' and then 'drank confusion to the solar system, and everything else that set sensible men squabbling'. The effects of the comet also include the decision of Morison Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> pill vendors to burn their stock and hang themselves. The illustration shows an old figure, whose head consists of the globe of the earth, crouching down to smell flowers. Above him flies a mace with a hat stuck to one spike—a spoof representation of a comet.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Schools, Education

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Mathematical School Royal Mathematical School
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Mathematics, Education, Government

    Challenges the statement in a parliamentary blue book on Civil Service Civil Service
Close   View the register entry >> examinations that letter-carriers need to distinguish themselves in knowledge of logarithms. Insists that a letter-carrier should be one who 'carries his letters in a bag', not one 'who can carry letters in his head'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners

    Ridicules an advertisement from an assistant surgeon in a militia regiment who seeks to appoint a successor on the condition that this person is 'duly qualified' and will 'purchase the advertiser's uniform'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Medical Practitioners, Hospitals, Commerce

    Discusses an advertisement granting 'twenty per cent annually on the receipts' to 'any Medical Man recommending a quiet Patient of either Sex, to a First-Class asylum'. Thinks that this amount of money being 'screwed out of the lunatic's board and lodging' would probably shorten his life considerably. Observes that the keeper of the asylum should have an interest in 'prolonging the existence of his unfortunate charge' and could 'easily cheat the medical man out of the guaranteed twenty per cent'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Zoology, Superstition

    Reports that the decapitation of the sea serpent in Algoa Bay has meant that it can 'only figure, henceforward, as a mere tail' and that 'Algoa Bay' has been suggested as its 'Natal ground'.