Genre:

Essay, Drollery, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

E G Griset, Ernest Henry (1844–1907) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Natural History, Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Comparative Philology

    The initial letter forms part of an illustration showing an impoverished stork dressed in rags, holding in its beak a notice bearing the words, 'Have Pity'. It is also tied to a large mouse which begs for food to be placed in a cup which it holds in its front legs. The text describes how 'the learned Cheilopotos' in his 'treatise upon the Science of Creative Duplication' has argued that 'No entity can ever be lost in Nature for want of its counterpart' and that 'the collective idiosyncrasies of all the possible varieties of Human Individualities are to be found separately in the animal kingdom'. The author insists on the unchanging behavioural characteristics of animals and explains that he is to commence 'a series of sketches upon the Aesopian Aesop (c. 6th century BC) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> idea' of illustrating 'modern society' by the three estates of birds, beasts, and fishes.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Societies, Gender, Pollution

    Responds to a report in the Standard Standard (1827–60) Evening Standard (1860–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> of Dr Stallard's Stallard, Dr (fl. 1869) PU1/56/2/1
Close   View the register entry >> address to a recent Social Science Congress Social Science Congress
Close   View the register entry >> meeting. Stresses that Stallard proposed that the dirt of London should be 'swept away' and discusses the possibility that women could do this with their dresses.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Comparative Philology, Collecting

People mentioned:

Charles Waterton Waterton, Charles (1782–1865) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Medical Treatment, Chemistry, Amusement

    Announcing that the 'old laughing gas' ('Protoxide of Nitrogen') is likely to supersede chloroform, suggests that 'Operations will become mere jokes'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Quackery, Adulteration, Chemistry, Domestic Economy

    Praises a recent letter in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> entitled 'Poison for the Hair'. Explains that, using a simple chemical test, he recently analysed a bottle purporting to contain 'a restorative of the hair', and discovered that it contained 'sugar-of-lead' which causes 'painters' colic and palsy' when absorbed into the scalp and skin. Tells Mr Punch that he advises his readers to test hair restorers for similar poisons.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation, Language

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Observatory, Greenwich Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L S Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Transport, Invention, Adulteration, Disease, Medical Treatment, Mental Illness

    The text is headed by an illustration showing Mr Punch and his dog Toby riding one of the new velocipedes.

Genre:

Catechism, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Adulteration, Disease

    'We never say "die", but we do it'.

See also:

Canissimus, 'The Chemistry of Quack Hair-Washes', Punch, 56 (1869), 21

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Accidents

    Suggests that the 'approved Method of Communication between Passenger and Guard' is 'A Shilling'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Disease, Domestic Economy

    Following news of adulterated hair treatments (discussed in Canissimus, 'The Chemistry of Quack Hair-Washes', Punch, 56 (1869), 21 and , Anon, 'Motto for Wiseacres Who Paralyse Themselves by Rubbing Sugar of Lead into Their Scalps to Darken Their Hair', Punch, 56 (1869), 24), the poet warns elderly women and men not to wash their hair in 'darkening wash', explaining that it is a 'snare / Contrived with deleterious lead' that may result in loss of teeth. Points out that applying 'liquid iron' and 'juice of tan' to the scalp 'may not' be harmful, but suggests using 'salts of Mars' and 'walnut's liquor' as a 'safe disguise' to 'grizzled hair'. Notes the existence of mushrooms whose 'ketchup' can serve similar purposes, but warns that it is better to leave this 'pate / To grow as Nature wills it'. Concludes by urging the need for a sound 'philosophy of health' which when 'applied / May help you to preserve your brains'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Patronage, Periodicals, Medical Treatment

    Begins by insisting that 'PUNCH is clearly not the place for medical discussions', since its readers 'wish to be enlightened, instructed, or amused' rather than shocked by details of hospital operations. However, the writer praises the Royal Free Hospital Royal Free Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>, which was the first 'ever freely open' hospital to admit 'any poor sick persons' as long as 'there are funds unspent, and sleeping wards unfilled'. Explains that the hospital directors 'urgently want money' to meet such costs as prescriptions and food, and to escape from its considerable debts. Punch urges its readers: 'Please to fork out, therefore, Gentlemen', and exhorts them to consider the dire consequences of allowing the hospital to close.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Ornithology

    Noting that 'other Social Zoologists have from time to time exhibited their specimens', introduces 'new species of the old genus, and even the genera themselves, under novel aspects'. Proceeds to describe three social types as if they were animal species. Thus, the 'JOLLY OLD COCK' is 'a Rare Old Bird' who lives in a 'compact snuggery' and who is welcome to 'drop in' on other families in their 'nests'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Narcotics, Disease, Class, Utilitarianism

    Shows a crowd of seated working men and women, all of whom are shrouded in darkness and show signs of poverty. They sit around a huge white statue of a woman, who holds over them a long pipe from which emerges the smoke that provides the artisans with the source of nicotine. The artisans also inhale smoke from pipes which run, like roots from a tree, from the base of the statue.

Genre:

Drama, Spoof

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Societies

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Ornithology

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Engineering, Railways, Accidents, Government, Politics

    Presents a series of questions raised by Mr Punch, including 'Whether one part of the Thames Embankment won't be worn away before the other is completed?', 'When there is going to be easy communication between Guard and Passenger on every Railway', and whether 'we must wait for some tremendous accident or fearful crises' before these problems are solved.

Genre:

Extract, Reportage; News Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Surgery

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Crime, Medical Practitioners, Expertise, Mental Illness, Hospitals, Periodicals, Politics

    Discusses a recent case of a cobbler who was tried for murder but whose death sentence was commuted by the Home Secretary (Henry A Bruce Bruce, Henry Austin, 1st Baron Aberdare (1815–95) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) because the accused suffered from epilepsy. Defends the Home Secretary's decision from criticism by the Pall Mall Gazette Pall Mall Gazette (1865–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> and Saturday Review Saturday Review (1855–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, challenging the Pall Mall Gazette's allegation that the evidence was not properly considered and that the Home Secretary did not appear to base his decision on the judgement of 'a physician of skill and experience in diseases of the brain'—a practitioner who could have shown, by examination of the accused and sifting of evidence, whether the accused was insane. Argues that the Home Secretary probably did consult a medical expert, but points out that the judgements of 'a Home Secretary of long experience at the bar, and a Chief Constable' were just as reliable. Insists that the chief constable was just as capable of 'cross-examination and distinction and of taking opinions of impartial experts' as the skilled physician. Notes that from his experience of physicians in the witness-box, Mr Punch would question their 'judicial faculty'. Concludes by further questioning the assumptions made by the Pall Mall Gazette.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Domestic Economy, Gender

    Shows 'Our Stout Cook' standing in a scullery before her employers. She holds a doctor's bill in her hand and complains that he charged her 'two-an'-six', even though she had to 'wait two hours in that there surgery'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Crime

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Cruelty, Crime, Ornithology, Hunting, Animal Behaviour, Government

    Begins by discussing the physical similarities between the kestrel and the sparrow-hawk, noting the ease with which a 'useful bird may be mistaken for a bird of prey'. Proceeds to discuss a Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of a man who was arrested for carrying a large number of weapons in his pockets—clearly a 'person of prey'. Concludes by anticipating that a 'Reformed Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>' will devise the most economical and humane way of dealing with such a person.

Genre:

Review, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Amusement

Publications cited:

Dramatic Almanack Dramatic Almanack (cited 1869) PU1/56/5/1
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Adulteration, Medical Treatment, Disease

    'The Rightful Hair'.

Genre:

Drama, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Gender, Zoology, Government, Politics

    The initial letter of the text forms part of an illustration showing a woman wearing a stuffed monkey for a hat.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Zoology, Amusement

Institutions mentioned:

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Close   View the register entry >> Société Protectrice des Animaux Société Protectrice des Animaux
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Machinery, Military Technology, Progress, Phrenology, Exhibitions

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Ornithology

People mentioned:

Christopher Wren Wren, Sir Christopher (1632–1723) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Nutrition, Disease

    Shows a 'Hearty Old Gentleman' and his 'Dyspeptic Friend' sitting at a dinner table. Responding to his friend's complaint that the dinner did not agree with him, the old gentleman explains that he eats and drinks what he likes, finishes his meals with a 'good stiff glass o'grog at bed-time, and go[es] fast asleep, an' let[s] 'm fight 't out 'mong 'emselves!!!'.

Genre:

Announcement, Drollery

Subjects:

Periodicals, Natural History, Zoology

People mentioned:

Francis T Buckland Buckland, Francis Trevelyan (1826–80) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

Land and Water Land and Water (1866–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Religion, Faith, Scientific Practitioners

    Discusses the reports in Continental newspapers of the large number of conversions to Catholicism taking place in Britain, including that of the John P Crichton-Stuart (3rd Marquess of Bute) Stuart, John Patrick Crichton-, 3rd Marquess of Bute (1847–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Argues that these reports are false and designed to 'frighten the British Public with the idea that we are rapidly drifting into Popery', since the 'British mind' is easily impressed by the 'virtuous' and 'learned' people who have 'gone over to Rome'. Adds that the 'treacherous contributor' of these reports also understood that the British public would not ask themselves whether 'any such fish had come to the [Catholic] fisherman's net as a PROFESSOR OWEN Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, or TYNDALL Tyndall, John (1820–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, or HUXLEY Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, or a LORD CAIRNS Cairns, Hugh McCalmont, 1st Earl Cairns (1819–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Gender, Meteorology

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Religion, Faith, Military Technology

    Noting '[religious] conversions such as that of the MARQUIS OF BUTE Stuart, John Patrick Crichton-, 3rd Marquess of Bute (1847–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', urges the Secretary of War, Edward Cardwell Cardwell, Edward, 1st Viscount Cardwell (1813–86) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, to have the Enfield rifle used by British volunteers to be converted to Sniders Snider, Jacob (1820–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [5]

Illustrators:

J T Tenniel, Sir John (1820–1914) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Surgery, Religion, Government, Politics

    A commentary on the Liberal Government's attempt to disestablish the Church of Ireland Church of Ireland
Close   View the register entry >>, this shows Mr Bull, 'DR. GLADSTONE Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', and 'DR. BRIGHT Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' in front of representatives of the Irish and English Churches—the Siamese twins. John Bull asks Dr Gladstone whether the operation to separate the twins will be 'fatal to either', Gladstone replying in the negative, and Bright insisting that the operation will 'do 'em both all the good in the world'.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Ornithology

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Zoology, Amusement, Human Development

    Shows a children's room in which a young boy is playing with a wooden ark and some toy animals. His mother, who sits nursing a baby on a nearby chair, asks the boy who built the ark and what it was it built for. The boy answers 'Noah' to the first question and 'For little boys to play with' to the second.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Gender

Institutions mentioned:

National Association for the Promotion of Social Science National Association for the Promotion of Social Science
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Nutrition, Health, Disease, Crime, Class, Patronage

    Begins by noting how hard it is for those who gorge themselves at Christmas to appreciate the 'unpleasant feeling' of hunger. Proceeds to discuss an extract from a report demonstrating the low cost incurred by the committee of the Refuges for Homeless and Destitute Children Refuges for Homeless and Destitute Children
Close   View the register entry >> in providing their impoverished charges with regular weekly dinners. Presents another extract illustrating the ways in which this provision can save children from fatal diseases and from crime, and concludes by urging readers to subscribe to this charity.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Measurement, Commerce, Charlatanry, Crime

    Discusses a Pall Mall Gazette Pall Mall Gazette (1865–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of the prosecution of St Pancras tradesmen for 'having defective weights and measures'.

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Gender, Education, Chemistry, Astronomy, Physiology, Cell Biology, Spectroscopy, Light

    Begins by urging readers to 'Never show ignorance' and explains how to deal with those who hold conversations on music, the sciences, religion, and politics. Advises that 'you probably could not tell the difference between hydrogen and oxygen, and would be puzzled to give an intelligible account of the cause of an eclipse; but for all that, if Miss CERULIA STOCKEN chooses to enlarge upon HUXLEY'S Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> paper and TYNDALL'S Tyndall, John (1820–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> discourse, upon molecules and protoplasms, spectrum analysis, and "BAILY'S Baily, Francis (1774–1844) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> beads", ordinary politeness, and the remembrance that you belong to the superior sex, should save you from disclosing your ignorance'.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Class

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Geology, Engineering

    Discusses an extract from 'the Leading Journal' describing how San Francisco citizens have formed a committee to 'enquire into the means of preventing or lessening the destruction of property by earthquakes'. The extract explains that iron rods have been suggested as means of bracing buildings, but Punch recommends constructing houses with an iron framework and that they be built on springs.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Creationism, Religion, Evolution, Darwinism

    Notes the title of a paper recently read at the Victoria Institute Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >>, 'On the Doctrine of Creation, according to DARWIN Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, AGASSIZ Agassiz, Louis (Jean Louis Rodolphe) (1807–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and MOSES Moses (fl. 1500 BC–1300 BC) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>' (a version of which was published as Kirk 1870 Kirk, John 1870. Journal of the Transactions of the Victoria Institute, 4, 45–66
Close   View the register entry >>), but suggests that it would have been 'more reverent' to have put the name of Moses before that of Darwin and Agassiz.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Patronage, Utilitarianism

    Ridicules the low salary, small rations, and long hours which a night nurse would suffer at the Strand Poor Law Union Strand Poor Law Union
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Extract, Reportage

Publications extracted:

Star Morning Star (1856–69) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> , Standard Standard (1827–60) Evening Standard (1860–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Light, Instruments, Politics

    Juxtaposes the subtly different reports of Queen Victoria's Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> speech to the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>, published in the Star Morning Star (1856–69) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> and Standard Standard (1827–60) Evening Standard (1860–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>. The extracts are printed in parallel as if they were images to be viewed through a stereoscope.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Health, Disease, Narcotics, Gender

    Discusses an extract from a report describing the diseases suffered by boys as a result of smoking, including disorders of circulation and digestion, disturbed sleep, and ulceration. Argues that 'Boys mostly take to smoking [...] because they think it manly' and advises knocking pipes out of their mouths.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Husbandry, Disease, Cruelty, Crime

    Notes that the cattle plague was mentioned in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>, a remark prompting Punch to note that Angela Coutts Burdett-Coutts, Angela Georgina, 1st Baroness (1814–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has published a 'kindly and womanly plea [...] in behalf of youthful cattle [...] who are cruelly treated' by farmers (87).

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Horticulture, Botany

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Horticultural Society Royal Horticultural Society
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

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

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Zoological Gardens, Nutrition, Human Development, Animal Development

    Shows a woman observing the hippopotamus in a large cage (presumably at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>). The hippopotamus turns to the woman and tells her that 'Who'd ever think, looking at us two, that you devoured bullocks and sheep, and I never took anything but rice?'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Medical Treatment

    Noting the publication of Eyre 1869 Eyre, James 1869. The Stomach and its Difficulties, 6th edn, ed. by Lionel Beale, London: John Churchill
Close   View the register entry >>, the author is mystified by the 'difficulties' of the stomach, but suggests that one of them is 'regularly filling it'.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Zoology, Taxonomy, Class, Railways, Transport, Gender

    Shows part of a railway platform outside a luggage office. A large old woman, who carries a cat in her arm and pulls a dog on a lead, has left her 'Menagerie of Pets' by the office, including rabbits in a basket and a parrot in a cage. The railway porter points to her tortoise and explains that 'Station Master say, Mum, as cats is "dogs", and rabbits is "dogs", and so's parrots; but this ere "tortis" is a insect, so there ain't no charge for it!'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Disease, Death, Sanitation, Hygiene, Public Health

    Discusses an extract from a report in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> describing the large number of deaths in Manchester from 'personal dirt, municipal stupidity, and social neglect'. Explains that the death rate in Manchester is 'higher than in any other city' and links this to the city's 'dirt', suggesting that 'Manchester [...] send its dirty people to the wash'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Lecturing, Exhibitions, Light, Photography

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Human Development, Evolution, Cell Biology, Scientific Practitioners, Scientific Naturalism, Materialism

    Begins by rhetorically asking: 'Where [...] is the man who does not slightly feel disgusted when informed that he, in fact, is nothing more than a mere protoplasm', a claim made in Thomas H Huxley's Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'recent paper' ('On the Physical Basis of Life', a version of which was published in Huxley 1869 Huxley, Thomas Henry 1869. 'On the Physical Basis of Life', Fortnightly Review, 11, 129–45
Close   View the register entry >>). Imagines how this claim will affect dinner-table conversation, suggesting that one might hear somebody observing that 'he had lately met a protoplasm' who told him that income tax was going to be doubled. Concludes by emphasising that Punch 'envies the great minds that, by the aid of science' can illuminate the 'momentous question' of the nature of man, but does not envy a society where 'men are only mentioned by the name of protoplasms'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [16]

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Music, Electricity, Instruments, Gender, Domestic Economy

    Depicts the story of the philosopher who lives next door to a woman who annoys him by her piano playing—her piano being on the other side of the wall from the philosopher's study. In the first half of the story the philosopher has an electrical machine delivered to his house; in the second half he grows so irritated by the woman's playing that he carries the electrical machine into his study and contemplates revenge.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) 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, Health, Disease, Class

    Shows a decrepit man and woman standing in the street. Replying to the man's question about her state of health, the woman explains that she has just visited the doctor who told her that if she does not 'take the greatest care' of herself she will 'be a complete wreck in another twenty years'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Progress

    'Rail–way'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Animal Husbandry, Breeding, Cruelty, Crime

    Discusses a report of the conditions at a chicken farm in Vichy, condemning the conditions in which the chickens are kept: they are deprived of exercise and are brutally fed through a gullet inserted down their throats. Believing that 'The torments of Tantalus could scarce have equalled this', asks why this harsh regime is not adopted 'with garotters and other British gaol-birds'. Thinks that prison food is 'sumptuous' compared with 'workhouse fare' and suggests that food should be fed to prisoners (including 'brutes who beat their wives') in the same way that Vichy chickens are fed.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Ornithology, Hunting, Commerce

Institutions mentioned:

Stock Exchange Stock Exchange
Close   View the register entry >>

    Presents reasons why, 'When we're drawing a Bill to save sea-birds', there should be a bill for 'protecting the Gulls in the City'. Playing on the similarity between ornithological and financial terminology, complains about the 'poor Gulls', 'lame ducks', and 'poor geese' who have been hit by the rise and fall of share values. Notes that 'puffin' is enjoyed equally by poachers in the City (who like puffing) and the 'snobs who hit fowl on the Coast'. Argues that 'land-gulls'' eggs should be protected as much as seagulls' eggs, that we should stop 'unfledged landgulls' risking their necks with 'paper-wings', just as we protect young seagulls who cannot fly, and suggests having a 'close' time for both land and seagulls.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Animal Husbandry, Breeding, Disease

    Notes Lord Robert Montagu's Montagu, Lord Robert (1825–1902) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> introduction of a 'Contagious Diseases in Cattle Bill', which proposes the establishment of 'separate waterside markets' and the prevention of 'the admission of afflicted cattle'. Adds that the government's bill only applies to cattle after they have arrived on land, and notes the government's opposition to Montagu (110).

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Ornithology, Hunting, Breeding, Government, Politics, Cruelty, Environmentalism, Zoological Gardens, Zoology, Botany

    Discusses William H Sykes's Sykes, William Henry (1790–1872) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> introduction to the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> of a 'Bill for the Preservation of Seabirds'. Complains that Sykes's bill does not include land-birds, and suggests that during their breeding period, small birds and game should be 'out of season'. After another swipe at the 'geese' who run sparrow clubs, notes that some people consider that there should not be a limit to the number of gamekeepers hired to destroy 'all varieties of the British fauna which they account vermin'. Adopts the opposite view, which supports the British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >> and the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> in their concern to preserve wildlife. The author acknowledges that his position might be sentimental but points out that if preserving such birds is 'all bosh' then so is zoology and botany. Notes that Sykes drew attention to the important roles played by gulls in the natural and social spheres.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Observation, Light

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Observatory, Greenwich Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Universities, Education, Mathematics

People mentioned:

William Paley Paley, William (1743–1805) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Internationalism, Periodicals, Commerce, Language, Cultural Geography

    Reflects on the claim of the President of the Board of Trade Board of Trade
Close   View the register entry >>, John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, that 'we are gradually Americanising all our institutions'. Believes that 'Some little time' will have to elapse before all British institutions are Americanised, but laments the Americanisation of the press, citing an example of a 'facetious' advertisement for a medical pill.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Botany, Monstrosities, Taxonomy

    Discusses a report in the Builder Builder (1842–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> of the arrival from Nicaragua of 'specimens of "one of the most gigantic plants in the vegetable kingdom"', a species of the arum family 'closely allied' to the aristocracy of that kingdom ('our English "Lords and Ladies"'). Notes its extraordinary dimensions and observes that, owing to its novelty to 'men of science', it has 'not as yet received a name'. Suggests 'Gomagogus graveolens' as a compliment to the City of London.

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Heat, Instruments, Societies, Pneumatics, Telegraphy, Engineering, Universities, Religion, Education, Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, Amusement

    Suggests that the title of a recent paper read before the Royal Society Royal Society of London
Close   View the register entry >>, 'On the Behaviour of Thermometers in a Vacuum' (later published as Loewy 1869 Loewy, Benjamin 1869. 'On the Behaviour of Thermometers in a Vacuum', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 17, 319–28
Close   View the register entry >>), implies that thermometers are living creatures, a notion which 'leads one to think of the behaviour of Society' and of the importance of those people who fill up vacuums or pauses in conversation. Suggests that 'The newspapers carefully examined will often supply material' for conversation, and gives as an example a cutting describing how Charles T Bright Bright, Sir Charles Tilston (1832–88) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'picked up the electric cable lost last year' in the Gulf of Mexico. Suggests that this could lead to the notion of Bright competing with giants for the title of the 'strongest man'. Later suggests discussing the abolition of religious tests by the University of Cambridge University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >> and University of Oxford University of Oxford
Close   View the register entry >>. Ridicules the notion that study is the 'main object of a modern University education', and observes that the study of the works of such eminent philosophers as Aristotle Aristotle (384–322 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Euclid Euclid (fl. 295 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and Isaac Newton Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> is generally supplanted by sport.

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Military Technology, Instruments

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Industry, Manufactories, Engineering, Steamships, Military Technology

    A response to Princess Louise's christening of HMS Druid HMS Druid
Close   View the register entry >>, the last wooden warship to be launched from Deptford Dockyard Deptford Dockyard
Close   View the register entry >>. Proceeds to describe the passing of this dockyard, suggesting that the 'old yard has had its day; / Time change and war-ships with them; oak yields to iron's sway: / There are wider slips and statlier sheds, and broader quays elsewhere'. After describing the grim state into which the dockyard has now sunk, emphasises that it was where the Great Harry Great Harry, ship
Close   View the register entry >> lay, where King Henry VIII Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland (1491–1547) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'among his shipwrights showed broad breast and face of cheer', and where the Golden Hind Golden Hind, ship
Close   View the register entry >> returned with Francis Drake Drake, Sir Francis (1540–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and 'spices of New Spain' and the 'spoils of Ind'. Adds that this was also the site of the famous family of shipwrights, the Petts (the first of whom appears to have been Peter Pett Pett, Peter (d. 1589) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>). Concludes by relishing the rich memories evoked by the dockyards and hopes that the Druid will not 'disgrace the parentage she owns'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Publishing, Periodicals

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Crime, Commerce

    Discusses the case of a general practitioner, Dr James Clark Clark, Dr James (fl. 1869) PU1/56/12/4
Close   View the register entry >>, who sued the guardians of two young women for failing to pay the cost (£310 5s 6d) for his regular medical attendance. Criticises John Romilly (1st Baron Romilly) Romilly, John, 1st Baron Romilly (1802–74) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the Master of the Rolls, for offering Clark only one hundred guineas, suggesting that he appears to 'depreciate' the 'commodity' of medical attendance. Asks Romilly whether he considers Clark's claims 'unreasonable in comparison with that to which a corresponding quantity of forensic work is commonly allowed to entitle barristers'. Concludes by discussing further the differences in fees charged by barristers and medical practitioners.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [16]

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Music, Electricity, Instruments, Gender

    Continues the story of the philosopher who is irritated by the piano-playing of his female neighbour. Begins by showing the philosopher standing by his desk on which he has now placed his electrical machine. When the woman begins playing her piano, he turns the handle of his machine causing sparks to jump through the wall and to stream away from the piano. This causes the woman to flee in terror and the philosopher to jump about in hysterical laughter. Later the woman returns to examine the piano but in the final image we see the philosopher writing contentedly at his desk, the woman next-door having vacated her house.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Education

    Notes a speech by William E Forster Forster, William Edward (1818–86) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> on the 'Reform of Endowed Grammar Schools', a subject which Punch thinks is very important, especially because it believes that boys sent to 'a costly school' learn 'Greek and cricket', while those sent to 'a cheap school' learn 'nothing but slang'. Insists that since it is important for schoolboys to 'learn some classics, much science, and several modern languages, reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is clear that our system is wrong'. Thinks the 'wise intentions of our ancestors' should be implemented and wishes Forster's bill 'all success'. (122)

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Transport, Invention, Technology, Superstition

    Shows a desolate country lane on which rides a man on a velocipede. The rider is evidently riding so fast that a frightened yokel in the foreground thinks he is 'ridin' 'pon nawthin!'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Politics, Utilitarianism, Commerce, Periodicals

    Discusses a petition presented by William T M Torrens Torrens, William Torrens McCullagh (1813–94) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> on behalf of over a hundred poor-law doctors, who sought assistance in redressing 'certain grievances imposed on them by certain Boards of Poor-Law Guardians, who may not impossibly be viewed as part of the Collective Folly of the country'. Explains that their grievances include 'over-work and underpay', while an extract from the petition published in the Examiner Examiner (1808–81) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> insists that a medical practitioner cannot satisfactorily deal with the sick poor while there are 'paramount claims of his own household'. Considers the Examiner to be 'a journal known for its good sound common sense', a quality that it cannot attribute to poor-law guardians, whose 'penny wisdom' has led to 'pound foolishness' and more sickness among the poor. Notes that the Examiner suggests raising the number and salary of poor-law medical officers, but expects that this plan, which would enable doctors to be freed from private practice, will be poorly received in 'certain board-rooms'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Heat, Light, Energy, Machinery, Charlatanry, Futurism

    After noting the account in Swift 1726 [Swift, Jonathan] 1726. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, 2 vols, London, B. Motte
Close   View the register entry >> of the extraction of sunbeams from cucumbers, the author discusses a report in the Stockholm periodical Aftonbladet Aftonbladet (1890–91) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >> of machines that convert the sun's rays into a motive power equivalent to 'stopping the motion of the earth'. Presents an extract from that periodical explaining the tremendous power of the machine, but warns that such machines will probably not be patented in Britain owing to its lack of sunshine and great 'smoke and fogs'. Expresses fear that such a 'sun-machine', operated by a latter-day Archimedes Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, would 'send us all to smash'. Suggests that the idea might be useful in 'a century or two', but ends by calling for the invention of bottled sunshine.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Spiritualism

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoology, Entomology, Natural History, Mathematics

    A series of eccentric, punning observations on various creatures and their strange behaviour. For example, an 'Arithmetical Snake' caused 'A Countryman' to be 'much alarmed at hearing a snake doing a sum. On examining the reptile cautiously, it proved to be an Adder'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Adulteration, Cultural Geography, Chemistry, Politics

    Begins by claiming that the American variety of adulteration involves the 'simple substitution of sham for reality' and proceeds to discuss an extract from a report in the British Medical Journal British Medical Journal (1857–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> about Dr Van der Weyde Weyde, Dr Van der, (fl. 1869) PU1/56/14/3
Close   View the register entry >> of the Polytechnic Association of the American Institute Polytechnic Association of the American Institute
Close   View the register entry >>, who described a method of making claret using water and wood-shavings. Ends by noting that an 'eminent statesmen' has celebrated the fact that 'we are Americanising all of our institutions', but warns that this will mean 'going beyond' merely adulterating commodities.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Zoology, Sanitation, Disease, Museums

    Shows several men holding paintbrushes near the hide of the stuffed rhinoceros at the British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >>. The caption indicates that the animal has been 'suffering from parasites—Gover'ment [therefore] orders him to be varnished!'.

Genre:

Introduction; Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Disease, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment

    The introduction explains that 'an extraordinary meeting' of the guardians of the Berwick Poor-Law Union Berwick Poor-Law Union
Close   View the register entry >> recently considered the only reply to their advertisement for a medical officer and a porter, both of whom are to be poorly paid. In the spoof letter of application, 'An Apothecary' offers to undertake both roles, pointing out that he could not perform the medical officership alone on the low salary.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Military Technology, Steamships

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Notes extensive discussion of ships following the government's receipt of the naval estimates. Reports that the government was 'bent upon building two grand sea-going turret-ships that will go anywhere' and was not going to build 'any more wooden men-of-war'. Adds that the First Lord of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>, Henry T L Corry Corry, Henry Thomas Lowry (1803–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'denounced these great ships' and 'read heaps of letters from sea-officers, who predicted that they would be useless'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Agriculture, Nutrition, Breeding

    Begins by noting that the price of meat would force poor people to become vegetarians, but suggests that one reason for high meat prices is that farmers have been sowing 'Inferior German rapeseed'. Attacks farmers for this and notes that 'a Bill has been promoted to atone for their deficiency'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Invention, Heroism

    Noting the recent launch of the ironclad HMS Captain HMS Captain
Close   View the register entry >>, praises the designer Cowper P Coles Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for his 'child'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, Invention, War, Electricity, Electrochemistry, Zoology, Cultural Geography, Nationalism

    Written from the perspective of the slightly illiterate Mother England. Begins by complaining about how 'little good in these times one can often mention', but praises the torpedo as a 'capital invention', noting how it is 'to serve our arbours for protection'. Notes that the invention, like a flatfish, uses electricity to produce thunderous results, the torpedo destroying ships by the fusion of a 'galvanic spark [...] With nitrio-glycerine, gun-cotton, powder'. Considers the torpedo to be the best way to 'deal with all detestable invaders' and compares the use of the invention to that of boys who attack 'wopses' nests with fireworks'. Regards the torpedo as a much more effective weapon than the 'Saint Chassy Pot' (the Chassepot Chassepot, Antoine Alphonse (1833–1905) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> rifle), and proceeds to urge that foreign naval powers be destroyed by several means, including poisoning, burning, and sinking. Hopes that the torpedo will cause the 'end of war and battle' and enable life 'in peace and out of danger', but ends by warning 'all you foreigners' that those who 'dares to lay a finger on this peaceful nation' will meet with 'Wrack, ruin, olesale, sweepin, hinstantaneous death, annihilation' thanks to the torpedo.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L S Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Gender, Entomology, Amusement

    Shows the backs of several seated people at a theatre, the head of one woman being crowned with a large beetle.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.[13]

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour

    Depicts the story of a greedy frog who, having seen that a duck has left one of its eggs unattended, swallows the egg but denies knowledge of it when quizzed by the duck. The frog leaves the duck but suffers 'self-doubts', since the egg has turned it into a clumsy spherical animal.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Review

Subjects:

Phrenology, Psychology, Physiology, Anatomy, Neurology, Cell Biology, Periodicals

    Discusses a 'wonderful psycho-physiological discovery' made by 'an anonymous philosopher' enunciated during an 'unfavourable' Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> review of a work on phrenology. Presents an extract from the review, which argues that matter can only be arranged by spirit 'endowed' with properties that are 'conveyed by different agencies into the human frame, [in order] to perform their vital functions'. The extract adds that the varieties of spirit 'ascend by the vertebral tissues into the brain, and select the cells in which they develop the perceptions of sense and the faculties of mind'. The Punch author attempts to decipher the obscure meaning of the extract so as 'to see precisely how profound' it is. He begins by criticizing the reviewer for vagueness over the source of the 'vital functions', suggesting that the reviewer appears to endow agencies and properties with vital functions. Questions whether the reviewer really means that the varieties of spirit climb up the spine, and expresses astonishment at the reviewer's mechanism by which human sense and mind are said to develop from the selections of the properties of spirit. The author is equally astonished by the reviewer's claim that 'The spheres of the productive energy of these varieties of properties of spirit expand by action', and identifies the spheres as 'cerebral cavities' which expand due to the 'productive energy' of the properties of spirit and which 'raise the overlying portions of the cranium' beneath which the properties work. Concludes by suggesting that the Royal College of Surgeons Royal College of Surgeons
Close   View the register entry >> award the anonymous 'discoverer of cerebral spheres' a 'gold medal' in the 'interests of science' and that the reviewer has 'settled phrenology's hash'.

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Natural History, Zoological Gardens

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens, Gender

    Shows a little girl peering over some iron railings at a bear who, whilst holding into a thick wooden pole, throws his head back to look somewhat menacingly at the girl. The caption reads: 'Oh! that I were a bird, / That I might fly to thee!!!'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Military Technology, Ornithology, Hunting, Cruelty, Crime

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Notes an 'inevitable' debate on the 'English gunboat' and reports that the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> has passed the 'Bill for protecting the poor dear Sea Birds', legislation that will 'kick' Scottish fishermen 'down-stairs'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Illustrators:

J T Tenniel, Sir John (1820–1914) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Amusement, Museums, Narcotics, Education, Religion

    Engages the political debates over the opening of museums on Sundays and over Sunday trading. In the left-hand illustration, 'The Public-House', several dishevelled characters are seen standing near the bar. In the right-hand illustration, 'The House for the Public?', the same (albeit better dressed) characters are seen joining others in admiring pottery displays in a museum.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Amusement

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Technology, Accidents

    Concerns the shortcomings of new textile machinery. Shows a respectable looking gentleman walking down a street past an outfitters. A nearby 'Street-boy' notices something wrong with his garments and shouts: 'Your trowsies is a-comin unsewed, sir!'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Education, Religion, Museums, Government, Narcotics, Class

    Addressing Anthony A Cooper (7th Earl of Shaftesbury) Cooper, Anthony Ashley, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (formerly styled 'Lord Ashley') (1801–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, an ardent sabbatarian, the letter-writer suggests that it is better for people to spend their Sunday afternoons in the South Kensington Museum South Kensington Museum
Close   View the register entry >> than in a public house, and questions Shaftesbury's argument that 'the people' objected to visiting museums on Sundays. Argues that the people to whom Shaftesbury was referring were members of the middle class, not the artisans whom the government wish to attract to museums on Sundays. Reminds Shaftesbury that artisans, unlike the middle classes, have few other opportunities in the week to visit museums.

See also:

John Tenniel, 'The Sunday Question. The Public-House; The House for the Public?', Punch, 56 (1869), [158]–[159]

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Architecture

People mentioned:

John Percy Percy, John (1817–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Ornithology

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.[11]

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour

    The huge spherical frog is pulled up a tree by a snail, but on reaching a high branch it falls off, smashing the egg inside and enabling it to make 'Plans for the future'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Railways, Transport

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Steam-power, Domestic Economy

    Relishes the prospect of having a 'steam-servant' and thus being able to 'dispense with all JEMIMA'S race' (Jemima being London slang for a servant girl). Asks 'mechanics' to construct 'such an engine'.

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Periodicals, Zoological Gardens

Institutions mentioned:

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

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Health, Environmentalism

    Shows a miserable-looking man standing outside a farmyard in the pouring rain. The precipitation is so heavy that the lane in front of him has turned into a river in which ducks swim. The caption reveals the shortcomings of regarding country breaks as the cure for nervous disorders: it explains that spending six weeks in the country, abstaining from tobacco and stimulants, and spending the whole day in the 'open air' will not be effective unless one cultivates 'a cheerful frame of mind'—something which the man in the illustration evidently has failed to achieve.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Ornithology

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physical Geography, Societies, Travel

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Geographical Society Royal Geographical Society
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

Munzinger 1869 Munzinger, Werner 1869. 'Narrative of a Journey Through the Afar Country', Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 39, 188–233
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L S Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Ornithology, Disease

    Shows a cuckoo making its characteristic sound from a branch on a tree. The caption begins with an extract from a 'Daily Paper' linking the hearing of the cuckoo's 'welcome notes' to the 'mildness of the season'. The caption also explains that the cuckoo 'wishes she had not been such a fool' because she has a cold in the head which has caused her call to change to 'cuck-a'tchew'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Magic, Experiment

People mentioned:

William Howitt Howitt, William (1792–1879) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Dedicated to an organisation that had recently launched a systematic investigation into spiritualism. This begins by describing some of the spectacular phenomena produced 'Through MR. HOME Home, Daniel Dunglas (1833–86) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', including his ability to lift himself 'in the air', to 'Assist him a live coal to hold', and to 'stretch and shorten him by turns'. Compares Home favourably with the twelfth century Scottish magician Michael Scot Scot (Scott), Michael (d. in or after 1235) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Dr Faustus. Asks why the spirits did not help Home during his celebrated recent trial (in which he was accused by Jane Lyon Lyon, Jane (fl. 1868) Jenkins 1982
Close   View the register entry >> of fabricating 'spiritualistic' warrant for his claim to her deceased husband's estate). Why did the spirits not prove 'by demonstration, / In open Court, [Home's] "levitation"', or produce spirit-writing with the Judge's pen? Concludes by asking them to give Mr Punch a rap to produce 'conviction'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Hunting

    Asks 'some fellow' of the Zoological Society Zoological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> to identify the apparently mysterious 'bric-a-brac', a creature implied by the title of Adventures of a Bric-a-Brac Hunter (Hall 1868 Hall, Herbert Byng 1868. The Adventures of a Bric-à-Brac Hunter, London: Tinsley Brothers
Close   View the register entry >>).

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Machinery, Steam-power, Religion

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Hospitals, Medical Treatment

    Discusses George O Trevelyan's Trevelyan, Sir George Otto, 2nd Baronet (1838–1928) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> introduction of a bill 'for the reform of Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich Royal Naval Hospital, Greenwich
Close   View the register entry >>', which proposes to disperse all naval pensioners except those who need 'the shelter of an infirmary' and to transfer the infirmary to the Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes the government's indecision over what to do with Inigo Jones's Jones, Inigo (1573–1652) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> building. (186)

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Photography, Transport, Gender

    Discusses the London Stereoscopic Company's London Stereoscopic Company
Close   View the register entry >> proposal that its 'Pompeian Studio' is 'peculiarly adapted for taking Portraits of Gentlemen on their own Velocipedes'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Nutrition, Disease, Statistics, Periodicals

    Begins by acknowledging the importance of hunger for the appreciation of food, but then discusses a case of a destitute woman milliner who was forced to refuse medicine to treat her consumption because it made her hungry, 'which she could not afford to be'. Insists that Mr Punch is not blaming anybody—'He never blames anybody'—but that the milliner's case is merely an 'average' one, much as 'murder, fire, starvation' 'go in averages'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Ornithology, Hunting, Cruelty, Crime

    Praises the new 'Sea-birds' Preservation Bill' currently passing through Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> but suggests that a 'Landlords' Preservation Bill' is also desirable given the number of times that they are shot (a reference to attacks on landlords in Ireland by tenant farmers).

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Nutrition

    Asks why the buns at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> appear to be 'expressly constructed for the beasts', and not suitable for the humans who work up an appetite on walking about the gardens.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [9]

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Breeding, Animal Behaviour

    Begins by showing the frog egg-poacher as a 'habitual criminal' which tries to steal another of the duck's eggs, this time hiding itself under an umbrella. The frog steals and successfully swallows the egg but is caught by the duck, which knocks the frog down and sits on it in order to help the egg to hatch. 'The plot thickens' and a duckling hatches through the mouth of the frog, a result that prompts the frog and the duck to get married.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Exhibitions

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Ornithology, Hunting, Cruelty, Crime

    Notes that the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> sent the 'Sea-Birds Bill through Committee, but took out a clause making the possession of eggs penal, as collectors and museums might be informed against'. Suggests that 'our friend' George L P B Du Maurier's Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'egg-swallowing Frog' (see George L P B Du Maurier, 'The Egg-Poacher (A Tale of Country Life, in 3 Vols.) Vol. I', Punch, 56 (1869), 146) has an 'interest in this question'. (197)

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Commerce, Measurement, Crime

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physiology, Instruments, Narcotics

    Noting the invention of the 'Sphygmograph', an instrument 'for taking automatic tracings of the throbbing of the pulse', claims that the name of this instrument has 'suggested the invention' of the 'Swigmograph'. This latter instrument will trace upon paper the pulsing headache of somebody who has been 'swigging a good deal of alcoholic liquor', and thus warn the user against 'all dangerous indulgences in the pleasures of the table'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Gender, Education, Mathematics

People mentioned:

Euclid Euclid (fl. 295 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L S Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Transport, Invention, Education, Gender

    Shows a fashionable young woman riding a velocipede side-saddle. Behind her, also on a velocipede, is a man who looks on puzzled. The caption begins with an extract from the New York Sun New York Sun (1833–1900+) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >>, which explains how ladies can, 'in one week's practice, of an hour daily', ride a velocipede 'side-saddle-wise with the utmost ease'. The caption comments that the illustration is 'what we may expect to see this season'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Accidents

People mentioned:

George Stephenson Stephenson, George (1781–1848) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>