Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Almanac, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [4]

Illustrators:

R D, pseud.  [Richard Doyle] Doyle, Richard (1824–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

[Pictorial Border]

The Phrenological Almanac

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Almanac, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [3]

[Pictorial Border]

The University Almanack

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Electricity, Invention, Technology, Accidents, Commerce

People mentioned:

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

    Explains some of the advantages of the electric light, including the fact that it can be exhibited in a vacuum (thus making it suitable illumination for 'many of our theatres'). '[T]here is nothing explosive in its nature', and it 'can be increased unlimitedly', thus allowing greater visibility at night and in fogs. Believes 'lamplighters will soon be replaced by practical chemists' and that electric lights will force gas companies to lower their prices.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Gas Chemistry, Invention, Morality, Politics, Government, Commerce

People mentioned:

Joseph Priestley Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Mr Punch presents his scheme for supplying 'protoxide of nitrogen', a gas which he believes 'exerts an elevating influence', to the public. Intends to erect 'Exhilarating Gas Houses' and argues that installing 'Exhilarating' gas-pipes in homes, theatres, and the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>, will restore the humour of people in those places. Believes that exhilarating gas supplied to the Stock Exchange Stock Exchange
Close   View the register entry >> will raise 'national prosperity' and that it will provide the government with 'an infallible means of preserving order and tranquillity'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

W N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Railways, Observation

    Describes a porter's problems operating the railway and telegraph on a 'trying' junction at Witham Station. Explains that individuals who squint are preferred on this line because they can look 'two ways at once'. Suggests that porters train as acrobats, so they can 'make rapid descents along the electric telegraph wires from station to station'. The illustration shows a solution to the problem of one railway porter managing several different tasks.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Government, Politics, Anaesthesia, Magic

    Impressed by the feat of the electric telegraph transmitting the 'President's Message' from 'one corner of America to the other', an accomplishment that took some thirty-six hours to complete. However, thinks that a far better test of the telegraph's powers would be to submit the invention to the ordeal of Thomas C Anstey's Anstey, Thomas Chisholm (1816–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> notoriously long speeches, an ordeal which will require the telegraph to take 'ether or chloroform, together with the magical aid of Robert Houdin Houdin, Robert (1805–71) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Breeding, Technology, Invention, Animal Husbandry

    Announces that the 'egg-hatching' machine is up for sale. Adds that unless enough money is raised, '16,000 juvenile cocks and hens' will 'die the death of the bad and musty'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Government, Politics

    Discusses the diplomatic consequences of having instantaneous telegraphic communication between London and Paris. Anticipates a 'great economy' in the language of diplomacy: for example a typical exchange might be: '"Can't you reduce the tariff?" "Not in the present state of the Exchequer." "Take the duty off our claret." "Don't you wish you may get it?"'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Sanitation, Public Health, Disease, Environmentalism

    Describes the 'Sanitary Powers, / In American golosh [...] Scattering marjoram and thyme, / Fraught with disinfecting scents' on the odorous 'Greenhill's Rents', where impoverished 'Human creatures herd with kine'. Wants 'Sanitary Powers' to shed 'purifying showers' of 'fragrant vinegar' on these 'blest and balmy bowers' to drive 'pestilence afar', and to go to the 'Corporation' to know why humans 'suffer such a place?'.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Sanitation, Invention, Domestic Economy

    Describes his experience of using a new shower-bath invention on a cold December morning. The illustration shows a nervous man wearing a shower-cap (in the shape of a dunce's hat), and peering out from behind the shower curtain.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Microscopy, Display

    Records that she took her children to see Dr Leis's Leis, Dr (fl. 1849) PU1/16/4/1
Close   View the register entry >> microscope (35).

Genre:

Essay, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Pharmaceuticals, Nomenclature

    Offers a solution to the grave problem of illegible prescriptions. Having received instruction from Mr Punch, translates one of his prescriptions into plain English. Believes this is especially urgent as the similarity of the symbols for the ounce and drachm in apothecary's language could lead to fatal consequences. Urges the Royal College of Physicians Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >> to stop 'concealing from patients what it is that they have to swallow'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Aeronautics, Commerce

    Responds to J Browne's Browne, Mr J (fl. 1849) PU1/16/7/1
Close   View the register entry >> proposal to carry people economically and safely to California by balloon. Asks Browne whether passengers are 'required to bring their own strait-waistcoats'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Education, Health

    Responds to an advertisement in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> from a general practitioner offering to give a pupil a home in a 'healthy' neighbourhood and 'every opportunity of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the profession'. Doubts whether much medicine can be learnt in such a neighbourhood.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Aeronautics, Charlatanry, Engineering, Commerce

    Discusses J Browne's Browne, Mr J (fl. 1849) PU1/16/7/1
Close   View the register entry >> request for English and American investors in his scheme to build a balloon railway across America. Considers Browne's style so inflated that he should have no problem supplying the 'bags of wind' for his invention. Suggests that a better scheme would be to use birds, notably the eagle, to carry people. The illustration shows a gold-digger riding an eagle heading for California.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Steam-power, Machinery, Government, Politics

    Acknowledges that science has discovered how to stop large machines in motion, such as 'a railway engine speed', but has failed to elucidate a method for halting a Member of Parliament's tongue. Describes the motion of the tongue as if it were a railway engine, with the tongue, for example, 'running on, apparently forever, towards what seems to be a constantly receding terminus'.

Genre:

Illustration; News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Transport

    Responds to news that a correspondent in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> travelled on a Hampton Court Railway Hampton Court Railway
Close   View the register entry >> locomotive that was dragged for three miles by a horse. Prefers 'a cab to the idle fiction' of travel by trains on the Hampton line. The illustration depicts a horse dragging a coal cart and railway carriages.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Exploration, Natural History, Botany, Zoology, Vulcanology, Mapping

People mentioned:

James C Ross, Ross, Sir James Clark (1800–62) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> William E Parry Parry, Sir William Edward (1790–1855) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Responding to the Builder's Builder (1842–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> notion of popularizing the 'inclosure' of Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields
Close   View the register entry >>, claims that this territory has a geography 'beyond comprehension' and needs a 'regularly qualified surveyor' to report on its 'Botany, Zoology and other natural features'. The illustrations show the map of the fields furnished by 'rumour', and a representation of supposed animals in the woods of the region. The map includes such unlikely features as a supposed extinct volcano and a town.

Genre:

Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Geology, Mapping, Public Health, Sanitation

    The drama, 'slightly altered from Shakespeare Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and respectfully dedicated to the woods and forests', opens with a scene in which a 'Commissioner of Woods and Forests Commissioners of Woods and Forests
Close   View the register entry >>' speaks of the 'thousand offices of Carlisle Howard, George William Frederick, 7th Earl of Carlisle (1802–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' including 'Director / Of Geological Surveys; Chairman, too, / Of Sewer Commissions'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Lecturing, Amusement, Discovery

    Observes that lecturers on astronomy cannot get successfully through a season without 'plenty of additions'—namely, announcements of the discovery of new stars, comets, poles, and 'wind-instruments to the band of ORION', and 'pure cream' added to the 'milky way'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Public Health, Pollution, Sanitation, Nutrition

    A cynical dig at the poor state of London's water supply. Discusses attempts 'to supply the Metropolis with pure water' instead of the 'full-bodied liquid, in which are included not only an ordinary drinkable but a variety of eatables'. Insists that 'we scarcely require soup kitchens' when 'potage à la Thames' is 'supplied to us at a comparatively trifling expense'. Regards the filtering process to be used on London water as wasteful, since it will remove the 'most nutritious particles' from the water.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [3]

Subjects:

Palaeontology, Museums

    Discusses an Athenaeum Athenaeum (1828–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report on William Howley Howley, William (1766–1848) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who asked members of the Geological Society Geological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> to find 'an antediluvian museum' to house the growing collections of fossils in the British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >>. Anticipates that overcrowding problems will lead to such sights as holes being 'cut in upper floors to admit the beak of some pterodactlyus longirostris', and the 'legs of a megalonyx' being 'let down into the cellar'. Illustrations depict these solutions.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce

    'Sung with great applause by a Shareholder of the York and North Midland Railway York and North Midland Railway
Close   View the register entry >>', this song praises the meeting for making amends 'For all the large sums we've been squand'ring away', and describes, with much glee, the other scandalous financial activities of the railway company.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Transport, Invention, Steamships

    Discusses the impact of a 'new contrivance', announced in the New York Express New York Express (cited 1849) PU1/16/12/1
Close   View the register entry >>, allowing 'a man to float' in a river 'as long as he chooses, only using his finger to propel himself'. Argues that this will ruin the steamboat service and describes the many possible benefits of the invention, including the fact that 'a mother will be able to take her family by water to Margate, stopping on their way at Erith for dinner, and land on the pier at the same time as the steamer, without having paid sixpence for the fare'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Zoology, Controversy

    Reports on a sighting of the 'Sea Serpent' and the South African's South African (cited 1849) PU1-16-12-2
Close   View the register entry >> claim that some regard the beast to be a 'flight of sea-fowl skimming the water in single file'. Believes the latter claim leads to Richard Owen's Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> question regarding the number of gulls needed to 'make' the beast.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Education, Political Economy, Mathematics, Agriculture, Commerce

    Conducted by the radical statesmen Richard Cobden Cobden, Richard (1804–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'Academy' seeks to teach 'tenant farmers' and 'landlords' such subjects as 'Political and Financial ECONOMY' and arithmetic (taught by the 'eminent Accountant' Joseph Hume Hume, Joseph (1777–1855) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>). Stresses that it seeks to convince 'OLD GENTLEMEN [...] of the atrocity of Bloodshed and the emptiness of Glory; and to imbue their minds with those Pacific Principles, to maintain which is not only a matter of conscience, but also of Pounds, Shillings, and Pence'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Engineering, Controversy, Accidents

    Regards the 'Battle of the Lines' between the East Lancashire East Lancashire Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> railway companies to be far worse than the 'Battle of the Gauges'. Reports that the Lancashire and Yorkshire company barricaded the line with timber and empty railway carriages but 'signalised the state of things' to prevent oncoming trains from colliding with the obstructions.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Telegraphy, Supernaturalism

    An attack on the 'Marriage Bill' of the Lord Chancellor John Campbell (1st Baron Campbell) Campbell, John, 1st Baron Campbell (1779–1861) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. The bill's author, represented as a Scottish blacksmith, complains, 'Such awfu' dreams I see, / Ghaists o'post-chays, whom railway days / Lang syne has doomed to dee'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Universities, Education, Lecturing, Language

    Regards the University of Cambridge's University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >> Jacksonian Professorship as one concerned with the 'science of pugilism' (a probable allusion to John Jackson Jackson, John ('Gentleman Jackson') (1769–1845) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the celebrated pugilist). Also argues that Cambridge's Plumian Professor will be giving lectures on 'British Slang' since 'Plumian' is short for 'the Plumby one'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Public Health, Disease, Spontaneous Generation, Monstrosities

People mentioned:

Roderick I Murchison Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey, 1st Baronet (1792–1871) DSBODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses proceedings of an enquiry into the British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >> where T H Turner Turner, T H (fl. 1849) PU1/16/14/3
Close   View the register entry >> claimed that want of ventilation in the museum had led to a giant flea being 'generated' in the reading room. Punch believes the flea ranks 'among the Megatheria of insect life' and that it should be 'brought up by Habeas before the Zoological Society Zoological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition

    Discusses the Government's judgement 'that the adulteration of coffee by chicory is a great improvement on the original article'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Measurement, Instruments, Heat, Politics

    Responds to a New York Commercial Inquirer New York Commercial Inquirer (cited 1849) PU1/16/15/2
Close   View the register entry >> article on the weight of members of the Assembly of New York. Thinks that the 'warmth' of the assembly's discussions should be 'ascertained by thermometer' and the 'specific gravity' and 'heaviness' of each member.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Railways, Mining, Commerce, Mental Illness

    Reports the disappearance of the 'Railway Madness' and the appearance of a 'Mining Insanity' which will cause the public to be blinded by the prospect of profit from speculation.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Steam-power, Invention, Technology, Domestic Economy

    Responding to an account of a 'Portable Steam Engine' in the Scottish Agricultural Gazette [i.e. Journal] Scottish Agricultural Journal (1849–50) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >>, believes the invention would be of no assistance without a portable coal cellar. Expresses no faith in 'Portable' inventions, citing a case of a 'Portable House' that, owing to wrongly numbered floors, led its builder to construct it 'topsy-turvy'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Natural History, Observation

    Reports the appearance of a 'long floating object' over the stern of the steamer on which he was travelling. Believes the object to be the 'Sea Serpent' despite knowing of the Illustrated Times's Illustrated Times and Weekly Miscellany (1848) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> opinion that it is a boat (as depicted in the illustration) or a 'steersman's' view that it is a whale.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Travel

    Mr Punch compliments the London and South-Western Railway Company London and South-Western Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> Directors but, unless trains travel faster on the London and Datchet branch, threatens to rename this line 'the London and Datchet Snailway'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition

    Responding to a Lancet Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> article on Dr Percy's Percy, Dr (fl. 1849) PU1/16/14/1
Close   View the register entry >> recommendations of 'bread made of wood', observes that wooden bread is the best material 'to make the staff of life'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry, Accidents

    Shows a portly 'King' George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> with a torso that forms the body of a steam locomotive and a crowned head forming the smoke emitted from the machine. The runaway locomotive keels off the track causing Hudson's crown (from which smoke emerges) to be knocked off.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Heat, Domestic Economy

People mentioned:

David B Reid Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses the 'numerous' schemes for 'ventilating hats'. Explains that the invention uses a 'ventilating wheel' but points out that they may feature 'something superior to the old whirligig mode of letting in air for the purpose of preventing explosions of fire-damp in the hat'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Phrenology, Physiognomy, Charlatanry

    Notes the existence of 'a variety of methods', besides phrenology, for determining the character of an individual. Thinks the new method of gauging character from 'a lock of hair' savours of 'absurdity' and leads to such ridiculous claims as bald men having no character. Expects the next similar scheme will be chiropodists proposing to determine character 'by the cut of our corns'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Instruments, Invention, Government

    Proposes an apparatus for gauging 'the real sense of the country' on major political questions. Claims that the apparatus 'will act more cleverly than the aneroid barometer' but it turns out to be a simple ballot box into which people would put pieces of paper bearing their opinions and enclosing a farthing. The latter arrangement is supposed to convey the sincerity of the user.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Electromagnetism, Steam-power, Railways, Force, Charlatanry, Discovery

    Reports on the discovery of two 'new motive powers': 'Electro-Magnetism' and 'Xyloidine'. Explains that Xyloidine is a power for stopping steam, a process that Punch thinks is 'dangerous' and which is so strong that it will 'drive every railway out of the country'. Adds that the machinery for exploiting the power is sufficiently small that 'ladies will walk about with a live locomotive stuffed in their reticules' and that omnibuses, cabs, and horses will take on far less important roles. Anticipates a shower of 'new motive forces', including the power 'to turn Railway Directors into the path of honesty'. Expects to 'congratulate British science' if any of these powers 'are brought to light' and show that 'Power is enviable only, when guided by the noblest motives'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Exhibitions, Amusement, Observation

    Reports on an exhibition on the 'Sea Serpent' at the Cosmorama Rooms Cosmorama Rooms, Regent Street
Close   View the register entry >> in Regent Street. Adds that the exhibition was attended by a sailor who claimed to have seen the monster. However, spectators did not know whether the witness 'was not a more interesting object than the Sea Serpent himself, who looked as though he had been rather overboiled'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Telegraphy

    Describes how peers are to be taught how to use semaphores in the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> to overcome the appalling acoustics of that building. Adds that 'all speeches are to be made by signals' although the Lord Chancellor Charles C Pepys (Baron Cottenham) Pepys, Sir Charles Christopher, 1st Earl of Cottenham [1st Baron Cottenham] (1781–1851) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, 'will have the privilege of working at an Electric Telegraph'. The illustration shows the various types of bodily semaphore.

Genre:

Poetry, Satire

Subjects:

Public Health, Astronomy, Mechanics, Mental Illness, Government

    Among the things 'jostling each other in the brains of [the statesman] HARRY BROUGHAM Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' is 'A people's Charter, with two new points—a scheme of ventilation' and 'A work on the Lunar theory, and the influence of the Moon / With personal illustrations (to be published very soon)'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Subjects:

Electricity, Electrochemistry, Invention, Technology, Crime

    Describes a system of 'watching premises' by administering a 'galvanic shock' to a burglar 'through the medium of a shutter'. Adds that the electric current is used to stun the burglar and alarm the house owners. Wonders whether 'galvanic battery falls with the law relating to common assault'. Illustrations depict a stunned thief and a wooden figure of a policeman powered by electricity—another scheme for thwarting burglary.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Public Health, Nutrition

    Discusses news of the use of lead in refining sugar. Expresses alarm at the amount of lead that 'must have been "taken up" into the system in this age of tea-drinkers' and thinks 'we might almost expect to convert our blood-vessels into leaden pipes'.

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Public Health, Technology, Government, Invention, Heat, Politics, Controversy

    Reports on William Wightman's Wightman, Sir William (1785–1863) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> rejection of David B Reid's Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> ventilation machine from the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> 'for the time being', having been subjected to terrific blasts from the apparatus. Given the continuation of the 'Reid-ventilation', expects to see Members of Parliament dressed for the great 'scientific hurricanes'. Wants to allay a wind which has the characteristic of 'blowing nobody good'.

Genre:

Introduction; Poetry

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Education, Gender, Heroism

    The poem responds to news from the Medical Times Medical Times (1839–51) Medical Times and Gazette (1851–85) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, that Elizabeth Blackwell Blackwell, Elizabeth (1821–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has gained a physician's degree from the General Medical College, New York General Medical College, New York
Close   View the register entry >>. Upholds Blackwell as great 'heroine'. Urges 'Young Ladies' who occupy their time in such activities as 'novels' and 'knitting' to 'reflect' on Blackwell's example. Believes women would be much more useful, and married life would be 'much more blest', if women could prescribe the proper medicines to an ill relative. Asks 'bachelors [...] Who'd call a female doctor "blue"', to remember, 'What physic costs a father!'. Wishes Blackwell to be dubbed 'DOCTRIX BLACKWELL' and to present her with a 'gold-handed parasol' for her efforts.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Sound, Light, Instruments, Invention, Technology, Politics, Government

    Describes an instrument for enabling reporters to hear the whispers of peers in the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >>. The instrument, illustrated in an accompanying cut, is 'an opera glass and ear trumpet in one', with the opera glass allowing reporters to make sure that a peer is speaking when his lips are moving.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Exhibitions, Amusement

    Discusses the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. Complains about the difficulty of finding the gardens, but praises the exhibitions of flowers and animals, particularly the 'concert' produced by the animals' noises. Describes a military entertainment at the gardens and concludes that the gardens 'are decidedly the cheapest, and the most varied, entertainment, we cannot say in, but somewhere near London'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Human Species, Zoology

    Reports on the latest additions to the reptile house at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> and observes that the 'spectacle' suggests the notion of a 'Social Reptile House' which would house such 'creeping varieties of the human race' as attorneys, 'slander-mongering journalists', and 'dishonest politicians'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Representation, Periodicals

    Responds to an argument in an 'Irish periodical' that the crocodile is not a 'malicious reptile' but 'rather a jolly dog' with a sentimental nature. Seeks further proof of the argument and points out that the crocodile's teeth are 'sadly overdrawn' if he is as inoffensive as is claimed. Resolves to continue its 'slight acquaintance' with the reptile. The illustration shows a man offering a drink to a crocodile emerging out of the water near a river bank.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anatomy

    Responding to a curious advertisement for 'OLD ORIGINAL BONES', doubts the worth of such objects and invites Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'or some other scientific bone-grubber' to reveal why they are attractive.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery; Report, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Amusement

    Introduces a report, purportedly by William Tyler Tyler, William (1799–1864) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> of the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
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Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustrator, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
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Subjects:

Horticulture, Agriculture, Entomology, Commerce, Government

    Discusses the impact of the fact that 'modern science has enabled brewers to make beer without hops'. Describes the consumption of the hop-plant by the hop-fly and a species of fly, the 'Vastator Excisor', which ravages whatever 'little may be left of the hops' after other insects have fed on them. The illustration and text reveals that 'Vastator Excisor' is in fact an excise officer.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Nutrition, Amusement

    Argues that chemists' claim that 'sawdust is much healthier than any other kind of bread' is supported by the fact that the celebrated ringmaster, John E Widdicomb Widdicomb, John Esdaile (1787–1854) ODNB
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Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Expertise, Status, Chemistry, Pharmaceuticals

People mentioned:

Justus von Liebig Liebig, Justus von (1803–73) DSB
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    Complains to the 'Board of Examiners' at the Apothecaries' Hall Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London—Apothecaries' Hall
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