Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Exhibitions, Animal Behaviour, Music, Amusement

    Explores similarities between the hippopotamus at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> and the conductor Louis A Jullien Jullien (or Julien), Louis Antoine (1812–60) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who also performs at the gardens. Explains that Jullien has taught some animals how to dance and, unlike the hippopotamus, has 'moments of "Inspiration"'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Botanical Gardens, Cultural Geography

    Reports on the premature blooming of some 'celebrated American plants' at the Royal Botanic Society Gardens Royal Botanic Society of London—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, Regent's Park.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Pollution, Disease, Public Health, Analytical Chemistry

    Reflects on the 'alarming' number of Londoners who drink or bathe in the water of the Thames, a river the author re-christens 'aqua mortis'. Considers the river so dirty that he regards the 'Black Sea' as its possible source. Remarks that it 'does not require much knowledge of chemistry' to determine the amount of organic matter in this water.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Government

    Reports that the City of London Commissioners of Sewers City of London Commissioners of Sewers
Close   View the register entry >> have instructed John Simon Simon, Sir John (1816–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to report on the nuisance caused by smoke and lists the individuals who will need compensation if smoke is 'put down'. These individuals include 'painters and guilders, to whom smoke is the means of daily bread'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Government

    Criticises the omission of cigar smoke from the list of culprits identified in the 'Official Report on the Smoke Nuisance', a reference to the report commissioned from John Simon Simon, Sir John (1816–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> by the City of London Commissioners of Sewers City of London Commissioners of Sewers
Close   View the register entry >>. Insists that cigar smoke is responsible for many social evils including the soiling of the linen of pedestrians and the irritation of the eyes. Suggests 'walking chimneys' should 'consume their own smoke'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy

    Notes the likelihood of receiving messages by electric telegraph but the impossibility of receiving 'those same messages, if folded up in a penny letter and sent through the Puritanical channel of St. Martin's-le-Grand [the site of the General Post Office General Post Office
Close   View the register entry >>]'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Display, Animal Behaviour, Amusement

    Notes the 'yawn of indifference' with which the hippopotamus at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> greets its visitors. Also notes public disappointment with the animal for not looking like a seahorse.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Nutrition, Crime, Human Species, Physiology

    Reports on an article in the Hampshire Independent Hampshire Independent (1834–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> concerning the surprisingly high quality of the food given to convicts, and argues that this procedure is justified since 'scientific research' has shown that changing a 'rogue's diet' will 'renovate the whole man'. Suggests dishes for 'prison cookery' and other plans for 'correction by kindness'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Instruments, Observation

    Noting how 'telescopic observation' has revealed 'tremendously lofty eminences with profound chasms' on the lunar surface, adds that these features are dwarfed by the irregularities on the King's Road, Eaton Square.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Human Species, Gender

    Shows the conductor of an omnibus on the way to visit the hippopotamus at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. Seeing a corpulent woman about to board the bus, he remarks, 'Old 'ard Bill! Here's another Hipperpo'tamus'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Politics

    Responding to news of a 'Calculating German' in London, invites this mathematical wizard to answer such socio-politico-economic questions as, 'What is the number of political prisoners in Austria, Prussia, and the little despotic principalities of Germany?'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Matter Theory, Christianity, Religious Authority, Government, Patronage

    Noting how the material products of combustion and evaporation can be collected as a liquid or a vapour, ponders the possibility of collecting 'the spiritual products of the expenditure of episcopal incomes', an allusion to Edward Horsman's Horsman, Edward (1807–1876) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> recent attack on the privileges and powers of bishops.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Exhibitions, Amusement

    Explains why the hippopotamus at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> should 'quit town' for the seaside. Reasons include the 'invigorating sea breeze' and competition in London from the 'largest Tortoise in the world'. The illustration shows a frightened hippopotamus wearing a bonnet, being helped into a bathing car amidst a crowd of spectators.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Amusement

    Describes the 'rage for experimental balloons' and urges that it must be stopped 'or else all sorts of extravagancies, animal and pyrotechnical, will be committed in the name of science'. Noting the ascent from Paris of a balloon carrying a donkey, suggests an advertisement for a balloon ascent by Charles Green Green, Charles (1785–1870) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and the hippopotamus from the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. Expresses concern that ballooning pursuits will get out of hand.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Public Health, Quackery, Pollution

    Following praise for Smithfield Market's Smithfield Market
Close   View the register entry >> 'salubrity' and pure atmosphere, suggests the advertisement of a 'SMITHFIELD LIFE PILL', which would profit anyone 'who does not mind imposing upon the credulity of the British Public'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Agriculture, Chemistry, Education, Race

    The letter, written in a style to reflect the author's poor standard of literacy, expresses alarm at news of John J Mechi's Mechi, John Joseph (1802–80) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> use of chemical fertilisers. Exclaims that 'instead of gooin to stable and varm-yar for manoorer, we shall be sending vor't to Potticarries' Hall Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London—Apothecaries' Hall
Close   View the register entry >>'. Ridicules Mechi's attempt to teach farmers scientific methods without appearing pedagogic, and threatens to 'sheak his roobub, his Epsom zalts, and stuff out o'his head'.

Genre:

Essay; Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Transport

    Noting railway companies' tendency to 'diminish' the truth about railway accidents, compares and contrasts two imaginary reports of one such event. The first, a 'Non-Official Report' of a 'Frightful Collision on the Slap-dash Railway', describes the collision between a late up-train and a much delayed early luggage train in the 'Great Hearse Tunnel'. The second, the 'Official Report' into the 'Temporary Stoppage of a Train on the Slap-Dash Railway', claims that the up-train was punctual and merely 'met with a slight check' from a luggage train. Other areas of disagreement include the explosion of the up-train's boiler, whether the company acted promptly, and the injuries inflicted on passengers.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Sanitation, Microscopy

    Responds to a new book Hassall, Arthur Hill 1850. A Microscopic Examination of the Water Supplied to the Inhabitants of London and the Suburban Districts: Illustrated by Coloured Plates, Exhibiting the Living Animal and Vegetable Productions in Thames and Other Waters, as Supplied by the Several Companies; With an Examination, Microscopic and General of their Sources of Supply, as Well as of the Henley-on-Thames and Watford Plans, etc., London: Samuel Highley
Close   View the register entry >> by Arthur H Hassall Hassall, Arthur Hill (1817–94) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> describing in words and illustrations, the 'disgusting [...] specimens of animal and vegetable matter' in water. Describes each image as a 'menagerie' of 'crustacea, and other abominations'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [8]

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 >>

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Amusement

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Time, Instruments, Technology

    Discussion of the stoppage and 'slovenly' states of London clocks.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy

    Following a poet's claim that using the submarine telegraph 'is like using the lightning conductor for a steel pen, and the ocean for an ink-stand', compares the cliffs to a 'blotting pad' and the 'whole world' to a 'sheet of paper'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Mathematics, Politics

    The author complains of lack of progress in his algebraic studies which has undermined his understanding of the 'Representation of Numbers' and thus his attempt to solve the problem of the 'enlargement of the Suffrage'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens, Amusement

    Discusses reasons for the failure of the 'venerable tortoise' to appear at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, and the difficulties caused by having 'two attractions' at the gardens—the tortoise and the hippopotamus.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Textbooks, Education, Physiology, Electricityl, Physics

    Discusses Ebenezer C Brewer's Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham (1810–97) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'very useful little work' (Brewer 1848 Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham [1848]. A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, 2nd ed., London: Jarrold & Sons
Close   View the register entry >>) which gives, in fine and pleasant phraseology, answers to 'some very thousands of familiar questions'. Disagrees with some of Brewer's explanations: for example, denies that we 'feel a desire for activity in cold weather' and that this is due to 'fanning combustion in the blood'. Rather, insists that we feel a desire 'to sit cosily over a fire in cold weather'. Gives explanations of several familiar things recognised as not 'strictly correct in a philosophical point of view' but 'never disagreeable'. For example, the reason why lightning turns milk and beer sour is 'because the electric fluid does not know how to conduct itself', or because the electric and milky fluids cannot agree. Anticipates that the reader will 'exert his scientific powers' in finding the best solutions to such questions.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Comparative Philology, Vulcanology, Government, Architecture

    Criticises Robert Howard Howard, Robert (1812–54) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> for proposing, in his Revelations of Egyptian Mysteries Howard, Robert 1850. Revelations of Egyptian Mysteries and Allegories of the Greek Lyric Poets Clearly Interpreted. History of the Works of Nature, with a Discourse on Health According with the Wisdom of the Ancients, London: Colburn
Close   View the register entry >>, that urban earthquakes resulted from overloaded earth trying to 'get rid of the "intolerable weight of buildings"'. Points out that were this the case then the most 'intolerable' building with 'tremendous weight', the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>, would have caused an earthquake.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology

    Regards the invention of 'cooking by gas' as a 'triumph of gas-tronomy'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Utility

    Responds to a report by an 'enthusiast' at the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >>, who tested his 'Safety Stocking'—an inflatable garment that provides buoyancy in water. Denies the usefulness of an invention that allows one to float feet uppermost.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Patronage, Cultural Geography

    Compares England, a 'most ungrateful nation', to 'France and other nations' that are 'not so tardy in rewarding their benefactors'. Citing the example of Thomas Waghorn Waghorn, Thomas (1800–50) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who 'was allowed to die almost in want', the author claims to know of 'numerous' other examples demonstrating that 'little encouragement [is] given in this country to men of science and enterprise'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hospitals, Medical Treatment, Politics

    Responding to news of a meeting of the Dispensary for the Diseases of the Ear London Dispensary for the Relief of the Poor Afflicted with the Diseases of the Eye and Ear
Close   View the register entry >>, wonders if the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>, notorious for its bad hearing, is among the patients.

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Travel, Publishing, Astronomy, Geology, Illustration

    Announces the imminent release of 'Punch's Handbook of the Mountains of the Moon', containing 'elevations' to which the 'finger of science' has never previously been directed, and 'large cuts of the green cheese which is supposed to grow there'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Invention, Genius, Physiology, Vaccination, Light, Technology, Steamships, Engineers

    Observing how the 'hair-brained and enthusiastic' have advanced the world, describes the work of several individuals whose influential claims and inventions were mocked. These include William Harvey Harvey, William (1578–1657) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Edward Jenner Jenner, Edward (1749–1823) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Frederick A Winsor Winsor, Frederick Albert (1763–1830) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and George Stephenson Stephenson, George (1781–1848) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Argues that just as the 'wise world has laughed at the circulation of the blood—at gas—at steamboats—at railways', so the world laughs at 'preachers of peace', such as those at the Peace Congress Universal Peace Congress (1850), Frankfurt
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Government, Patronage, Engineers, Railways, Nationalism, Status

    Responding to Robert Stephenson's Stephenson, Robert (1803–59) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> refusal of a knighthood, attacks the English reward system for giving peerages to bankers and only a knighthood to 'an Engineer, who occupies the first rank in his noble profession in England'. This reward is only suitable for such accomplishments as being the 'Complete Letter-Writer of some grateful minister'. Glad that Stephenson has, by his action, prevented the 'science he honours' from being 'looked down upon'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Nationalism, Government, Imperialism

    Believes that Britannia's dominance of the waves is demonstrated by the Dover-Calais submarine telegraph. Reports that she will soon extend her rule with 'twenty or thirty lines' and hopes that science will 'always guide' her hand in 'ruling the waves'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners

Publications cited:

Bell's Life in London Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle (1822–86) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

    Claims that the reason why a blow leaves 'a blue mark after it' is because 'Blow in the perfect makes Blew'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Zoology, Cultural Geography, Superstition

    Discusses an 'Irish correspondent's report of the astonishing leaping abilities of the alleged 'American Sea Serpent'. Believes the beast, on hearing of the 'Irishman's love of the marvellous', paid him a visit 'to see how he can enlarge upon his dimensions'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Accidents, Engineering, Internationalism, Politics

    Reports on the breakage and subsequent restoration of the submarine telegraph connection between England and France. Believes that it is not the first time that the cause of the rupture—the softness of 'leaden conductors'—has weakened Anglo-French relations.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Cultural Geography, Nationalism, War

    A mermaid regards the submarine telegraph as 'an enchanted wire' connecting 'nations that were foes of yore'. It is an invention that lies among the relics of 'wars of hoary centuries' and sends 'an electric breath / Warm like the grasp of a friendly hand'. Believes a 'kindly spirit guides its aim' and that there is 'language in that social flame', by which France and England can talk. The 'sea-sprites' sporting along the wire sing the mermaid's song for Anglo-French harmony.

Genre:

Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Nationalism, Cultural Geography, War

    Continuing the theme of Anon, 'The Mermaid's Last New Song', Punch, 19 (1850), 116, shows two mermaids carrying an olive branch, while following the submarine telegraph cable between England and France. The telegraph is surrounded by the relics of past wars between these countries.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Travel, Exploration, Government, Internationalism

    Reports on Alexander von Humboldt's Humboldt, Alexander von (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von) (1769–1859) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> reflections on European peace at the Universal Peace Congress Universal Peace Congress (1850), Frankfurt
Close   View the register entry >> in Frankfurt. Notes Humboldt's honest claim that the 'long accumulated elements of animosity' between nations may be weakened by Governments 'fostering the progressive and legitimate development and perfectibility of free institutions'. Regards him as a 'Visionary Enthusiast' for insisting that 'under the protection of a superior power, a long-nourished yearning after a noble aim in the life of nations' will be consummated.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Telegraphy, Nationalism

    Reporting on the likely presence of a 'continental invention' for improving 'international communication' at the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>, observes that John Bull will be able to show the 'Submarine Electric Telegraph'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof; Afterword

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Commerce, Natural History, Imperialism, Cruelty

    Speaking on behalf of the 'sub-marine population' who live on the 'exertion of electric power', the gymnotus seeks protection from the Dover-Calais submarine electric telegraph, which is the result of 'the grasping spirit of Commerce perverting to its own purposes the might of unfeeling Science'. Insists that telegraphs will eventually 'annihilate our vocation' and, stressing its inability to produce the same amount of electricity as 'mercantile companies', asks Punch to request Britannia to protect those of her subjects 'on whom the stability of her Empire most essentially depends'. Punch points out that protection is supplied by gutta-percha insulation of the cable and the difficulty of receiving a shock from the invention.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Monstrosities, Natural History

    Claims that 'the more intelligent class of fishes' regard the submarine telegraph as a trap for the 'American Sea Serpent'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology

    Argues that in the case of 'Raising the Wind', 'if a man has accepted a bill, he is pretty sure to evaporate on the very same day that his bill becomes dew'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Electricity

    An employee of the leading firm of brewers, Barclay and Perkins Barclay and Perkins, firm
Close   View the register entry >>, expresses ignorance of the reason why 'the 'lectric fluid carries a message through the bottom of the sea, without being put out'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Zoology, Monstrosities, Superstition

    Reports remarkable occurrences in the vegetable and animal kingdoms, including 'shooting stars', the reappearance of the sea serpent despite Richard Owen's Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> scepticism, and the ravaging of Green Park by mice.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Electricity, Charlatanry

    Reports on an 'Irish gentleman' who reasoned that the sea serpent was an electric eel because he had received an electric shock from a sprat gorged by the beast. Points out that the same person might expect to be shot by the charge in a bird recently shot.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

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 >>

Subjects:

Comparative Anatomy, Lecturing

    Shows Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> lecturing to a packed and apparently attentive Royal Institution Royal Institution of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >> audience.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation, Periodicals

    Following John R Hind's Hind, John Russell (1823–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> announcement in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> of a new star, urges newspapers to open a new 'BIRTHS' column for newl-born stars. Having visited the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Close   View the register entry >>, reports on the good health of the star and its 'parent' constellation. Notes that 'astronomical observers' are complaining that their 'celestial apparatus' cannot cope with the rising number of stars.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Taxonomy, Natural History, Comparative Anatomy, Charlatanry

    Report from 'Punch's Own Correspondent' concerning his observations of the Irish sea serpent. Insists that 'zoological knowledge proved inadequate to its exact classification, that its 'conformation [...] sets every cannon of natural history at defiance', that 'comparative anatomy is all a delusion', and that Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has deceived himself by regarding the serpent as an imposture. Having described the appearance of the beast, concludes that it is an hybrid of several different animals including the lizard, elephant, ape, and cockatoo.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Display, Disease, Public Health

    Reports on fears that 'certain proceedings in Parks' threaten 'the lungs of the Metropolis'. Denies that the imminent Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> will cause such an 'inflammation' of the city's lungs, but is concerned about the lung of St James' Park. Notes John Bull's susceptibility to consumption.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Entomology, Medical Treatment, Quackery

Publications cited:

Notes and Queries Notes and Queries (1849–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

    Explains that using spiders to cure ague rests on the 'scientific principle' that 'a crawling in the stomach' cures the 'creeping of the skin'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Government, Invention

    Criticises the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> for believing in the feasibility of the 'iron war-steamer', an invention which it thinks 'cannot exist a moment before any gun but a pop-gun'. Thinks the architect of the scheme must have been the 'son of a sea-cook' and hopes such schemes are consigned 'to the devouring element'. Rebukes the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> for having 'sunk a mint of capital' into the scheme and regrets that they cannot 'convert their ironmongery back into gold'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Sanitation, Medical Practitioners, Disease, Pollution, Public Health, Patronage

    Praises 'Sanitary heros' as 'men of intrepid souls and indomitable stomachs, who face typhus and nose sulphuretted hydrogen, who brave Death in the mouth of his own gravepit', and who deserve to be honoured by such awards as the 'Order of the Bath and Washhouse'. The Mr Walker Walker, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/3/4
Close   View the register entry >> of the title is possibly an allusion to the Manchester surgeon who was killed on duty by fever (Anon, 'Sanitary Victims', Punch, 14 (1848), 24).

Genre:

Essay, Polemic

Subjects:

Cultural Geography, Education, Anti-Scientism, Religious Authority, Astronomy, Medical Practitioners, Surgery, Charlatanry, Mathematics, Race

    Answering a question from an Irish Correspondent, attacks Patrick A Murray Murray, Patrick Aloysius (1811–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for cursing those who study such subjects as mathematics and astronomy 'with Protestants and heathens'. Oblique attack on the curriculum at Maynooth College St Patrick's College, Maynooth
Close   View the register entry >>, where the teaching of science, mathematics, and medicine is mixed with theology. Cynically advises 'you poor ragged PADDY' not to 'look at the stars through that villain, LORD ROSSE'S Parsons, William, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800–67) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> glass' but 'ask FATHER TIM to lend you a peep through his dirty old telescope'. In a similar cynical vein, regards the best medical advice to come from a 'chap from Maynooth who has learnt a little surgery along with his humanities'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology

    Responding to news that a shell can swiftly sink a 120-gun vessel, hopes the shell will be 'exhibited in 1851' (a reference to the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>) to 'hatch the dove' of 'perpetual peace'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Electricity, Instruments, Domestic Economy, Societies

People mentioned:

Benjamin Franklin Franklin, Benjamin (1706–90) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

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

    Introduces the American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> as a 'learned body' which indulges in 'seasonable tomfoolery'. Discusses an Athenaeum Athenaeum (1828–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of Elias Loomis Loomis, Elias (1811–99) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, who addressed the association with a paper on the electrical sparks received from doorknobs and other parts of a house. Ridicules Loomis's idea that the phenomenon is caused by 'friction of the shoes' and concludes that if Loomis 'can electrify any house but an insulated one' by walking, 'Mr. Punch will eat him, boots and all'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Phrenology, Class

People mentioned:

George Combe Combe, George (1788–1858) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Notes that in phrenology a 'tender solicitude [...] for the diversion of the younger branches of the Royal Family' implies 'excessive philoprogentiveness and prodigious veneration, with a development of the organs of the intellect', but wishes no more to be said on this subject.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Invention

    Reports on French developments in 'that fugitive department of science'—ballooning. Believing that Dominique F J Arago Arago, Dominique François Jean (1786–1853) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and M Bixio Bixio, M (fl. 1850) PU1/19/18/2
Close   View the register entry >> intend to build a balloon for the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>, discusses the problems of accommodating and securing such an invention within the exhibition building. Notes that Bixio's new invention, a 'large bunch of balloons tied together', would not leave much room for anything else in the exhibition. Urges that a separate exhibition building be used for the balloons.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Accidents, Ornithology, Medical Treatment

    Describes a collision between Mme Poitevin Poitevin, Mme. (fl. 1850) http://www.balloonlife.com/publications/balloon_life/9512/history.htm
Close   View the register entry >>, the famous balloonist who was flying an ostrich, and Mme Epinard, the wife of an eminent Parisian banker. Later reveals how, at an inquest into the accidents, Mme Epinard was struck on the head by an egg falling from the ostrich.

Genre:

Introduction; Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Travel

    Introduces a letter from a disgruntled railway traveller who insists that third-class travel is superior to second, in terms of space and ventilation.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature; Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

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 >>

Subjects:

Monstrosities, Politics

    Responding to news of the imminent visit to America by the statesman Henry P Brougham (1st Baron Brougham and Vaux) Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, anticipates reports of 'a most extraordinary animal at sea' which 'shows such a wondrous power of self-adaptation to all circumstances'. The illustration shows Brougham as 'The Sea Serpent Crossing the Atlantic, as seen from the Yacht "Toby"—Capt. Punch'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Education, Astronomy, Anti-Scientism

    Responds to the resolution of the Thurles Synod in favour of a Catholic University of Ireland Catholic University of Ireland, Dublin
Close   View the register entry >>. Tells 'Pio Nono' (Pope Pius IX Pius IX, Pope (1792–1878) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>) that his bishops want 'to cook the accounts of science and philosophy' to please 'orthodox taste'—a 'CULLENARY Cullen, Paul (1803–78) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' process which will lead to the sun having a diameter of 'two yards'. Believes those who cook facts come from 'the antipodes to Heaven'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Mental Illness

    Identifies himself as 'a man of large landed property', and likens the difference between the 'noble brain' and the 'vulgar brain' to that between 'the finest cambric and the finest towelling'. Briefly describes his treatment at 'DOCTOR STRAIT'S Asylum, Clapton Strait's (Dr) Asylum, Clapton
Close   View the register entry >>'.(179) Explains how his violent behaviour was controlled by 'the system perfected by the noble DOCTOR CONOLLY' Conolly, John (1794–1866) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and describes the rituals and diet he had to endure on his 'return to reason'.(180)

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology

    Describes Mr Philips's Philips, Mr (fl. 1850) PU1/19/19/4
Close   View the register entry >> 'Fire-Annihilator' and recommends that it be used to extinguish the 'combustible' diocese of Exeter.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Electricity, Engineering, Commerce

    Compares the 'tardiness' of the British telegraph to the superior American 'mode of transmitting messages'. Would have identified the 'electric fluid' used on American telegraphs as 'greased lightning' were it not for the greater activity and liberality of American telegraph companies.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Medical Treatment, Quackery

    Mr Punch offers his range of medicines to 'PUSEYITE CLERGYMEN', including his 'ILLUMINATIVE DROPS, for communicating that peculiar GLOW to the EYE which is the natural result of enthusiasm exalted by frequent vigils, meditation, &c.' and which will enable 'an Oxford graduate' to 'pass easily [...] for a zealous Roman ecclesiastic'.

Genre:

Catechism, Spoof

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Education, Astronomy, Anti-Scientism

People mentioned:

Paul Cullen Cullen, Paul (1803–78) ODNB
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    Cynical dig at plans for a Catholic University of Ireland Catholic University of Ireland, Dublin
Close   View the register entry >>. Makes absurd claims about celestial bodies such as 'The Sun is two yards in diameter' and the Moon is 'made of green cheese'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Medical Practitioners, Charlatanry, Quackery, Hospitals, Commerce, Mesmerism, Homeopathy

    '[T]wo matrons', 'PHYSIC' and 'DIVINITY', discuss their reasons for feeling ashamed of their children who have turned into 'sad deceivers'. Physic, for example, complains of the way her children cure 'gout and stomach-ache by pawing and by flourishing' and are 'taken up with mesmerism, or joined the homeopathists', while Divinity laments the fact that her children 'pursue a system of gimcrackery, / Called Pusey Pusey, Edward Bouverie (1800–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>ism, a pack of stuff, and quite as arrant quackery'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Natural History

    Claims that Mme Poitevin Poitevin, Mme. (fl. 1850) http://www.balloonlife.com/publications/balloon_life/9512/history.htm
Close   View the register entry >>, the French Aeronaut, 'has almost exhausted Buffon's Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de (1707–88) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Natural History Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de 1749–67. Histoire naturelle générale et particulière, avec la description de Cabinet Roi, 15 vols, Paris: De l'Imprimerie Royale
Close   View the register entry >>' for the types of animals on which she sits whilst making a balloon ascent, and notes that Poitevin is about to turn to the 'Papal Bull'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Aeronautics

    Believing 'Quack, quack, quack' to be the 'great motto of medicine', describes some aspects of quackery including 'one professor who invents an ointment for other people's bad legs'. Adds that quackery can be successful because the 'public will swallow anything from a puff to a pill', including Phineas T Barnum Barnum, Phineas Taylor (1810–91) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>. Believes that the 'puff and quack malady will cure itself' and that the public will lose interest in such humbugs as the 'balloon mania'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Transport, Invention, Technology

    Written in a Cockney dialect, describes the shortcomings of a 'machine [...] as tells any time a passenger gets in and hout wich is ment for a check upon hus condukters'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Instruments, Observation

    Identifies the 'Clerk of the Weather', a figure reporting meteorological observations in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, as a real person who sits all day and night watching a barometer and thermometer 'for the purpose of noting the results'. Presents meteorological 'data' using such crude methods as the temperature of the nose.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Architecture, Climatology, Heat, Physiology, Human Species, Development, Race, Controversy

    Suggests that Joseph Paxton's Paxton, Sir Joseph (1803–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> solution to the problem of providing lodgings for foreign visitors to the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> would be to build conservatories that mimic the climates to which visitors are accustomed. Thinks arctic conditions could exploit Michael Faraday's Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> work on freezing. Adds that physiologists might use Paxton's contrivances to resolve the controversy over whether 'climate produces the diversities of the human race'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Christianity, Pharmaceuticals, Astronomy, Religious Authority, Anti-Scientism

    Responding to news that the Royal College of Physicians Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >> has prayed for Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to repel 'Papal aggression', speculates on the contents of a new edition of William Cullen's Cullen, William (1710–90) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'renowned' Practice of Physic Cullen, William 1778–84. First Lines of the Practice of Physic: For the Use of the Students at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh: William Creech
Close   View the register entry >>—deliberately confusing the names of the eighteenth-century medical writer and the Catholic Primate of Ireland, Paul Cullen Cullen, Paul (1803–78) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Argues that the assertion that 'the sun is but two yards in diameter' will result in the materia medica consisting entirely of such remedies as 'holy shin and other bones' and 'canonised rags'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Ornithology, Breeding

    Reports on John Ross's Ross, Sir John (1777–1856) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> pigeons which, according to 'PROFESSOR MACTARTANCLAN, the distinguished Glasgow philosopher', show symptoms of having been 'domesticated with the Esquimaux' and have become 'national pets'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Cultural Geography, Sanitation, Public Health, Vaccination, Quackery, Exhibitions

    Describes some of the measures being taken to deal with the anticipated 'second Plague of London' which will follow the 'invasion of foreigners' in the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >>. Insists that these measures will ensure that 'foreigners' are thoroughly cleaned, have a 'certificate of good health', and possess the 'authentic marks' of a vaccination.

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Politics, Government

    Argues that reforming the 'absurd' laws on patents is 'something very patent'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Engineers, Vaccination, Railways, Engineering, Telegraphy

People mentioned:

Alexander von Humboldt Humboldt, Alexander von (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von) (1769–1859) DSB
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    Claims that 'people and things' which are to appear on this list include Isaac Newton Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, William Harvey Harvey, William (1578–1657) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, James Watt Watt, James (1736–1819) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, 'Vaccination, Railways, the Tubular Bridge and the Electric Telegraph'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Electricity, Magnetism, Physiology, Mesmerism, Spiritualism

    Subtitled 'A Lecture for the Ladies' College Ladies' College, Bedford Square
Close   View the register entry >>', explains that Karl L Reichenbach Reichenbach, Karl (or Carl) Ludwig ()1788–1869 DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has, in John Ashburner's Ashburner, John (1793–1878) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> translation of his Physico-Physiological Researches Reichenbach, Karl L 1850. Physico-Physiological Researches on the Dynamics of Magnetism, Electricity, Heat, Light, Crystallisation, and Chemistry in their Relations to the Vital Force, ed. and trans. by John Ashburner, London: H. Baillère
Close   View the register entry >>, explained the kiss in terms of 'a new force or principle in Nature' which Reichenbach calls 'Od'. Interprets Reichenbach's claim that a kiss is 'not a negation, but a physical and moral negativity' as meaning that a kiss is 'not conferring a favour, but taking a liberty', but presents Mr Punch's case against a kiss being 'negativity in all cases'. Concludes that Reichenbach's theory shows that he is 'little versed in the practice' of kissing.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Electricity, Religion, Technology, Controversy

    Claims that 'Electric Light' has declared that it has been 'quite snuffed out in the ecclesiastical controversy about candles'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Surgery, Medical Treatment, Anaesthesia

    Reports on a successful attempt to operate on a bear's eyes in which the animal was 'regaled with a draught of chloroform'.