Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Religious Authority

    Having read Nathaniel S Godfrey's Godfrey, Nathaniel Stedman (1817–83) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> latest pamphlet on table-turning, asks the clergymen a series of questions about the vocal and conversational abilities of tables, including the discovery of 'a stuttering table'.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Amusement, Instruments, Experiment, Accidents, Reading, Domestic Economy, Pollution, Gas Chemistry

People mentioned:

Neil Arnott, Arnott, Neil (1788–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> David B Reid Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    The action takes place in 'the Villa of MR. PATERFAMILIAS', a character whose wife looks up to him as 'the impersonation of all that is profound in science'. He is constantly writing letters to The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> and his son, 'MASTER NEWTON (so called after SIR ISAAC) Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>', possesses 'a great turn for the philosophy of common things'. Mr Paterfamilias argues that attending 'DR. BACHOFFNER's Bachhoffner, George Henry (1810–79) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> chemical course' at the Royal Polytechnic Institution Royal Polytechnic Institution
Close   View the register entry >> is much better for the mind than Astley's Royal Amphitheatre Astley's Royal Amphitheatre, Lambeth
Close   View the register entry >>. He laments his son George's lack of interest in science and relishes his other son Newton's experimental pursuits and scientific reasoning. (4) Mr Paterfamilias's daughters, whom he thinks should spend their time 'a little more rationally', grumble about the mess caused by Newton's pursuits. Reading a 'Blue Book' on 'the Ventilation and Warming of Houses', Mr Paterfamilias warns his wife and daughter that they are emitting 'poisonous exhalations' and resolves to start experiments on methods of ventilating his house. (5)

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Crime, Medical Treatment, Charlatanry, Medical Practitioners, Commerce

    Explores the consequences of the formation of a society for prohibiting 'the sale of fermented liquors, except for medicinal purposes'. Believes that legislation 'treating strong drinks as drugs' would 'be a boon to the medical profession' because doctors would have the power to 'prescribe thousands' for every draught that they now prescribe. Speculates on the terms in which doctors would permit the consumption of large quantities of liquor for treating ailments.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [5]

Subjects:

Quackery, Charlatanry, Homeopathy, Hydropathy, Mesmerism, Animal Magnetism, Spiritualism, Astrology, Magic, Display, Temperance

    A monthly diary forwarded to Punch by 'MR. BUCKET' (a reference to a character in Charles J H Dickens's Dickens, Charles John Huffam (1812–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Bleak House). It records the author's participation in a wide range of 'quack' pursuits including his involvement in homeopathic organisations, teetotalism, and vegetarianism, his foundation of a 'Hydropathic establishment', his demonstrations of electro-biology, his fraudulent and highly profitable shows of mesmerism, 'Table Turning' and 'Spirit-Rapping', and his dubious work casting horoscopes. Illustrations represent the author's work as a hydropathist, mesmerist, and exhibitor of magic lanterns.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Pollution, Health,

    Includes stage directions describing the 'Ventilating Apparatus' that Mr Paterfamilias has installed in his house by 'the distinguished practical and consulting chemist, MR. BELLOWS'. However, 'colds are prevalent' in his family, despite the 'triumph' of 'scientific principles of ventilation'. The drama consists of Mr Paterfamilias's attempts to give scientific justification for his now cold and draughty house, from which his family's health has suffered. Later, Mr Paterfamilias discovers that his scientifically-minded son, Newton, has damaged the apparatus, causing it to blow poisonous gas and smoke into the house. (12)

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Accidents

    Describes how recent snow storms have resulted in jumbled messages on telegraph lines.

Genre:

Prospectus, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Religious Authority, Commerce

    Describes some of the wares sold by 'MESSRS. GREENWOOD, VARNISH, VENEER AND CO.', a company, patronised by 'CLERGYMEN OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND' (a reference to Nathaniel S Godfrey's Godfrey, Nathaniel Stedman (1817–83) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> book on table-turning), that specialises in various items of furniture that communicate 'by the new system of Spirit-Rapping'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Meteorology, Accidents

    Discusses the ill effects of the recent snow storm on communication by electric telegraph.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Health, Temperance, Government, Politics

    Criticises the attempt 'to put a legislative stop' to alcohol consumption 'except for medicinal purposes'. Describes some of the loopholes in such legislation and argues that an Act of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> prohibiting spirit drinking would have to specify the 'imaginary maladies' which are 'not within the exceptions allowed by the statute'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Health, Disease, Spiritualism, Psychology, Mental Illness

    Discusses Forbes B Winslow's Winslow, Forbes Benignus (1810–74) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> argument that some people can wish themselves into being ill.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Religion, Spiritualism, Invention, Controversy, Belief

    Describes his invention for testing books whose religious 'orthodoxy or moral fitness' is 'called in question'. The 'Orthodoxometer or Theoloscope' exploits table-turners' claim that tables are apparently unable to rotate when pious books are placed on them but rotate violently when 'profane or heterodox literature' lies on them. It requires 'practised table-movers to place themselves en rapport with the table' and to record the behaviour of the table after suspect books are placed on it. Includes a list of results which correlate title of work with movement of table/degree of profanity. Hopes his invention will end theological controversy and be 'seized or distrained upon' for debts.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Health, Domestic Economy, Light, Gender, Pollution, Technology, Invention, Accidents

    Opens with a dispute between Mr Paterfamilias and his wife over the need for coal in the house. Mr Paterfamilias prefers gas illumination to the 'unscientific' practice of coal-illumination, but Mrs Paterfamilias cites Henry Letheby's Letheby, Henry (1816–76) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> evidence revealing the problems associated with gas lighting. (22) Later, Mrs Paterfamilias objects to the high cost of installing Mr Paterfamilias's purified illuminating gas apparatus and her husband tries to defend the economy and cleanliness of gas illumination. Finally, Mr Paterfamilias has to deal with his cook's resistance to the idea of installing 'patent gas-cooking apparatuses' in the house. (23)

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

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

Subjects:

Technology, Heat, Accidents, Domestic Economy

    Shows 'PATERFAMILIAS, whoever he may be', standing pensively before his troublesome kitchen boiler, which is being dismantled and investigated by several workmen and young boys.

See also:

Anon, 'The Domestic Reformer; or, How Mr Paterfamilias Made Home Happy', Punch, 26 (1854), 22–23

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Palaeontology, Exhibitions

    Reports on Richard Owen's Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and James D Forbes's Forbes, James David (1809–68) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> dinner inside the iguanodon at the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Health, Temperance

    List of circumstances under which alcohol may be taken medicinally including 'Invariably after salmon' and 'When the painters are in the house'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Phrenology, War

    Insists that the 'Benevolence' rather than 'Destructiveness or Combativeness' of the British people needs to be excited in the event of war with Russia.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Light, Gender, Pollution, Commerce, Gas Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition, Scientific Practitioners

    Opens with Mr Paterfamilias's preparations for a dinner party at which he intends to show off his illuminating gas apparatus. Mr and Mrs Paterfamilias discuss the pressure 'oscillation', cost, and decided smell of the gas. Later, the dinner-party guests offer their wisdom on the gas smell, including the 'analytical chemist', Mr Bellows, who proceeds to test the purity of the gas by an elaborate chemical procedure. During the dinner party, guests debate the possibility that the gas-cooking apparatus has spoilt the taste of the food, and Mr Bellows offers advice on the oscillations of the gas lighting. Following the extinction of the lighting, Mr Paterfamilias's scientifically inclined son, Master Newton, is found to have caused the problem by taking water out of the meter for the purposes of analysing it.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Hospitals

    Discusses the possible authorship of a glowing biography of a surgeon, Mr Hancock, published in the Lancet Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>. Doubts whether this non-technical account of the surgeon's appearance could have been penned by a surgeon. Discusses the dismissal of John Gay Gay, John (1812–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> from the staff of the Royal Free Hospital Royal Free Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>, a move resulting from the hospital committee being offended by remarks about their institution in a biography of Gay in the Medical Circular Medical Circular (1852–65) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes that Gay's attempts to distance himself from the allegations proved unsuccessful.

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Mathematics, Expertise

    Discusses the possibility of 'The Spirit-Rappers' trying their 'skill' on multiplication tables.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Quackery, Homeopathy

    Discusses an advertisement for 'ALI AHMED's Cough Pill' and other remedies. Cautiously recommends the treatments, but worries that their efficacy depends on the patient having the diet common to the region whence the treatments derive—the desert. Expresses concern about the composition and corresponding effects of the pills.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Photography, Crime

    Complains about having the dignity of himself and his 'sister, the Daguerréotype' outraged by the use of electrotyping in the production of fake gold dust.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Domestic Economy, Periodicals, Reading, Gender, Analytical Chemistry, Education, Experiment, Cruelty, Language

    Concerns Mr Paterfamilias's new interest in food adulteration. Having learnt about the horrors of food and drink adulteration from a 'valuable periodical', he argues that greater chemical instruction would enable more people to detect adulteration. Paterfamilias's daughters grumble about their scientifically-inclined brother, Newton, and his dangerous and cruel experiments, and he shocks his wife by identifying the substances with which foods and drinks are adulterated. Later he decides to solve the problem by brewing his own beer, a process that whets the appetite of Newton who baffles his mother with long scientific words.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Medical Treatment, Animal Species

    Responds to news of a tiger whose diseased nails were removed under chloroform.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Politics

    Provides two possible answers to the question of whether 'rats leave dangerous places'. The question, which has 'divided the opinions of learned naturalists', is solved by reference to the views of Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby) Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Charlatanry, Commerce, Quackery

    Urges medical men to 'do something towards reforming their Profession', complaining that a 'doctor's remuneration' is based on the 'smallness and not the magnitude of his services'. Illustrates this argument with the case of two fictional and contrasting doctors: Dr Head administers a 'judicious dose' to a patient, cures his patient, but only gets paid five shillings; Dr Block tries a wide range of ineffective treatments on the same patient who makes him wealthy. Urges that physicians be allowed to charge according to the 'importance' of the disease, a move it is believed will 'expedite' rather than retard the cure of patients.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Education, Chemistry, Experiment, Accidents

    Continues the story of Mr Paterfamilias's home-brewing experiments, in which members of his family, including his scientifically-inclined son, Newton, participate. The first phase of the experiment produces an unsatisfactory result (a small quantity of pale malt) but later that night, after Mr Paterfamilias has left the beer to ferment, Newton's 'inductive experimentalism' gets the better of him when he peers into the fermenting vessel and is struck by the exploding gases. Newton is later discovered by other members of his family and is chastised by his father as a 'rash but gifted child' (59).

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment

    Advertises a pill that can put infirm patients into a condition 'ready to undertake the most active service' and 'capable of enduring the severest action'.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Poetry

Subjects:

Geology, Animal Development, Palaeontology, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Homeopathy

    Introduces a St Valentine's day poem that reflects the 'character and pursuits' of the person to whom it is addressed. Presents a poem from Mary Shale to 'MICHA SLATE, ESQ., Professor of Geology', which uses geological metaphors to express feelings: for example, the author regards her lover as 'harder than the igneous rocks' and asks, 'Why dost thou leave my merits for the faults / In veins of metal?'. She recollects her emotional response to his talk of 'Submergence and denuded banks' and wonders whether he would have 'dragged my fossil form today' had she cast her lot in 'Oxford clay'. Adds that although she feels 'each day a keener smart, / The "non-progressive" theory is thine' and bids him farewell because he is more interested in geology than in her.

    Continues with a similar poem from Matilda Meagrim to Eusebius Jones, a surgeon. The author fears that her lover's heart will be 'stopped [...] by fibrinous ossification' and worries that whenever she presents parts of her body for 'friendly inspection', he treats them as subjects for harsh medical inspection. Concludes by stressing that her illness cannot be cured by commonplace medical treatments but by 'CUPID's own pharmacopoeia'.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Chemistry, Experiment, Invention, Pollution, Gender

    Describes the aftermath of the disastrous home-brewing experiments tried by Mr Paterfamilias and his family. Mr Paterfamilias has written up his 'domestic experiences' for communication to the 'British public', but his wife points out that his letters to The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> concerning ventilating apparatus were never published. She goes on to criticise his experiments but he, adamant about doing something 'for the public good', proposes to publicise his fermentation experiments. (70) Later Mr Paterfamilias argues over the cost of home brewing with a neighbour and discovers that his experiments have produced vinegar.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology, Phrenology, Religion, Prognostication

    Discusses the alleged abilities of Professor Zoroaster, a practitioner of the science of 'Astro-Phrenology', which he performs 'on moral and Christian principles'. Notes that he quotes scripture 'on behalf of fortune-telling by the stars', but wishes him confined to a cell.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Health, Nutrition, Physiology, Medical Treatment

    Continues the story of Mr Paterfamilias and his family. Describes Mr Paterfamilias's new interest in 'Diet and Regimen' and his concern to reform the 'hours', dress, and diet of his daughters. (80) His recommendations include a walk in the morning, 'uninterrupted' cold sponge baths, and 'calisthenic exercises' (81). Later Mr Paterfamilias shows his medical skills by successfully resuscitating a drowned Dorking fowl.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Instruments, Psychology, Electricity

    Responds to news of the invention of an instrument for 'indicating persons' thoughts by the agency of nervous electricity'. Claims that the instrument has been used to tease out the thoughts of an Old Bailey Old Bailey Sessions Court
Close   View the register entry >> barrister. Denies that the price of the instrument is worth 'anybody's thoughts' but thinks the instrument will be useful in probing the thoughts of those statesmen involved in the 'Turkish question'.

Genre:

Serial, Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Health, Gender, Domestic Economy

    Continues the story of Mr Paterfamilias and his attempt to carry out his 'Domestic Reform Bill in his own person and that of his daughters'. Describes a scene in which Mr Paterfamilias's daughters are seen wearing proper clothes (including 'high frocks' and 'lambswool stockings') and exercising with a Coldstream guard. Continuing his domestic reform, Mr Paterfamilias insists, despite his wife's protests, that it is healthy to wear a moustache and a broad-leafed felt hat. His wife is appalled at his changes to their family's clothes and routine.

Genre:

Review, Spoof

Subjects:

Electricity, Physiology, Natural Law, Human Species, Gender, Analogy, Electrochemistry, Physics

    Discussion of a new book on 'electricity and the human body, and the modes of developing it' which plays on the fact that terms such as 'shocks', 'attraction', and 'repulsion' apply to both electricity and social behaviour. Explains that the laws governing the 'phenomena of mutual attraction and repulsion' depend on such factors as hair colour and 'sparks' given off by the eyes. Adds that treating 'the body as an electrical machine', the most 'eligible form' of the 'softer sex' is that which possesses an 'hour-glass' shaped apparatus. Notes that the human machine energetically decomposes water and can be most effectively insulated by removing its money.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Nutrition, Domestic Economy

    Discusses the capabilities of a 'NOISELESS LION SAUSAGE-MAKING MACHINE, MINCEMEAT, and VEGETABLE CUTTER'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Nutrition, Supernaturalism

    Responds to news of a new patent for extracting 'the Spirit from Salmon'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Surgery, Medical Treatment

    Depicts two 'Inconsiderate' street boys frightening an anxious boy with stories about what will be done to him during his visit to the dentist.

Genre:

Essay, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Politics, Cultural Geography, Race, Menageries

    Written to represent the author's limited literacy, provides a decidedly unfavourable description of the appearance and habits of the Russian bear—a thinly-veiled representation of Russia itself, with whom Britain is on the verge of declaring war. Description includes such remarks as 'the Rooshan Bear is notorious for its cruelty and windictiveness to the human specie' and 'extends his ravidges and deprefations into the adjinin' territories in all directions'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Religious Authority, Patronage, Charlatanry

    Criticises David G Jones's Jones, David Griffith (fl. 1854–86) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> explanation of why the clergy support homeopathy.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Religion, Supernaturalism, Mesmerism, Politics, Medical Treatment

    Claims that Emperor Nicholas I Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia (1796–1855) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> appears to be suffering from 'mental derangement' and shows the 'supernatural' faculty of interlacing his homilies with passages from scripture (125). Suggests that the best cure would be for George H Gordon (4th Earl of Aberdeen) Gordon, George Hamilton-, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (1784–1860) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to mesmerise him at a distance and points out that the use of metals (swords) in the treatment of the patient failed because it was done indirectly.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Cruelty, Animal Behaviour, Human Species, Railways, Travel, Class, Crime

    Applauds new legislation which extends the protection to animals and welcomes news that the Cruelty Prevention Society of Armagh Cruelty Prevention Society of Armagh
Close   View the register entry >> is 'about to extend its operations to the case of travellers by railway'. Laments the fact that such humans, not least third-class railway passengers, will not benefit from these measures.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Sanitation, Pollution, Public Health

Publications cited:

Simon 1854 Simon, John 1854. Reports Relating to the Sanitary Condition of the City of London, London: J. W. Parker and Son
Close   View the register entry >>

    Responds to John Simon's Simon, Sir John (1816–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'Sanitary Report' which 'calls the Thames "a gigantic Poison-Bed"', and blames aldermen of the Corporation of London Corporation of London
Close   View the register entry >> for this state of affairs.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Exam Paper, Spoof

Subjects:

Mathematics, Education

    Aimed at an undergraduate who is 'supposed to have entertained [a] London Friend with the perusal of Examination Papers', consisting of mathematical problems concerning travelling and walking.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Botany, Discovery, Zoology, Monstrosities, Charlatanry

    Questions the authenticity of a report of a giant tree discovered in California and, not wishing to thwart the imaginative powers of 'the gentlemen of the press', urges them to 'invent' a tree 'which shall throw into shade' such 'arborescent myths' as 'Nine Elms'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Exam Paper, Spoof

Subjects:

Education, Gender, Mathematics, Botany, Geology, Chemistry

    Suggests some likely answers to questions from examination papers in mathematics, geology, and chemistry, 'set at a Ladies' School'. The answers play on stereotyped notions of women's domestic interests. For example, the suggested answer to 'What is an isosceles triangle?' is 'The shape of a nasty little wretched sandwich that one gets at MRS. ASTERISK'S evening parties'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Telegraphy

    Describes a Russian invention for sinking the British fleet in the Baltic. It involves exploding lumps of rock floating on ice, the rocks being covered with gunpowder which is detonated by galvanic currents sent down heavily insulated telegraph wires.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Light, Technology, Commerce

    Reports that Russians are resorting to gaslight owing to dwindling supplies of tallow candles, and notes the use of the more expensive gas-lighting in Paris and London, expecting both capitals to be shrouded in darkness.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Steam-power, Pollution, Public Health, Government, Meteorology, Morality

    Noting contemporary praise of steam power, questions the efficacy of Mr Spooner's Spooner, Mr (fl. 1854) PU1/26/16/1
Close   View the register entry >> expensive steam-powered machines for ventilating the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>, specifically, the use of burnt air in the process and the connection of the machines to a sewer. Likens the House of Commons to 'a huge monster breathing foul air' whose members breathe the monster's 'unsavoury gases', and criticises the strong gusts of air that flow through the building. Following the notion that 'things natural and moral' are connected, wonders whether the changing temperature inside the House of Commons is connected to the 'climate of England'

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Botany, Utility

    Discusses the 'scientific fact', announced in the Gardener's Chronicle Gardener's Chronicle (1841–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> that stinging nettles 'make excellent paper'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Progress, Experiment, Electricity, Botany, Physiology, Analytical Chemistry

    Responds to several items of 'University Intelligence' relating to the University of Oxford University of Oxford
Close   View the register entry >>, including advertisements for Robert Walker's Walker, Robert (1801–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Charles G B Daubeny's Daubeny, Charles Giles Bridle (1795–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> lectures on electrical and botanical subjects, and for Mervyn H N Story-Maskelyne's Story-Maskelyne, Mervyn Herbert Nevil (1823–1911) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> laboratory lectures on chemical analysis. Believes these advertisements suggest that Oxford 'will not stand upon old ways any more' and that 'Heads of Houses' may be taught more recent knowledge of the natural world than that known in antiquity.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Gender, Lecturing

People mentioned:

Harriot K Hunt Hunt, Harriot Kezia (1805–75) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Adulteration, Charlatanry, Analytical Chemistry, Narcotics

    Condemns the adulteration of confectionary, and criticises the Lancet's Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> Analytical Sanitary Commission Lancet—Analytical Sanitary Commission
Close   View the register entry >> for failing to observe an 'analogy between the articles and purchasers' of adulterated food: that the 'simple greens' of food colouring 'are verdigris', which are poisonous, and 'well suited to the other not less simple greens who possess copper and spend it on such trash'. The illustration shows Mr Punch and another figure, who holds a large bottle labelled 'Poison'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Technology, Electricity, Electrochemistry, Heat

    Describes a new weapon invented by Russia to defeat the British fleet in the River Neva. It consists of two charcoal electrodes, separated by a distance larger than the width of a ship which, when connected to a massive galvanic battery, produces an intensely hot and bright spark. Notes that any vessel sailing between the electrodes will be destroyed. Adds that 'PROFESSOR HOCUS has also submitted to the Emperor Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia (1796–1855) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> a plan for poisoning the British Public by poisoning the East wind'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Disease, Class

    Discusses a 'fierce conflict' between the 'Guardians of the Poor' and the medical officers they employ over the allegedly 'paltry' remuneration of the latter. Notes that the Poor Law guardians in Greenwich expect to be commended by the Poor Law Commission Poor Law Commission
Close   View the register entry >> for having kept medical officers' salaries so low. Ironically considers which of the competing examples of exploitation of medical officers would be most likely to win Punch's 'palm'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Medical Treatment, Invention

    Discusses Mr Punch's reaction to a Lancet Lancet (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> advertisement from R T Pigram Pigram, R T (fl. 1854) PU1/26/20/4
Close   View the register entry >> which appears to suggest that slight attacks of apoplexy are good for health, and which announces his 'Self-Acting Indicator of the Human Figure'. Notes Mr Punch's conclusion that the latter is a 'machine for testing the increased bulk of the patient'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Astronomy, Meteorology, Light, Observatories

    Responds to the observation of 'mock suns' reported in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> by Edward J Lowe Lowe, Edward Joseph (1825–1900) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> of the Highfield Observatory Highfield House Observatory, near Nottingham
Close   View the register entry >>. Likens the sun and its 'mock' companions to a monarch who is 'reflected' by obedient courtiers. Notes the 'curt truncated phraseology' with which Lowe recorded his observation that the 'Cumuli clouds near the phenomenon' disappeared after sunset, and jests that of course 'they went home to bed'. The illustration shows the sun surrounded by five suns with courtiers' legs.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Amusement, Steam-power, Mechanics, Metallurgy, Zoological Gardens, Display

    Reports that the 'gratuitous amusements' of the street outside his club are much favoured by boys. Claims that the 'new inventions of science and invention' at the Royal Polytechnic Institution Royal Polytechnic Institution
Close   View the register entry >> are matched in popularity by such sights as the 'tin locomotives' and 'the properties of air [...] shown in the Pop-goes-the-Weasel pistols'. For the boys, the sights of the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> are upstaged by the 'Happy Family' of the street, while the pyrotechnical display at the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> is bettered by the burning down of 'the oil-and-colourman's'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Amusement, Domestic Economy

    Describes 'the Improved Pocket Chaff-Machine', an invention aimed at 'young Gentlemen going to the Derby' which will 'supply Chaff of the newest, as well as the most ancient description' and produce 'amusing questions of domestic variety'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Publishing

    Describes Mr Punch's idea of 'a new Shell' which is charged with 'literary combustibles' instead of gunpowder.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents, Military Technology, War, Imperialism

    Speculates on a reputed 'engine of destruction' that will 'annihilate war itself'. Considers the railway engine to be 'the greatest engine of destruction' and suggests that were the English government to build railways throughout 'the whole of his mighty Empire' there would be little resistance to the ensuing 'wholesale slaughter' and wars would end.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Hospitals

    Responding to comments by the governor of St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>, thinks that 'an average physician' is more than enough for the institution, since he would sharply 'diminish the number of patients'.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Exhibitions

People mentioned:

Richard Owen, Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> James D Forbes Forbes, James David (1809–68) DSB
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Institutions mentioned:

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
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Genre:

Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Palaeontology

    Depicts Mr Punch's dream during a visit to the newly-opened Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>. In the foreground, in front of Mr Punch, stand Egyptian and Roman figures. The illustration is dominated by two gigantic seated Egyptian figures (in the style of the tomb of Rameses II), around which are shown several scenes from the exhibition, including visitors observing prehistoric animals.

Genre:

Essay, Polemic

Subjects:

Human Species, Health, Mental Illness, Political Economy, Machinery

    In this discussion of moves towards reducing the hours of business, the author compares unfavourably the achievement in 'economising the labourer' to that in economising labour. Argues that 'men should not be "used up"' as if they were replaceable machines. Warns that 'wear and tear of the human machine may lead to mischief beyond the power of remedy' and laments the neglect of labourers' 'immaterial' constituent by employers.