Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustration, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Sanitation, Microscopy, Mesmerism, Spiritualism

People mentioned:

Arthur H Hassall , Thomas Carlyle

    Describes the 'wonders [...] revealed in a drop of London water through the Molecular Magnifier, illuminated by the Intellectual Electric Light'. Likens the practice of preparing to view the drop to mesmerism and notes the 'whole universes instinct with life, or life in death' revealed by the 'Molecular Magnifier', an instrument whose powers stump the revelations of the American seer, Andrew J Davis (189). Text and illustration reveal some of the gruesome objects to be seen in the water drop, including 'aldermen', a 'water bailiff', an 'undertaker', 'Gorgon-lobsters', and 'dire chimeras of turtle' (188–89). The text reveals the fierce competition among these monstrosities for 'atomic garbage'. Noting the theory that 'all organisations are multiples of themselves' suggests that water from wells must contain such individuals as aldermen (189).