Punch,  2 (1842), 233.

Punch's Practical Philosophy

Anon

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Societies, Physics, Mechanics, Scientific Practitioners, Light


    Describes a meeting of the 'Practical Association of Parochial Philosophers'. Gives an absurdly technical account of how one member opened a bottle of ginger beer, and reports other members' equally technical discussions of what happened after the bottle was opened. For example, one 'gentleman' who was struck in the eye by the cork, said that it 'struck me (loud cheers) that there was a smart pain in my left organ of vision, and there was a sort of flashing sensation in the part affected, that was exceedingly interesting, and in the highest degree curious'. The meeting, which 'was kept up till late an hour' and which was sustained by consumption of liquor, also established a number of conclusions about beer drinking, including the fact that 'the force employed in the social operation, usually called "the honours" after drinking a toast, imparts a centrifugal force to a tumbler, which is sufficient to bring it in contact with a window at a distance of fourteen feet'.



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