Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Pharmaceuticals, Crime, Gender, Railways, Amusement, Religious Authority

    Discusses an advertisement for Dr Battledore's lozenge for remedying 'nervousness', suggesting the possibility of the remedy being used by 'a nervous Paterfamilias' for confronting garotters, or by 'the most timid of the softer sex' for travelling on the London underground line (i.e. the Metropolitan Railway). Lamenting the absence of promised testimonials to the efficacy of the lozenges, presents two specimen testimonials, one from a theatrical manager, who has overcome his cautiousness and is now attempting to build a giant auditorium, and from a 'C. H. Sp—N' (a reference to Charles H Spurgeon), who claims that the lozenges helped him treat 'sacred matters in a sportive light'. Punch concludes by insisting that such letters will help give the lozenge a 'world-wide reputation'.