Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Development, Geology, Human Development, Time, Progress, Cultural Geography, Homeopathy, Medical Treatment, Steamships, Military Technology, Transport, Music

    From the perspective of the remote past, as described in Lyell's text, looks forward to more recent events such as Hercules joining 'his club'. Also notes the absence of various aspects of contemporary life; for example, 'No globules then / Up to Number Ten / Could be purchased at Mr Epps', 'No plated ships / Had left their slips / With an enemy's force to cope', 'No Lessepp's canal / Raised a sad cabal / On account of its unpaid Fellahs', and 'No Babbage as yet / Was made to fret / By the notes of a hurdy-gurdy'.