Punch,  47 (1864), 104–05.

From Our Ill-Used Contributor

Epicurus Rotundus

Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Aeronautics, Engineering, Animal Development, Death, Museums


    Addressed to Mr Punch, this letter opens by noting a few details concerning 'the Starry Galileo' including his vital dates and the fact that he preceded the writer in 'remarking that the world still moves'. Proceeds to describe the writer's (usually miserable) experiences of remaining in London during the very hot holiday season. Later notes his failure to 'go and see the balloon start from the Crystal Palace', but recalls an earlier ascent that he made with Charles Green from Cremorne Gardens. Also notes the progress of the Thames Embankment and the frequent fall of a horse and cart into this river. He points out that 'Sometimes horse and cart are dragged out [...] but at other times I incline to believe that the animal being drowned, is interred in the Embankment, and laid away for a few centuries, at the end of which his bones will be dug out, and set up in the British Museum at Kensington, in evidence that the English of the Victorian age buried horses with funeral rites' and are therefore not as Christian as documents suggest. (104)



© Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical Project, Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, 2005 - 2020

Printed from Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: An Electronic Index, v. 4.0, The Digital Humanities Institute <http://www.sciper.org> [accessed ]