Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Instruments, Prognostication, Astronomy, Zoological Gardens, Meteorology, Scientific Practitioners, Methodology, Charlatanry

    Begins by introducing the 'horoscope', an 'ingenious little instrument' which, fitted with a 'self-acting forecaster', enables several predictions to be made. These bogus predictions include the occurrence of a full moon on 24 February, the addition of 'several new animals' to the collection at the Zoological Society Gardens, and the gulf stream being 'heard of again, probably for the last time, the tendency of modern scientific investigation being to show up that bugbear as a humbug'.