Punch,  63 (1872), 65–67.

Punch's Essence of Parliament

Anon

Genre:

Regular Feature, News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Botanical Gardens, Controversy, Government, Politics


    Reports on further parliamentary debate over the controversy between the First Commissioner of Works, Acton S Ayrton, and Joseph D Hooker. Provides John Lubbock's case against Ayrton. Ralph Bernal Osborne is reported to have said that Ayrton was 'audacious, and also orchidaceous' regarding Hooker, but that he wants them to 'make it up'. Ayrton claimed that he had 'done what he believed to be his duty' and that Hooker did not make himself easily available for 'public service'. Ayrton claimed that his profession (politics) receives 'higher consideration than the science of organic and inorganic matter'. Reports that Ayrton claimed that Hooker had made 'grave charges against him' and that Hooker accused Ayrton of 'evasions and misrepresentations'. Adds that it was left to the Prime Minister, William E Gladstone, to resolve the controversy. (66)



© 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 ]