Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

[Pictorial Border]

Genre:

Notes, Drollery; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

R D, pseud.  [Richard Doyle] Doyle, Richard (1824–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Astronomical Terms

Genre:

Editorial, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Anaesthesia, War

    Proposes a scheme in which an 'invading army' is reduced to a state of 'utter insensibility' by spraying them with chloroform from fire-engines lined up on the English coast.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Breeding, Animal Development, Invention, Steam-power, Animal Husbandry

    Reports on news that Mr Cantelo's Cantelo, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/1/2
Close   View the register entry >> has invented a process for hatching one thousand chickens an hour. Doubts his calculations and 'can't-tell-'ow' Cantelo 'does it'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Agriculture, Education, Lecturing, Cultural Geography, Politics

    Notes that the 'philanthropic attempt to enlighten the Irish on agriculture' will be carried out with more success if the lecturers wear a suit of armour. Describes how the 'well-meaning communicants of agricultural information' have to sustain ridicule and cabbage-leaves being thrown at them. The illustration shows a figure lecturing to a audience of farmers in a suit of armour.

Genre:

Short Fiction, Drollery

Subjects:

Steam-power, Engineers, Invention, Nationalism, War

People mentioned:

Archimedes Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Opens with John Bull proclaiming that 'steam has made England no longer an Island'. Punch tells Mrs Gerkins how, as a child, James Watt Watt, James (1736–1819) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> would be transfixed by the tunes and shapes caused by the steam emerging from his aunt's kettle. Believes Watt heard in 'the singing kettle the songs of the English CYCLOPS', who was making railways, carriages, saw-mills, and steam-engines, but then concealed the fact that he then saw in the steam the French invasion of Britain.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Invention, Transport

    Describes the journey of 'Young William Jones', a railway engine 'out of the West', which 'drove all unhelp'd' and which 'stopp'd not for water' or coke.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Invention, Transport

    Describes an invention for helping adults to maintain their footing on slippery pavements. It consists of a chest-high basket on wheels in which the adult walks.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Sanitation, Medical Practitioners, Government, Patronage

    Applauds the government's decision to give a pension to the widow of a Manchester surgeon, Mr Walker Walker, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/3/4
Close   View the register entry >> who was 'killed on duty by fever'. Thinks a pension should also be awarded to the children of Dr Lynch Lynch, Dr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/3/4
Close   View the register entry >>, who was 'slain by the dirty City of London'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Light, Astronomy, Invention, Government, Politics

    Reports on the 'gratifying proposition' to impose a tax upon the sun's 'old rival', gaslight. Notes that taxing the rays of the sun 'may be objected to as taxes on industry', given the sun's early appearance for most of the year. Glad that 'young Gas' is indignant at the news because 'he never flares up without enlightening the public'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Sanitation, Metallurgy, Commerce, Medical Treatment, Charlatanry

    Reports on a Mechanics' Magazine Mechanics' Magazine (1823–72) Iron: the Journal of Science, Metals, and Manufactures (1872–93) Industries and Iron (1893–99) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> article describing the profits to be made from the gold and silver deposited from workmen's bodies during washing. Noting Kenelm Digby's Digby, Sir Kenelm (1603–65) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> proposal to cure warts by 'washing the hands in moonshine in a silver basin', likens 'moonshine washing' to the 'deposit of gold and silver' in the tradesman's water tanks.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Song

Subjects:

Universities, Medical Treatment

    Responding to news that during the quincentennial anniversary of the University of Cambridge University of Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >>, held at Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Close   View the register entry >>, John J Smith Smith, John James (1807–83) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> toasted 'Physic'. Suggests that the toast would have included a song containing such lines as 'A bumper of febrifuge fill for me; / Give those who prefer it to be black draught; / But whatever the dose, it a strong one must be'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Nomenclature, Ornithology

    Alarmed at the audacity of the wildfowl who venture upon the ice on the Serpentine, and claims that such species are called 'Bipes implumis'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia

    Suggests that chloroform could be used in 'thousands of instances of every-day life', including trying on shoes, shaving, and flagellation at school.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Time, Instruments, Measurement, Metrology, Nationalism

    Discusses attempts being made to correct the serious disagreements between the 'Clocks of England'. Notes the difficulty of making all clocks correct to the Greenwich Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Close   View the register entry >> clock and believes 'refractory Clocks' will be sent to the 'House of Correction'. The illustration shows 'Greenwich Clock' as a policeman asking clocks dressed as a Scotsman and an Irishman to 'move on'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Natural History, Horticulture, Periodicals, Experiment

    Discusses the 'extraordinary virtues of the Gutta Percha Tree'. Invites the 'country press' to insert a paragraph which describes how a 'gentleman who is strongly imbued with the spirit of experiments', planted a 'double sole' in the ground and succeeded in growing a 'Boot-Tree'. Describes the tree as having almost 'every specimen of boot'. The illustration shows a tree with boots hanging from its branches.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Sanitation, Manufactories, Disease, Class, Commerce

    Responds to Thomas Wakley Wakley, Thomas (1795–1862) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> who, according to an article in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, reflected on the destitute individuals responsible for the 'displays of ingenuity' on show in Regent Street shops. Does not think Wakley's remarks are strong enough to remind consumers of the origins of fine goods. Thinks that it is better if the 'higher classes [...] ameliorate the physical condition of the poor, than continue to carry the consequences of it on their own backs'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Meteorology, Invention

    Suggests that the 'Weathercock' can be made more comprehensible to 'the ordinary observer' by attaching coats and umbrellas to the vanes. These additions will enable better judgement of wind speed and rainfall respectively. The illustration depicts this suggestion.

Genre:

Editorial, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Feeling, Class

    Recommends the use of chloroform to poor-law guardians, because it will render relieving officers 'utterly devoid of feeling'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Astronomy, Railways, Astrology, Superstition

    Speculates on what the imminent comet has been doing since its last appearance in 1556. Suggestions include 'enjoying himself at every astrological house where there was a drop or a cloud to be had'. Doubts whether 'this great Comet [is] to be the avant-courier to announce the arrival of some tremendous person', following the failure of the supposed 'Coming Man' to appear. Hopes the comet chooses to live in Trafalgar Square, where it can drink water from the 'two little basins' and exercise itself 'by running up and down Nelson's Column'. Thinks the comet may prove the greatest London architect since the 'Great Fire of London'. The first illustration shows a smartly dressed comet walking in Trafalgar Square with Mr Punch holding its tail. The second illustration shows the face of Francis Egerton (1st Earl of Ellesmere) Egerton, Francis, 1st Earl of Ellesmere (1800–57) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> in its head, dragging King Louis-Phillipe Louis-Phillipe, King of the French (1773–1850) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> of France with its tail.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Invention, Human Development, Politics, Steamships, Travel

    Believes the 'Infant Baby Jumper', an apparatus for suspending babies from ceilings, should be used by 'the chairman at a public meeting' enabling him to preside over or advance into an assembly, and help passengers embark and disembark from steamboats. The illustrations depicts figures suspended from this invention.

Genre:

Exam Paper, Spoof

Subjects:

Mathematics, Politics, Sanitation, Government, Public Health

    Various arithmetical questions concerning topical political and social questions. For example, 'Given, the Bill for Sanitary Reform. Required, to find the clause that related to the City of London', or 'Which is the greater, the distance between Bath and Jericho, or Lord Brougham Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and the Whigs'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Race

    Responds to an article in the Nation Nation (1842–97) Weekly Nation (1897–1900) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >> by noting the extraordinary industry of inmates in Irish lunatic asylums. Argues that the way to 'render the Irish industrious' is to discipline them as if they were inmates in a lunatic asylum. Suggests that John Conolly Conolly, John (1794–1866) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> be transferred from Hanwell Lunatic Asylum County Lunatic Asylum, Hanwell
Close   View the register entry >> to Dublin Castle Dublin Castle
Close   View the register entry >>, and that physicians quell inhabitants of 'disturbed districts' with 'sedative medicines'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners

    Depicts a young doctor standing at the end of a table, around which sit several gentlemen discussing his application to become a parish doctor. The chairman announces that his salary will be £20 and that he will have to find his own 'tea and sugar—medicine I mean'. Punch thinks the applicant will lose his position to a 'humbug, who will fill it for less money'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Disease, Medical Treatment

    Responding to the news that five thousand Londoners were killed by the recent influenza epidemic, urges that 'our common shores' as well as our coasts should be fortified (a reference to the recent fortification of the coasts).

Genre:

Editorial, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Time, Mathematics, Measurement

    Invites readers to solve the problem of finding 'the periods fixed for the starting of trains' in a railway timetable.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Prognostication, Government, Politics

    Noting the imminent arrival of the comet, points out that 'England has already been visited by its share of misfortunes', including the recent Government budget. Reports that Professor Donneranblitz has calculated that the figures seen in the comet's tail add up to five, the new percentage of income tax announced in the budget.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [6]

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Education, Amusement, Invention, Palaeontology, Steam-power, Gas Chemistry, Aeronautics, Electricity, Instruments, Human Development

    Argues that children's toys should be replaced by more scientific ones in order to reflect children's more sophisticated knowledge. Suggested toys include a megatherium rocking-horse, a 'monster steam-engine' (replacing the conventional rocking-horse), a gasometer (replacing the art of blowing soap bubbles), Nassau balloons, and electrical machines. Envisions that 'nurseries will be turned into miniature laboratories'. The illustrations depict the changes from the old to the suggested new toys.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Politics, Commerce, Charlatanry

    Reports that parliamentary candidates in a Yarmouth election were unconscious of acts of bribery during the voting procedure, and attributes this to the fact that candidates must have been 'under the influence of chloroform'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Breeding, Steam-power, Animal Development, Animal Behaviour, Animal Husbandry, Evolution

    Discusses Mr Cantelo's Cantelo, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/1/2
Close   View the register entry >> proposal to greatly increase the rate of production of poultry by hatching eggs in a steam oven. Concerned that chicks born by this process will be unable to develop 'filial affections' for their 'steam-mother', and observes Cantelo's 'Spartan notions touching deformed chickens'. Believes that the process will produce chickens that will be deformed and resemble a steam engine. Noting how some species of animal have adapted themselves to man-made inventions, the writer fears 'for the future figures of our poultry' and expects those hatched by steam to appear in the shape of tea kettles. Concludes by claiming that Cantelo's scheme is 'well worthy of consideration'. The illustration shows kettle-shaped chickens, exhaling steam, surrounded by chicks.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Mapping, Sanitation, Instruments, Military Technology

    Discusses the 'alarm' caused amongst Londoners by the 'appearance of soldiers' undertaking surveying work in preparing to level the metropolis 'at the request of the Sanitary Commissioners'. The illustration shows an elderly lady being shocked by the sight of a Royal Engineer using a theodolite. The engineer explains that it is only a 'dumpy leveller', and although the woman is relieved to learn that the instrument is not a 'blunderbust', she asks the soldier not to fire it.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry, Representation, Museums, Exhibitions

    Reports on the latest addition to the collection at Madame Tussaud's Madame Tussaud's Waxworks
Close   View the register entry >>—a waxwork model of George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Cynically suggests that Hudson's avarice has been faithfully represented in the model, including such features as his coat-tail pockets being 'filled with sovereigns', and his face being 'placed towards the [Royal] Mint Royal Mint
Close   View the register entry >>'. Concludes by ironically suggesting that this 'incarceration of wealth [...] is to be worshipped by every man who glories in the name of Englishman'.

Genre:

Editorial, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Medical Treatment, Narcotics

    Discusses the effect of chloroform in cases of insensibility. Expects that drunkenness will be replaced by 'obliviousness'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Publishing

    Likens the second column in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, where 'fond initials love to discourse', to 'the electric telegraph between the most distant letters of the alphabet'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Accidents

    Regarding George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as 'more dangerous in railway travelling than either a long-bodied engine, a leaky boiler, a broken rail, or a drunken engineer', this article warns of the dangers of the railway 'King', especially the accidents that passengers suffer owing to his 'absurdity'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Medical Treatment, Morality

    Suggests that a new medical treatment called a 'Detoxicant' is 'some liquid of the chloroform nature which enabled the 'management and subjugation' of drunkards.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Animal Behaviour

    Reports on news that oysters and eels have been opened under the influence of chloroform.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Anaesthesia, Amusement

    Discusses the fashion for 'chemical evening parties' where chloroform is administered. Believes corresponding changes in party etiquette will include asking a 'young lady' if she would like, not ice, but 'a glass of chloroform'. Calculating that chloroform would be cheaper than food for a hundred people, doubts 'if FARADAY Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> would charge for a supper as much as GUNTER Gunter, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/10/5
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Monstrosities, Government

    Discusses the exhibition of 'two monster curiosities' on the banks of the Thames: a whale and Thomas C Anstey's Anstey, Thomas Chisholm (1816–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'Monster' parliamentary motion. This is an allusion to Anstey's notoriously long speeches in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Invention, Technology, Domestic Economy, Class, Politics

    Notes that this invention has recently been exhibited at the Royal Institution Royal Institution of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >>. Thinks there is nothing new in the fact that the machine works by 'turning a screw', since 'English shirtmakers' have 'been made to work for farthings' by 'turning a screw'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Reportage, Spoof

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Breeding, Invention, Technology, Animal Husbandry, Steam-power, Animal Development

    Begins with an illustration showing a procession of hens, ducks, and their young, all carrying placards protesting against the threat to their livelihood posed by Mr Cantelo's Cantelo, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/1/2
Close   View the register entry >> steam-powered egg incubator. The text explains that birds consider that Cantelo is threatening 'the nests and other cherished institutions of the feathered tribe' and, accordingly, several birds held a meeting at which they protested against the 'new hatching systems' and the production of birds by such 'wishy-washy means'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Accidents

People mentioned:

George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary,

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Education, Gender, Cultural Geography, Domestic Economy

    Reports on Elizabeth Blackwell's Blackwell, Elizabeth (1821–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> attendance at medical lectures in Boston. Admires Blackwell and applauds her for 'qualifying herself for that very important duty of a good wife—tending a husband in sickness', learning to distinguish between 'real and fanciful ailments', and finding out the 'consequences of want of exercise, damp feet, and tight lacing'. Observes that 'America is certainly ahead of us in respect of the medical profession'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Breeding, Invention, Steam-power, Animal Husbandry, Animal Development

    Responds to Mr Cantelo's Cantelo, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/1/2
Close   View the register entry >> claim in the Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> that he can produce an average of seventy-five chickens from one hundred eggs. Thinks Cantelo's scheme to 'produce poultry for the million' is too costly a public operation but a worthwhile 'private speculation'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Politics, Nationalism

    Reports that 'long-sighted Republicans' claimed to see the colours of the tricolour on the clouds that concealed the moon during the recent eclipse. Thinks that the moon would sympathise with France because it too is 'subject to so many changes and revolutions'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Invention, Heat, Government

People mentioned:

Thomas Wakley Wakley, Thomas (1795–1862) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Responds to news of the illness of the speaker of the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> with a cynical dig at David B Reid's Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> ventilation system. Suggests 'homely remedies' for the speaker, but thinks a 'sub-Speaker' should be hired 'as the Influenza, or a civic dinner, or the north-east wind' might 'deprive us [...] of the Speaker'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Heroism, War

    Applauds a decision to erect a monument to William Harvey Harvey, William (1578–1657) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, since there are many statues of men 'whose celebrity rests on blood' but not one whose fame rests on the 'circulation of the fluid'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Animal Behaviour, Commerce

    Reports that the elephant at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> has resolved to show itself only in profile, following the reduction in admission prices to the gardens.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Military Technology, Invention

    Addressing the inventor of penny postage, Rowland Hill Hill, Sir Rowland (1795–1879) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, proposes to send mailbags by balloon, the link between the bags and the balloon being broken by a fusee at a given distance from the General Post Office General Post Office
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Expertise

People mentioned:

Benjamin C Brodie Brodie, Sir Benjamin Collins, 1st Baronet (1783–1862) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses an advertisement by 'the Surgeon to the Bank of England Bank of England
Close   View the register entry >>'. Suggests that the bank's pulse is felt by the Stock Exchange Stock Exchange
Close   View the register entry >>. Speculates on similar appointments such as a 'Chemist to London Bridge London Bridge
Close   View the register entry >>' and a medical man to 'look after' statues.

Genre:

Announcement, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Politics, Cultural Geography

    Annouces that the government is sending to Ireland the proprietor of the 'Happy Family—a zoological republic, in which the wildest animals elbow one another in the same cage—to see whether Irishmen cannot be induced, or made, to live peaceably together'. Adds that the proprietor is to 'be empowered with authority for making experiments' and has started his work on 'a Young Irelander, an Old Irelander, and an Orangeman'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery; Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Astronomy, Discovery, Scientific Practitioners

    Reports on John C Adams's Adams, John Couch (1819–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'canvas solar system', 'spermaceti stars', 'oil moon', 'gas sun', and 'rushlight satellites'. Points out his latest discovery of 'FIVE NEW PLANETS'. Advises Adams to 'stick on a dozen new planets at once, in anticipation of what may be brought to light during the ensuing lustrum' because 'his planet manufacturer will charge no more for making a dozen or so while his hand is in, than he would for producing a solitary star if ordered separate'. The illustration depicts a sun-faced, bespectacled man (possibly Adams) playing globes of the earth with drum sticks—an attempt to 'illustrate the music of the spheres'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Animal Behaviour, Music

    Describes the characteristics of Jenny Lind Lind-Goldschmidt (née Lind), Johanna Maria ('Jenny') (1820–87) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> as if she were literally a 'Swedish Nightingale'. Description includes remarks on the distinctiveness and 'wonderful' range of the nightingale's voice, her 'succinct' shape, and the fact that her 'nest' is 'feathered with the finest bank-paper'. Speculates on the diet of this 'Queen of Song'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Reportage, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Menageries, Commerce

    Reports that the Zoological Society Zoological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> is allowing the public to visit all its animals for a low admission fee. Claims that the Stock Exchange Stock Exchange
Close   View the register entry >> is likewise opening to the public 'its celebrated collection of living Bulls and Bears', and 'Stags'. The illustration shows the latter collection roaming about an empty hall.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [3]

Illustrators:

N, pseud.  [William Newman] Newman, William (fl. 1842) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Astronomy, Periodicals, Observatories

    Suggests the possible contents of a new American newspaper, the Sidereal Messenger Sidereal Messenger (1882–91) Astronomy and Astrophysics (1892–94) Astrophysical Journal (1895–1900+) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >>. Suggestions include a column 'inviting some missing star to return to his circle of disconsolate satellites', and announcements that Saturn 'will go through his celebrated scenes in the circle [ring system]', and that new milk can be bought from the Milky Way. Doubts whether the paper will be able to fill its pages or appeal to anybody but those 'thoroughly wrapped up in a comet's tail'. The illustrations depict the likely 'observatory' offices of the newspaper, perched on a church steeple.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment, Patronage, Commerce

    Discusses news that Emperor Nicholas I Nicholas I, Emperor of Russia (1796–1855) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> of Russia has been testifying to the merits of 'Revelenta Arabica', and argues that the job of puffing the remedy should have been given to a poorer continental king. Suggests the formation of a 'Testimonial Association', in which 'individuals of every kind and degree' would testify to the effects of 'wonderful cures'. Thinks Thomas Holloway Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Dr Stolberg Stolberg, Dr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/22/1
Close   View the register entry >> could establish businesses using physically impaired employees.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Menageries, Nutrition, Animal Behaviour, Animal Development

    Reports on a bear garden at Shoreditch where bears are nourished and 'unadulterated grease' is supplied direct from the bear. Discusses the effect of free-trade on home-grown bear-grease, and notes the zoological uniqueness of the Shoreditch bears.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L, pseud.  [John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
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Subjects:

Sanitation, Disease, Government, Politics

    The caption reads 'Lord Morpeth [the architect of a Health of Towns Bill] Throwing Pearls before —— Aldermen'. The picture shows George Howard (Viscount Morpeth) Howard, George, 6th Earl of Carlisle (formerly styled 'Viscount Morpeth') (1773–1848) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> throwing such parliamentary bills as 'Health of Towns' and 'Sanatory' to pigs bearing the coat of arms of the Corporation of London Corporation of London
Close   View the register entry >>, which are sitting and lying around his feet.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Subjects:

Invention, Heat, Meteorology

    Reports on the invention by Messrs Dodge, of an 'Anti-Solar Hat', a parasol mounted on top of a gossamer hat, and an omnibus 'containing a refrigerator' for improving the 'broiling journey'. The illustrations depict these inventions.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Sanitation, Government, Public Health, Politics

Institutions mentioned:

Literary Institution, Leicester Square Literary Institution, Leicester Square
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    Shares Hector Gavin's Gavin, Hector (d. 1855) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> praise for Thomas S Smith Smith, Thomas Southwood (1788–1861) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the originator of the Health of Towns Bill. Regards the government's failure to appoint Smith, a person who accomplished a 'great public benefit', as a 'disgraceful erratum'.