Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Archaeology, Exploration

    Reports on archaeologists' exhaustion of areas to explore. Relates that one of the 'Archaelogians' has 'taken refuge' in nursery rhymes. Suggests that a loftier theme for archaeology is the '"shoe" lived in by the "old woman" of antiquity' and a 'survey of the ground on which it was supposed to have stood'. Also suggests studying the physiology of the 'house of nursery lore' and the 'fracture of JACK's crown'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Surgery, Medical Practitioners, Status, Class

    Laments the fact that assistant surgeons in the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> are forced to mix with midshipmen, when they are 'perfectly qualified to join at least the Ward-room mess'. Punch intends to continue urging the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> to place assistant surgeons 'in a class better suited to their intellectual and social position'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Public Health, Invention, Technology, Government

    Regards as 'preposterous' David B Reid's Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> attempt to gain support for his ill-fated ventilating system from the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>, an institution he bitterly criticized for rejecting his invention in the first place. Does not wish to 'see the British Legislature blown to shivers' by Reid's invention.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Invention, Patronage, Scientific Practitioners, Status

People mentioned:

Joseph C Robertson Robertson, Joseph Clinton (1788–1852) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

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 >>

    Criticises the chemist Charles Cameron Cameron, Charles (fl. 1849) PU1/17/3/1
Close   View the register entry >> for seeking election votes and money from the Royal General Annuity Society Royal General Annuity Society
Close   View the register entry >> because he invented a light for illuminating the microscope at the Royal Polytechnic Institution Royal Polytechnic Institution
Close   View the register entry >>. Regarding military victories as good grounds for expecting an annuity, the author denies that the British public cares 'about science or those who cultivate it'. Believes that Cameron may succeed owing to his age and a physical disability. Noting the 'kind of estimation in which science and scientific men are generally held among us', not surprised that Cameron has been trying unsuccessfully to gain money for the society for three years.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Medical Treatment, Crime, Class

    Reports on a scheme to found a model hospital in principal British and Irish towns for treating all diseases and 'any person or persons convicted of labouring under any kind or form of malady'. Cynically points out that youths with mild diseases will mix with individuals suffering from fatal afflictions and then be judged fit to mingle in society. Implies that this scheme will be totally ineffective in mitigating disease.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Hydropathy, Medical Treatment, Hygiene, Public Health

    Observes that hydropathy 'is being received as a science of the first water, and it has been allowed to find its way into several domestic establishments'. Agrees that water and soap can compete with 'pharmacy' but protests against the abuse of water, the 'substitution of the bath itself for the Bath chair', and the 'watering of the patient with a watering pot' (practices that are illustrated in the accompanying cut). Thinks the patient may be 'as great a pump as the machine by which he allows himself to be played upon'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Belief, Superstition, Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry, Race

    Begins by lamenting the fact that 'in this age of science and intelligence, and in our own enlightened country', George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> should have been worshipped as somebody who 'exercised unlimited power over all railway matters, and could render any line that he took under his tutelage a source of indefinite emolument to his votaries'. Criticises the amount of money that people poured 'into his temple'—i.e. how much money they invested in his dubious railway schemes. Continuing the analogy between Hudson and a pagan idol, explains how the 'golden visions' (i.e. hopes of profit) and money of the 'idolaters' were dispelled, and how the idolaters then destroyed the idol, conducting themselves 'exactly like certain savages, who, when accustomed to offer all sorts of indignation to their gods, before which previously they had prostrated themselves in the most abject abasement'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Engineering, Public Health

    Reports on a proposal by the City of London Commssioners of Sewers City of London Commissioners of Sewers
Close   View the register entry >> to build an 'immense tunnel' under London to determine the kind of clay under houses. Anticipates problems including the likelihood of London falling into the earth and ending up like Lisbon and Pompeii.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Electricity, Meteorology, Travel, Transport

    Noting the electrical conducting powers of bodies containing water, believes the people who stood up during a storm behind an omnibus must have been 'the greatest Conductors of electricity in the world' since they were completely soaked.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Public Health, Sanitation, Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Class

    Argues that the 'aristocratic houses' in Belgravia are resting on hotbeds of 'pestilential vapours' produced by 'defective sewers'. Identifying himself as an apothecary, the writer complains that his trade in selling substances to his high-class customers will be threatened by the removal of the 'effluvia' from the sewers. Demands compensation 'if the filth I live upon be removed'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Psychiatry, Mental Illness, Sanitation, Public Health, Disease

    An allusion to the work of John Conolly Conolly, John (1794–1866) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, records that 'One got in at Hanwell County Lunatic Asylum, Hanwell
Close   View the register entry >>, who seemed to be a Physician, and mighty pretty Discourse with him touching the Manner of treating Madmen and Lunatics, which is now by gentle Management, and is a great Improvement on the old Plan of Chains and the Whip'. Also records the 'Foulness of London for Want of fit Drainage' and its tendency to breed cholera and typhus.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Medical Treatment

    Responding to news of a book with the title 'Homeopathy in Acute Diseases', argues that 'if homeopathic globules will cure inflammations, perhaps an infinitesimal drop of water will put out a fire'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Periodicals

    Describes responses to and explanations of the recent 'fall of Red Rain'. Expects that it will soon rain shellfish and fish, but links the recent shower to 'that notorious wet blanket Old SWITHIN'. Sympathises with the person who records rainfall for The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Pollution, Sanitation, Public Health, Analytical Chemistry, Publishing, Industry

    Asks the publisher John Murray Murray, John (1808–92) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to publish a 'Hand-book to the Thames' and argues that a 'glance' at the establishments along the banks of the river would 'at once' reveal the contents of the water and 'render any closer analysis superfluous'. Urges the Sanitary Commissioners to go deeper into the problem of Thames water. The illustrations show the disagreeable features of the banks of the Thames, including a cemetry, bone boilers, gas works, and a sewer.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Human Species, Universities, Education

    Describes characteristics of the Oxford spider, 'Class Sanguisugae', 'Order, Insidiatores', and 'Variety, Haberdasher', a thinly-veiled reference to a creditor. Notes that the spider seeks undergraduates and waits until they are mature before it fixes its 'fangs in their vitals'.

Genre:

Illustration; Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Aeronautics, Transport

    Notes that Police Commissioners may need to issue regulations to curb the 'present ballooning mania', especially that propagated by Charles Green Green, Charles (1785–1870) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and his family. Complains about being struck by the 'sand thrown out by occupants of a balloon car'. (69)

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Light, Instruments, Observation

    Advertises a 'new Telescopic Spy-Glass', possessing powers that can penetrate everything except 'deal boards' and enabled a letter which Queen Victoria Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Empress of India (1819–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> was 'reading in her yacht to be read at the further end of Kingstown harbour'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Archaeology, Societies, Ethics, Commerce

    Criticises a member of the British Archaeological Association British Archaeological Association
Close   View the register entry >> for lecturing on 'the Brass of SIR WILLIAM MOLYNEUX in Sefton Church', because it is not proper to investigate a 'gentleman's brass'.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Disease, Human Development

    Concerns a meeting of medical men convened by Mr Punch to treat the measles 'epidemic' in his nursery. Participants, whose surnames are such medical terms as 'Slab', 'Grinder', 'Squills', and 'Pulv', discuss various cases of measles, their explanations and treatments.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Steam-power, Travel, Transport

    Noting science's 'talk' of the 'condensation of Steam', describes the 'condensation' or overcrowding of passengers on steamboats. Suggests solutions to the problem.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

War, Medical Treatment, Surgery, Instruments

    Punch's suggestions for essay subjects suitable for submission to the Peace Congress prize essay competition. Subjects include the sensations of being struck by a bullet and having the object surgically removed, and of having a knee crushed by a cannonball and subsequent amputation of the limb.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Quackery, Nomenclature, Expertise

    Defending 'medical science', attacks 'one of our contemporaries' for using sloppy 'medical phraseology' in describing the case of a woman whose bad cold was allegedly cured by the application of Thomas Holloway's Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> ointment. Denies the authenticity of the claim that a 'medical gentlemen' of St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital
Close   View the register entry >> judged that the woman had only a short time to live, and protests 'against statements tending to recommend' Holloway's medicine.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Nutrition, Human Development

    Describes the problems associated with 'Portable Soup', which was dropped 'though promising, like most new inventions'. Announces 'Portable Milk', a solidified material that contains the 'equivalent of six gallons of fluid milk', but is sceptical of the invention, calling a halt to the rage for '"Portable" This, That, and Everything'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; 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:

Domestic Economy, Invention, Human Development

    Upholds the fact that 'Science has given us the baby-jumper' but suggests constructing 'something in the shape of coops' for containing young children 'when they are "out with nurse", and she happens to have something better—or worse—to do than look after them'. The illustration depicts several children inside small baskets on the seaside, with their guardian sitting nearby.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Agriculture, Steam-power, Invention, Industry

    Discusses a portable steam engine on wheels for agricultural purposes displayed at the Dublin Agricultural Show. Observes that the sums of money that were once awarded to servants for their service will now be 'transferred to the steam engine'. Wonders where landlords are going to find a steam engine that will work 'half so long' as a human.

Genre:

Drama, Satire

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Pharmaceuticals, Narcotics, Quackery

    Set in the shop of 'MR. UPAS, Chemist and Druggist', shows Upas serving a widow 'Threepenn'orth of Laudanum' and a 'Little Girl' asking Upas's assistant 'Bottles' for 'as much Arsenic as you can for twopence-halfpenny, to kill rats'. Bottles proceeds deal with other customers who want his advice on the best type of poison to take. The scene concludes with Bottles remarking on the trade that undertakers will gain from his 'good morning's work'.

Genre:

Illustration, Satire

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 Treatment, Pharmaceuticals, Quackery, Commerce

    Shows a male figure, 'a Duly Qualified Chemist', in his shop responding to a young child who, from behind the counter, asks: 'Will you be so good as to fill this bottle again with Lodnum, and let mother have another pound and a half of Arsenic for the rats!'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Public Health, Sanitation, Agriculture, Technology, Commerce, Class, Status

    Upholds the agricultural and commercial value of the London sewers. Describes Mr Dover's Dover, Mr (fl. 1849) PU1/17/10/5
Close   View the register entry >> scheme for disinfecting sewage and turning it into pure guano, which will greatly increase crops.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Commerce, Morality, Invention

    Analyses an advertisement from a person seeking employment as an assistant to an 'amiable' country medical practitioner, puffing himself with such attributes as 'gentlemanly', 'wakeful to a fault', and somebody who 'looks upon large salaries as a snare'. Denies that wakefulness can be carried to a fault unless it includes a propensity to jump up in the middle of the night, and walk about the house in the peculiar "costume of the period"'. Rejects the claim that medical assistants might be ensnared by money.

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:

Domestic Economy, Hygiene

    Shows a gentleman behind the curtain of a shower-bath who is surprised by a maid informing him of the arrival of the butcher.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Sanitation, Commerce, Pollution

    Subtitled, 'The Thames', describes the concentration of the 'stench' of the Thames and the 'odour' of the sewers and links malaria to the 'filth' thrown by the Thames on the shore.

Genre:

Advertisement, Satire

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Sanitation

    Describes the opening of the 'premises' of 'Messrs. Plague, Pestilence, & Co.' in London, for supplying 'first-class Epidemics'. Its 'works' comprise 'Intra-mural Burying Grounds' from which it supplies 'Poisonous Gases', a 'System of Sewers', and 'A Noble Plant of the most approved Nuisances, situated in densely peopled neighbourhoods'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Quackery, Medical Treatment, Commerce, Professionalization, Class

People mentioned:

Galen Galen (129/30–199/200) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Addressing himself to the 'Public', Mr Punch laments the want of 'lucrative medical situations'. Argues that medical practitioners can only become wealthy by gaining 'a large private practice' and by 'composing fashionable nerves, ministering to petty ailments, and humouring the caprices of the sickly and silly', not 'fanning the feeble flame of life, by soothing mortal agony'. Links the lack of 'medical talent' to the fact that success in the 'dishonoured' medical 'profession [...] can be obtained only by means that are contemptible'. Urges the public to seek a profession followed by 'men of sense and ability'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Monstrosities

    Reports on a [Derby and] Chesterfield Reporter Derby and Chesterfield Reporter (1823–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> article on a 'Large Radish' that Punch believes 'would have been to the taste of SIR HUMPHRY DAVY Davy, Sir Humphry, Baronet (1778–1829) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics

    Denies that squares have four sides by describing the decidedly non-square features of Leicester Square.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Electricity, Public Health, Sanitation

    Describing the fatal diseases surrounding London's crowded graveyards, observes that 'in this revolting place are laid [...] Hands, by whose grasp contagion was conveyed, / As sure as electricity by wire'. Notes that these graveyards 'Full many a gas of direst power unclean' and 'Full many a poison, born to kill unseen / And spread its rankness in the neighbouring air'. Adds that 'Some district Surgeon, that with dauntless breast / The epidemic 'mongst the poor withstood, / Some brave, humane Physician here may rest'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Public Health, Invention, Technology, Government, Politics, Heat

    Announces the invention of a 'ventilating brick' which, it hopes will not be used in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> 'for Parliament is quite hollow enough as it is'. Afraid that it is a 'new flight the part of that great ventilating brick, DR. REID Reid, David Boswell (1805–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Death, Disease, Sanitation, Public Health, Microscopy, Morality

    Subtitled 'The London Clay', it describes, in purple prose, the 'hot war' raging between London's living and the corpses buried in the metropolis's clay. Discusses the associated health and moral problems of burying London's dead. Notes the 'unconscious particles' given off by graveyards that are 'fighting millions strong in the domestic atmosphere of the breathing man'. Points out that the 'miasma' emitted by corpses may not be perceived 'by the aid of the best microscope', their 'worst evil' being their invisibility.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Notes, 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:

Telegraphy, Electricity, Invention, Crime

    Implicitly responding to the 'telegraphic' capture of the fleeing murderer, John Tawell Tawell, John (1784–1845) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, holds that the electric telegraph 'can no longer be described in the words of Horace Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BC) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> "Pede poenna claudo"'. The illustration shows a line of telegraph posts that are transformed into running policemen, the first of which extends its 'arms' or wires to catch a fleeing criminal.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Quackery, Crime, Morality

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Promotes Mr Punch's 'ANTI-PARTIALITY PILLS' for preventing favouritism in naval tribunals, 'TINCTURE OF JUSTICE' for 'equalising the severity with which' the offending officers are treated, and an 'ELIXIR OF COMMON SENSE' for improving perception of the merits of a case. Describes a case of injustice in a court martial that warrants the need for such remedies.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Public Health, Pollution, Sanitation

    Describes a mask with a gutta-percha pipe that could be worn in urban areas 'for enabling the wearer to breathe the upper and purer currents of air'. The illustration shows a figure wearing a mask to which is attached a long vertical pipe.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Surgery, Invention, Language

    Explains that dentists have made a fortune from people mispronouncing complex east European words and that one dentist has invented a 'NEW METALLIC PRONOUNCING TOOTH' for avoiding this danger.

Genre:

Drama

Subjects:

Public Health, Disease, Hygeine, Sanitation, Nutrition

    Subtitled 'A Constitutional Dialogue between Jones and Brown', the latter attributes his defiance of disease to the fact that he and his family wash themselves 'each morn', have had their home 'Scrubb'd sweet and clean', have repaired a drain, and spent their money on 'goof nutritious diet'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry

    Reports that the Hungarian military leader Arthur Görgei Görgei, Arthur (1818–1916) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>, has contributed a paper to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest
Close   View the register entry >>, on 'Cocoa Nut Oil' and 'in his late transactions with Russia learned something of the properties of Palm Oil', an allusion to Görgei's recent heavy defeat by Russian soldiers. A version of this paper appeared as Görgei 1849 Gorgei, Arthur 1849. 'Mémoire sur les Acides Gras du Beurre de Coco', Annales de Chimie et de Physique, 25, 102–10
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Mesmerism, Quackery, Medical Practitioners, Electricity, Mesmerism, Morality

    Laments the 'random nature of the shots that science has been taking' against cholera, including 'electricity and mesmerism, brandy and catechu'. Lamenting the sacrificial use of patients, criticises the Royal College of Physicians Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >> for stating that practitioners should persevere with a treatment on a patient until he is satisfied that it is either 'beneficial or deleterious'.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

[John Leech] Leech, John (1817–64) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Agriculture, Government, Education

    Subtitled 'Professor Brougham Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and his Agricultural Pupils', shows the statesman, a well-known fan of dancing, standing before his 'Dancing Academy' class of young yokels. The caption, taken from The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, refers to Brougham's recent urging of agricultural workers to improve their system of accounting.

See also:

Altick 1997 Altick, Richard D. 1997. Punch: The Lively Youth of a British Institution 1841–1851, Colombus: Ohio State University Press
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Government

    Responding to the recent interest shown in the 'science of Agriculture' by the statesman Henry P Brougham (1st Baron Brougham and Vaux) Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and his penchant for dancing, suggests that he 'will perhaps render the more graceful subservient to the more useful pursuit' and expects to find him inventing an agricultural ballet 'to be danced in wooden shoes'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Sanitation, Pollution, Medical Treatment

    Detailed description of the dirty, odorous, and disease-ridden state of the author's street in Bloomsbury. Lamenting the dire condition of his 'triple-tenanted' rooms in Bloomsbury, observes that his 'walls shake with all they see of sickness, crime, and care: / While Vestrymen and Guardians, Health Boards, and Boards of Sewers, / Are wrangling round my wretchedness about their several cures'. Desperately seeks various sanitary measures to stop his 'helpless, hopeless inmates' succumbing to the 'red plague'.

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Public Health, Sanitation, Politics, Government, Expertise, Scientific Practitioners, Medical Practitioners

    Inveighing against 'sanitary reform', complains about the cost of mending drains and attacks the 'scientific asses' for preaching about 'their poisonous gases, making havoc 'mongst the habitations of the lower classes'. Places no reliance on 'sulphuretted hydrogen' as the cause of disease or the connection ''twixt uncleanness and infection', by pointing to the example of his great-uncle who has spent his long life 'beside an open sewer'. Points out that the pig enjoys the combination of 'dirt and filth' and that the insides of pigs and humans are similar.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Microscopy, Disease, Amusement, Crime, Botany

    Reports that Frederick Brittan Brittan, Frederick (fl. 1849) COPAC
Close   View the register entry >> has discovered, by use of his microscope, fungi in the waxwork models of murderers in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's Waxworks Madame Tussaud's Waxworks
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Essay

Subjects:

Invention

    Notes public knowledge of the 'famous wooden eagle' and 'wonderful iron-fly, constructed by that marvellous mechanician REGIOMONTANUS Regiomontanus, Johannes (1436–76) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Analytical Chemistry, Adulteration

    Responding to Andrew Ure's Ure, Andrew (1778–1857) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> evidence for the adulteration of tobacco by sugar, suggests that 'cigars are only lollipops in disguise' and that the 'tobacco warehouse' is a large-scale 'sweet-shop'. Believes this evidence explains the smoking habits of the 'Rising Generation'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

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:

Public Health, Sanitation, Pollution

    Discusses the 'miscellaneous' schemes proposed in newspapers for disinfecting 'premises or persons'. Discusses the problems of using lime, and discusses an idea to use smoke as a disinfectant. The illustration shows a contented man sitting on a rooftop surrounded by smoking objects such as chimneys and his pipe.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Periodicals, Exploration

    Reports on a contributor to the Manchester Guardian Manchester Guardian (1821–63+) Newspaper Press Directory
Close   View the register entry >> who claimed to have witnessed a clairvoyant reveal the present state and living status of the explorer John Franklin Franklin, Sir John (1786–1847) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Having 'visited' Franklin's ships, the clairvoyant 'went to visit' James C Ross Ross, Sir James Clark (1800–62) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Noting that the medium communicated with Ross via a specimen of his handwriting, Punch advertises the 'Mesmeric News' which publishes highly confidential political matters from the autographs of statesmen.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mesmerism, Spiritualism, Exhibitions

    Reports on news of a 'young lady' who, in a mesmeric state, discerned several pictures in the Vernon Gallery Vernon Gallery, Pall Mall
Close   View the register entry >>. Punch regards this as 'the most extraordinary instance of clairvoyance' because it establishes that 'there ARE PICTURES IN THE VERNON GALLERY!'

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Manufactories, Public Health, Pollution, Chemistry, Education, Environmentalism

    Sympathises with 'the proprietors of gunpowder-mills, alkali, and other chemical works generating noxious gases' for being forced to relocate their works out of town and to pay for the damage they have caused to the environment. Observes that removing a chemical works near the home would prevent one way in which 'the study of Chemistry might be much advanced'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Sanitation, Disease, Pollution, Public Health, Nomenclature

    Thinks London street names should be changed to reflect their sordid condition. Suggests such names as 'Open Sewer Street' and 'Consumption Alley'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Government, Medical Practitioners, Heroism

    Suggests that the Stamp Office, because it is 'supported in great measure by the sale of quack medicines' will decorate its new buildings with portraits of Thomas Holloway Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, James Morison Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and Bartholomew Parr Parr, Bartholomew (1750–1810) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Sanitation, Public Health, Engineering

    Responding to a proposal to 'embrace' the whole of the country with sewers, insists that Scotland 'must sweeten herself first' and warns that the 'slightest agitation' might result in the whole nation falling into sewers and of the possibility of gunpowder being placed in them.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Breeding

    Responds to an article in the Morning Chronicle Morning Chronicle (1769–1862) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> reporting the purchase of a large number of animals 'taken from the well-known miscellaneous collection of the Happy Family'. Speculates that the purchaser of the animals might be William Tyler Tyler, William (1799–1864) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, who is trying to increase his stock at the Surrey Zoological Gardens Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution—Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Nutrition, Politics

Publications cited:

Edinburgh Review Edinburgh Review (1802–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports on the Morning Chronicle Morning Chronicle (1769–1862) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>, which urges Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to 'raise the cry of "Cheap Cabbage"' because the vegetable contains more 'muscular matter' than any other crop. Thinks Disraeli could relieve farmers' condition with the vegetable.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Human Development, Sound, Music

    Reporting on a 'voice lozenge' that purportedly gives 'tone to the stomach', explains the advantages of the lozenge to singing practices.

Genre:

Illustration, 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:

Disease, Public Health, Sanitation

    Depicts a man levering open a water pump. Two boys look on, one of whom suggests to the other that the man is 'turning on the Cholera'.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Government, Superstition, Physiognomy, Politics, Government

    Parodying the words of 'Remember, remember, the fifth of November', this laments the fact that George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, 'Mammon's GUY god-son', sits in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>. Emphasises Hudson's 'crafty and cock sure' 'dealings in stock', his responsibility for bankrupt railway companies, and the fact that in his 'face bluff and burly was a mask' that 'physiognomists saw' meant 'a mere man of straw'. Ends by stressing that his credit is 'Rotten' and by suggesting that 'all that he's good for's squib-firing and smash'.

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:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry

    Following Anon, 'Our Guy', Punch, 17 (1849), 186, this shows an effigy of George Hudson Hudson, George (1800–71) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> being paraded through a street, along one side of which is a wall on which are stuck advertisements for railway schemes. The 'Guy' is carried on horizontal poles by two men who have stags' antlers growing from their ears—a reference the financially-dubious railway 'stags'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Physical Geography, Display, Mapping, Astronomy, Transport, Travel, Railways, Technology, Invention

    Announces James Wyld's Wyld, James, the younger (1812–87) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> new 'Map of the North Pole' and discusses his indefatigable zeal for mapping. Expects Wyld would favour science 'with a "carte du pays" of the interior of the earth' which would enable people to travel between opposite sides of the globe. Discusses possible modes of transport for such journeys and expresses confidence that these would ruin railways. Concludes by describing Wyld's map of the Court of Chancery Court of Chancery
Close   View the register entry >> and by remarking that his brain consists of 'two hemispheres' which are 'printed, varnished, and glazed, exactly like a pair of globes'.

Genre:

Advertisment, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Invention, Sanitation, Instruments, Government, Politics

    Touts 'the Organic Olifactor', an instrument which, after being attached to the nose, remedies the 'loss of smell' and enables 'Common Councilmen' to distinguish 'putrefactive odours' from the 'perfume of Smithfield Smithfield Market
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Disease, Cell Biology, Epidemiology, Theory

    Remarking on the short lifetime of theories proposed to explain the cholera, the author discusses the Royal College of Physicians' Royal College of Physicians
Close   View the register entry >> rejection of Frederick Brittan's Brittan, Frederick (fl. 1849) COPAC
Close   View the register entry >> hypothesis. Details five arguments put forward against the hypothesis, each of which pokes fun at medical practitioners and practices. For example, 'The alleged irregular cells, which were supposed to be peculiar to the disease, have been found to have no necessary connection with it, and the irregular cells have been disposed of as regular sells to the doctor who thought he had found important facts enclosed in them'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Railways, Engineering, Transport, Accidents, Class, Travel

    Reports on a Daily News Daily News (1846–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> article discussing the dangers of low railway bridges for third-class railway passengers. Laments that the 'chances of safety on a railway, should be abridged by an undue abridgement in the height of the bridges' and intends to appeal to the 'Court of Arches' to satisfy the public's desire. The illustration shows third-class railway carriage passengers ducking down as they go under a low bridge.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology, Prognostication, Publishing, Error, Charlatanry

    Noting that Zadkiel's Almanac Zadkiel's Almanac and Herald of Astrology (1836–1900+) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >> is 'Just Out' and that its gloomy predictions for 1848 were wrong, considers 'Just Out' to 'tell the truth' about the work.

Genre:

Regular Feature—Illustration, Drollery; Diary, Spoof

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 >>

[1] A Prospect of ye Zoological Societye—its Gardens

[2] Mr. Pips his Diary

Genre:

Illustration, 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:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Charlatanry, Narcotics, Gender

    Shows a young child asleep in a cot and signs of an absent nurse, including a bottle of opium left on a table near the cot.

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:

Meteorology, Light, Invention, Politics, Domestic Economy

    Describes the new 'Fog-Glasses' which apparently enables the wearer to see through thick London fog. Wishes to test the invention by attempting to read an inscription placed inside a tureen of soup. Promises to promote the invention if it proves successful and speculates on the possibility of adapting it to see through obscure 'political' atmospheres. Illustrations depict a horse wearing the 'Fog-Glasses', an omnibus conductor using a telescope to see through fog, and omnibus-men wearing metallic head-pieces, presumably to enhance their vision.

Genre:

Song

Subjects:

Public Health, Sanitation, Pollution, Lecturing

    Calls on all 'who say "Pooh" to the plain's of petitioners' to listen to John Simon Simon, Sir John (1816–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, their 'own health inspector', who lectures on the 'various nastiness' hidden in the 'Best governed city of Europe'. Expatiates on the other reasons why London's mortality is 'twice what its numbers should be', including 'acres of cess-pool', poisonous gases emanating from graveyards, slaughter shops, and the Thames, 'a huge drainpool'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Breeding, Invention, Technology, Cruelty, Steam-power

    Reports the sale of one of Mr Cantelo's Cantelo, Mr (fl. 1848) PU1/14/1/2
Close   View the register entry >> 'Artificial Mothers', a move which it regards as so immoral as to be 'a step beyond Smithfield Smithfield Market
Close   View the register entry >>'. Surmises that the invention 'is a hot-water tray, which, if properly regulated, produced chickens, but if over-heated, omelettes'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Class, Medical Treatment, Artisans

    Describes the spread of the 'Plague' across Britain. Notes that Britannia tried in vain to stop the 'pestilence' and that 'Medicine, helpless, groped and guessed, and tried all arts to save'. Britannia subsequently had a 'vision' which revealed Mammon-worship, the contrast between the 'palaces' and the places 'where wretches slunk to die', and the dire conditions experienced by artisans. Describes the spread of 'Death' across the country and notes 'Death's claim that 'my stronghold's still in every ditch and drain'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Disease, Public Health, Medical Practitioners, Exhibitions

    Among its suggestions for the 'Lord Mayor's Show Up' are 'Two Health Inspectors to clear the way', 'Six Union Doctors', 'Sulphuretted Hydrogen', 'Carbonic Acid', 'Fevers in uniform', and 'Filth in every form'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Illustration, 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:

Exploration, Aeronautics

    Reports on George Gale's Gale, George Burcher (1794–1850) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> proposal to search for the explorer John Franklin Franklin, Sir John (1786–1847) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> in a balloon. Playing on the obvious meteorological connotations of the name 'Gale', the author imagines Gale suffering sub-zero temperatures and a balloon 'congealed into a flying iceberg' as he conducts his search. The illustration shows an airborne balloon covered with snow and with a smoking funnel poking out of the basket.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Microscopy, Entomology, Natural History, Politics

    Reports on the visit to the Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> of the pretender to the Portugese throne, Miguel M E de Bragança Miguel Maria Evaristo de Bragança, King of Portugal (1802–66) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>, who was shown, by means of a microscope, 'all sorts of human animaculæ' floating in an ink-bottle. Notes that he took special interest in the 'ink-bottle insect that [...] traced the letters that made up "infidel" upon any political opponent'.

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:

Machinery, Invention, Commerce, Government

    Responds to the government's proposal to start a 'mechanical Tax-gatherer' which 'won't take an answer and will not be affected by the abuse' that tax collectors experience. Thinks this suggests the possibility of a 'Mechanical Cat' that will catch mice but not consume human food. The illustration shows this latter invention.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Commerce

    Reports on William Buckland's Buckland, William (1784–1856) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> argument that London's water shortage will ruin brewers. Thinks the effect on milkmen will be worse.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; 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:

Telegraphy, Railways, Sound, Music, Commerce

    Dicusses news that 'songs and pieces of music' have been carried across the United States via the electric telegraph. Points out that the invention will enable popular vocalists to increase their salaries, and will allow shareholders to sing out for their dividends. Hopes the telegraph will also 'restore harmony to the railway world [...] which has lately been acting by no means in concert'. The illustration shows a woman enjoying music via the telegraph from such musical venues as Hanover Square.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Physics, Gravity, Mechanics, Amusement, Light, Natural Law

    Apologising for differing from Isaac Newton Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, the author denies 'the universality of his rule as to the earth's attraction' owing to the fact that there are many 'spots of the earth' that 'possess no attraction whatever'. Gives examples of such spots, including the Vauxhall Gardens Royal Gardens, Vauxhall
Close   View the register entry >> when '4000 of the additional 5000 lamps' have been extinguished by wind or rain.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Engineers, Engineering, Heroism, Railways

    Applauds the French President for distinguishing 'that wonderful conqueror of the impossible—Robert Stephenson Stephenson, Robert (1803–59) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and adds that Stephenson's 'iron triumph will live when the triumphs of round shot shall have ended'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Natural Law, Government, Commerce

    Having complete satisfaction with Isaac Newton's Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> laws of light, the author expresses surprise at an advertisement claiming a 'Revolution in Light'. Thinks the window tax should be repealed to free the operation of such laws.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Accidents, Crime

    Detailed account of the sharp decline in interest in the railway business which opens by remarking that, compared with its buoyant state twelve months earlier, the railway 'has scarcely a smiling feature left', with 'rusty [...] hard and deeply sunken' lines 'as unpleasant to contemplate as the Railway Share List'. Describes the initial mania for railway shares but observes that the railway includes such depressing sights as 'Telegraphic Signs' that 'droop pointedly to "Danger"', engines which are 'put on a half-allowance of coals', and railway offices pervaded by 'An unwholesome silence'. Describes the fraudulent means devised by railway office workers to balance their accounts, and the fear felt by clerks and directors on being hauled before a committee of investigation.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Surgery, Anatomy, Politics

    Mr Punch announces his 'ENTIRELY NEW DESCRIPTION OF TEETH' which describes the 'Teeth of the Facts which Protectionist Orators are continually making their assertions in'.