Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners

People mentioned:

Benjamin Franklin, Franklin, Benjamin (1706–90) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Joseph Priestley, Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Nicholas Copernicus, Copernicus, Nicholas (1473–1543) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Georges Cuvier, Cuvier, Georges (1769–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Auguste Comte Comte, Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier (Auguste) (1798–1857) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Exploration, Human Species, Animal Behaviour, Race

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Photography

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Exploration, Physical Geography, Language

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Geographical Society Royal Geographical Society
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Regular Feature, Instructions, Drollery

Subjects:

Sanitation, Health

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Gender, Domestic Economy, Superstition

    Shows a woman standing on a stool on the flat area between the roofs of two houses. Above her are some telegraph lines on which she has evidently been hanging her washing. Much to her surprise, she sees a large cloth hanging on the line with a message from her husband. The illustration plays on contemporary perceptions that messages sent through lines were inscribed on tangible objects such as rolled up pieces of paper.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Natural History

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Physiology, Comparative Philology

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Horticulture

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Physical Geography, Gender

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Nutrition, Human Development

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Photography

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Transport, Progress, Railways

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology

People mentioned:

Richard J Morrison Morrison, Richard James ('Zadkiel') (1795–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Animal Development, Exploration, Controversy

    Explains that the reason Paul B Du Chaillu Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1831–1903) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> got 'so angry as he did when he was chaffed about the Gorilla' was because 'his monkey was up'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mining, Accidents, Light, Invention

    Urges that an act should be passed requiring 'every miner on descending into the coal pit, shall [...] take his Davy Davy, Sir Humphry, Baronet (1778–1829) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> [i.e. his Davy lamp]'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Instructions, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Health, Human Development, Sanitation

    Includes the advice that 'the hotter your nursery the better, or the children will catch cold', and 'Always give children whatever they cry for. Nature teaches them to express their wants, which it would be cruelty to thwart'. Also, 'Wash the floor of the nursery often. The evaporation will assimilate the atmosphere indoors to that outside, and save the children from sudden changes of temperature'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Instructions, Drollery

Subjects:

Domestic Economy, Health, Sanitation, Disease, Putrefaction

    Includes advice such as 'Nail down your kitchen windows. It is the only way to avoid draughts, colds, and face-aches'.

Genre:

Extract, Essay, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Education, Gender

    Insists that the 'softening influence' that 'female society' is supposed to exert is 'softening [...] to the brain'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Species, Amusement, Music

    Shows a gorilla turning, with one hand, the handle of a barrel organ, and holding, in the other hand, a rope to which is attached an organ grinder. The caption explains this clever role-reversal following claims regarding the intelligence of simians: 'The lazy organ grinders have had it all their own way with the monkeys—now then—change about!'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Government

    Suggests that Samuel Warren Warren, Samuel (1807–77) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'or some equally eminent Master in Lunacy' should investigate 'the particular madness that hatters are subject to'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Vaccination, Medical Treatment

    Reports on a paper read by M Toutmonoeil Toutmonoeil, M (fl. 1862) PU1/42/1/2
Close   View the register entry >> at the Académie des Sciences, Paris Académie des Sciences, Paris
Close   View the register entry >>, on 'the proposed treatment of hydrophobia on the homeopathic principle that like cures like'. Explains how Toutmonoeil intends to inoculate patients bitten by dogs with the poison of a rattlesnake, but that the savant has not been able to find anybody willing to submit to his experiments.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Amusement, Music

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Commerce

    Argues that the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >> should include non-material articles including 'political and social inventions' and those of a 'moral and scientific character'. Suggests awarding a prize for 'the producer of an equitable Income-Tax' and calls on a 'financier, arithmetician, or mathematician' to solve this problem.

Genre:

Dialogue, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Mental Illness

Institutions mentioned:

Eastern Counties Railway Company Eastern Counties Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Mathematics, Education

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Expertise, Mental Illness, Accidents, Charlatanry

    Discusses a letter in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> from J B Owen Owen, J B (fl. 1862) PU1/42/2/5
Close   View the register entry >>, secretary of the Eastern Counties Railway Company Eastern Counties Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>, who sought to reassure a correspondent that William F Windham Windham, William F (1840–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, who had bribed his way into impersonating a guard on an Eastern Counties locomotive, had not managed to drive the train. Thinks the public needs to know whether such 'fast young men' as Windham have endangered their lives by driving engines for amusement.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hunting, Environmentalism, Cruelty, Natural History, Agriculture, Ornithology

    Noting newspaper reports of the large number of birds, rabbits, mice, and other animals caught in France, discusses a 'petition from a number of French naturalists' protesting against the hunting of birds on the grounds that this action increases the number of 'cockroaches and caterpillars' and other insects that wreak havoc on corn and fruit crops. Notes that the petition urged 'les Sportmen' to confine their killing to 'rather larger game'. Presents an extract from a letter in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> expressing similar views to the French naturalists. Concludes by calling for an end to 'this suicidal hedgerow warfare' and noting Mr Punch's intention to shoot any knave caught taking 'pot-shots' at sparrows.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology, Charlatanry, Government, Prognostication

    Criticizes London alderman John Humphery's Humphery, John (1794–1863) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> puffing of Richard J Morrison's Morrison, Richard James ('Zadkiel') (1795–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> supposedly correct prediction regarding the death of a 'distinguished person'. Claims Punch Punch (1841–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> had contemplated ordering its own 'astrologer' to 'prophesy a "fearful misfortune"' for Humphrey, until it learnt how he had attacked the astrologer Robert C Smith Smith, Robert Cross ('Raphael') (1795–1832) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Photography

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Amusement, Display, Instruments, Education, Astronomy, Pneumatics, Light

    Questions the claim that 'an evening with an Orrery or some stale Dissolving Views, or a nice long-winded lecture about Optics or Pneumatics, the Air-Pump or the Diving-Bell, is now far more to the taste of the rising generation than the frivolous and uninstructive pleasures of the stage'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exploration, Animal Behaviour, Controversy, Language, Cultural Geography

    Presenting an extract from an article in the Oswestry Advertiser Oswestry Advertiser (1849–88) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> which describes the engagements of the 'Llanddyfan and Llanfairmathafarnneithaf choirs', the author professes to be 'tired of the DU CHAILLU Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1831–1903) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> controversy' and does not want to bother friends with more information about the 'Gorilla countries', amongst which these Welsh locations are included.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoology, Controversy, Photography, Commerce

    The initial letter is made from an illustration showing a gorilla dressed in the costume of a peasant (possibly an Irishman), entering a door marked 'GRAY VISITORS', a reference to John E Gray Gray, John Edward (1800–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. The text acknowledges that 'the Gorilla Portrait Sell is not a bad one', but thinks what is neater is 'one of Mr. Punch's young men', who, on being offered a copy of the portrait, replied, '"Nos etiam in Arcadiâ"—"I too have been in the Lowther Arcade Lowther Arcade, Strand
Close   View the register entry >>"' (where gorilla portraits were sold).

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Lecturing, Religious Authority, Animal Behaviour, Zoology

    Discussing the need for clergymen to develop their oratorical skills in the theatre, the author points out that he does not intend clergymen to rehearse comic parts, although these would 'serve admirably to train up a candidate for the Metropolitan Tabernacle Metropolitan Tabernacle
Close   View the register entry >> in the way he should preach, or lecture on Shrews and the Gorilla'—a reference to Charles H Spurgeon's Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (1834–92) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> lectures on those subjects.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Language, Nationalism, Cultural Geography, Human Species, Human Development, Animal Behaviour

    Discusses a report of John S Blackie's Blackie, John Stuart (1809–95) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> recent lecture on the 'nationality and character' of the Scots. Notes ascription by James Burnett (Lord Monboddo) Burnett, James, Lord Monboddo (bap. 1714–99) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> of 'tails to aboriginal Scots, in common with the rest of mankind'. Reports that Blackie has reduced the Scot to a lower level, considering him to be an 'animal' with several characteristics, including 'working', being 'enterprising and adventurous', 'practical and utilitarian', and 'earnest, serious, devout, and religious'. Concludes by opining that 'Calvinism was the religion of a brute' and anticipates that a Cockney might characterise the Scot as 'an animal ordained by nature to graze on the prickly herbage of the Land of Thistles'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Natural History, Human Development

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Homeopathy, Disease, War, Medical Treatment, Mental Illness

    Discusses a report in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> of two Union military generals in America who used homeopathy to treat their diseases with some success. Believes that because they have submitted to homeopathy they are not fit to 'direct military operations' and that there is a danger that it will be 'all gone goose with the Federal cause'. Adds that the only reason for thinking that the homeopathic treatment was 'anything but humbug' was the observation that it seemed to aggravate the condition of one of the patients, and accordingly suggests that homeopathy is a 'cause of disease'.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Invention, Nutrition

    Includes a report of an 'ingenious American mechanic' who has invented a machine for preparing a man for the breakfast table without waking him.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Government

    Subtitled 'Or, A Glorious Oyster Season for the Lawyers', this illustration shows a crowd of lawyers eating oysters, surrounding a wooden tub marked 'LUNATICO INQUIRY'. In front of the tub stands the allegorical figure of British Justice. This is a reference to the ongoing inquiry into the mental competency of William F Windham Windham, William F (1840–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, an inquiry featuring testimony from some of the greatest lawyers of the day, and which provided a wonderful opportunity (an 'Oyster Season') for English barristers.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Commerce, War, Pollution, Sanitation, Public Health, Exhibitions, Nationalism, Cultural Geography, Engineering, Agriculture

    Questioning the costly 'war-preparations' (against the United States), emphasises the amount of work there is to do in Britain, including the need to 'hold a position in our Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>', as well as the 'draining' of London, the construction of the Thames Embankment Thames Embankment
Close   View the register entry >>, the purification of the Thames, and the 'utilisation of sewage'.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Commerce, Evolution, Extinction

    In a play on the title of Darwin 1859 Darwin, Charles Robert 1859. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, London: John Murray
Close   View the register entry >>, announces the publication of a work by Charles R Darwin Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> on 'the Extinction of Specie, dedicated to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Bankers of New York'—a reference to the great financial debt into which America has sunk as a result of the Civil War.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Commerce, Gender

    Criticizes the amount of money (£15–£20,000) spent on the legal case to determine whether 'a young man', William F Windham Windham, William F (1840–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, 'is insane or no in order to decide as to his fitness for managing his affairs'. Points out that 'Every wild young man almost is unfit to manage his affairs' and so 'proper people should be appointed to take care of his estates' and he should be made 'incapable of running into debt or of marrying without the consent of his guardians'. The writer believes that if one of her seven daughters were to marry a 'simpleton' she would enjoy a quiet life, and in a postscript asks for a 'rich imbecile young man that would suit my child' for 'the only true Asylum for Idiots is Woman's Heart'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Quackery, Medical Treatment, Disease, Gender

    Discusses two extracts from a 'contemporary' (i.e. another periodical). The first puffs 'DU BUNCOMBE'S Du Buncombe, Mr (fl. 1862) PU1/42/5/2
Close   View the register entry >> Delicious Health Restoring Polenta Syriaca Food' as an alternative to expensive, harmful, and ineffective 'pills and other medicines' used for gastric disorders. The second puffs 'GULLOWAY'S' (i.e. Thomas Holloway's Holloway, Thomas (1800–83) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) pills as unsurpassed solutions for 'regulating digestion'. Points out that these extracts appeared without headings and might be taken to be editorial statements, and goes on to stress the contradictions between them. Believes that 'Old women and others who have read the foregoing contradictory species of puffery, will be as much puzzled as wiser persons are by the opposite tenets of numerous gentlemen who sign the thirty-nine articles, and yet unite in condemning DR. ROWLAND WILLIAMS Williams, Rowland (1817–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'. The reference is to the prosecution of Williams, starting in December 1861, for contributions to Temple 1860 [Temple, Frederick et al.] 1860. Essays and Reviews, London: J. W. Parker
Close   View the register entry >> considered by the Anglican authorities to be contrary to the church's teachings on the plenary and verbal inspiration of the Bible.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Crime, Invention, Health

    Discusses an improved design for the policeman's helmet which, unlike the traditional design which tends to overheat, 'unites ventilation with elegance'.

Genre:

Proceedings, Spoof

Subjects:

Ethnology, Race, War, Commerce, Cultural Geography, Human Species, Animal Behaviour

    Summarises a paper putatively given at the Ethnological Society Ethnological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> on the 'manners, habits, and destinies of the American tribe of I.O.U. Indians', who turn out to be Old World white settlers who have gained a reputation of not repaying debts. Noting the English origins of the tribe, explains that the 'deteriorating influences of climate, and still more a vast infusion of inferior animalism, in the form of convict Irish, deboshed Germans, and the accumulated scum of other nations, combined to demoralise the Englishman, and a few generations have brought him more and more closely into assimilation with the aboriginal Indians of the Western Continent'. Goes on to discuss some of the other disagreeable characteristics of tribe members, including their 'strange hatred for the black man', but thinks that exposure to 'European civilisation' will redeem the tribe.

Genre:

Announcement, Poetry

Subjects:

Mining, Accidents

    Referring to a tragic explosion at the Hartley Colliery Hartley Colliery, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Close   View the register entry >> near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the poet asks that the 'sad Survivors' of the disaster be made 'Miners too, / To work, through life, a gold-mine oped by you'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Crime, Medical Practitioners

People mentioned:

William F Windham Windham, William F (1840–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Physiognomy, Evolution, Race, Exploration

    Notes the observation made by 'several scientific observers' that 'the physiognomy of the American of the United States is beginning to exhibit a resemblance to that of the Red Indian', a development signified by the Confederate army's 'barbarous act' of sinking a stone fleet at Charleston Harbour (Fort Sumter). Anticipates that Thomas B Macaulay's Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'New Zealander' would find New York inhabited by Americans who have descended to the America Indian 'level of humanity'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Narcotics, Adulteration, Disease, Gender

    Another representation of the alarming evidence showing the harmful quantities of arsenic used in making the artificial leaves in women's wreaths. It shows a skeleton of a woman clad in a large crinoline dress with the suspect wreath, being invited to a dance by the skeleton of a man dressed in evening wear.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

[Trident], pseud.  [Henry R Howard] Howard, Henry R (fl. 1853) 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, Instruments, Amusement | Invention, Sanitation, Patronage, Government

    The initial letter of the text is formed from an illustration showing a magic lantern projecting an image—of Mr Punch pursuing a street musician—into the distance. The text concerns a spoof letter from Charles Francis Adams to Harper Twelvetrees on the subject of the United States government's patronage of Twelvetrees's washing crystals, bug-powders, and other inventions.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Dissection, Analogy, Environmentalism, Exhibitions, Industry, Commerce, Materialism

    Describes a proposed 'incision' to the 'right lung'—Kensington Gardens Kensington Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>—of London. Explains that this cut will be deep in order to establish communication between Bayswater and Kensington Gore, a decision informed by the demands of the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>, and thus illustrating the sacrifice of 'natural objects' for 'material interests' and 'manufactures of a rich and magnificent kind'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Botany, Disease, Medical Treatment

    Noting the appearance of a 'Tree Doctor', suggests that he 'prescribes nothing' to the sick tree but a 'course of bark'.

Genre:

Review, Drollery

Publications reviewed:

Fullom 1862 Fullom, Stephen Watson 1862. History of William Shakespeare, Player and Poet: With New Facts and Traditions, London: Saunders, Otley and Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Imposture, Language, Genius, Supernaturalism

    Concentrates on the author's claim that William Shakespeare Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> acquired his profound knowledge of slang through attendance at law courts, and notes the possibility that the playwright's knowledge of slang was so extensive that he acquired it 'by the study of everything, by intuition', or because he was a medium. Insists that the playwright's 'genius towers above the mediocrity that marks the utterances of the most eminent "mediums"' and can be explained in terms of a 'natural clairvoyance', which 'enabled him to look into all manner of things'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Music, Display, Human Species, Animal Behaviour

    Complains about the type of person who 'stumps' noisily out of concert halls during a musical performance, and considers that 'such a Gorilla is a monster whom it were gross flattery to call a selfish beast'. Applauds 'all champions who fight against these monsters, and lend a helping hand to make their race extinct'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Vaccination, Heroism

    Noting the opposition to the movement of the statue of Edward Jenner Jenner, Edward (1749–1823) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, suggests that 'surely the inventor of vaccination has the best possible right to make experiments on various spots'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Environmentalism, Nationalism, Hunting, Development, Evolution, Animal Behaviour, Aesthetics, Pollution, Industry

    Urges that trees be preserved and despairs at the day when the 'woodman's stroke' will have destroyed all forests. Upholds the 'merry greenwood' that is ridiculed by 'Folly's mocking brood', and observes how 'every lover of copse and cover' will lament the hunting of animals as the trees are felled. Goes on to criticise the construction of buildings on village greens and commons, actions that suggest that the race is 'sinking to Gorillas'. Anticipates the transformation of 'fields and towns' into 'a close hotbed' and in conclusion ponders the possibility of thwarting the 'ruin and wreck / Of all old English beauty', polluted by 'traffic and trade', and mammon.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Encyclopaedias, Taxonomy, Charlatanry

    Presenting an advertisement for a projected 'SHAKESPEARE Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> CYCLOPAEDIA' containing the playwright's allusions to such scientific subjects as zoology, botany, and mineralogy, criticises the work as 'humbug' on the grounds that Shakespeare cannot be considered a 'cyclopaedic authority'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Controversy, Periodicals

    Discusses the Athenaeum's Athenaeum (1828–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> quotation from, and praise for, a poem attacking Paul B Du Chaillu Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1831–1903) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> 'of Gorilladom', but criticises the periodical for wrongly assuming that the poem was written by Thomas Moore Moore, Thomas (1779–1852) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Development, Zoology, Zoological Gardens, Breeding, Education

    Following news that the python at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> is now 'incubating more than 100 eggs', this poem opens by calling for preparations to be made for 'this great egg-sample', and for Fellows of the Zoological Society Zoological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> to 'endorse their tickets' for 'Mrs. Python'. Compares this number of eggs to the single egg once laid in the gardens by a viper, and anticipates how 'a GRAY Gray, John Edward (1800–75) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> or OWEN Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>' will observe changes to the 'scaly family brood'. Likens the 'unwinding' of the 'closely-woven tails' to a W Wilkie Collins Collins, William Wilkie (1824–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> narrative, and then compares the python to an attorney who is 'strong to squeeze at will, / With coils as slippery as their gripe is stout'. Goes on to note that Owen will be instructing the young pythons 'how to coil', and anticipates their development from school students to species 'As vicious as the wildest of their kin'. Anticipates how the pythons will be 'as thick as bores are now' and be seen swinging from trees, and notes the beneficial effect of sunshine on egg development.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Physiology, Class, Disease, Heredity, Race, Medical Treatment, Human Species, Microscopy, Human Development, Prehistory, Palaeontology

    Discusses an announcement of a medical work that describes the 'BLOOD OF THE ARISTOCRACY' (Evans 1861 Evans, William Washington 1861. The Blood of the Aristocracy: Its Origin. Pure Blood: Its Origin. Disease: Its Origin. Health: Its Origin. And Beauty: Its Origin, London: Houlston and Wright
Close   View the register entry >>). Interprets the announcement to mean that aristocrats' blood is 'very pure' but 'contains the seeds of eruptive complaints, of the nervous system and respiratory and digestive organs'. Wonders whether such blood contains 'finer globules than that of the common people' or 'a principle of honour' which might be given such names as 'Race', 'Pedigrine', and 'Nobbine'. Goes on to consider the effects of tranfusing the blood of one aristocrat into another, and concludes that the origin of the 'pure blood' of an aristocrat would be an 'interesting subject of inquiry' if that individual were a 'king of men' and 'chipped the flints in the drift'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Human Development, Railways, Mental Illness

    Argues that the best way to train a child is to make it behave in a disorderly fashion on a railway train (a reference to the trial of William F Windham Windham, William F (1840–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>) which 'may lead him to a commission of lunacy' and allow him to 'run through his property' faster than a railway.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Philosophy

    'BACON Bacon, Francis, 1st Viscount St Alban (1561–1626) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

[Trident], pseud.  [Henry R Howard] Howard, Henry R (fl. 1853) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Animal Development, Zoology, Zoological Gardens, Politics, Government, Lecturing, Education, Astronomy

    The initial letter is formed by two large pythons together with a crocodile standing on its hind legs. One of the pythons is seen curling itself around an egg, a reference to the large number of eggs recently produced by the python at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. The article opens with a report on the introduction by Richard Bethell (1st Baron Westbury) Bethell, Richard, 1st Baron Westbury (1800–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> of the Conveyancing Reform Bill into Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>, in which Punch notes how Westbury explained himself 'in the broad fashion in which PROFESSOR FARADAY Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> lectures the Juveniles in Albermarle Street' (i.e. at the Royal Institution Royal Institution of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >>). Also considers Westbury's belief that Britain's greatest lawyers had little knowledge of feoffment to be as unreasonable as supposing that because Faraday told his juvenile audience that the earth is round 'he does not know that its is flattened at the poles'. (82) Later, responds to news that the government will 'take up' a 'Bill for suppressing the Fraudulent Imitation of Trade-Marks' by urging it to 'be an Egg which the Pythoness of Parliament will not Addle'. Returns to the python theme by supporting George Grey's Grey, Sir George (1799–1882) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> argument against amending the 'Cab Laws' and relating the author's observation of the 'delicate attention' given by cabmen to their 'lady employers' who had visited the python. (83)

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Human Development

    Attributes this 'malady' to 'a harum-scarum young fellow' who is clearly William F Windham Windham, William F (1840–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Animal Behaviour

    Urges Richard Bethell (1st Baron Westbury) Bethell, Richard, 1st Baron Westbury (1800–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to pause before pressing his bill 'To clip the wings of Land-transfer's cost, / And disable conveyancer's skill'. Considers his actions to be as dangerous as thrusting an 'unguarded arm / In a knot of rattle-snakes, coiling warm'. (84)

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Animal Development

    Shows Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and John Russell (1st Earl Russell) Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> looking at a large python curled in front of the mace in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>. Playing on the news of the large number of eggs produced by the python at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, the snake is seen curled around several eggs on which are written the names of the government's bills: for example, bills on lunacy and law reform. Palmerston and Russell exchange views on the possible fate of the 'eggs' while Benjamin Disraeli Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, with his back to the python, remarks 'All addled no doubt'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Alchemy

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Race, Animal Behaviour, Cultural Geography, Astrology, Mental Illness, Government, Politics, Lecturing, Education

    Reports on Robert Peel's Peel, Sir Robert, 3rd Baronet (1822–1895) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> criticism of the Irish politician Daniel O'Donaghue O'Donaghue, Daniel (fl. 1862) PU1/42/9/1
Close   View the register entry >> for his attack on 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 >>. Notes that 'the species' of which O'Donaghue 'is a type cannot speak, as is well known to the negroes and other naturalists, but can fight', but considers the Irish politician's later 'sensible' remarks to suggest that he will one day improve himself, 'as MR. DARWIN Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> might say, into positive Rationality'. Later, in an allusion to astrologers Richard J Morrison Morrison, Richard James ('Zadkiel') (1795–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Robert C Smith Smith, Robert Cross ('Raphael') (1795–1832) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and millenarian divine John Cumming Cumming, John (1807–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, reports that one of 'MR. ZADKIEL-URIEL-RAPHAEL-CUMMING PUNCH'S Prophecies' has been fulfilled, namely the introduction of a 'Bill for Amending the Law of Lunacy', a measure following the case of William F Windham Windham, William F (1840–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>. The bill includes the clause that 'The doctors are not to be sent for, except when other evidence as to facts cannot be had, and then they are to swear as to what they know, instead of delivering highly improving and scientific lectures on the theory of insanity'. (92)

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Sanitation, Government, Engineering, Palaeontology, Public Health

    Discusses news that Winchester Town Council Winchester Town Council
Close   View the register entry >> has agreed to resist an inquiry into the cost of sewerage for the town. Presents statements from various aldermen of the town who testify to the health and cleanliness of the city, and the absurdity of installing drainage. Concludes that Winchester is a 'stronghold of anti-drainists' and 'if it does not become also the stronghold of typhus and scarlatina, the Board of Health General Board of Health
Close   View the register entry >> is a big mistake'. Notes that a Winchester town councillor would not be 'diddled into drainage' and would only agree to 'a partial drainage [...] for convenience [...] but not on account of health', and thinks this individual is 'a Megatherium, if that Great Beast were discoverable in the Winchester Chalk Formation'. Concludes by noting how much this chalk would be 'enriched' by the 'treasures' that 'waste their sweetness on the Winton air'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

[Trident], pseud.  [Henry R Howard] Howard, Henry R (fl. 1853) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Nutrition, Animal Development, Breeding

    Shows a man dining in a restaurant. He sees a snake emerging from an egg before him and he exclaims to a waiter: 'Here's a Python's Egg—no doubt about it!'. This is a reference to the large number of eggs recently produced by the python at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Narcotics, Hospitals, Crime, Medical Treatment, Mental Illness, Temperance, Gender

    Written in the style of a writer of limited literary ability, the author discusses a letter to The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> about 'a Ome for the Destitute at Edinbugg' (this is possibly St Vincent's Home for Destitute Children, Edinburgh St Vincent's Home for Destitute Children, Edinburgh
Close   View the register entry >>), and the fact that the inmates 'is all Maniacs through their abits of inn temperance'. To support this, an extract from the letter in The Times is quoted in which the correspondent notes the medical consensus on the notion of ranking dypsomaniacs (the habitually intemperate) alongside 'the sick and insane', and the corresponding need for 'compulsory seculsion' of these often dangerous victims of drink. Notes the correspondent's call for 'a Norsepital or lunatic Asyliam' for these individuals and then presents his arguments for establishing an institution for the medical treatment, 'cheerful employment', 'reformation', and 'simple security', of the intemperate woman of the house. Concludes by offering his own and his bibulous friend Bill Snoggins's support for the move.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Human Species, Human Development, Animal Behaviour, Periodicals

    Written in north-eastern dialect, discusses an Athenaeum Athenaeum (1828–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report of the moral and intellectual superiority of Northumbrian pitmen and these miners' resentment towards 'Poonch' for representing them as 'nae better than savages'. Goes on to note the Athenaeum's description of Northumbrian miners' 'fondness' for 'timid' pets, such as canaries, a characteristic that allegedly shows Punch to be liar.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Vaccination, Heroism

    Suggests that, were the statue of Edward Jenner Jenner, Edward (1749–1823) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> to be removed from Trafalgar Square, then Cowes would be an ideal place for siting the monument to the 'discoverer of vaccination'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Government, Politics

    Includes a report on the second reading of the 'Lunacy Bill' brought forward by Richard Bethell (1st Baron Westbury) Bethell, Richard, 1st Baron Westbury (1800–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, which details Westbury's attack on Frederick Thesiger (1st Baron Chelmsford) Thesiger, Frederick, 1st Baron Chelmsford (1794–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and his friends 'for objecting to the provision for trying lunatics by Judges'. (112)

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Education

    Relates the story of 'the good ship Guv'ment' in 1862, which includes a portrait 'Capt'n Pam' [Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>], who criticized 'Gunner Lewis' [Palmerston's War Secretary George C Lewis Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, 2nd Baronet (1806–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>] for being 'at his guns when he should be, / A study in' of the Ancients and their Astronomie'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M Du Maurier, George Louis Palmella Busson (1834–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Sound, Amusement, Music, Discovery

    Discusses an extract from a report in Galignani's Messenger Galignani's Messenger (1821–95) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> on the research of Dr Dufosse Dufosse, Dr (fl. 1862) PU1/42/11/3
Close   View the register entry >>, who claimed to have discovered the ability of fish to produce sounds from their 'pneumatic bladder[s]'. Suggests that fish should, on this basis, be able to talk and sing and to do so much better than the 'Talking Fish' attraction in London. Noting the report of 'the speeches of some fish' in 'that highly scientific book', the Arabian Nights, suggests that Dufosse will be able to interpret how fishes speak, a development that will make fishing more interesting. Goes on to speculate on the other intellectual powers of fish, including the possibility that they might be highly competent musicians and singers. Concludes by inviting those readers who doubt the speaking powers of any fish, to send it to the Punch offices where 'the matter shall be carefully discussed'. The illustration shows a fish singing, accompanied by another fish at a piano.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Mental Illness, Religion

    Discusses a speech made in the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> by Anthony A Cooper (7th Earl of Shaftesbury) Cooper, Anthony Ashley, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (formerly styled 'Lord Ashley') (1801–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> on the Lunacy Bill, in which the peer illustrated the incompetence of even the 'greatest medical authorities' by referring to one medical practitioner who judged a woman to be insane on the basis of her conversion to Judaism. Urges Shaftesbury to remember that the medical practitioner was 'chaffing him' and doubtless recognised that 'perfectly sane persons had subscribed money to the conversion of the Jews'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy

    Following news that the planet Saturn had lost its rings (a loss which Punch suggests may have been caused by such problems as 'financial pressure'), announces the return of the rings, which now shine brighter than ever. Deduces that the planet must have sent its rings to be cleaned or temporarily discarded them in a fight with a 'refractory star'. Urges George B Airy Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801–92) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to 'throw a light on this misty subject'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Imposture, Crime

    Questions why the medium Charles H Foster Foster, Charles H (fl. 1900) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> should escape prosecution for 'pocketing his hundreds' from spiritual séances, whereas gipsies are punished as rogues and vagabonds. Wonders if the spirits would 'work the treadmill' for Forster, and thinks he 'deserves to have the tables turned' on him.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Imposture, Government, Mental Illness

    Distinguishes between the Commissioner on Lunacy, Samuel Warren Warren, Samuel (1807–77) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and the medium Charles H Forster Foster, Charles H (fl. 1900) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, emphasising that the former guards the property of the insane while the latter takes it. Adds that although the commissioner 'visits lunatics', the medium 'is visited by them'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Amusement, Electricity, Light

    Discusses a report in the Athenaeum Athenaeum (1828–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> on the coronet of Empress Eugénie Eugénie, Empress of France (1826–1920) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> of France, which is 'irradiated by electric light'. Noting that this invention requires a 'steel hoop' on which to carry the battery, suggests that this is how it is going 'to make a man's fortune', and describes a possible design for a battery built into a crinoline dress. Ends by identifying Isaac L Pulvermacher's Pulvermacher, Isaac Lewis (1815–84) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> 'Galvanic Chain' as another solution to the problem.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Development, Breeding

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Race, Politics, Animal Behaviour, Human Development

    Following a suggestion that the Irish politician Myles W P O'Reilly O'Reilly, Myles William Patrick (1825–80) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> should 'change his name' to 'represent the class he properly belongs to', insists that he be called 'G' O'REILLY', and later, 'GORILLA'—another Punch identification of the Irish with apes.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Education, Museums, Zoology, Engineering, Sanitation

Institutions mentioned:

Thames Embankment Thames Embankment
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports on Henry C G G Lennox's Lennox, Lord Henry Charles George Gordon- (1821–86) ODNB, s.v. Lennox, Charles Gordon
Close   View the register entry >> speech in the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> urging that 'One Minister of the Crown ought to be responsible to the House in regard to all estimates in reference to Education, Science, and Art'. Reports on the 'British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >> debate' and interprets William E Gladstone's Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> remarks to mean that 'the Dead Zoological Gardens are to be got rid of'. Goes on to mention the reception of William F Cowper's Cowper, William Francis, 1st Baron Mount-Temple (1811–88) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> 'Bill for Embanking the Thames'. (122)

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Politics, Government

Institutions mentioned:

House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>

    Describes a 'Great Match at the Swell Westminster Pit, between Lord D[erby]'s Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> dog, "Chelmsford" and the "Westbury Pup"', references to the parliamentary battle between Frederick Thesiger (1st Baron Chelmsford) Thesiger, Frederick, 1st Baron Chelmsford (1794–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Richard Bethell (1st Baron Westbury) Bethell, Richard, 1st Baron Westbury (1800–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> over the latter's Lunacy Bill. The article describes the behaviour and physical characteristics of the dogs participating in the contest, portraits based on the political characteristics of the statesman after whom they are named. For example, Westbury is described as 'A bull-terrier of extraordinary game' who 'certainly recalls the best performances of the celebrated dog Brougham Brougham, Henry Peter, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and is, if anything, a quicker dog on his legs, sharper in his bite, stronger in the jaw, and immeasurably nastier in temper'. (124)

Genre:

Advertisement, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Imposture, Commerce, Mental Illness

    The text of this spoof card describes the activities of the 'celebrated transparent medium, I. M. POSTER'—a reference to the medium Charles H Foster Foster, Charles H (fl. 1900) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>. Recommends his 'practical application of the vivisection of bleeding hearts to bereaved parties', and notes that he makes 'Spirit Hands' from 'measurement, drawings, or casts', and that details of deceased relatives 'may be communicated' to the medium 'before or during the meeting'. Emphasises the medium's honesty and thus points out that 'Sceptics need not take the trouble to attend', although 'lunatics' are admitted free. Stresses that the medium has no connection with 'Mr. HOOM-BUG' (a reference to Daniel D Home Home, Daniel Dunglas (1833–86) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) and that the only 'Medium' through which he can be 'communicated' is 'the current coin of the realm'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Political Economy, Universities, Government, Politics, Commerce, Charlatanry, Boundary Formation

    Observing how little political economy is practised and understood by governments, wonders where it exists, 'excepting in our Universities'. In light of the nation's 'increasing expenditure [...] this scientific impostor should in honesty throw off its libellous cognomen' and be called 'the Science of Political Extravagance'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof; Editorial

Subjects:

Music, Pollution, Scientific Practitioners, Astronomy, Gender

    Written from the perspective of a female domestic servant of limited literary ability, who describes how her master, George B Airy Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801–92) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, became so outraged at the noise created by an 'Italyan orgin man' that he promised to take him to the police. She thinks that the only reason Airy did this was because he is 'a Stronomer or Somthink of that sort and bizzey with Rithmetic and Mathew Matticks' and 'Mustent be disturbed'. Adds that she wants Punch to tell her what right Airy has to stop her and her friend enjoying their 'Musick'. In an editorial, Punch urges her to enjoy the music 'unattended by anybody else's annoyance', and points out to her that Airy's 'professional calculations' earn him an income which pays her wages.

Genre:

Illustration, Caricature

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J L 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:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Imposture, Mental Illness

    Shows a spiritualistic seance at a drawing room table around which sit several people who possess the heads of various animals associated with credulity: geese and asses. At the top of the table sits the medium, Mr Foxer, who has the head of a fox (an animal associated with cunning), and who tells his guests, 'There's a spirit named Walker writing on my arm!'. Mr Foxer represents Charles H Foster Foster, Charles H (fl. 1900) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, who claimed that spirits of the dead communicated by writing messages on his arm.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Amusement, Government, Politics, Mental Illness, Crime, Medical Practitioners

    Notes Mr Punch's belief that the 'legislature of the country is in a state of mild collapse', a symptom of, among other things, 'the incubation of the Pythoness'. Goes on to report that Richard Bethell (1st Baron Westbury) Bethell, Richard, 1st Baron Westbury (1800–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> successfully passed his Lunacy Bill through its committee stage, 'defeating his beloved friend Lord Chelmsford Thesiger, Frederick, 1st Baron Chelmsford (1794–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, in an attempt to knock out the two years and no doctor clause'. He also rejected the proposal of Anthony A Cooper (7th Earl of Shaftesbury) Cooper, Anthony Ashley, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (formerly styled 'Lord Ashley') (1801–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to deny the '"opinion" of a medical man' as 'proof of insanity'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Environmentalism, Ecology, Pollution, Manufactories, Industry, Animal Behaviour, Human Development, Descent, Evolution, Race, Extinction

    Responding to a newspaper report on the proposed enclosure of waste lands, laments the possibility that this will destroy most of England's heather, gorse, forest, swamp, and snipe-bog, and cause the 'face of the earth' to be covered with 'smoky factories and still worse nuisances', and agricultural produce. Criticises the fact that this will also destroy the sources of 'spiritual refreshment' and poetry. Condemns those who worship chimneys and their stomachs as 'incipient brutes' who will 'ultimately descend nearly to a level with the beasts [...] of the stye', and thus develop a 'countenance resembling the Chinese'. Concludes by attacking the proposal for a 'more numerous population' on the grounds that it 'makes the atmosphere sultry', a condition to which polluted air and rivers contribute.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Steamships, Electricity

    Upholds the superiority of ironclad ships over wooden ones, emphasising the fact that they can carry 'more and heavier guns' and a larger 'invading force', and that they can sustain longer bombardments from such weapons as Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> guns. Noting the difficulty of penetrating ironclad ships, wonders how such ships are going to fight, suggesting that they might do so with the highly explosive 'fulminating silver' or 'Some new discovery in electricity'. However, Punch also suggests that opposing ironclads might 'part in peace'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Music

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

War, Nationalism, Telegraphy

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Invention, Instruments, Chemistry, Narcotics, Periodicals

    Describes Mr Punch's response to his discovery, in 'scientific magazines', of articles on the 'Absorbmeter' that determines the 'volumes of liquid absorbed during successive intervals of time'. Goes on to describe how Mr Punch, who 'naturally takes the cause of science much at heart, and taking a deep interest in all scientific instruments', sought to test the invention. Reports that at a 'little dinner down at Greenwich', Mr Punch found that 'the absorbents' (his bibulous friends) absorb different alcoholic beverages at different rates. Mr Punch urges his 'scientific friends' to invent a 'clever apparatus' that will enable 'absorbents' to determine their capacity, and thus prevent them from drinking too much and suffering the resulting 'bad headaches'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Exhibitions, Commerce

    Notes how other periodicals have condemned railway companies north of the Thames for 'resolving not to run excursion-trains in May' during the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>, accusing them of being tyrants over 'the British people'. Ironically represents such attacks preposterous, suggesting that the decision must be a premature April fools' joke. Argues that railway companies will 'so largely benefit by the Exhibition' that they 'will do their utmost to make it a success' and not lose out on this source of profit.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Human Development

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Human Species, War

    Opens by noting that 'Learned writers' on mental disease claim that 'all mankind are mad', and insists that while 'most men are ruled by reason', the fact that so many men are persuaded to fight and die for their country and then be forgotten, suggests that 'But for madness, scarce a martyr / To his country would be found', and thus how fortunate it is that 'others are insane'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, War, Politics, Invention, Experiment, Government, Progress, Comparative Philology, Zoology, Zoological Gardens, Representation

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Reports on a debate on the subject of 'invulnerable' ships which was prompted by the recent defeat of the Confederate iron ship Merrimac Merrimac, ship
Close   View the register entry >> by a Union ironclad, the Monitor Monitor, ship
Close   View the register entry >>. Strongly defending this incident as conclusive proof of the awesome strength of ironclads, Punch praises John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> who upheld the importance of the incident and criticised George C Lewis Lewis, Sir George Cornewall, 2nd Baronet (1806–63) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for arguing that the government should not 'rush into costly experiments' regarding iron ships. Lamenting Lewis's recalcitrance, reminds him that 'neither the Pyrrhic phalanx nor Greek fire was invented by parties who declined to advance within the military spirit of the time'. (143) Later notes the 'more satisfactory' speech of Edward A Seymour (12th Duke of Somerset) St Maur [formerly Seymour], Edward Adolphus, 12th Duke of Somerset (1804–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who reported the preparation of four British ironclads and the government's awareness of the importance of the subject. Reports that Edwin H Landseer Landseer, Sir Edwin Henry (1802–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> still visits the lions in the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. Discusses the support of Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for several measures to improve the nation's defences, including Cowper P Coles's Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> armoured 'Cupola', or turret for ships.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, War, Gender

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Comparing the armour-plating of steamships with the 'ribs of steel' used in women's crinoline dresses, notes that while 'steel ribs' will save HER MAJESTY's marine from capture, wonders who would try to capture 'A wife in crinoline'.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Representation, Military Technology, War, Invention, Publishing, Telegraphy, Steam-power, Nationalism

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Describes some of the paintings that the 'zealous patron of the Arts', John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, has desired to see displayed at the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>. These represent Bright's general support for America and include representations of British ships being defeated in the American War of Independence (a possible reference to the contemporary debate over the state of Britain's naval fleet) and of 'some of the most useful things the world has ever seen'—the 'American' invented printing-press, electric telegraph, and steam-engine.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, War

    Opens by praising the strength of 'Iron-clad Jack', the 'good iron-ship' that can sustain attacks sufficient to sink wooden frigates. Describes how he sought to reassure his Poll that there was no need to fear his voyage as he would be 'snug as can be' on the ironclad which is well armed and 'Shot-and-shell proof from sternpost to stem'. Goes on to note that a blacksmith explained how the 'sheathing was such' that no shots could reach its timber, and that however much an enemy 'pound away', 'we'll never say die'.

Genre:

Announcement, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Scientific Practitioners, Engineers

    Notes from the London Gazette London Gazette (1665–1900+) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >> that the five commissioners chosen to open the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >> as a 'Temple of Industry, Science, and Art' will include William Fairbairn Fairbairn, Sir William (1789–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Steamships

    Responding to the government's recent decision to replace the Royal Navy's Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> wooden ships with ironclads, this illustration shows an inner deck of a wooden frigate in which all the sailors are wearing suits of armour.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Agriculture, Machinery, Class, Political Economy, Industry, Work

    Discusses Harriet Martineau's Martineau, Harriet (1802–76) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> argument that 'STEVENS'S Bread-Making Machinery' will economise the labour of manufacturing bread and end 'journeymen bakers' grievances'. Thinks that the notion of eating bread made from something that has killed 'the journeyman baker' is like 'eating the journeyman himself', but that bread will now be eaten 'without a shudder' owing to the fact that kneading will no longer be performed by muscular power.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Language

    Considers the effect of the new ironclads on 'nautical phraseology'. For example, expects 'Shiver my timbers' will be replaced by 'Unrivet my plates'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Sound

People mentioned:

Dr Dufosse Dufosse, Dr (fl. 1862) PU1/42/11/3
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Engineering, Communication, Internationalism

    Discusses an article in the Standard Standard (1827–60) Evening Standard (1860–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> reporting on a conversazione at which the possibility of a trans-Atlantic telegraph was considered, and an article in the Observer Observer (1791–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> which describes how news is received in England from America by mail (between America and Ireland) and telegraph (between Ireland and England). Noting that 'we can't bridge the Atlantic with a telegraph wire', presents another extract explaining how Mr Silver Silver, Mr (fl. 1862) PU1/42/14/11
Close   View the register entry >> and his firm propose a new network of overland and submarine telegraphs (which exploit a new 'ebonite insulator' on the telegraph post) to expedite telegraphic signals from Ireland. Anticipates that 'If they continue to improve our means of wiredrawn intercourse' then 'discourse with distant countries' will not be far off.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Proof, Charlatanry

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

R D 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 >>

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Development, Breeding, Animal Behaviour, Zoological Gardens, Botanical Gardens

    Noting the interest in the 'daily incubation of the Python' at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, wishes to know what will become of the large number of eggs once they have hatched. Suggests that, while pythons may please those who have 'a fine ear for such instruments', the residents of Regent's Park will not be able to sleep through fear of waking up with pythons around them. Urges that these 'pretty pets' be kept safe and thus prevented from harming children and nursery-maids in Regent's Park. Expresses concern about the dangers of further python breeding and the 'dangerous invasion' of England by snakes. However, expects that the Zoological Gardens will give pythons to the Jardin des Plantes, Paris Jardin des Plantes, Paris
Close   View the register entry >>, and 'similar congenial institutions', and considers the possibility of them being sold as meat to costermongers. (150) Concludes by urging the directors of the Zoological Gardens not to send a python to Punch. The illustration, which forms the first word of the text, shows a young woman encircled by a snake.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Alchemy, Medical Treatment

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Comparative Philology, Nationalism

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L 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:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Imposture

    Shows a line of dejected male and female mediums clutching some of the supposed tools of their trade, including an accordion and a 'spirit-hand' on the end of a stick.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Zoology, Menageries, Military Technology, War, Government, Politics, Sound, Technology, Accidents, Metallurgy

    Criticises some conclusions reached by 'one of those calculating idiots' about William E Gladstone's Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> budget speech, and expects these calculators to make such calculations as the total length of the pythons (laid end to end) to be born to their mother in the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>. Later reports on the excitement caused in the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> by the conclusion drawn by William G Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> that shells fired from his gun can penetrate ironclad ships, and news that Cowper P Coles Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (the inventor of an armoured turret for ships) is being treated 'properly' by the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>, 'a miracle, considering that COLES is an inventor of an invaluable affair'. Notes discussion of the state of Big Ben Big Ben
Close   View the register entry >>, which, according to the metallurgist John Percy Percy, John (1817–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, could be used, but would probably crack again.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, Government, Politics, War, Nationalism

    Another response to the government drive to arm the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> with ironclads. Describes how Vulcan forged for Taurus (John Bull in disguise) 'a plate / Whose strength might scorn the thunder-bolt of fate' and armour 'worthy of the ocean-king'. Notes how Taurus departed believing that 'war was foolish and expensive' but thought that he was right to defend 'His loved BRITANNIA'. Describes how Taurus was then clad in 'Iron Arms' by the 'Nereids of the deep', after which he defies anybody to approach him.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Military Technology, Government

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Similar to Anon, 'How Vulcan Gave Iron Armour to Taurus-Neptunus (from Punch's Homer)', Punch, 42 (1862), 156, this shows Neptune (who, from a tattoo on his arm, represents John Bull) being clad in a suit of armour by Vulcan (who forges his armour plating) and by female cherubim (the Nereids who crown Neptune with a steel helmet).

Genre:

Regular Feature, Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Charlatanry, Imposture, Amusement

    Thanks Thomas G Reed Reed, Thomas German (1817–88) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for his burlesque of spirit-rapping 'in his bright new entertainment'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Representation, Animal Behaviour, Zoology, Natural History, Zoological Gardens

    Following news that Edwin H Landseer Landseer, Sir Edwin Henry (1802–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> is 'studying the habits' of the lion, suggests that the best place to do so is not (as Landseer believes) the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> but, playing on the use of the word lion for celebrated personality, 'some fashionable haunt, like the Horticultural Gardens Royal Horticultural Society—Gardens, Chiswick
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Display, Progress, Industry, Morality, Commerce, Work

    Questions the meaning of an inscription on a stained glass window at the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>. Agrees with the inscription that the goal of everybody's labour should be the progress of the human race, but is not clear about the type of progress posited. Points out that 'moral and spiritual progress' comes from 'master-minds' not labouring men, and insists that the 'final object of labour of almost every individual' is 'his own aggrandisement', and that the exhibition has been built on acquisitiveness.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Invention, Engineers, Steamships, Patronage, Government, Politics, Technology, Futurism

    A semi-fictional account of William G Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, his weapons, and his relationship with the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>. The chronicle describes the competition between Armstrong and the Admiralty for military strength, every invention of Armstrong being defeated by another produced by his rival, and William E Gladstone's Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> almost yearly increases in income tax (undoubtedly to pay for these expensive military projects). For example, after the Admiralty makes (in 1863) 'Platina Ships fastened with diamond cement', Armstrong invents (in 1864) 'Brazen Thunderbolts' which sink most of the British fleet, but then the Admiralty replies with 'Torpedo vessels' that are below the range of any guns. The competition is interrupted briefly in 1867 by John Cumming's Cumming, John (1807–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> proclamation of the Millennium, but then continues into the 1870s with Armstrong inventing such weapons as an 'Alp-Shell' for sinking stone ships and a 'Balloon battering-train', and the Admiralty replying with 'an Aerial Fleet' and a 'Subterranean Fleet'. The chronicle ends with Emperor Napoleon III Napoleon III, Emperor of France (originally Louis Napoléon (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte)) (1808–73) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> of France successfully proclaiming the Millennium and Armstrong (now knighted 'Lord BOMB') inventing 'Volcano Fireworks' and accidently 'burn[ing] up the Public' (and thus his patrons).

Genre:

Dialogue, Drollery

Subjects:

Heat, Pollution

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships

People mentioned:

Cowper P Coles Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Progress, Technology, Railways, Telegraphy, Photography, Spiritualism

    Recalls the 'days when we wore straps', when 'Most of all our rising men / Puling in their nurses' laps', 'Railways were a wonder new' and 'Telegraphic wires were not', and instead there were slow stage-coaches and news deliveries. Adds that this was a time when india-rubber was expensive and gutta-percha unknown, and 'Science had not yet to bear / Brought the Sun's pictorial rays'. Neither were 'Spirits, under tables heard', which then would have 'been thought too absurd'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    'The Ram'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Development, Breeding, Animal Behaviour, Feeling, Heat, Instruments, Scientific Practitioners, Experiment

    Written from the perspective of the female python at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, who condemns the 'British public' for causing her eggs to rot and for keeping only one of the eggs which has produced an abnormally small snake. Inveighs against Philip L Sclater Sclater, Philip Lutley (1829–1913) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> for confining her in a coil, and emphasises the python's 'sensibilities' and 'horror of intrusion' by scientific practitioners. She goes on to observe that all a 'snake-mother' wants are the warm conditions under which her eggs can develop; instead she was prodded and poked, and had her peace and comfort rudely disturbed by a fellow trying to measure her temperature with his 'ZAMBRA and NEGRETTI' (the thermometer-making firm of Joseph W Zambra Zambra, Joseph Warren (1822–97) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> and Enrico A L Negretti Negretti, Enrico Angelo Ludovico (Henry) (1818–79) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) or by Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>. Concludes that 'those soi-distant men of science, / On time and kindly nature are too clever for reliance' and in their 'anxiety' have plucked her eggs too soon. She goes on to ask the scientists to consider her feelings—notably, the thrill that spread through her like 'the electric fire' when she felt 'the stirrings blend'—but notes that scientific men are unlikely to credit her with feelings.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    'COLES'S Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Ironsides in 1862 and CROMWELL'S Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Ironsides in 1642'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

[Trident], pseud.  [Henry R Howard] Howard, Henry R (fl. 1853) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Biblical Authority, Religion

    Shows two naval veterans on a beach staring out to sea. On the horizon, one of them observes an 'Iron-Clad' which he mistakes for Noah's Ark.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Politics

    Describes a spoof proposal, putatively made by the Peace Society Peace Society
Close   View the register entry >>, to build an iron vessel with 'several cupolas constructed by CAPTAIN COLES Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', which it will christen the 'John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Floating Battery'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Commerce, Military Technology, Steamships, Engineering, Nationalism, Internationalism

    Written from the perspective of the British nation, complains of the cost of reconstructing the Royal Navy's Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> ships to operate by steam, and of then reconstructing them again with 'iron wood'. Observes that the expense thwarts Britain's desire to 'rebuild London'. Questions why foreign nations execrate Britain's name, when it meditates 'no base invasion'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Photography, Representation, Light

    Upholds the sublime and superior beauty of the photograph of Charlotte, and, noting the transience of her image in a mirror to that produced in a photograph, ends by observing that the photograph 'Will truly show you what you were; / How elegant, how fresh and fair'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, War, Technology, Progress, Government, Cultural Geography

    Implicitly responding to the government's recent proposals to replace the wooden ships of the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> with ironclad vessels, he bids his farewell to his 'trim three-decker' on the grounds that 'Iron's proved of wood a wrecker'. Compares what sailors were in the days of Horatio Nelson Nelson, Horatio, Viscount Nelson (1758–1805) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to the present, when they are 'half soldiers and half stokers', and laments the passing of the days of 'Good seamanship' and knowledge of sails. Describes the latest ships as 'floating forts with iron cased' and equipped with Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> guns. Following 'them Yankee swabs' who fought under water, anticipates that the Navy will soon become 'a fleet of diving bells'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Nationalism

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Commerce, Technology, Military Technology, Railways

    Reports that opposite the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>, which opened on 1 May 1862, 'certain enterprising persons' have established an 'International Bazaar'. The narrator intends to purchase there such items as an Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> gun, a railway locomotive, and 'a Shoeburyness target'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships

    Considers some of the effects on sailors' lives resulting from the introduction of ironclad vessels into the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>. Believes that the appearance of these mastless vessels will end seamanship and substitute stoking the fire hole for sailors' concern with sails. Adds that new forms of punishment will be introduced including dangling seamen in the funnel.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Natural History, Zoology, Language, War

    Argues that the reconstruction of the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> with ironclads will require changes to the names of vessels. Given that ships will now resemble 'a pachydermatous or a crustaceous animal', suggests that ships of the line might be called 'Rhinoceros', 'Elephant', or 'Whale', a 'steam-ram' might be called 'Narwhal', and that smaller vessels might be christened 'Porpoise' and 'Crab'. Concludes by suggesting that ironclads might also be named after emblems of peace, such as 'Dove'.

Genre:

Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Military Technology, War, Internationalism

    Shows a mournful-looking winged female figure who, carrying an olive branch in one hand, sits on a large Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> gun. The caption reveals that this is Mr Punch's 'design for a colossal statute, which ought to have been placed in the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>'.

See also:

Anon, 'The Opening of the Great Exhibition', Punch, 42 (1862), 179

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Technology, Military Technology, Internationalism, War

    Describes the opening of the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>, with special reference to the crowds outside the building, the 'Clearing of the Nave' of the building, the 'Procession' of dignitaries, and exhibition commissioners, jurors, and other protagonists including the exhibition's architects Francis Fowke Fowke, Francis (1823–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Henry Cole Cole, Sir Henry (1808–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. The final stanza describes the 'Unexpected Appearance' at the exhibition—namely, the allegorical figure of Peace, sitting on an Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> gun. She looks sad and laments the fact that the gun should be her 'vehicle'. She also laments that in the decade since the opening of the Great Exhibition Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations (1851)
Close   View the register entry >> her cause has been shattered in Europe, since 'huge steam-hammers rise and fall, / To forge the great ship's armour-wall' and other armaments threaten her. She ends by resolving to stay at home.

See also:

Anon, 'Peace', Punch, 42 (1862), [177]

Genre:

Instructions, Spoof

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Display, Education, Machinery, Progress

    Includes warnings that the public is not to 'go staring at things merely because they are pretty, or celebrated', but to 'go regularly and reverentially through the whole building, and is specially to make itself master of every part of the Machinery Exhibition before venturing to examine the products of the machinery'. The rules also stipulate that anybody who 'makes a remark upon the difference between the building of 1851 [the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>] and the present one, and does not distinctly declare the latter to be immeasurably the superior', will be removed by the police, who will also enforce the idea that the exhibition is 'a grand success'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships

People mentioned:

Cowper P Coles Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pharmaceuticals, Narcotics, Quackery, Charlatanry

    Discusses an advertisement in a 'Morning Paper', issued by the British College of Health British College of Health
Close   View the register entry >> on behalf of the Society of Hygeists Society of Hygeists
Close   View the register entry >>, which quotes what it claims was William Shakespeare's Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> anticipation of the 'Hygeian system of JAMES MORISON Morison, James (1770–1840) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'. Draws attention to the advertisement's surprising claim that the poison used by the ghost of Hamlet's father (hebenon or henbane) was used in Morison's 'Universal Vegetable Pills'. Points out that if the advertisers mean to identify Morison's pills with poison then they are to be praised for 'great candour' and for giving the public grounds to exercise caution before using this treatment.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Amusement, Animal Behaviour, Menageries

    Questions the propriety of calling the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >> a 'World Fair' on the grounds that it has no 'wild beasts in it', 'menagerie', or other amusements found in circuses.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Military Technology, Human Development, Animal Behaviour, Crime, Technology

    Endorses the display of weapons at the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >> because they 'remind us how very much lower we are than angels' and how close we are to 'some foreigners who are very little above fiends'. Questions why the exhibition only displays machines for inflicting harm on enemies, and not on 'ourselves under necessity of self-defence'—for example, 'the crank', 'treadmill', and the gallows.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Education, Psychology

    Discusses the case of a man who took legal action against a chemist for prescribing inappropriate medicine, but who adopted the surprising course of going to the chemist on the advice of a beadle, a course of action which it is suggested shows 'hopeless feebleness of mind'.

Genre:

Dialogue, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoological Gardens, Animal Behaviour

Institutions mentioned:

Zoological Society—Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Display, Aesthetics, Nationalism

    Shows Mr Bull handing Mrs Britannia a model of the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>, a gesture which she greets by saying, 'I can't think it quite so pretty as the one you gave me eleven years ago' (i.e. the Crystal Palace Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >>). Mr Bull replies, 'p'raps not, dear madam—but you should see inside!'

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Industry, Machinery, Skill, Agriculture, Work

    Describes a meeting between 'Strong Queen Handicraft' and 'Fair Queen Art' at midnight in the silence of the 'monster Building' of the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>. They discuss each other's contributions to the products on display. Art insists that Handicraft owns the 'profusion / Of the fruits of toil, / Loom and forge-work, clay and crystal', the 'Growth of seed and soil' and the 'spinning of men-spiders, / Honey of men's hives'. Handicraft, clad in a 'Coal-black' robe, a crown of fire, and wielding a hammer as a sceptre, informs Art that it is she who gives beauty to her roughly shaped masses. Art adds that in 'this age of iron' she is 'Chain'd to thy "behest"'. The queens each continue to give reasons why the other should sit on the 'throne', with Art finally deciding to reign apart in her own gallery.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Agriculture, Ornithology, Natural History, Hunting, Cruelty, Race

Institutions mentioned:

International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>

    Written to represent the style of a yokel, who describes a local concert given by songbirds and relishes news that the Acclimatisation Society Acclimatisation Society, New South Wales
Close   View the register entry >> has successfully imported such species into New Zealand. Goes on to explain his use of magpies as deterrents against grubs, and he condemns news (seen in the Stamford Mercury Stamford Mercury (1713–83) Lincoln, Rutland and Stamford Mercury (1784–1900+) British Library Newspaper Catalogue
Close   View the register entry >>) of 'young labourers and itinerants' who made their living from killing the small birds that destroy insects. Claims that 'Tis all along o-bein unbelievin Jews; there is no baitun into their heads that small birds baint varmant'. Wishes Punch would get one of its 'young men' to 'gie my nabers a lectur or two on natural histry' to stop this 'dickycide'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Steam-power, Status

    The initial letter of the text is formed from a droll representation of the Royal Navy's Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >> new ironclad vessels: a domestic iron floating on water with a gun poking out of its stern. The text ponders the fate of sailors 'Now that floating iron shot-towers are to constitute our fleet'. Considers employing sailors on board 'flat-irons' a 'waste of wages' and an 'insult', not least because they resent steam-powered ships. Notes that while the Navy combined steam-engines with masts and sails, the new fleet will now be 'floating forts'. Imagines the disgust felt by a sailor of the 'old school' on being asked to serve in an ironclad and expects that some of the unemployed sailors will become 'bus-conductors'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Language

    Suggests some more easily pronounced alternatives to the name 'International Exhibition' International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>. Observes that the 'South Kensington Museum South Kensington Museum
Close   View the register entry >> has been called the Brompton Bilers; and if we don't take care, the new building may possibly get christened "FOWKE'S Fowke, Francis (1823–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Folly"'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Commerce, Government, Medical Treatment

    Includes the speculation that a 'Shin-Plaster' is a 'specific invented in the first instance by a weak government that was on its last legs, and was obliged to resort to this quack remedy' to maintain 'anything like a footing in the money-market'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Language, Military Technology, Telegraphy, Pollution, Government, Politics

    Discussing remarks made in the Houses of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> on the complexities of the Welsh language, observes the probable existence of 'a pack of sentimentalists' who 'offer prizes for Welsh odes and such like Gorilla utterances' (193). Reports also on the remarks of Henry J Temple (3rd Viscount Palmerston) Temple, Henry John, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784–1865) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> concerning spithead forts, the progress of the Red Sea Telegraph Bill, and the support of Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby) Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for measures to be taken to 'avert the Evil Smells caused by certain manufactures'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Language

    Lists some puns on the names of the principal organizers of the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
Close   View the register entry >>, Henry Cole Cole, Sir Henry (1808–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Francis Fowke Fowke, Francis (1823–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Experiment, Commerce, Progress, War, Invention, Technology, Aeronautics

    Reflecting on the expensive battle between gun makers and shipbuilders for the strongest military invention, calls for the creation of 'an Island of Laptua' to save on costly 'Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> guns and Shoeburyness experiments'. Anticipates that the battle will result in the construction of a conical shot as large as the 'Big Pyramid' in Egypt. Believes the invention of a 'Flying Island' would end the battle for technological supremacy because instead of fighting with an army and a navy, the inhabitants of the island would simply need to drop material on their enemies. Goes on to suggest the need for 'an invention to annihilate an army at a [single] blow', which would be an unprecedented peace maker, while the knowledge that Britain had a 'Flying Island' would help prevent her being attacked.

See also:

Anon, 'Pull Armstrong, Pull Admiralty', Punch, 42 (1862), 160

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Disease

    'Invite none but Vegetarians to dine with you'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Anatomy, Race, Ethnology

    Discusses a meeting at the Ethnological Society Ethnological Society of London
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Close   View the register entry >> on the 'character of the Peruvian skulls' (a version of which was published as Blake 1863 Blake, Charles Carter 1863. 'On the Cranial Characters of the Peruvian Races of Men', Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London, 2, 216–32
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Close   View the register entry >> denied that skulls could be used to determine racial differences, supporting his case with the example of a famous anatomist who 'pronounced the skull of a Scotchman to be that of a negro' (a reference to Richard Owen Owen, Richard (1804–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>; see , Anon, 'Sawney and Sambo', Punch, 34 (1858), 242).

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Display, Reading

    Notes how the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
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Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Architecture, Engineering

People mentioned:

Francis Fowke Fowke, Francis (1823–65) ODNB
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Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [2]

Subjects:

Transport, Progress, Gender

    Rejoices in the establishment in London of the new 'Manchester and Glasgow' kind of omnibuses—vehicles noted for being 'kind, spacious, clean, comfortable', and drawn by three instead of two horses. Notes Mr Punch's recommendation of the new vehicles to crinoline-clad women, and his hopes that 'great numbers of the new omnibuses will be launched', thus driving to distraction the 'atrocious things which at present infest London' (i.e. the city's existing omnibuses). The illustrations give two different views of the inside of the luxurious new omnibuses.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Astronomy, Instruments

    Likens the International Exhibition International Exhibition (1862), London
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Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Analytical Chemistry, Military Technology, Invention, Government, Politics

    Reports on the appointment of the 'Smell Committee' of Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby) Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
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Close   View the register entry >> Select Committee on Injury from Noxious Vapours Select Committee on Injury from Noxious Vapours
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Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Environmentalism, Government, Manufactories, Industrial Chemistry, Evolution

    A response to the establishment under Edward G G S Stanley (14th Earl of Derby) Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> of a House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> Select Committee on Injury from Noxious Vapours Select Committee on Injury from Noxious Vapours
Close   View the register entry >>. Complains of the 'foul smoke' with which 'factory chimneys' taint 'Nature's fair face'. Proceeds to lament the pollution of streams and 'pleasant' rivers by 'the refuse of "Works"', the poisoning of fish and the fleeing of the spirit of 'old Isaac Walton Walton, Izaak (1593–1683) DSB
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Genre:

Letter, Spoof