Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L Sambourne Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Photography

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Natural History, Physiognomy, Electricity, Natural Philosophy, Engineering, Steam-power

People mentioned:

Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus (or von Linné), Carl (1707–78) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Johann K Lavater, Lavater, Johann Kaspar (1741–1801) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Benjamin Franklin, Franklin, Benjamin (1706–90) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> James Watt Watt, James (1736–1819) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Electricity, Astronomy, Philosophy

People mentioned:

Luigi Galvani, Galvani, Luigi (1737–98) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Nicholas Copernicus, Copernicus, Nicholas (1473–1543) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> David Hume Hume, David (1711–76) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Electricity, Chemistry, Natural Philosophy

People mentioned:

Joseph Priestley Priestley, Joseph (1733–1804) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Military Technology, Medical Practitioners

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Light, Botany, Natural History, Statistics, Mathematics, Philosophy

People mentioned:

Thomas Young, Young, Thomas (1773–1829) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Georges L Leclerc, comte de Buffon, Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de (1707–88) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> John Graunt, Graunt, John (1620–74) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> David Hume Hume, David (1711–76) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Natural History, Astronomy

People mentioned:

Georges Cuvier, Cuvier, Georges (1769–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Nicholas Copernicus Copernicus, Nicholas (1473–1543) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Invention, Domestic Economy, Industry

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Error

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Geology

    Suggests that the reason why geologists display the most energy and perseverance is because they 'leave no stone unturned to accomplish their object'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Nomenclature

    Believes 'Odontology' is an appropriate name for the 'science which treats of teeth' because '"O! don't O!" is heard too often in a Dentist's room'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Ornithology, Hunting

    Notes that ornithologists have argued that there are no braver birds than the partridge and the pheasant because they 'die game'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Natural Philosophy

People mentioned:

Roger Bacon Bacon, Roger (c. 1219–c. 1292) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Physiology

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Industry

People mentioned:

Matthew Boulton Boulton, Matthew (1728–1809) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Exam Paper, Spoof

Subjects:

Physical Geography

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Light

    Reports that Mars appears in conjunction with Orion's Belt in which 'spectral analysis immediately detects pipeclay'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Agriculture, Disease

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Mathematics

People mentioned:

Gottfried W Leibniz Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646–1716) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Taxonomy, Gender, Darwinism

    Reports that Darwinians have named a female gorilla in the Regent's Park Collection Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >>, 'Mary Anthropoid Ape'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Chemistry, Sanitation, Domestic Economy

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology

Genre:

Illustration, 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:

Sanitation, Public Health, Engineering

    An 'Inquisitive Gent' mistakes the drainage system of his 'Fastidious Host'—a decorated set of pipes emerging from the floor of the dining room—for an elaborately carved ornament.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Superstition, Belief

    Considering Christmas ghosts to be obsolete, the writer suggests their replacement by 'Spirit Lights' and other phenomena associated with spiritualism. 'Instead of groaning, Ghosts rap tables', while '"mediums" rise by "levitation" / And subject them to elongation' and perform such feats as floating out of two-storey windows and materialising fruit on tables. Warns that 'There is a lady, MRS. GUPPY Guppy, Agnes (née Nicholl) (1838–1917) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, / Mark, shallow scientific puppy', the 'heaviest' medium in London who was carried three miles by spirits to a séance. Concludes by describing other spiritualistic phenomena and suggests, 'How much more credible and pleasant / Than the old Spirits are the present'.

Genre:

Letter, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Public Health, Temperance

    Writing in Cockney dialect, the letter writer objects strongly to medical legislation that would restrict the sale of alcohol.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Language

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

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

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

Genre:

Notes, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Mechanics, Dynamics, Hunting

Reprinted:

Burnand 1872 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1872. My Health, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Accidents

Genre:

News-Digest, Drollery

Subjects:

Geology, Travel, Scientific Practitioners

    Responds to Charles Lyell's Lyell, Sir Charles, 1st Baronet (1797–1875) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> remark that the three things necessary for a geologist are travel, travel, and travel. Infers that geologist must travel over the earth's surface in order to explore its interior. Glad that this does not apply to the exploration of other objects that are round (plum-puddings) and which have crusts (mince-pies).

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Physics, Superstition, Meteorology, Astrology, Cultural Geography

    Notes that in some rural districts, where 'the study of physics is still in its infancy', people consider foul weather or the 'appearance of the Aurora over the Bank of England Bank of England
Close   View the register entry >>' to be a 'favourable augury', the Zodiacal light to be a 'forerunner of the turnip-fly', and the parhelion to betoken drought.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Technology, Progress

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Narcotics

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics

Genre:

Diary, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Astronomy, Amusement

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

A C Chasemore, A (fl. 1871) Spielmann 1895
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Pharmaceuticals, Disease, Sanitation, Public Health, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Periodicals

    The initial letter forms part of an illustration showing two humanoid figures, their bodies being made from the containers of medical treatments. One figure, whose body is made from a 'powder' bottle and whose head is made from a bottle of 'stomach black draught', talks to a figure whose head is made from a box of 'blue pills'. The text refers to a recent discussion in newspapers concerning the sources of an outbreak of typhoid fever. However, while the newspapers suggest that the source lies in people's drains, Punch counsels: 'Look to yourselves'. Agrees that sewers generate a 'pestiferous' atmosphere in which rats and labourers work and explains that the latter, and also 'medical men', consume gin 'which is medicinal' unless drunk in large doses. Advises that people should look at their drains but also 'to the natural gates and alleys of the body', which should be kept 'clear, and permeable, and pervious'. Suggests that people can expel the 'poisonous or morbid effluvia' from their bodies by ministering alcohol to themselves or by visiting a doctor. However, the writer suggests that Punch itself is a 'popular panacea' which the patient will find 'invariably efficacious'.

Genre:

Diary, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Mechanics, Dynamics

People mentioned:

Isaac Newton Newton, Sir Isaac (1642–1727) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery, Serial

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Health

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Transport, Engineering, Steamships, Travel, Disease, Railways

    Describes a journey by steamboat from Dover to Boulogne-sur-Mer which has been marred by foul weather and heaving waves. Proceeds to describe a dream of 'spring-seated' steamboats with padded passages, and wonders whether John Fowler Fowler, Sir John, 1st Baronet (1817–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> or anybody else could design a boat that 'won't roll' and therefore does not make people sick.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Meteorology

Genre:

Diary, Spoof

Subjects:

Gender, Education, Museums, Natural History, Medical Treatment, Magnetism, Light, Instruments

    Recounts visits to the Natural History Museum British Museum (Natural History)
Close   View the register entry >> and St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral
Close   View the register entry >>, illuminated by a 'Tyndaluminospectric light'. Concludes: 'We women have yet something to learn in physical science'. Notes that her female doctor applied a 'magnetic detonator' to her spine and ears. Claims that her sister has mastered several intellectual disciplines, including 'political economy, statistics, aerostatics, electrology, hygiene and thermapeutics'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Experiment, Sound, Instruments

Institutions mentioned:

Army Army
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses the trial of a British version of the American Gatling Gatling, Richard Jordan (1818–1903) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> gun. Reports that several Royal Artillery officers thought that the weapon would not stand up against artillery and compares the new gun to an 'Italian Grinding Organ'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Politics

    Discusses a report in the Swiss Times SwissTimes (cited 1872) PU1/62/4/2
Close   View the register entry >> of the strike by Arcadian physicians demanding higher fees and the suggestion that patients might respond with a strike of their own. Thinks that medical practitioners in England would be justified in staging a strike given their 'ridiculously low wages', which would also legitimate the formation of a professional union. Suggests that medical practitioners could stage their strike much less aggressively than members of other trades' unions and without 'filching away their physic, stethoscopes, and surgical instruments'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Accidents, Politics

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Heroism

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Steam-power, Government, Politics, Commerce

Genre:

Illustration

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T Tenniel, Sir John (1820–1914) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Railways, Steam-power, Engineering, Politics, Commerce, Government, Cultural Geography

    Similar to Anon, 'A Seat on the Safety-Valve', Punch, 62 (1872), 36, this shows the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robert Lowe Lowe, Robert, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke (1811–92) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, as a locomotive 'stoker' conversing with the French head of state, Adolphe Thiers Thiers, Louis Adolphe (Adolphe) (1797–1897) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>. Both stand in front of a locomotive, John Bull, whose smoke stack is covered with a 'safety valve' held down by a lever on the end of which is a large weight labelled 'Income Tax—Surcharge'. The locomotive represents the booming British economy of the early 1870s. Lowe points to the weight and explains to Thiers that 'that's the way we "raise the wind;"—simplest thing in the world!'. Thiers is more sceptical and replies that he thinks John Bull will '"blow up" one day!'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L Sambourne Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Phrenology, Anatomy

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Development, Zoological Gardens

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Language, Crime

    Thinks that 'Medical men, experts and others, in the witness-box, are unfortunately apt to use technical terms for which there are no equivalents in plain English'. Agrees with judges for rejecting such incoherent witnesses, adding that 'There are no hard words of phrases, of which the use, by Judges or Counsel, is sometimes unavoidable in law'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Language

People mentioned:

James Paget Paget, Sir James, 1st Baronet (1814–99) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Notes Mr Punch's praise of the skill of the 'great Healers' who have improved the health of Prince Edward Edward VII, King of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, Emperor of India (1841–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, but adds Mr Punch's complaint about the number of jests on the names of the attendant doctors.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Hospitals, Narcotics, Temperance, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Practitioners, Medical Treatment, Measurement, Health

    Notes that the '"anti-alcoholic" manifesto lately put forth by two hundred and fifty first-class doctors' has aided the foundation of a 'movement' to establish a hospital for the 'treatment of diseases apart from the ordinary administration of alcoholic liquors'. Puzzled by this claim, the author stresses that most doctors treat diseases rather than administer alcoholic beverages. Suggests that the doctors might want to establish a hospital where alcohol will not be used to treat diseases and that 'nearly every article in the Materia Medica' might be banned owing to its toxic effects. Asks who the doctors have in mind when they claim that 'it is believed' that the prescription of alcohol for medical purposes has caused intemperate habits, and wonders how many readers attribute their taste for alcohol to its medical consumption. Appreciates that alcohol should be administered with as much care as 'any other drug' and speculates that this will lead to carefully graduated 'physic glasses' which will replace wine glasses at tables.

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Hunting, Cruelty, Ornithology

Genre:

New Digest, Drollery

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour

    Responds to news that Louis Agassiz Agassiz, Louis (Jean Louis Rodolphe) (1807–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has discovered a fish which builds a nest. Anticipates the discovery of similarly strange phenomena, including glow-worms living in hives, tortoises hopping from bough to bough, and the existence of pigeon's milk.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Accidents, Government, Politics

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Describes the shadowy figures—the 'ghosts'—who constitute the lords of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>. They attempt to abrogate responsibility for such naval disasters as a 'ship ill-found, or fleet ill-led', and make such poor decisions as to work troop ships until they grow rotten and to allow the 'squalls that blow about REID Reed, Sir Edward James (1830–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> AND CO.' to send 'Captains HMS Captain
Close   View the register entry >>' to the bottom.

Genre:

Illustration, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T Tenniel, Sir John (1820–1914) ODNB
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, Accidents, Government, Politics

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Similar to Anon, 'The "Phantom Board" (See Mr. Vernon Lushington's Evidence before the HMS Magaera Commission)', Punch, 62 (1872), 48, 51, this shows John Bull peering over a door into a room where the shadowy and aged lords of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> conduct their business. Scattered on the floor are various scrolls of paper labelled with the topics on which Punch has found them wanting. These include the names of the ships lost through Admiralty incompetence (the HMS Captain HMS Captain
Close   View the register entry >> and HMS Magaera HMS Magaera
Close   View the register entry >>) and such issues as 'armaments', 'dockyards', and 'ironclads'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, News-Digest, Spoof

Subjects:

Physical Chemistry, Controversy

    Reports that the new metal Fluozinium is 'making its way against the current of scientific prejudice'. Describes several of the metal's properties, including the fact that it emits fumes that can be inhaled safely and that it has unprecedented porosity, frangibility, and opalescence.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Medical Practitioners, Health, Politics

    Discusses a report of the meeting of the guardians of the St Pancras Poor Law Union St Pancras Poor Law Union
Close   View the register entry >>, at which an increase in the number of inquests held upon the bodies of paupers dying in the workhouse was revealed. The meeting also insinuated that this increase was caused by avaricious medical officers seeking fees for conducting more inquests. Punch agrees that such inquests are unnecessary because it believes most pauper deaths to be due to misery rather than 'special neglect'.

Genre:

New-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hospitals, Amusement, Homeopathy

Institutions mentioned:

Consumption Hospital Consumption Hospital
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Industry, Exhibition

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Accidents, Steamships, Politics, Government, Spiritualism

People mentioned:

Vernon Lushington Lushington, Vernon (1832–1912) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

HMS Magaera HMS Magaera
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Narcotics, Medical Treatment

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

L S Sambourne, Edwin Linley (1844–1910) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Chemistry, Instruments, Government, Politics

    The initial letter forms part of a large illustration showing the complex distilling apparatus by which Mr Punch (shown) produces 'essence' of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>. It is dominated by large glass vessel in which stand leading statesmen of the day and the Palace of Westminster Palace of Westminster
Close   View the register entry >>. Into this vessel flow glass tubes which are secured to the vessel with bungs made from royal crowns.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Politics

People mentioned:

John Percy Percy, John (1817–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Chemistry, Temperance

    Responds to a Royal Society Royal Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> paper on the 'Elimination of Alcohol' (a version of which was later published as Dupré 1871–72 Dupré, August 1871–72. 'On the Elimination of Alcohol', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Lonon, 20, 268–77
Close   View the register entry >>). Concludes that publicans have accordingly 'cause to be out of spirits'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Travel

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Telegraphy, Mining, Sanitation

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Gender, Zoology, Ornithology, Aesthetics, Extinction

    Links the 'improvement of man' to the 'elevation' in the 'ideas of ornamental art' held by women. Thinks that women's use of certain 'objects of natural history'—notably, small birds—for decoration shows the rise in civilisation but threatens the extinction of various species. Requests women to exploit less appealing creatures such as frogs and cockroaches.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Engineering

    Notes discussion of a plan to construct an underground railway from Kilburn to Limehouse.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Gender, Medical Practitioners, Universities, Politics, Government

    Concerns the refusal by the University of Edinburgh University of Edinburgh
Close   View the register entry >> to allow women to graduate in medicine. Notes that women cannot get justice through an act of Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> because they are not represented there. Considers this is an argument in favour of women's suffrage.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Sanitation, Analytical Chemistry, Pollution, Adulteration, Public Health

    Discusses a report in the South London Courier South London Courier (1869–72) British Library Newspaper Catalogue
Close   View the register entry >> of an investigation into South London water by M'Cormack, Dr. (fl. 1871) PU1/62/9/4
Close   View the register entry >>a Lambeth medical officer. His conclusion is that the water is 'totally unfit for human consumption' and consists of 'diluted sewage' prompts Punch to argue that it is appropriate that such noxious water should be supplied to 'fraudulent South London Grocers' who make adulterated tea.

Genre:

News-Digest

Subjects:

Botany, Education, Class

    Notes that the chief commissioner of Hyde Park Hyde Park
Close   View the register entry >> will run botanical classes during the summer months in order 'to promote natural sciences amongst the upper classes'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C K Keene, Charles Samuel (1823–91) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Race, Cultural Geography

    Depicts an 'Irish Gentleman' who tries to dance to the 'fitful music of the telegraph wires' and complains that whoever is responsible for the music 'can't play a bit' or 'kape thime'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exploration, Discovery

People mentioned:

Christopher Columbus Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Force, Language, Imposture

    Notes that an 'eminent Spiritualist' has claimed that 'Psychics' is the cause of tables making noises during séances: Punch wonders whether this is a misprint for 'Sly kicks'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mathematics, Gender, Societies, Patronage

    Notes from the Graphic Graphic (1869–1900) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> that 'A lady has found the principle which differentiates the finite from the infinite' and wants the 'Academy of Sciences' to pay her 'a million sterling for the secret'. Surmises that the secret must be worth keeping at this price, but would hesitate to buy it 'with a pretty strong persuasion that the secret, after all, being in a lady's keeping, would not very long be kept'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Astrology, Superstition, Quackery

Publications cited:

Zadkiel's Monthly Almanac Zadkiel's Almanac and Herald of Astrology (1836–1900+) BUCOP
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Political Economy, Mining

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Supernaturalism, Psychology, Imposture

    Discusses an extract from a 'provincial journal' by its 'London Correspondent'. The reporter observes that spiritualism is 'exciting more and more attention in London' but opines that 'the belief in the spiritual nature of the manifestations is decreasing in proportion as the belief in the reality of the manifestations themselves increases'. The letter-writer agrees with this suggestion, but criticises 'your Sadducees' for referring such phenomena to '"unconscious cerebration", and "muscular action"', because such causes cannot account for séance manifestations such as tunes being played on accordions without fingers touching the keys. Believes spiritualists are equally at fault in their explanations. Notes that Joseph Glanvill's Glanvill, Joseph (1636–80) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Daemon of Tedworth (a version of which was published in Glanvill 1726 Glanvill, Joseph 1726. Sadduciums Triumphatus; Or, a Full and Plain Evidence, Concerning Witches and Apparitions. In Two Parts, the First Treating of their Possibility, the Second of their Real Existence [...] 4th edn, London: A. Bettesworth and J. Batley
Close   View the register entry >>) describes how chairs moved about by themselves in a way reminiscent of spiritualist séances. Doubts whether this was caused by 'muscular action, voluntary or involuntary', although allows for the possibility that it might have been due to a tricky medium using 'an invisible wire'. Denies that such 'spiritual' manifestations are caused by the spirits of 'defunct relations' and, appealing to 'mythology and etymology', suggests that they are caused by 'demons or goblins'. Concludes with the claim that 'the spirits of Spiritualism are either Hobgoblins or Humbugs'.

Genre:

News-Digest

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Proof

    Questions whether any spiritualist would bet that spiritualism could be 'proved true', were an instance of 'alleged spiritual or supernatural fact or phenomenon capable of proof or disproof by investigation' to be investigated to the satisfaction of John Tyndall Tyndall, John (1820–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Thomas H Huxley Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, and the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, Alexander J E Cockburn Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund (1802–80) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Digest

Subjects:

Pollution, Analytical Chemistry, Public Health, Government

    Responds to Edward Frankland's Frankland, Sir Edward (1825–99) DSB DNODNBB
Close   View the register entry >> chemical analysis of the metropolitan water companies' output. Notes that the water supplied by the Kent Water Works Company Kent Water Works Company
Close   View the register entry >> is much purer than that supplied by other metropolitan companies, which is only suitable for horticultural purposes. Given the amount of living matter that Frankland traced in water, suggests that 'all flesh is grass'. Criticizes the legislation for forcing householders to pay more for being supplied with water that still contains dubious substances.

Genre:

News-Digest

Subjects:

Disease, Gender, Psychology, Domestic Economy

    Comments on the British Medical Journal's British Medical Journal (1857–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report that the number of deaths from heart disease in middle-aged men is increasing. Therefore urges people to reduce 'muscular exertion' and 'anxious effort' in their lives. Not surprised by the statistics, since middle age is the period of 'man's struggle to maintain a wife and a family'. Links the increased incidence of heart disease to an increase in the price of 'feminine dress and ornamentation'. Urges men not to marry unless they can 'well afford it'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Steam-power

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Military Technology, Comparative Philology

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    An exchange between Jupiter and other gods of Greek mythology over the launch of a new thirty-five ton turret-ship, the HMS Thunderer HMS Thunderer
Close   View the register entry >>. Jupiter ponders the immense fire power of the ship and the boldness of the British in arming its fleet.

Genre:

Illustration, 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:

Human Development, Animal Development, Zoology, Physiology, Instruments

    Shows a mother and her son walking in a park. They head towards a man wearing a respirator which makes his face look decidedly simian. The boy asks his mother whether the gentleman bites.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Engineering, Railways, Accidents, Government, Pharmaceuticals, Charlatanry

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Laments the fact that fatalities are needed to prompt the abolition of such hazardous processes as trains running without block-telegraphing and 'unqualified' chemists and druggists making up prescriptions. Lamenting the recent death of a boat-crew, the writer urges the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> to fit ships with Clifford's Clifford, Mr (fl. 1872) PU1/62/15/1
Close   View the register entry >> boat-lowering apparatus. Thinks Britain has 'offered up enough lives to Admiralty prejudice'.

Genre:

Illustration, 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:

Human Development, Medical Practitioners

    Shows two young boys standing before their mother in a parlour. The mother cradles a young baby. One boy notes that this is 'the new baby the doctor has sent here to mama', and his brother replies: 'Yes. And don't it squeal? And I do say it's a great shame of the doctor to send babies when people are ill, like poor mama. I hate him!'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Hospitals, Mental Illness, Crime

People mentioned:

William Lash Lash, William (fl. 1872) PU1/62/15/3
Close   View the register entry >>

Institutions mentioned:

Colney Hatch Asylum Colney Hatch Asylum
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Environmentalism, Economic Geology

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Environmentalism, Economic Geology, Meteorology

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Medical Practitioners, Scientific Practitioners, Crime, Controversy, Manufactories, Sanitation, Government

    Reports on the trial of Mr Salmon Salmon, Mr (fl. 1872) PU1/62/16/3
Close   View the register entry >>, a manure manufacturer accused of injuring the public's health with offensive odours from his factory. Notes that Salmon's business exploits fish-heads and garbage from slaughter-houses, and relates the testimony of the local medical officer concerning the smell. Describes the 'usual arraying of eminent "scientific witnesses"' to prove that great efforts had been made to remove the odour and that 'there were no BAD smells'. Cynically notes how sanitary officers, agricultural chemists, and chemical lecturers 'came forward to testify on behalf of Salmon and his sweetness'. Reports that the judge and jury inspected the factory and that, whatever the analytical chemist Henry Letheby Letheby, Henry (1816–76) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> may have done for manure manufacture, they were still overwhelmed by the smell. Citing the sanitary measures undertaken by James Stansfeld Stansfeld, Sir James (1820–1898) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Alexander J E Cockburn Cockburn, Sir Alexander James Edmund (1802–80) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and Edward H Stanley (15th Earl of Derby) Stanley, Edward Henry, 15th Earl of Derby (formerly styled 'Lord Stanley') (1826–93) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, believes the nation should be 'progressing fast and far on the way to that cleanliness which is next to godliness'. Laments the lack of parliamentary and public interest in 'Public Health'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, News-Digest, Spoof

Subjects:

Societies, Botany, Geology, Ethnology, Human Development, Anthropology

    Reports that experiments at the 'Royal Farinaceous Society' prove that a substance produced by the roots of the cassava plant is a 'sure prophylactic against lassitude' when drunk with brandy. Reports the discovery of a waistcoat button in the older pliocene beds of Bedfordshire, and regards this as evidence for the existence of man 'at a period long anterior to the dates hitherto current in geological circles'. Expects such news will lead to a 'serious revolution in anthropological science'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Descent, Politics, Domestic Economy, Gender, Human Species

    Strongly objects to a lecture given by an American woman on 'Whether man, being the inferior animal, had a right to the suffrage'. Thinks women may consider men so inferior that they should change places with women, with men fulfilling domestic roles and women having sole authority over national affairs. Doubts whether Charles R Darwin Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'ever dreamed of [man] descending to a level such as this'.

Genre:

Announcement, Drollery

Subjects:

Language, Darwinism

    Noting that Friedrich Max Müller Max Müller, Friedrich (1823–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> is to give a lecture on 'DARWIN'S Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> View of Language', Punch offers to condense it for him to 'A mere monkey-trick!'.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Heterodoxy, Mesmerism, Homeopathy

    Reports on an evangelical sect, the Peculiar People, who prefer to treat disease by prayer and the laying on of hands, rather than by medical treatment. Reports that a verdict of manslaughter was passed on one member of the sect who denied medical treatment to his child who subsequently died of small-pox. Questions whether this is legal and wonders what would happen to those whose children die of small-pox, having only received treatment from a mesmerist and homeopath.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Heat, Force

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Geography, Schools, Colleges, Patronage, Education

    Notes that the Royal Geographical Society Royal Geographical Society
Close   View the register entry >> is awarding medals to boys 'of various schools' who have excelled in examinations on physical and political geography. Notes that boys from Liverpool College Liverpool College
Close   View the register entry >> did just as well as those from Eton College Eton College, Berkshire
Close   View the register entry >> and wonders whether 'in all useful knowledge and science such as schools can teach, Eton men are beaten men'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Education, Geography, Ornithology

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Environmentalism, Patronage

Genre:

Drollery

Subjects:

Menageries, Exhibitions, Commerce

    Notes the high price fetched by wild animals. Thinks that a man, 'to make money by a wild-beast show, must indeed drive a "roaring" trade', as the 'magnates in the animal line do'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Engineering, Government

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Human Development, Disease, Education

    Notes the struggles 'to get your children on in life', including contending with a variety of diseases, schooling, and the task of finding marriage partners for the children.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Language

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, War

    Responding to debates about Britain's coastal defences, the author notes the vulnerability of 'transport ships of wood' which would make 'all hands a holocaust' with one shell. Urges that if coastal defences are 'right' then 'You'll ne'er have foes ashore to fight', but upholds the importance of securing a strong army that is 'fit to meet / The biggest that could dodge our fleet' or the possibility that Britain's 'torpedoes' and 'rams' will prove ineffective.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Futurism, Railways, Transport, Telegraphy

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Supernaturalism

Genre:

Regular Feature, News-Digest, Spoof

Subjects:

Light, Exhibition

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Electricity, Religious Authority, Superstition, Progress

    The writer reports that he has received, by electric telegraph, the news that the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimos VI Anthimos VI (1782–1877) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, has excommunicated the Bulgarian Patriarch, anathematised two Bulgarian bishops, and inflicted 'eternal pains of hell' on another bishop. Thinks this news 'smacks of the pre-scientific ages', when electricity was considered a 'supernatural phenomenon', and when 'Patriarchs and Popes were commonly believed to be supernaturally endowed by fulminating powers'. Thinks such fulminations, 'anachronistically reported by the lightning wire', are out of date.

Genre:

Introduction, Drollery; Announcement, Drollery

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Invention, Technology, Domestic Economy

    Presents a programme 'of the various classes of objects, intended to be shown at the International Exhibitions during the remainder of the period which commenced in 1871, and will terminate in 1880'. Given the time needed to prepare the artefacts, considers the publication of this schedule to be advantageous to future exhibitors. Each programme consists of a bizarre array of household and other 'things'. The programme for 1879, for example, will display 'Agricultural implements, sewing machines, swimming apparatus, diving-bells, dry docks, dentistry, and gums'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health, Language

    Noting Henry Letheby's Letheby, Henry (1816–76) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> support for the high quality of London water, christens Letheby 'a sort of Champion of the Thames' and a 'Thamesby'. Similarly, considering that the Thames is enriched by tributaries from Kingston-on-Thames, postulates that the rivers Thames and Lethe are so much alike that 'Thamesby and Letheby are really equivalent names'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Ornithology, Cruelty, Hunting, Crime

    Inveighs against 'the destroyers / Of our native British birds' whom the author considers as disreputable as 'greedy Lords of Manors' and 'Railway wretches'. Laments the loss of various species of British bird and suggests various ways of punishing the bird-destroyers, including hanging. In conclusion asks readers to read the plea of Angela G Burdett-Coutts (1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts) Burdett-Coutts, Angela Georgina, 1st Baroness (1814–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> for the protection of birds in a recent issue of The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Cruelty, Hunting, Ornithology

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Geology, Superstition

    Notes that fools think that the earth, owing to its crust, is 'a pudding, or pie', that 'Vesuvius, at seasons, let out / The gravy within it has got', and that lava indicates that 'Inside the meat is all hot'.

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Controversy, Observatories

    Reports that three out of five conversations open with the subject of the weather. Notes that the ancient Greeks built a 'Temple of the Winds' and boasted a playwright (Aristophanes Aristophanes (c. 448–c. 388 BC) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>) who wrote The Clouds. Notes the number of people who are trying to raise the wind and that, despite scientific discoveries, the exact composition of the clouds remains unknown. Distinguishes morning from night dew and insists that since there are 'four quarters of the wind' there should be two halves, but adds that nothing is known of this at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Electricity, Instruments, Technology, Politics, Government

    The subject of this article is the light recently installed on the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster Palace of Westminster
Close   View the register entry >>, which will shine when the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> is in session. The poem, written from the perspective of the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Board of Works Metropolitan Board of Works
Close   View the register entry >>, Acton Ayrton, describes his unsmiling expression and uncompromising attitude. The narrator notes that he has given the light to the House of Commons gratis. He insists that 'To hire electric light I'm loth', and claims that his choice of gas lighting was prompted by the fact that 'cheap gas' was plentiful, Ayrton liking anything that is 'cheap and nasty'. Boasts that his lamp, 'Backed with reflectors through the gloom', will 'illume' one half of London, a symbol of the House of Commons where 'but one side can be right'. Adds that his clock will also show how the House of Commons 'takes no note of time', but both the light from the lamp and political 'wisdom' will have to shine through 'a weary length / Of leaden spouting'. Concludes by insisting that his light will keep the 'balance right' and is better than 'costlier, brighter, broader light' that would have 'conveyed' less meaning.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Hunting

Genre:

Essay, News-Commentary

Subjects:

Agriculture, Adulteration, Charlatanry, Analytical Chemistry, Education

    Concerns the ways farmers are 'cheated' by the producers of adulterated fertilisers. Describes how the principal fertiliser, superphosphate of lime, 'can be watered as easily as rum; and with less risk of detection'. Reports on a letter to the Chemical News Chemical News (1859–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> by Mr Little Little, Mr (fl.1871) PU1/62/25/2
Close   View the register entry >>, noting the lack of consensus among chemists over the analysis of fertiliser. Little also calls for the establishment of a 'chemical school' where prospective farmers can learn to analyse manure, and to protect themselves from 'fraudulent artificial manure manufactures'. He claims that farmers would save money by taking his advice. Punch praises Little's scheme.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Societies, Narcotics, Chemistry, Astronomy, Mathematics, Amusement

    Announces the presentation of several academic papers including Dr Tippler on the 'Use and Effect of Alchol', Dr Smuggins on the 'employment of the Star in (a) billiards, (b) in theatrical entertainments', Dr Terfytte on 'a mathematical enquiry into the state of the odds in connection with individual happiness', and Dr Squib on 'Two Ugly Persons waltzing illustrative of Two Revolving Planes''.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Cruelty, Hunting, Ornithology

    Describes the public attack by Angela G Burdett-Coutts (1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts) Burdett-Coutts, Angela Georgina, 1st Baroness (1814–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> on the cruel practices of gun clubs, detailing the fate of many British birds. The author calls on birds to 'repay' Burdett-Coutts's support for their protection.