Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Environmentalism

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Government, Economic Geology, Energy, Commerce, Nationalism, Environmentalism, Futurism, Electricity, Architecture, Pollution

    Begins by noting how 'provident and philosophical alarmists' have urged 'the Legislature' to consider England's dwindling coal measures, but then concentrates on the future of the nation's 'superficies'. Argues that with the present growth of factories and population, the 'face' of the earth, as well as its 'bowels' will be 'used up'. Anticipates that the surface of England will become a 'hotbed studded with aggregations of bricks and mortar' and spoiled by factory smoke, and that the 'country may be completely spoiled long ere the coal that sustained its progress is nearly gone'. However, the author expresses his confidence in the discovery of solutions to these problems: he anticipates the discovery of a cheap way of storing atmospheric electricity and the adoption of a system of 'vertical elevation instead of lateral extension' in buildings. The higher these buildings rise, he concludes, 'the less will Posterity be troubled with any amount of smoke which it may be unable to consume'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, War, Politics

    The article begins with an explanatory note: 'The declaration of war between Austria and Prussia was exchanged on the 18th of June [a reference to the Austro-Prussian war of 1866], the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo'. Describes the observations of a battle-weary 'England' in the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo. Represents the warring European nations as eagles that 'England' sees grappling 'stark, / For life and death, with beak and claw', then 'bind / The conquered Eagle [France], as he lay, / Baffled and bleeding, bruised and blind', and later, sitting 'grave and grim, / To rend [...] "freed" Europe, limb by limb'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Crime, Disease, Health, Hospitals, Mental Illness, Quackery, Class

    A description, and implicit criticism of, the inhumane methods adopted in Britain for treating criminals. Describes how the criminal is confined in overcrowded sick wards where he is exposed to the diseases of 'the asthmatic and consumptive' and to the 'beds of paupers dying of infectious cholera or fever'. He is propped up with hard pillows taken from a death bed and given 'physic by hap-hazard, measured by the rule of tipsy', and in general allowed to 'slowly rot to death'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M, pseud.  [George L P B Du Maurier] 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:

Zoological Gardens, Gender, Amusement

    Shows a young woman approaching her mother in a parlour. The mother disapproves of her daughter's plans to visit the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> because she does not like 'people looking at beasts on Sunday!'. She finally gives her consent, however, when her daughter points out that people go there to 'look at each other'.

Genre:

Dialogue, Spoof

Subjects:

Disease, Medical Treatment, Gender

    Addressing an imaginary friend, the old smoker offers advice on how to cure such complaints as gout and rheumatism, arguing that 'a wife', a 'ministering angel in the time of trouble', is the solution to the problem.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C H B, pseud.  [Charles H Bennett] Bennett, Charles Henry (1828–67) 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, War, Politics

    A representation of the activity surrounding the launch of Coles's turret-ship from Portsmouth Dockyard Royal Navy—Portsmouth Dockyard
Close   View the register entry >>. Each image has a caption which is written in pseudo-Middle English. In the centre sits a smiling Cole on his 'Tvrret Shyppe'. Beneath his ships sit four lords of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> 'tvrning their backs' on Cole: they look worried by his activities—an allusion to the Admiralty's resistance to Coles's turret-ship. On the right hand side, several ships are seen carrying giant cannon balls and gunpowder, while on the left the passengers of a pleasure yacht are crushed by a cannon ball fired from one of the ships. Several people stand on a pier observing this activity through telescopes. At the bottom, several smaller vessels are seen carrying such dangerous substances as 'Gvn Cotton and Nitro-Glycerin', and 'Lvcifere Matches'.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M, pseud.  [George L P B Du Maurier] 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 Species, Human Development, Religion

    Shows a young girl standing before her mother who sits on a chair in a drawing room. The mother asks her daughter to identify 'the first man' and 'the first woman'. Learning from her mother that the correct answer to the first question is 'Adam', the girl suggests 'Madam' as the answer to the second.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Mental Illness, Cultural Geography

    Discusses an article describing how the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland
Close   View the register entry >> reported a case of a man brought to a lunatic asylum on the grounds that he had 'a great desire to appear conspicuous as a musician'. Punch thinks this is why Scotland has 'never produced a great composer'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof; Song, Spoof

Subjects:

Engineering, Transport, Steamships, Travel, Disease

    Begins by welcoming John Hawkshaw's Hawkshaw, Sir John (1811–91) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> proposal to construct a tunnel under the English Channel. Calls for advertisements to be 'got ready at once' bearing the message 'NO MORE SEA-SICKNESS!'. Suggests numerous features to be placed in the tunnel, including trees, a hotel, fresh water lakes and birds, and envisages that the tunnel could be made of glass so that passengers could see 'the wonders of the deep outside'. Concludes by hoping that Hawkshaw's '"boring" will be satisfactory' and as a postscript adds a song which further praises the advantages of the tunnel over Channel crossings by sea.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Animal Husbandry, Disease, Crime

    Discusses a report in the 'Scotch papers' of a cow which, on attempting to open the doors of a Montrose jail, was 'ill-used' for infringing the Rinderpest laws. Believes this is 'touching proof of the progress of intelligence among the inferior creation' but thinks the cow should be treated kindly because it has more sense than the 'framers' of the Rinderpest regulations.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Class, Utilitarianism, Government, Politics

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

War, Telegraphy

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Animal Husbandry, Cultural Geography

    Discusses news of a banquet held in Paris 'in honour of the introduction of horse-flesh as an article of food'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C H B, pseud.  [Charles H Bennett] Bennett, Charles Henry (1828–67) 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, Expertise

    The initial letter forms part of an illustration showing three breech-loading guns, two of which stand on small human legs and have military hats over their barrels, while the third gun hangs on a nail with its barrel open. The article describes Mr Punch's visit to a camp at Wimbledon where he inspected the skills of riflemen. Notes how Mr Punch held 'some conversation with himself on the subject of the needle-gun [a new type of rifle invented by Johann N von Dreyse Dreyse, Johann Nikolaus von (1787–1867) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> in Prussia] and breechloaders in general' and concluded that the 'ramrod' would be scarce in the following year's meeting at Wimbledon. Later notes Mr Punch's explanation of the greater efficiency of a breech-loader compared with a muzzle-loader.

Genre:

Song

Subjects:

Military Technology, War

    Sung to the tune of 'The Dog's Meat Man', this song begins by praising the formidable power of the new 'Prussian Rifle', a weapon that 'Has to be loaded at the breech; / Five times for each mouth-loader's one' and which can 'knock over men like fun'. Proceeds to explain how the gun gave Prussia a 'murderous advantage' in its recent war with the 'Danish states', and warns of the dangers posed by the weapon for a similar invasion of England by a 'tyrant-thief'. Notes how the weapon helped Prussia's 'execution [...] upon Austria' and concludes by questioning whether England can equal this weapon and by warning that the 'skill at Wimbledon' (see Anon, 'Mr. Punch at Wimbledon', Punch, 51 (1866), 31) is not enough to withstand the new gun.

Genre:

Dialogue, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism

People mentioned:

Daniel D Home Home, Daniel Dunglas (1833–86) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Steam-power

Institutions mentioned:

SS Great Eastern Great Eastern, ship
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Class, Politics, Government, Crime, Health, Disease, Nutrition, Animal Behaviour, Cultural Geography, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners

    Noting the fall from office of the 'champion of Reformers', William E Gladstone Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, argues that 'though nothing can be done now towards reforming of the House [of Commons] House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >>, surely something may be done towards reforming of the Workhouse'. Laments the fact that in England 'we really treat our paupers worse far worse than our criminals', comparing the 'half starved' paupers to the well-fed 'gaol-birds'. Condemns the governors of workhouses and the practice of killing the poor in 'foul rooms' as behaviour comparable to that found in 'savage nations'. Hopes the 'Tory besoms' that form the new government will 'sweep clean' the workhouses and ensure that the poor are given better food and medical treatment by competent and sober nurses.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Physiognomy, Animal Behaviour

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, War

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Railways, Transport, Political Economy, Cultural Geography, Religious Authority, Religion, Education, Mathematics, Mechanics, Economic Geology, Geology

    Notes Benjamin Disraeli's Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> adoption of the previous (Liberal) government's proposal to 'lend public money to the Irish Railways' and John S Mill's Mill, John Stuart (1806–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> argument that, in its handling of Ireland, the government seemed to be violating the 'rules of common sense, of political economy, and of professional etiquette'. Proceeds to a further debate on Ireland which prompts Punch to criticise Irish Catholics for preventing their sons from being 'taught algebra and the Greek Chorus by people who do not believe in the Immaculate Conception, any more than ultra-Churchmen will allow their children to learn [...] hydraulics from Baptists'. Later notes the appointment of a Royal Commission on Coal Royal Commission on Coal
Close   View the register entry >> 'to inquire into the question whether the supply will last our time', and states that John Percy Percy, John (1817–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Andrew C Ramsay Ramsay, Sir Andrew Crombie (1814–91) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, Roderick I Murchison Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey, 1st Baronet (1792–1871) DSBODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and Joseph Prestwich Prestwich, Sir Joseph (1812–96) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> have been appointed to serve on the commission.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Animal Behaviour

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Supernaturalism, Animal Behaviour

Reprinted:

Burnand 1868 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1868. Happy Thoughts, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Zoology, Religious Authority

    Suggests that an 'enterprising showman' could dress monkeys in the 'cloths affected by the ritualists' and exhibit them in 'the various districts infested by parsons who ape Roman Catholic priests'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Class, Health, Government, Politics, Medical Treatment

    Discusses a report of a meeting of the St Pancras Poor Law Union St Pancras Poor Law Union
Close   View the register entry >> who considered a proposal to hire a paid nurse to help relieve the sick wards of its overcrowded workhouse. Believes that the 'benediction of Saint Pancras Pancras, Saint (d. 304) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>' will be conferred on the 'master, the committee, and the surgeon of the parish', but that the same saint will not be pleased to learn that the poor-law guardians narrowly voted that the subject of the proposal be postponed, and that this result owed much to the fact that the 'Bumbles' were attending a feast rather than considering this important business. (The reference is to the parish beadle Bumble in Charles Dickens's Dickens, Charles (1837–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Oliver Twist [Dickens, Charles John Huffam] 1838. Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, 3 vols, London: Richard Bentley
Close   View the register entry >>.) Wishes St Pancras would 'strengthen' Prime Minister 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 >> in his 'determination to effect a Workhouse Reform', and urges the need to stop such evils as the 'ulcers and bed-sores' suffered by paupers and the 'barbarous procrastination' of the poor law guardians.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Health, Metaphysics, Feeling

    Considers the 'puzzling sympathy 'twixt souls and stomach' that is suggested by the link between pains of the body and depression of the soul.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Domestic Economy

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct. [14]

Subjects:

Steamships, Transport, Gender

    Represents the problems encountered by Mrs Trott on her voyage from London Bridge to Chelsea by steamboat. She is involved in numerous mishaps including being crushed by the funnel of the vessel.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Husbandry, Disease, Homeopathy

    Suggests that 'an infinitesimal scraping of cheese-rind' would be 'found as effectual a homeopathic remedy as any other for rinderpest'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Military Technology, Cultural Geography, Progress, Patronage, Technology, Government, Politics

    Reflects on news that the American ship, the USS Miantonomoh USS Miantonomoh
Close   View the register entry >>, has crossed the Atlantic. Believes that by the time England has built a similar vessel, the Americans will have invented a 'diving-boat' and 'huge steam-rams' to sink such vessels. Suggests that the Americans 'will doubtless be wiser than to throw away powder and shot on experiments on gunnery on vessels that show but six inches above the water', and adds that the Americans may 'buy the idea' of their new 'contrivances' from 'an Englishman who will have had the offer of it rejected' by his countrymen. Concludes by hoping that war does not break out between England and America in which the latter would have the advantage.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, Religion

    'It is said that an exhibition of the Converted Rifles [a reference to Jacob Snider's Snider, Jacob (1820–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> converted muzzle-loaders] will shortly take place at Exeter Hall Exeter Hall, Strand
Close   View the register entry >> [London's leading Evangelical venue, and consequently a site for religious conversions]'.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Museums, Telegraphy

    Notes a debate on the British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >>, asking when 'the black-beetles, toads, and lobster shells' will be ejected from it, and later notes the announcement of the laying of the 'Atlantic Telegraph' to America (48).

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Drollery

Subjects:

Human Development, Crime, Sanitation

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Exploration, Discovery, Miracle, Religious Authority, Religion

    Discusses a Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> report that the proposal of a 'French prelate' to have Christopher Columbus Columbus, Christopher (1451–1506) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> canonised may be blocked by the Congregation of Rites because the explorer does not meet the requirement of 'having performed three well authenticated miracles'. Considers Columbus's discovery of a 'new world' to be 'probably as great a miracle' as any performed by a saint, and the explorer's conversion of the new world to Christianity as well authenticated as any miracle. Having listed two 'miracles' performed by Columbus, the writer ironically claims that his third was 'making the egg stand upright'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Nutrition, Animal Husbandry, Language

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Time

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Hospitals, Disease, War, Politics, Morality

    Begins by upholding the 'salutary' experience of walking through hospitals, an act that 'induces pity and compassion' and refinement of the mind. Wonders whether kings and emperors would have their minds refined by the sight of suffering, and urges that they should walk through hospitals where they might rethink their plans for war. Draws attention to the villages of Germany, where 'thousands of creatures' lie slain from sword and gun wounds, and wonders whether the hearts of kings and emperors would be softened by this harrowing sight. This is a response to the bloody 'Seven Weeks' War' in which the Prussian army attacked Austria and the German states who were hostile to the attempt of Otto E L von Bismarck (Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen) Bismarck, Prince Otto Edward Leopold von, Duke of Lauenburg (1815–98) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> to create a new German confederation.

Genre:

Extract, Reminiscences, Spoof

Subjects:

Politics, Government, Disease, Medical Treatment, Medical Practitioners, Homeopathy, Analogy

    Putatively extracted from 'Mrs. Politic's Random Recollections', this describes the great reforms to the British 'Constitution' as if they were treatments administered to the diseased Mr Constitution by various reformist statesmen. Explains how old Constitution was 'the son of a Carter [a reference to the Magna Carta]' and that, owing to his weakness of the 'chest [treasury]', 'two celebrated physicians, DR. GREY Grey, Charles, 1st Baron Grey, 1st Viscount Howick, and 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and DR. RUSSELL Russell, Lord John, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', 'put him on poor man's plaster [a reference to the Reform Act of 1832]' and finally 'brought him round'. Explains that years later 'old Mr. Constitution' suffered greatly from weakness of the 'chest', and that this time Dr Russell and his 'assistant' Dr Gladstone Gladstone, William Ewart (1809–98) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> urged that the patient have a 'much stronger and bigger' poor man's plaster. However, Mr Constitution's 'rich relations' protested that he was not weak of the chest, which caused Russell and Gladstone to 'throw up the case'. Describes how Dr Derby Stanley, Edward George Geoffrey Smith, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1869) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who 'practises homeopathy' and gives 'very small doses' [i.e. gradual political measures], and Mr Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, stood by the bedside of the sick old Mr Constitution. Mr Benjamin heard a 'skeleton in the House', groaning outside the sickroom, but Dr Derby observed: 'we had better keep our places [in government]' and merely 'cut' the 'knot in the curtains'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Electricity, Politics, War, Internationalism, Commerce

Institutions mentioned:

Atlantic Telegraph Company

    Written from the perspective of an Irishman who offers a 'word to John Bull [...] from the little Glass-house' in Foïl-hummerum Bay'—a reference to the telegraph station of Richard A Glass Glass, Sir Richard Atwood (1820–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> on the West Coast of Ireland from which the Atlantic telegraph was laid. He describes how the 'Sthripes and the Stars [...] laughs at bould Neptune's broad back laid between' the Old World and the New, and 'sets the big battheries a blaze at long range, / that makes friends out of foes wid each shot they exchange'. Notes that Neptune's back has been made 'Mighty sore' after being 'probed by deep sounding lead', and his sleep has been 'spoilt wid wires laid the length of his bed'. Toasts the various ways in which the Atlantic telegraph has united Britain and the United States, noting how 'they pass rate of markets, and news o' the day, / As if Atlantic was out o' the way', and 'free to shake hands' like 'neighbours' across a street. Thinks that 'John Bull' has 'ould Ireland' to thank for this accomplishment and hopes that the latter will also cause greater harmony between Britain and Ireland. Points out that although Ireland was seen as the country that would bring the 'Yankees' and subversive Republican politics to Britain, it brought Yankees 'for Peace not for War' and that the telegraph cable 'fastens the anchor of Hope'. Concludes by praising the good-will that can be 'flashed' through the telegraph between Ireland, Britain, and the United States.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Politics

    Describes how the author related details of the 'Battle of Sad'war' [a reference to the battle of Sadowa, which was one of the decisive conflicts of the Austro-Prussian War] to his uncle who is an aged and conservative sergeant-major. His uncle mocks the alleged capabilities of the Prussian breech-loading needle-gun, which wreaked such havoc on the Austrians, and upholds the powers of the Brown Bess rifle.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Health, Sanitation

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Disease, Public Health, Supernaturalism, Religion, Meteorology, Patronage, Military Technology, War, Railways, Transport, Commerce, Environmentalism

    Reports on a discussion in the House of Lords House of Lords
Close   View the register entry >> concerning the recent outbreak of cholera, an epidemic that prompted the House of Commons House of Commons
Close   View the register entry >> to do what it could 'in the way of legislation for public health'. Punch adds that 'The Prayer has, unhappily become an anachronism' as a means of abating the epidemic. Later notes the remodelling of the Meteorological Office Meteorological Office
Close   View the register entry >> and hopes that the subscription for the family of the late Robert Fitzroy Fitzroy, Robert (1805–65) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> is 'still being increased'. Praises the government for abandoning its expensive plans for building new fortifications at Chatham and Tilbury. Following remarks by the president of the Board of Trade Board of Trade
Close   View the register entry >>, Stafford H Northcote Northcote, Sir Stafford Henry, 1st Baron Iddesleigh (1818–87) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, on the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>, Punch insists that the public should have protection against creditors for this company that has 'enormous powers' and destroys 'whole suburbs'. (57)

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Engineering

People mentioned:

John Thwaites, Thwaites, Sir John (1815–1870) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> William Tite Tite, Sir William (1798–1873) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Disease, Government, Politics, Public Health, Sanitation

    Written from the perspective of King Cholera, who begins by calling for a clear path for his 'cold blue scythe of Death' and for the 'incense of wasted breath' on which he flourishes. Reveals that it is 'BUMBLE THE GREAT', not 'Filth, Stench, Hunger, or Cold', who is King Cholera's 'right hand'. His 'peals' for 'anti-centralisation' and 'penny-wisdom' arms Cholera's hand, he has caused the 'open water butt' to 'drink the breath / Of plague', and his 'flabby heart and leaden skull [...] keep the rates down and the dead-house full'. Concludes by hoping that Bumble and his 'Local Self-Government hobby' will continue to promote his evil enterprise. (The reference is to the parish beadle Bumble from Charles Dickens's Dickens, Charles (1837–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Oliver Twist [Dickens, Charles John Huffam] 1838. Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, 3 vols, London: Richard Bentley
Close   View the register entry >>.)

Genre:

Introduction; Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Light, Instruments, Politics

    Introduces 'Conservative' and 'Liberal' accounts of the same 'Reform meeting at the Agricultural Hall Agricultural Hall, Islington
Close   View the register entry >>'. These reports are printed in parallel columns as if they were images to be viewed through a stereoscope.

Genre:

Editorial Reply, Spoof

Subjects:

Physical Geography, Electricity, Telegraphy, Language

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C K, pseud.  [Charles S Keene] 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, Comparative Philology, Internationalism

Institutions mentioned:

Atlantic Telegraph Company

    Shows Neptune wrapped in lengths of the recently laid Atlantic telegraph cable, rising out of the Atlantic. On the right, Britannia stands with her shield and bow lowered in an apparent gesture of peace. On the left, Brother Jonathan (the personification of the United States of America) kneels in respect on the distant shores of the United States. Britannia and Jonathan receive the blessing of the 'Heavy Father' [because laden in iron cable] of the sea for reconciling each other with the telegraph.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, Utilitarianism, Disease, Government

People mentioned:

Edward J Reed, Reed, Sir Edward James (1830–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Cowper P Coles Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Light, Magic, Botany, Comparative Philology

    Denies the claim that the 'fern-seed' confers the 'gift of invisibility' but explains that by wearing a 'seedy suit' 'your acquaintance will pass you [in the street] without seeing you'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Crime, Physiognomy

    Discusses an apparently confusing report of a man accused of murder which stresses that the accused appeared to be 'dogged and indifferent' but that his appearance did not suggest 'an absence of a low order of intellectual faculty'. Insists that the appearance of somebody with a 'dogged' demeanour does not indicate low intellectual ability, but on the contrary suggests high intellectual ability. Argues that the report should have stated that despite having a 'dogged' demeanour, the appearance of the accused 'did not betoken an absolute idiot'. Concludes by suggesting that if the 'physiognomist' quoted meant to argue that such criminal features as 'thick neck' and 'peculiarly hanging beetle brows' were signs of intelligence then he should 're-edit LAVATER Lavater, Johann Kaspar (1741–1801) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Astronomy, Observation, Instruments

Reprinted:

Burnand 1868 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1868. Happy Thoughts, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Electricity, Comparative Philology

Genre:

Regular Feature, Proceedings, Drollery

Subjects:

Government, Politics, Public Health, Sanitation, Military Technology, War, Disease, Supernaturalism, Religion

    Discusses the progress of a public health bill, which Mr Punch hopes will thwart 'any vestryman, Blackguardian, municipal councillor, beadle or other obstructive'. Notes Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy's Gathorne-Hardy, Gathorne, 1st Earl of Cranbrook (1814–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> reassurances that the 'new Health Act would do good' and that local authorities would have their powers 'transferred' if they failed to deal with problems of public health. Notes Gathorne-Hardy's proposed bill for dealing with those local authorities that neglect sanitation problems and urges that the bill should be framed in the expectation that authorities will have failed do their duty in the interim. Later notes remarks made by John S Pakington Pakington, John Somerset, 1st Baron Hampton (1799–1880) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (the first lord of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>) on the 'unsatisfactory condition' of the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>, including the small number of ships ready for emergencies. Also reports the communication (by Frederick Thesiger (1st Baron Chelmsford) Thesiger, Frederick, 1st Baron Chelmsford (1794–1878) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) of messages from 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 >>, who 'Deplored the Visitation of the Cholera', gave 'directions for Prayer', and 'cordially approved Legislative remedies that had been provided'.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Gender

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Nationalism, War, Military Technology, Steamships, Progress, Commerce

    Ironically upholds the reign of Britannia over the sea while describing the deficiencies of Britain's Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>. Notes that while Britain is now using iron to clad its ships it has no 'sea-walls', but that Britannia is still 'Queen of the Sea'. Points out that although Britain has far fewer ironclads than 'Other nations' and has spent 'seven millions' on apparently useless naval 'experiments', Britain is more vulnerable to attack but still reigns the sea. Concludes by hoping that 'with all maritime Powers, / That we still shall contrive to agree, / Whilst creating a fleet, / Fit their navies to meet'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Time, Reading

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour

    Reports on a purported conversation between the 'Sea-Bear' at the Zoological Society Gardens Zoological Society of London —Gardens
Close   View the register entry >> and his keeper, concerning the death of the 'Sea-Cow'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Government, Politics, Controversy, Industry, Commerce, Amateurism

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    An implicit criticism of some of the reasons for the delay in the appearance of Britain's 'Fleet of the Future'. It begins by anticipating that this goal may be reached when the 'great case of COLES v. REED has been tried'. This is a reference to Cowper P Coles's Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> conflict with Edward J Reed Reed, Sir Edward James (1830–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> over the design of naval warships: Coles favours guns mounted on armoured 'cupolas', whereas Reed prefers guns situated behind a ship's armoured 'broadside'. Notes the conflict between those who want better armour plating and those who argue for improved guns, the battle between 'Wood and iron, armour and none', and the conflict between those who favour the Monitor Monitor, ship
Close   View the register entry >> [an American ironclad] design and the HMS Achilles HMS Achilles
Close   View the register entry >> [a British broadside ironclad] design. Proceeds to criticize the fact that this futuristic fleet is invisible and 'always about to be', but fails to appear despite the expenditure of 'millions', the meetings of 'Board after Board' of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>, and the apparently vain efforts of Clarence E Paget Paget, Lord Clarence Edward (1811–95) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Edward A St Maur (12th Duke of Somerset St Maur [formerly Seymour], Edward Adolphus, 12th Duke of Somerset (1804–85) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>), James Stansfield Stansfeld, Sir James (1820–1898) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and Hugh C E Childers Childers, Hugh Culling Eardley (1827–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Asks whether the fleet will appear when the 'Dockyard waste is at an end' or 'When we set ship-builders to building of ships', and thinks this will only happen when 'bungling' and 'ignorant' naval officers 'learn / A little about the vast concern'. Concludes by lamenting the fact that John Bull will have to sustain 'Routine' leading 'Common Sense / Through the quicksands of waste' and the 'slough of expense' and create a new 'Admiralty Augean' before the new fleet is seen.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Nationalism

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Inspired by the plot of Sheridan 1781 Sheridan, Richard Brinsley 1781. The Critic; or, A Tragedy Rehearsed: A Dramatic Piece in Three Acts, As it is Performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London: T. Becket
Close   View the register entry >>, this shows Tilburnia, daughter of the governor of Tilbury fort, pointing over some battlements to the sea, and looking apprehensively at the First Lord of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>. Tilburnia claims that she can see the 'fleets approach', but the first sea-lord warns her that 'The British fleet thou canst not see—Because it is Not yet in sight!'. Similar to , Anon, '"The Critic" (Slightly Altered)', Punch, 51 (1866), [73], this criticizes the perpetual delays to the completion of a new British fleet.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery; Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Religion, Zoology, Language

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Societies, Medical Practitioners, Physiology, Discovery

    Discusses news of the establishment of the 'Sydenham' medical club—a reference to the Sydenham Society Sydenham Society
Close   View the register entry >>. Criticises the founders for naming their club after Thomas Sydenham Sydenham, Thomas (1624–89) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, whom they regard as the 'celebrated Physician of the time of CHARLES THE FIRST Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1600–49) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>'. Insists that the society should have been called the 'Harvey Club' since William Harvey Harvey, William (1578–1657) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> was the 'discoverer of the circulation of the blood' and is a 'greater name' than Sydenham. Adds that this title would have stopped people nicknaming the society 'The Seventeen-six'.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Engineering, Invention, Aeronautics, Comparative Philology, Internationalism

    Begins with two epigraphs. The first, from Horace's Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BC) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Pindaric Ode on the myth of Icarus ( '—Vitreo daturus / Nomina ponto'), refers to the fact that Icarus gave his name to a 'glassy sea'. The second reads 'CANNING Canning, Sir Samuel (1823–1908) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to GLASS Glass, Sir Richard Atwood (1820–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>', which was the first message sent through the Atlantic telegraph cable, and was reported in The Times The Times (1777–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >>. Playing on the name of the telegraph projector Glass, the poem begins by lamenting the fate of Icarus who was given wings by Daedalus but because 'Fair Science' was then 'weak in infancy', fell to the 'glassy wave'. However, it explains how, after 'centuries' there appeared a 'full-armed Goddess [...] strong with diviner will', and that 'another' Daedalus 'comes, to join / Two worlds in one magic chain [the telegraph]'. Concludes by noting how 'all the world' hails the 'sea of peace, the Sea of GLASS'.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Military Technology, Progress, Cultural Geography

    Asks why 'obsolete old wooden yellow hulks' are left rotting in naval dockyards, pointing out that such vessels are useless in the face of such warships as the American ship, USS Miantonomoh USS Miantonomoh
Close   View the register entry >>, and that they are too expensive to paint.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Domestic Economy

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Environmentalism

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Steamships, Manufactories, Metallurgy

    Discusses 'Seeley's' (possibly Robert B Seeley Seeley, Robert Benton (1798–1886) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>) claim that dockyards are paved with 'the best cold-blast iron'. Believes this costly venture shows the ignorance and incompetence of the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Class, Disease, Health, Crime, Morality, Politics

    Begins by noting Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy's Gathorne-Hardy, Gathorne, 1st Earl of Cranbrook (1814–1906) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> assurances that 'Local Self-Government' would be put on trial if it could be shown to be causing 'inhumanity' to sick paupers, but insists that Gathorne-Hardy and John Bull disagree about the 'mode of trial'. Proceeds to note several cases of cruelty brought against Bumble for inhumanity to sick workhouse paupers. (The reference is to the parish beadle Bumble in Charles Dickens's Dickens, Charles (1837–96) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Oliver Twist [Dickens, Charles John Huffam] 1838. Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, 3 vols, London: Richard Bentley
Close   View the register entry >>.) Reveals that in a recent trial of a poor law union guardian, the public jury found him guilty of 'grossest inhumanity'. Criticises Gathorne-Hardy's proposal to have juries of Bumbles deciding cases of Bumbles, a situation that it expects will result in the acquittal and 'whitewashing' of the guardians. Presents an extract from the trial of a Shoreditch poor law guardian accused of severe misconduct towards a sick pauper, and considers the trial of this guardian by his colleagues to be a 'farce'. Urges that Mr Punch calls for 'a new trial' in the Shoreditch inquiry, a trial in which Bumbles would take no part except as witnesses or as the accused.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Progress, Internationalism, Manufactories, Industry

Institutions mentioned:

Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>

    Beginning with the conventional assertion that the shoemaker's wife 'is always the worse shod woman in the world', the writer laments the fact that 'All the maritime nations of the earth are armed with iron-clads designed by, or after Cowper P Coles Coles, Cowper Phipps (1819–70) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, and most built in British Dockyards', and that Britannia is even behind Brazil in 'naval armaments'.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Military Technology

People mentioned:

Joseph Whitworth Whitworth, Sir Joseph, 1st Baronet (1803–87) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Reprinted:

Burnand 1868 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1868. Happy Thoughts, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C H B, pseud.  [Charles H Bennett] Bennett, Charles Henry (1828–67) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Sanitation, Instruments, Public Health, Exploration, Patronage, Government

    The initial letter forms part of an illustration showing an Egyptian hieroglyph depicting a woman blowing into an instrument for spraying a mist (possibly an antiseptic fluid). The author relishes news that James A Grant Grant, James Augustus (1827–92) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> has been made a Companion of the Bath, but suggests that this honour would have been better conferred on the sanitation reformer John Simon Simon, Sir John (1816–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> who could 'enforce the Order of the Bath' on people constituting nuisances 'by a neglect of ablution'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Disease

    Notes James Glaisher's Glaisher, James (1809–1903) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> claim that a 'blue fog' that he has discovered at Greenwich might be the cause of cholera, although Punch thinks 'blue funk' is a more likely cause.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Commerce, Politics

    Noting the Admiralty's Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >> expenditure of 'twelve millions yearly' on the Royal Navy Royal Navy
Close   View the register entry >>, which has resulted in 'no ships', suggests that 'our men of war' be called 'our invisibles' rather than 'our invincibles'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Societies, Scientific Practitioners, Mapping, Geology, Ether, Light, Spectroscopy, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Cell Biology, Vitalism, Energy, Force, Matter Theory, Education, Metaphysics, Cosmology, Eschatology, Animal Development, Evolution, Darwinism, Progress

    A commentary on William R Grove's Grove, Sir William Robert (1811–96) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> presidential address to the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> at Nottingham. Begins by noting the wide domain of the sciences discussed by Grove, including the way that science 'Pokes his fingers well under the Earth's crust', 'Pulls Geology's plums from their dust', 'Treads, serene, æther's luminous field with an eye above fancies or fallacies', 'Puts star-light through spectrum-analysis', and 'Shows the Universe in its simplicity', reducing life to 'Cell, plus the power of so many horses'. Proceeds to explain how Grove's reductionist claims would be received in some quarters. Warns that while 'spectra and forces' have settled the question of the constitution of matter, 'weak people' will still ask 'who made it?' and, 'Not content with cell-matter and force', 'insist on some primum mobile'. Describes how Grove anticipated such objections and dealt with nature's 'ends' and 'beginning', explaining that he traced the growth of an elephant from a cell 'Under pressure, by process Darwinian. Believes that this is at least as shocking at that of a 'ready-made elephant / Bringing his truck from the heart of a rock' or 'wringing' its tusks from a 'hollow-tree', and concludes by siding with the 'weak people', by upholding the things in 'heaven and earth [...] Not dreamt of in Grovian philosophy', and asserting that 'Folks' will not replace their 'old lights for the new' seen through spectra, or believe that they grew 'Like an Elephant made à la DARWIN Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

Introduction; Extract, Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Military Technology, Supernaturalism, Light

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Religion, Military Technology, Language

Genre:

Letter, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Amusement, Magic, Collecting, Animal Behaviour

    The narrator boasts about his exhibition of 'startlin' curiositys, wax works, snaix' and describes the mishaps caused when he hired a 'young man of dissypated habits' to masquerade in a show as 'A real Cannibal from New Zeelan'.

Reprinted:

Browne 1870 Browne, Charles [1870]. Artemus Ward in London: Comprising the Letters to "Punch" and Other Humorous Papers, London: J. C. Hotten
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

[Cannon], pseud.  [Thomas S Seccombe] Seccombe, Thomas Strong (fl. 1875–80) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Light, Instruments, Gender

    Shows a young woman on a shoreline looking at her cousin through the wrong end of a small telescope. She tells him that he looks 'so nice such a long way off', to which another cousin (standing behind her) replies 'Aw—just so'.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Societies, Reading, Evolution

    Describes the narrator's faltering attempt to read to his friends a manuscript for a 'grand work entitled Typical Developments', which begins with a sentence describing the 'very earliest and darkest ages of our ancient earth, before even the grand primæval forests' (96).

Reprinted:

Burnand 1868 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1868. Happy Thoughts, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Economic Geology, Political Economy, Commerce, Gender

    The lady describes the horror with which she greeted news of the increased price of coal. She explains that she was told that the price rise was caused by coal-owners responding to 'a gentleman in Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >>' [John S Mill Mill, John Stuart (1806–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>] who raised 'an alarm' about the dwindling coal measures. Chastises Mill 'and all the scientific men who have been talking nonsense', and asks them to see that their 'skuttles' are 'full of slates all through the winter'.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, Steamships, Industry, Commerce, Politics

    Set to the tune of 'A Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea', this song ridicules the extortionate ship building costs incurred by the Admiralty Admiralty
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery; Song, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C H B, pseud.  [Charles H Bennett] Bennett, Charles Henry (1828–67) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Spielmann, Marion Harry Alexander 1895. The History of "Punch", London: Cassell
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Societies, Scientific Practitioners, Mapping, Philosophy, Physical Geography, Travel, Anatomy, Zoology, Military Technology, Geology, Stratigraphy, Chemistry, Antiseptics, Animal Husbandry, Disease, Aeronautics, Meteorology, Heat, Experiment, Light, Instruments, Spectroscopy, Astronomy, Animal Development, Evolution, Darwinism, Progress, War, Heroism

    A commentary on the 1866 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> at Nottingham. The illustration shows some of the stars of the meeting rolling on globes, often holding the artefacts used in their scientific labours, on a large spiral. At the top stands the association's president, William R Grove Grove, Sir William Robert (1811–96) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who wields a sun labelled 'Continuity' and stands on a sphere marked 'Correlation' (a reference to Grove 1846 Grove, William Robert 1846. On the Correlation of Physical Forces: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures Delivered in the London Institution in the Year 1843, [London]: London Institution
Close   View the register entry >>). Further down is Roderick I Murchison Murchison, Sir Roderick Impey, 1st Baronet (1792–1871) DSBODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who stands on a globe and holds a banner labelled 'Traveller's Friend' (an allusion to Murchison's extensive cartographic enterprises), and Thomas H Huxley Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> who balances on the skull of an ape and plays with some bones. Next down, the rifle-wielding William Fairbairn Fairbairn, Sir William (1789–1874) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> jumps off a forty-pound cannon ball and the geographer Matthew F Maury Maury, Matthew Fontaine (1806–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> operates some bellows. Further around is a falling Andrew C Ramsay Ramsay, Sir Andrew Crombie (1814–91) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> clad in a cartographic sphere, William Crookes Crookes, Sir William (1832–1919) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> holding some fuming chemical jars and standing on his 'Carbolic' spray, and William Odling Odling, William (1829–1921) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, standing on a chemical bottle and trying to shield himself from Crookes's demonstration. On the bottom spiral, James Glaisher Glaisher, James (1809–1903) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> is being hoisted by a large balloon attached to his coat, John Tyndall Tyndall, John (1820–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> rides on a gargantuan teapot marked 'Invisible Heat', an elderly David Brewster Brewster, Sir David (1781–1868) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> stands astride a giant pair of spectacles, and William Huggins Huggins, Sir William (1824–1910) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, his head composed of a large glass prism within which a small sun is contained, is seen holding the scales and bottle of an analytical chemist, whilst standing on a small sun (a reference to Huggins's use of spectrum analysis to gauge the sun's chemical composition). The song, which describes the illustration, begins by asking forgiveness for showing the austere 'High Priesthood' of science as 'figures of fun' and each verse explains how the artist has illustrated each as an 'Ethardo atop of his globe'. The next verse describes Grove and alludes to the presidential address in which he discussed 'continuity' and explained, on Darwinian principles, the biological development of an elephant from the 'trunk of a tree'. The following verse praises Murchison as a 'kind friend of adventurous travellers' and one of the great 'unravellers' of geographical 'secrets', notes Huxley's playing with bones, and Maury 'Blowing the storms to appropriate zones'. The song then describes how Fairbairn heard 'how bombs in the air burn, / And rifles hit hardest' and anticipates the importance of his work 'in days when we dare burn / War's gory stories', and then praises Ramsay's extensive stratigraphical and geological knowledge. The next verse opens by describing how Crookes 'for a frolic' dispensed his 'Carbolic' spray until Odling asked him to 'discontinue his smells', and then notes Glaisher's travels in a balloon 'charged with Blue Mist' and how Tyndall, 'whose honours are safe from erasure', rode a giant teapot. The concluding verse opens by praising 'Binocular' Brewster, whose fame shines with 'brilliant lustre', notes how Huggins 'the starry' is perched on a sun, and ends by affirming the 'fun' of 'Philosophy'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Natural History, Nutrition, Collecting, Museums, Cultural Geography, Human Development, Domestic Economy

    Noting how London servants often eradicate black beetles by inducing hedgehogs to eat them, discusses an extract from an article in the Daily Telegraph Daily Telegraph (1856–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> which describes how Arizona Indians consumed as food the animals (including bats, snakes, and beetles) which were to have been collected for the Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution
Close   View the register entry >>. Suggests that the Indians are 'far in advance' of those who eat 'shrimps, prawns, and turtle' and that they should be hired in the 'two-fold capacity of footman and hedgehog' and then asked to consume garden pests.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Government, Utilitarianism, Class, Disease, Pollution, Hospitals

    Describes a quarrel between two 'G's'—central government and local government. Includes central government's attack on local government, which is responsible for the filth and immorality in casual workhouse wards and the 'suffering and brutality' in paupers' sick rooms.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Internationalism

Reprinted:

Browne 1870 Browne, Charles [1870]. Artemus Ward in London: Comprising the Letters to "Punch" and Other Humorous Papers, London: J. C. Hotten
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners

    Claims that 'the Surgeons of the United Kingdom' are raising a subscription for a testimonial to Prince George (2nd Duke of Cambridge) George (George William Frederick Charles), Prince, 2nd Duke of Cambridge (1819–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, for upholding 'the position and maintain[ing] the rights of medical officers' and for promoting 'the Medical Department of the British Army Army Medical Department
Close   View the register entry >>'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Meteorology, Disease, Observation

    Discusses a report of James Glaisher's Glaisher, James (1809–1903) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> paper at the British Association for the Advancement of Science British Association for the Advancement of Science
Close   View the register entry >> meeting on 'the blue or cholera mist', arguing that Glaisher's claim that cholera was absent in the place where the mist was 'most dense' suggests that the connection between the mist and cholera is a chimera.

Genre:

Reportage, Drollery

Subjects:

Steamships, Exhibitions

Institutions mentioned:

Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace
Close   View the register entry >> SS Great Eastern Great Eastern, ship
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Class, Patronage, Societies, Gender, Health, Domestic Economy, Human Development

    Upholding the virtues of spending one's excess money on 'judicious works of charity', describes the work of the Ladies' Sanitary Association Ladies' National Association for the Diffusion of Sanitary Knowledge
Close   View the register entry >>, an ailing society to which Punch suggests readers send money. Explains how the association tries to 'help the poor to live in cleanliness and health' and in general to live healthily and economically. Adds that with the recent visitation of the 'black cholera' the ladies distribute materials for sanitising dwellings and 'calls remediary notice to the misery and sickness caused by crowded overworking'. Among the many charitable activities of the association that Punch praises, are the invigorating walks on which hundreds of pauper children are taken by its ladies. Ponders the benefits of these activities for children and notes the association's call for extra funds to undertake this work. Hopes that people will donate money.

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Accidents, Electricity, Steamships, Engineering, Commerce, Engineers, Heroism, Physics

    Begins by recounting a story of an Irish steward who dropped a teapot over the side of a boat and thus lost it because it lay at the bottom of the sea. Proceeds to explain how objects that lie on the ocean floor are 'Henceforward [...] not lost'. Describes the scepticism with which 'the world' greeted Richard A Glass's Glass, Sir Richard Atwood (1820–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> proposal to catch the telegraph 'wire of sixty-five' laying on the ocean floor, a response based partly on the belief that it would be impossible to 'lift that weight / From that depth perpendicular'. Explains how 'three ships, with three-mile lines [...] went fishing' for the cable and found it an 'easy business'. Having been raised, 'Spliced' and 'Sheathed', the telegraph was 'Proved neither dead nor dumb!' and the poem explains how for its observers at Valencia Bay, the telegraph's utterance of 'sense' contrasted with the 'unmeaning sounds' that it emitted whilst asleep. (109) Notes that Atlantic 'shares' and 'engineers' have now 'picked up' and hopes that 'all this "paying out"' brings rewards for Glass and Samuel Canning Canning, Sir Samuel (1823–1908) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. Confident that the cable will succeed owing to the ways it has been 'brought up', and concludes by upholding the efforts of Canning, William Thomson Thomson, Sir William (Baron Kelvin of Largs) (1824–1907) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and above all, Glass, to whose health Punch drinks. (109–10)

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Health

    Discusses an article in the Weekly Dispatch Weekly Dispatch (1824–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> describing how some 'people in Edinburgh have recently established a home for cats, which may have been abandoned by their owners'. Notes the difficulty of abandoning and starving a cat (owing to its tendency to return home and to steal food), and the problem of identifying a 'deserted cat'. Concludes by reflecting on the people who have set up this home.

Genre:

Essay

Subjects:

Nutrition, Disease, Medical Treatment

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T, pseud.  [John Tenniel] 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:

Politics, Government, Pollution, Public Health

    Shows the usually filthy-looking Father Thames standing in his river, and talking to an 'Hon[ourable] Member' who leans on a wall near the Palace of Westminster Palace of Westminster
Close   View the register entry >>, clutching a document entitled 'Bribery Commission'. The politician, who is on his way to being cross-examined for charges of corruption, calls the Thames a 'Horrid Dirty Old River', but Father Thames retorts, 'Don't you talk, mister whatsyername! Which of us has the cleaner hands, I wonder?'. This is a reference to a royal commission investigating foul practices at elections in Great Yarmouth, Reigate, Totnes, and Lancaster.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Lecturing, Scientific Practitioners, Telegraphy

    Ward describes his discovery of a morose-looking 'Trans-Mejim' (i.e. trance medium) living in a room in the 'Greenlion' where the author had apartments and that he and the sceptical landlord of the Greenlion attended a trance lecture given by the medium. The lecture began with the professed spirit of Benjamin Franklin Franklin, Benjamin (1706–90) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> speaking through the medium about the Atlantic cable. Having heard Franklin speak of the 'merrytorious affair' of the cable and other matters, the author concludes that if this was Franklin 'a spiritool life hadn't improved the old gentleman's intellecks particly'. Proceeds to describe the enthusiastic response of the audience and the Greenlion landlord's confusion over the supposed spirit of Oliver Cromwell Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, who spoke through the medium, and the Cromwell he believed had not settled his bill.

Reprinted:

Browne 1870 Browne, Charles [1870]. Artemus Ward in London: Comprising the Letters to "Punch" and Other Humorous Papers, London: J. C. Hotten
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Pollution, Public Health

    Notes that Robert A Smith Smith, Robert Angus (1817–84) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> will be addressing the Social Science Congress Social Science Congress
Close   View the register entry >> on the 'evils produced by the non-consumption of smoke', and suggests that railway companies could solve this problem by establishing 'smoking carriages'.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Evolution, Darwinism, Publishing, Human Development, Creationism, Cosmology, Mesmerism, Animal Development, Zoology

    The narrator relates that he denied that he was angry at his friend Boodels's criticism of a passage in his manuscript on 'Typical Developments', and that he added, 'if he dislikes this of mine, why [Boodels] wouldn't care about BUCKLE'S Buckle, Henry Thomas (1821–62) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> History of Civilisation Buckle, Henry Thomas 1857. History of Civilisation in England, 2 vols, London: J. W. Parker and Son
Close   View the register entry >>, or DARWIN'S Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> "Book" 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 >>' (the name of which he has forgotten), as well as David Hume Hume, David (1711–76) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> and Jeremy Bentham Bentham, Jeremy (1748–1832) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>. He records that Boodles ridiculed his claim to be 'on par' with Darwin, Buckle, and Bentham, and that he later continued his writing. Amid interruptions from his bulldog he managed to write: 'Man at once possible and impossible, took his origin from the pulversation of hitherto conflicting natural particles. Man was developed, slowly, among the ruins of a mammoth world, to rule brute creation, to make the tawny lion bend before his iron will [...] to subdue, by the mesmeric authority of his intelligent eye, the stupendous elephant, the [...] rhinocerous, the untamed denizen of the primaeval jungle'. (120)

Reprinted:

Burnand 1868 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1868. Happy Thoughts, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Medical Treatment

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Politics

    'The Needle-Gun; or, Bismarck's Bismarck, Prince Otto Edward Leopold von, Duke of Lauenburg (1815–98) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> Call to the Unconverted.'

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T, pseud.  [John Tenniel] 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, Hunting

    Shows Mr Punch as a 'Head Game Keeper' standing next to John Bull (also dressed as a game keeper) at a gate that opens into a large field. Mr Punch tells his friend that he 'really musn't shoot with the old muzzle-loader' and gives him a Snider Enfield rifle, a reference to Jacob Snider's Snider, Jacob (1820–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> converted muzzle-loaders, which he boasts is the 'best that money can buy'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Discovery, Light, Instruments

    Discusses an extract from a report describing how the late astronomer, Hermann Goldschmidt Goldschmidt, Hermann (1802–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, discovered the 'telescopic planets' using a 'common opera-glass'. Doubts the plausibility of this story, pointing out that a common opera-glass can only enable the astronomer to 'make observations on certain histrionic Stars', not planets.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Gender

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Pollution, Putrefaction, Disease, Public Health, Domestic Economy, Class

    Includes a description of the foul state of the water butts in the 'crowded and close habitations [...] of the labouring poor'. Considers this fatal liquid to be 'filtered sewage' that 'teems with things wondrous to see' including 'fungus-like growths [...] Infusoria, and insects, engendered / Amid rotten wood'. Speculates that such butts might breed a creature as horrid as the Python shot by Apollo, and calls for vestries and guardians to 'improve them, / At once'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, Industry, Manufactories, War, Politics, Comparative Philology

    Describes the efforts made by the mythological smith, Vulcan, to meet the relentless 'War-orders and demands' for 'breech-loaders, and armour-plates, / Steel-shot and chilled also'. Explains that Vulcan's assistant, the Cyclops, has left him, because he wishes to work at a more leisurely pace, so that he has been forced to work 'every day and all day long' making such items as 'Chassepots for the 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]' and 'Sniders [Jacob Snider's Snider, Jacob (1820–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> converted muzzle-loaders] for JOHN BULL'. Expresses pleasure at seeing the Emperor enjoy the 'shift of weights that trim the Powers / For Europe's equipoise' and discusses the ways in which the Emperor has taught the conflicting European nations that 'in the forge of War, / The arms of Peace are wrought'. He resigns himself to bestowing his 'toil and stock' to 'War's tasks' and pledges his obedience to the word of the Emperor, whom he thanks for his lessons about peace.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T, pseud.  [John Tenniel] 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, Industry, Manufactories, War, Politics, Comparative Philology

    Following Anon, 'The War Blacksmith (after Longfellow)', Punch, 51 (1866), 132, this comments on the rising demands from British and European nations for armaments. It shows Vulcan sweating over an anvil in his forge. He stops his work to greet the figure of Peace, who assumes that the smith is not laden with work. Vulcan replies that, on the contrary, 'Thanks to you, miss, I've a'most more work than I can manage', an allusion to the belief of King Wilhelm I Wilhelm I, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (1797–1888) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> of Prussia that peace can only be gained through war. On the wall of Vulcan's forge is scratched a list of orders for equipment including a million tons of 'Armour-plates', three hundred thousand Chassepot Chassepot, Antoine Alphonse (1833–1905) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> guns, five hundred thousand Dreyse Dreyse, Johann Nikolaus von (1787–1867) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> needle-guns, two hundred and fifty thousand Snider Enfield rifles (i.e. Jacob Snider's Snider, Jacob (1820–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> converted muzzle-loaders), Palliser's Palliser, Sir William (1830–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Chilled Shot, Monitor Monitor, ship
Close   View the register entry >>-design ironclads, and Armstrong Armstrong, Sir William George, Baron Armstrong of Cragside (1810–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> guns.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Medical Treatment, Religious Authority, Religion, Quackery

    Discusses an extract from an item in the Morning Post Morning Post and Daily Advertising Pamphlet (1772–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> describing how the health of Pope Pius IX Pius IX, Pope (1792–1878) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> was restored by taking 'Du Barry's Food, the Revalenta Arabica' and stressing the Pope's praise for the food. Draws attention to the fact that the Pope's restoration was impudently given a 'cure' number. Anticipates that the Pope will shortly be advertising the food before his assembled cardinals, although questions the credibility of the puff quoted in the advertisement.

Genre:

Examination Paper, Spoof

Subjects:

Politics, Mathematics, Political Economy, Morality, Force

    Poses the question: given that the sum of John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Richard Cobden Cobden, Richard (1804–65) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> is 'Moral Force', and that the sum of Bright and Edmond Beales Beales, Edmond (1803–81) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (a zealous political agitator) is 'Physical Force', calculate the 'distance in leagues [a reference to the Anti-Corn Law League Anti-Corn Law League
Close   View the register entry >> of Bright and Cobden and Beale's Reform League Reform League
Close   View the register entry >>] between the two' equations.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Zoology, Animal Behaviour

    Announces that the next meeting of the Zoological Society Zoological Society of London
Close   View the register entry >> will feature a paper 'On the Tears of the Crocodile'.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Telegraphy

    Records the narrator's unfavourable impressions of an unhelpful and slovenly railway official at the dilapidated 'Slumborough' station, and his attempt to draw the official's attention to the 'telegraph needles' moving with a signal from a distant station (146).

Reprinted:

Burnand 1868 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1868. Happy Thoughts, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
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Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Animal Behaviour, Nutrition, Crime, Cultural Geography, Morality

    Questions the claim that the Chinese are 'an unenlightened people' by pointing to the fact that 'they invented gunpowder long ere we had dreamed of it, and that they hatched fish artificially long before ourselves'. Ironically considers the Chinese less 'barbarous' then the English on the basis of their cooking practices. These are far from humane, as illustrated by a description of the brutality involved in the preparation of a duck dish. Points out that while some may consider such cookery to be cruel, 'the Chinese are too wise to reflect upon the subject, and pay little heed to the sufferings which give them satisfaction'. Suggests that the Chinese may believe that ducks 'feel that they die martyrs in the noble cause of cookery'.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Hospitals, Medical Practitioners

    'At our Hospitals'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Pollution, Disease, Public Health, Human Development, Class, Government, Education

    Likening the homes of the nation's poor to the filthy and spreading Augean Stables of legend, the author looks behind the whitewashed exterior to the appalling interiors of these hovels, where there is 'Slime overhead, filth under-foot', 'abused' youths, 'Sex of its graces shorn: / Infancy poisoned in its bud', sewage poisoning towns instead of feeding the land, 'Vice, Drunkenness, and Woe', and 'All forms of ill that Body kill, / Dwarf Heart, and dwindle Mind'.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Publishing, Horticulture, Political Economy, Railways, Transport, Engineering

    Includes an announcement of the forthcoming publication of an 'Essay, by the Professor of Rural Economy', entitled 'How to Live in the Country on Three Hundred a Year', and 'Fresh editions of The "Bridgewater Treatises" Chalmers, Thomas et al. 1833–36. The Bridgewater Treatises on the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation, 12 vols, London: William Pickering
Close   View the register entry >>, by eminent railway engineers'.

Genre:

Instructions, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation

Genre:

Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Supernaturalism, Light, Invention

People mentioned:

John H Pepper Pepper, John Henry (1821–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Gender, Politics

People mentioned:

Mary Walker Walker, Mary (1832–1919) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Spiritualism, Supernaturalism

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Progress, Internationalism

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Astronomy, Railways, Transport, Language

Genre:

Letter, Spoof, Serial

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M, pseud.  [George L P B Du Maurier] 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:

Zoological Gardens, Societies, Animal Behaviour

    The initial letter of the text forms part of an illustration showing an elephant with its trunk tied around the bar of its cage. Having expressed disappointment at not being invited to participate in the Social Science Congress Social Science Congress
Close   View the register entry >>, Ward explains that he was intending to read 'a Essy on Animals' to the congress. Boasts that he understands 'animals better than any other class of human creatures' owing to his 'career as a showman, more especial bears, wolves, leopards, and serpunts'. Proceeds to describe his hapless attempts to train leopards and a bear.

Reprinted:

Browne 1870 Browne, Charles [1870]. Artemus Ward in London: Comprising the Letters to "Punch" and Other Humorous Papers, London: J. C. Hotten
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Narcotics, Government

    Suggests that the 'important question of smoking in Railway Carriages' might be resolved by Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> forcing people to consume their own smoke.

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Nutrition, Disease, Physiology, Morality

    Announces that M. Toutmonoeil has given a paper to the Académie des Sciences Académie des Sciences, Paris
Close   View the register entry >> warning that 'indulgence in hippophagy' can cause 'ossification of the heart'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Narcotics, Pollution, Controversy, Gender, Medical Practitioners, Disease, Morality, Human Development, Animal Behaviour

    Addressing the 'controversy about Smoking on Railways', the writer begins by stressing the need for carriages exclusively for smokers. Explains that she enjoys smoking a cigar (not least for its smell) and that she has to lie to her patients that smoking is a 'good disinfectant for a physician who may have just been visiting a case of small-pox'. However, she resents the prospect of loosing patients who are repelled by a physician who smells of smoke simply through contact with other people's cigars. She also argues for railway carriages in which smokers are excluded and warns that the constant smoking practised by men must affect the brain—especially that part 'whereby the human brain exceeds that of brutes'—and causes such undesirable effects as inducing a 'habitual state of self serenity' and stupefaction of the 'moral affections and intellectual faculties'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Chemistry, Experiment, Amusement, Lecturing, Class

    To illustrate the exquisite refinements of the 'superior classes', the narrator describes how two 'French gentleman' staying at the hotel where he was lodging, engaged 'every morning in earnest conversation' which, from their 'gestures', appeared to be about chemistry. Adds that the after a few days he saw the gentlemen comparing and hotly debating some powders and, being one of the most 'intelligent attendants' at the Royal Institution Royal Institution of Great Britain
Close   View the register entry >> lectures and wishing to report to Michael Faraday Faraday, Michael (1791–1867) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, got a friend to inquire into the matter and discovered that the 'philosophers' were arguing over the virtues of different shaving powders.

Genre:

Notes, Drollery

Subjects:

Railways, Commerce, Charlatanry

    'London, Dover, and Chatham'—a reference to the financial misfortunes of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>.

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Crime, Charlatanry, Government

    This article addresses the failure of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> to redeem its debentures. The bankruptcy of the company was in turn caused by the failure of its contractors, Peto, Brassey and Betts Peto, Brassey and Betts, firm
Close   View the register entry >>, who had suspended payments to railway companies owing to the catastrophic effects of the financial panic of 1866. The article reports a legal case (from a solicitor representing a debenture holder 'SAP GREEN' crippled by the company's collapse) and the opinions of Mr Punch on the case. The legal case begins by listing the requirements of a railway bill before it can be sanctioned by legislature and then explains how the 'THE LONDON, CHEATEM, AND CLOVER RAILWAY' company and the 'eminent firm of Contractors SLEEKOWE, GETTS, & VAMPEM' entered into an agreement to construct the 'Metropolitan Extension (Eastern Section)' of the railway (a reference to the attempt by the railway company to build a terminus in the City of London). The case then states the failure of company to pay debentures to 'SAP GREEN', and notes that following the insolvency of the company the receipts exchanged between it and its contractors (for thousands of pounds) were found to be 'illusory'. Reviewing the case Mr Punch has no doubt that criminal charges can be brought against the company and its contractors for 'conspiracy to obtain money on false pretences'. He also warns of the difficulty of convincing a jury of this case where so much money and such 'eminently respectable persons' are involved, pointing out that it is easier to convict a 'petty offender who cheats for pence or pounds' than 'the fraudulent operator who works for millions'.

Genre:

Song, Drollery

Subjects:

Internationalism, Nationalism, Politics, Progress, Telegraphy, Technology

    Sung to tune of 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', this song calls on 'OLD JOHN BULL' to replace some of the most cherished institutions of England—including its constitution, 'ale and stout', the British Lion, the bulldog, and the Union Jack—with American alternatives. Includes a verse praising the telegraph financier Cyrus W Field Field, Cyrus West (1819–92) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>, who 'Has joined the Old World to the New / With his Atlantic Cable' and thus annexed England to America, which is a model for England to imitate.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Military Technology, Politics

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Military Technology, Politics, Government, Patronage

    Laments the recent death of Jacob Snider Snider, Jacob (1820–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> whose 'neat' and economical plan for converting muzzle-loading rifles to breech-loaders prompted him to make a 'claim upon the Crown'. Adds that he consulted Charles M Clode Clode, Charles Matthew (1818–93) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> who agreed with Snider's claim that he had saved the country 'Two millions'. However, Snider was only paid 'one thousand', after which he 'blushed, and died!'.

Genre:

Diary, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Matter Theory, Force, Vitalism, Philosophy, Metaphysics

    Recording his ongoing, and disrupted attempts to continue writing 'Typical Developments', the narrator describes how he began a chapter 'On the Varieties of Inanimate Nature' which opens with the words: 'Philosophers, in every age, have directed their attention [...] to the possibilities of the power inherent in mere particles. The calm mind of inductive science, undisturbed by [...]'. The author was again forced to delay writing his work. (180)

Reprinted:

Burnand 1868 Burnand, Francis Cowley 1868. Happy Thoughts, London: Bradbury, Evans & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Charlatanry, Crime

    Begins by likening Peto to a Bristol stone that appears to possess 'integrity like a diamond' but does not. Proceeds to ask him for more satisfactory reassurances that his firm did not take advantage of the public in the matter of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>. Peto's firm, Peto, Brassey and Betts Peto, Brassey and Betts, firm
Close   View the register entry >>, had been contractors to the railway company, but collapsed during the financial panic during the middle of 1866 and suspended payments. This bankrupted the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company, whose debenture holders lost their investments.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

D M, pseud.  [George L P B Du Maurier] 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:

Railway, Transport, Gender

    Shows four men relaxing in a railway carriage. Their compartment is divided into four bunk beds on which the men read and smoke from a large vessel in the middle of the compartment. Having summoned a guard using a button marked 'Refresh[ment] Van Ring', one man asks the guard for the present location of the train and for a 'sherry-and-soda, and a cigar and two or three more volumes of Punch'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Religious Authority, Religion, Animal Behaviour, Zoology, Quackery, Boundary Formation

    Lambasting the sham-Catholic parsons of the Anglican ritualist movement, suggests that the 'preachers of mock Popery in their gaudy vestments figure / As like to Popish priests as a gorilla is to a nigger'. Adds that 'The Ritualist impostor by the normal Roman "missioner" / Is looked on as a Quack by a regular practitioner'.

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Military Technology, War, Heat, Language

    Reports on recent experiments on 'chilled projectiles' (a reference to William Palliser's Palliser, Sir William (1830–82) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> celebrated 'shot'), which have proved 'prodigiously destructive'. Suggests that these properties will force gunners to abandon their phrase 'give it to him hot' when enemies loom into view.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof, Serial

Subjects:

Museums, Animal Development, Human Development, Politics, Amusement

    Describes his visit to the British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >>, which he praises as 'a magnif'cent free show for the people' that is 'kept open for the benefit of all'. He first visits the stuffed animals and pays particular attention to the 'gorillers', which he regards as 'simple-minded monsters' from 'Afriky' that are 'believed to be human beins to a slight extent, altho' they are not allowed to vote'. He proceeds to the giraffe and explains some of the advantages of having a long distance between the mouth and stomach, and later observes somebody trying to feed a stuffed elephant with a cold muffin.

Reprinted:

Browne 1870 Browne, Charles [1870]. Artemus Ward in London: Comprising the Letters to "Punch" and Other Humorous Papers, London: J. C. Hotten
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Announcement, Spoof

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Charlatanry, Crime

    'To-morrow to FRESHFIELDS and NEW-MANS Freshfield and Newman, firm
Close   View the register entry >> new'—a reference to a prominent firm of London solicitors.

Genre:

Regular Feature, Reportage, Spoof

Subjects:

Disease, Language

Genre:

Poetry, Drollery; Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

C H B, pseud.  [Charles H Bennett] Bennett, Charles Henry (1828–67) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Government, Disease, Nutrition, Patronage, Natural Law

    Praises the Lord Mayor of London, whose term of office is coming to an end, for many of his accomplishments, including his generous help in the relief of victims of the Indian famine and also victims of the 'fierce Disease' (cholera), which 'Sent a Remorseful Nation to its knees, / Wailing for its neglect of Nature's Laws'. The illustration further explains his role in mitigating the effects of these disasters, showing full length portraits of Phillips dressed in the robes of his office and holding bags labelled 'Cholera Relief Fund' and 'Indian Famine Fund'.

Genre:

Miscellaneous, Drollery

Subjects:

Sanitation, Invention

    Insists that Henry Moule Moule, Henry (1801–80) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and his valuable invention of the 'earth closet' was anticipated by William Shakespeare Shakespeare, William (1564–1616) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> in a line from Hamlet.

Genre:

Drama, Drollery

Subjects:

Museums, Zoology, Education

Institutions mentioned:

British Museum British Museum
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

Goldsmith 1774 Goldsmith, Oliver 1774. An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature, London: J. Norse
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Engineering, Language, Commerce, Charlatanry

    Discusses news that the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> has just been granted permission to build two new streets and develop a third, and to expand Ludgate Station using land owned by the Apothecaries' Hall Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London—Apothecaries' Hall
Close   View the register entry >>. As the company has recently failed to pay its debenture holders, the author wonders whether it will take this land 'without paying for it'. Suggests that the new streets should be named 'Doo' and 'Diddle' streets.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T, pseud.  [John Tenniel] 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:

Quackery, Politics, Medical Treatment

    Shows John Bright Bright, John (1811–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> dressed as a quack doctor, standing on a platform before a crowd. He advertises a large bottle of medicine labelled 'Radical Reform'. This is a reference to Bright's recent addresses in Dublin in which he argued that making Parliament Houses of Parliament
Close   View the register entry >> more democratic would help the Irish struggle for land reform.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Morality, Progress, Human Development, Government, Utilitarianism, Class, Disease, Pollution, Public Health, Industry, Zoology, Crime, Nutrition

    Written in the style of a somewhat illiterate bumble, this begins by arguing against the claim that it 'is an age of humanity' by pointing out that 'we're brutes' and that despite the efforts of the Royal Humane Society Royal Humane Society
Close   View the register entry >> and a 'Society for looking after stray dogs', cruel acts are still frequently perpetrated. The author points out that he is not alluding to the condition of paupers, because they 'wants a tight hand over 'em', although he does not think they should 'be allowed to die of bedsores, bad air, and vermin', and stresses that he is aware of the power of the 'newspaper people' to expose these evils. He has taken the 'liberal' move of voting for 'two paid nurses to our three hundred sick paupers'. Believes that workhouses are 'right enough' with people like himself on the 'Board' and proceeds to complain about the liberties taken by the 'lower orders' who 'work for weekly wages' and who 'never stop' asking for provisions. He also denies that humanity is cruel to workers, and believes talk of 'ventilation and healthy workshops' smacks of the subversive politics of centralisation. He denies that he is referring to sailors who forget the 'expense of lime-juice' despite their complaints about 'dirt and bad air, and bad food and scurvy'. He finally reveals that he is alluding to the alderman's favourite cuisine, the turtle. He presents an extract from the Pall Mall Gazette Pall Mall Gazette (1865–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> which describes the harsh conditions suffered by turtles in being shipped to New York and London and the efforts of 'humanitarians' to communicate the subject to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Close   View the register entry >>. Praises the efforts of the aforementioned humanitarians and ends with a paean to the turtle and its role in 'civic gourmet'.

Genre:

Letter, Spoof

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Morality, Crime, Animal Behaviour, Race, Hunting, Zoology

    Dismisses the statement that the Jamaica Committee Jamaica Committee
Close   View the register entry >> is to follow up its proceedings against the Governor of Jamaica, Edward J Eyre Eyre, Edward John (1815–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> (who used brutal force in his quashing of a negro rebellion on the Island), by a 'prosecution' of Paul B Du Chaillu Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1831–1903) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> for stuffing 'so many of our African relations, the Gorillas'.

Genre:

Poetry

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Crime, Charlatanry

Institutions mentioned:

London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

News-Commentary, Drollery

Subjects:

Politics, Medical Practitioners, Education, War, Nationalism

    Expects that the Fenians will be delighted by a Pall Mall Gazette Pall Mall Gazette (1865–1900+) Waterloo Directory
Close   View the register entry >> article on the Army Medical Training School, Netley Army Medical Training School, Netley
Close   View the register entry >> which, owing to the unpopularity of military service with the 'medical profession', has been forced to recruit most of its students from Ireland. Points out that most of these new recruits are 'bad' and likely to become Fenians. Thinks that the idea of Fenian surgeons in the Army Army
Close   View the register entry >> will delight the revolutionary Irish nationalist James Stephens Stephens, James (1824–1901) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, but considers the condition of 'our Military Medical Service' to be 'surprising' given the 'present state of Europe', not least given the attempts of Prince George (2nd Duke of Cambridge) George (George William Frederick Charles), Prince, 2nd Duke of Cambridge (1819–1904) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> to encourage medical officers into the army.

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Railways, Transport, Commerce, Charlatanry, Crime, Morality, Military Technology, Engineers

    Discusses Samuel M Peto's Peto, Sir Samuel Morton (1809–89) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> speeches at a Colston Festival dinner. Alluding to Peto's role in the bankruptcy of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >> and its consequent failure to redeem its debentures, the article notes that while the subject of Peto's speech was 'Reform' he did not recommend an 'Official Registrar of Railway Debentures [...] to prevent cooked accounts'. Following Peto's criticism of the management of 'our naval and military administrations', it sarcastically suggests that these departments be conducted like the London, Chatham and Dover Railway Company—i.e. with financial dodges. Reports that Peto believed the fate of 'poor' Jacob Snider Snider, Jacob (1820–66) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> (who failed to be properly remunerated for his breech-loaders) had 'quite shocked the moral sense of the entire country'. Suggests that Snider should have invested in the London, Chatham and Dover Railway instead of breech-loaders.

Genre:

Illustration, Drollery

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T, pseud.  [John Tenniel] 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:

Commerce, Crime, Charlatanry, Measurement, Government

    Shows two smartly dressed businessmen tied to a pillory. Around their necks hang signs marked 'Cooked Accounts' and 'False Weights and Measures', while near them stands Mr Punch who shakes his fist at them and holds the hammer with which he nailed them to the pillory. The caption reproduces a dictionary definition of pillory. The illustration is probably a comment on the recent scandalous financial dealings in the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company
Close   View the register entry >>.