DOI issue:
July to December, 1851
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16608#0103
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
91
A. NIGHT WITH HAHNEMANN AT THE FREE-
MASONS' TAVERN.
" Mr. Punch,—Health, Sir, health, as some sage observes, is the first
of earthly blessings. The next, as I say, is the means of recovering it
when lost. I have taken, Sir, large quantities of Morrison's Pills. I
have also had extensive recourse to those of Professor Hollowat,
at the same time making copious use of the Ointment of that philosopher,
borne years ago, I underwent a course of brandy and salt, and since
then subjected myself to the water-cure. I should have told you, Sir,
that I am a valetudinarian, and rather considerably past that age when
a man is said to be either a fool or a physician—for my part, I am a
homoeopathist. I have studied the subject, Sir, in my own person.
For years I suffered greatly from severe nervous depression; for
which I was in the constant habit of taking medicine without effect
except that 1 got worse and worse. Nothing relieved me till I resorted
to the infinitesimal globules—leaving off my mixture three times a-day,
my sleeping powder, and my two pills night and morning. The result
is my firm conviction that Homoeopathy is the only true system of
medicine. And now, Sir, as a friend of science, let me direct your atten-
tion to the Times report of the late meeting of the English Homoeopathic
Association, at Freemasons' Tavern. There, Sir, you will see that our
views are supported by sound and solid arguments. I look upon the
speech of Sir John Kennaway, the Chairman, as a masterpiece of
homoeopathic reasoning. Expressing exactly my own sentiments, Sir
John said,
" ' He was not a professional man; but he only asserted the claim which was granted
to all in their individual position—that of judging for himself.'
" This is just what I once told my medical attendant when I was laid
up with the gout, and we had a dispute on the subject of mulHgatawny.
He said that the right to judge for one's self did not always imply
the ability. I did not understand this insolence, Sir, and I discharged
him.
" The worthy Chairman also observed, with remarkable wisdom,
that
"' They could not enter into an investigation of the principles of the science—of its
application—of its successes—satisfactorily; yet they could tell, by the effects of it on
themselves, which of the two systems was the better.'
" To be sure. A man lias been physicked, bled, and blistered, and
gets no better, rle leaves off his medicine, takes infinitesimal doses,
and recovers. Why take the trouble to inquire whether his first
treatment was a fair sample of the regular system, or what influence it
had on his recovery, or how far that happy event was due to the simple
discontinuance of pills and potions? Never creep to conclusions in
this way. Jump at them, Sir • jump with seven-leagued boots. The
patient took globules and got better; is not that enough ? It is all
very well for medical men to cavil and question whether the recovery
■was post hoc or propter hoc, as they say ; making a mystery of a plain
fact with their technicalities and their Latin. No, Sir. Give me such
logic as Sir John Kennaway's, or the logic of Mr. Shaen, M.A.,
another of the enlightened speakers, who
"' Said he was a living proof of the benefits of Homoeopathy. Eight or nine years
ago he was constantly in the doctors' hands; but since he adopted this system he very
Beldom had to visit them; and when he did so, it was with satisfactory results, both to
his pocket and his health.'
" This is the way to argue, Sir. Here you have no quibbling as to
the effect of change of diet, habits, or other trivial and unimportant
circumstances. The globules were swallowed: the health was improved.
Cause and effect, Sir.
" I cordially coincide also with the sentiments of Mr. W. Hashurst,
who declared that
He was a friend to little pills. Before their powers were known generally to the
it i
assembly in genera!, but was more particularly and conspicuously
manifested by Dr. Epps, who, says the report, 'bore down' on the
Consumption Hospital, and another medical charity, and then
" ' Sang a poem in honour of Homoeopathy.'
" Bravo Dr. Epps ! Thanks to Epps, we may have Homoeopathy
introduced from the Freemason's Tavern into the Coal-hole.
"The Chairman, I see, 'regretted that the chair had not been filled
by their Noble President (Lord Robert Grosvenor).' So do I, Sir.
A Noble Lord, who has been declared by an enlightened constituency a
fit and proper person to represent the county of Middlesex, coming
forward publicly as the patron of Homoeopathy, would do much to
remove an impression, unfortunately prevalent, that anybody who can
believe in infinitesimal doses must be a simpleton.
" Your humble Servant,
" Anti-Humbug."
EXTRAORDINARY VISION AT THE MANSION HOUSE.
mysterious disappearance of
the witnesses in the St. Alban's
Bribery Case, a few months
ago, is only to be equalled in
straugeness by their very mys-
terious appearance, the other
day, at the Mansion House.
These witnesses are, in fact, so
many Ombres Chinoises, or dis-
solving views, of whom we lose
sight, until the Queen goes
down to the House with the
view of dissolving or proroguing
Parliament. They are like clown
and pantaloon, who are to be
seen, as bold as brass, before the
door of the house, when the door
is closed; but who, when the
door opens, and the Serjeant-
at-Arms issues forth, mace in hand are nowhere visible.
It is but a little while since that the Commons, indignant at the
breaches committed against their privileges, were offering rewards for
individuals, who, with the bills still posted about for their apprehension,
are walked quietly into custody, and as quietly walk out again. Nobody
will have anything to do with them; though probably, next Session,
there will be the same indignation in the House, the same threats of
vengeance, the same horror at the breach of privilege, and perhaps the
same, or much higher, rewards offered to get hold of them. An active
officer, thinking he has secured a prize, goes with a couple of the much-
sought-after parties, and instead of finding them eagerly clutched at on
all sides, and paid for in " cash down," he has them left upon his hands,
as "stale, flat, and unprofitable" as a couple of buns bakc'd the day
before yesterday. He goes to the House of Commons, and finds it shut
up; though there is an inspector outside, who won't have the prize
prisoners at any price. The Serjeant-at-Arms is out; there is nobody
who will give a dump for the captives at the Treasury; the Solicitor,
when applied to, knows nothing at all about it; and, as a last resort, an
attempt is made to see whether the witnesses, lately so valuable, will
fetch a trifle at the Mansion House.
All is in vain; the witnesses have gone down as rapidly as railway
scrip after the bursting of the bubble: and though they would have
been worth fifty pounds apiece a fortnight ago, nobody will now make
the smallest bidding for them. They would have been quite a curiosity,
commanding a high price at any moment during the Session; but
now, like a luxury out of the proper season—like oysters in May,
laity, he was at death's door many times. He was treated aiiopathicaiiy. He was bled ! Sprats in June, or hares in March—no one seems to consider them worth
and scoured till he was carried about the house wrapped in blankets, and expected )£use_r00m> in February next they will no doubt be once more in
hourly to die.'
" No exaggeration this, Sir, of ordinary practice.
"' He was taken ill about ten years ago, and he thought it was all over with him.'
" Refined phraseology, Sir, rather.
•'' But his old doctor was dead, and an homoeopathic doctor was called in. The con-
sequence was, he stood before them, rescued from death, and in good health.' . .
" There, Sir, 5s a sequitur for you!
" ' . . . . Doctors considered that men were made to take physic'
" Homoeopathic truth, Sir. The maxim, you know, has been laid down
by the College of Physicians. It originated wifcfe Sydenham or Harvey,
I believe; but I forget which.
" ' Now, if they reduced this physic, they saved in ma .„ Jays. They got rid of long
bills, of scouring (of which he had a great dread), and saved money.'
" Instead of lavishing it on that easy-living, lit tie-working, overpaid
fraternity of impostors, medical practitioners, or, as Mr. Has hurst and
the other members of the English Homoeopathic Association call them,
4 Doctors.' Here, Sir, in conclusion, I muut say a word to express
my adjooiration of the taste which so remarkably distinguished this
brisk demand, when they whl grow as scarce as they had been during
the past Session.
STRANGE INSECT IN THE CROPS.
All accounts fr^i the country continue to assure us that the wheat
is visited by, what the English farmer insists upon considering, the most
fatal blight. A curious kind of insect is to be seen in every ripe ear of
corn; and the riper and larger the corn, the larger the insect. Several of
these have been forwarded to Mr. Punch, who—the real farmer's friend
—has submitted the insect to his microscope of peculiar power. It is
tolerably well known'that various things of insect life are significantly
marked. There is the death's head moth—the monk caterpillar. Now,,
the insect at the present time infesting the wheat-crops of 1851—an
insect almost invisible to the naked eye—shows, when submitted to a
glass of 1000 power, a white space on its back, the white marked thus
—" 5d." By which Punch divines that the blight at present found
among the British Farmers' wheat predicts—" The Best Quartern Loaf,
price 5d."
91
A. NIGHT WITH HAHNEMANN AT THE FREE-
MASONS' TAVERN.
" Mr. Punch,—Health, Sir, health, as some sage observes, is the first
of earthly blessings. The next, as I say, is the means of recovering it
when lost. I have taken, Sir, large quantities of Morrison's Pills. I
have also had extensive recourse to those of Professor Hollowat,
at the same time making copious use of the Ointment of that philosopher,
borne years ago, I underwent a course of brandy and salt, and since
then subjected myself to the water-cure. I should have told you, Sir,
that I am a valetudinarian, and rather considerably past that age when
a man is said to be either a fool or a physician—for my part, I am a
homoeopathist. I have studied the subject, Sir, in my own person.
For years I suffered greatly from severe nervous depression; for
which I was in the constant habit of taking medicine without effect
except that 1 got worse and worse. Nothing relieved me till I resorted
to the infinitesimal globules—leaving off my mixture three times a-day,
my sleeping powder, and my two pills night and morning. The result
is my firm conviction that Homoeopathy is the only true system of
medicine. And now, Sir, as a friend of science, let me direct your atten-
tion to the Times report of the late meeting of the English Homoeopathic
Association, at Freemasons' Tavern. There, Sir, you will see that our
views are supported by sound and solid arguments. I look upon the
speech of Sir John Kennaway, the Chairman, as a masterpiece of
homoeopathic reasoning. Expressing exactly my own sentiments, Sir
John said,
" ' He was not a professional man; but he only asserted the claim which was granted
to all in their individual position—that of judging for himself.'
" This is just what I once told my medical attendant when I was laid
up with the gout, and we had a dispute on the subject of mulHgatawny.
He said that the right to judge for one's self did not always imply
the ability. I did not understand this insolence, Sir, and I discharged
him.
" The worthy Chairman also observed, with remarkable wisdom,
that
"' They could not enter into an investigation of the principles of the science—of its
application—of its successes—satisfactorily; yet they could tell, by the effects of it on
themselves, which of the two systems was the better.'
" To be sure. A man lias been physicked, bled, and blistered, and
gets no better, rle leaves off his medicine, takes infinitesimal doses,
and recovers. Why take the trouble to inquire whether his first
treatment was a fair sample of the regular system, or what influence it
had on his recovery, or how far that happy event was due to the simple
discontinuance of pills and potions? Never creep to conclusions in
this way. Jump at them, Sir • jump with seven-leagued boots. The
patient took globules and got better; is not that enough ? It is all
very well for medical men to cavil and question whether the recovery
■was post hoc or propter hoc, as they say ; making a mystery of a plain
fact with their technicalities and their Latin. No, Sir. Give me such
logic as Sir John Kennaway's, or the logic of Mr. Shaen, M.A.,
another of the enlightened speakers, who
"' Said he was a living proof of the benefits of Homoeopathy. Eight or nine years
ago he was constantly in the doctors' hands; but since he adopted this system he very
Beldom had to visit them; and when he did so, it was with satisfactory results, both to
his pocket and his health.'
" This is the way to argue, Sir. Here you have no quibbling as to
the effect of change of diet, habits, or other trivial and unimportant
circumstances. The globules were swallowed: the health was improved.
Cause and effect, Sir.
" I cordially coincide also with the sentiments of Mr. W. Hashurst,
who declared that
He was a friend to little pills. Before their powers were known generally to the
it i
assembly in genera!, but was more particularly and conspicuously
manifested by Dr. Epps, who, says the report, 'bore down' on the
Consumption Hospital, and another medical charity, and then
" ' Sang a poem in honour of Homoeopathy.'
" Bravo Dr. Epps ! Thanks to Epps, we may have Homoeopathy
introduced from the Freemason's Tavern into the Coal-hole.
"The Chairman, I see, 'regretted that the chair had not been filled
by their Noble President (Lord Robert Grosvenor).' So do I, Sir.
A Noble Lord, who has been declared by an enlightened constituency a
fit and proper person to represent the county of Middlesex, coming
forward publicly as the patron of Homoeopathy, would do much to
remove an impression, unfortunately prevalent, that anybody who can
believe in infinitesimal doses must be a simpleton.
" Your humble Servant,
" Anti-Humbug."
EXTRAORDINARY VISION AT THE MANSION HOUSE.
mysterious disappearance of
the witnesses in the St. Alban's
Bribery Case, a few months
ago, is only to be equalled in
straugeness by their very mys-
terious appearance, the other
day, at the Mansion House.
These witnesses are, in fact, so
many Ombres Chinoises, or dis-
solving views, of whom we lose
sight, until the Queen goes
down to the House with the
view of dissolving or proroguing
Parliament. They are like clown
and pantaloon, who are to be
seen, as bold as brass, before the
door of the house, when the door
is closed; but who, when the
door opens, and the Serjeant-
at-Arms issues forth, mace in hand are nowhere visible.
It is but a little while since that the Commons, indignant at the
breaches committed against their privileges, were offering rewards for
individuals, who, with the bills still posted about for their apprehension,
are walked quietly into custody, and as quietly walk out again. Nobody
will have anything to do with them; though probably, next Session,
there will be the same indignation in the House, the same threats of
vengeance, the same horror at the breach of privilege, and perhaps the
same, or much higher, rewards offered to get hold of them. An active
officer, thinking he has secured a prize, goes with a couple of the much-
sought-after parties, and instead of finding them eagerly clutched at on
all sides, and paid for in " cash down," he has them left upon his hands,
as "stale, flat, and unprofitable" as a couple of buns bakc'd the day
before yesterday. He goes to the House of Commons, and finds it shut
up; though there is an inspector outside, who won't have the prize
prisoners at any price. The Serjeant-at-Arms is out; there is nobody
who will give a dump for the captives at the Treasury; the Solicitor,
when applied to, knows nothing at all about it; and, as a last resort, an
attempt is made to see whether the witnesses, lately so valuable, will
fetch a trifle at the Mansion House.
All is in vain; the witnesses have gone down as rapidly as railway
scrip after the bursting of the bubble: and though they would have
been worth fifty pounds apiece a fortnight ago, nobody will now make
the smallest bidding for them. They would have been quite a curiosity,
commanding a high price at any moment during the Session; but
now, like a luxury out of the proper season—like oysters in May,
laity, he was at death's door many times. He was treated aiiopathicaiiy. He was bled ! Sprats in June, or hares in March—no one seems to consider them worth
and scoured till he was carried about the house wrapped in blankets, and expected )£use_r00m> in February next they will no doubt be once more in
hourly to die.'
" No exaggeration this, Sir, of ordinary practice.
"' He was taken ill about ten years ago, and he thought it was all over with him.'
" Refined phraseology, Sir, rather.
•'' But his old doctor was dead, and an homoeopathic doctor was called in. The con-
sequence was, he stood before them, rescued from death, and in good health.' . .
" There, Sir, 5s a sequitur for you!
" ' . . . . Doctors considered that men were made to take physic'
" Homoeopathic truth, Sir. The maxim, you know, has been laid down
by the College of Physicians. It originated wifcfe Sydenham or Harvey,
I believe; but I forget which.
" ' Now, if they reduced this physic, they saved in ma .„ Jays. They got rid of long
bills, of scouring (of which he had a great dread), and saved money.'
" Instead of lavishing it on that easy-living, lit tie-working, overpaid
fraternity of impostors, medical practitioners, or, as Mr. Has hurst and
the other members of the English Homoeopathic Association call them,
4 Doctors.' Here, Sir, in conclusion, I muut say a word to express
my adjooiration of the taste which so remarkably distinguished this
brisk demand, when they whl grow as scarce as they had been during
the past Session.
STRANGE INSECT IN THE CROPS.
All accounts fr^i the country continue to assure us that the wheat
is visited by, what the English farmer insists upon considering, the most
fatal blight. A curious kind of insect is to be seen in every ripe ear of
corn; and the riper and larger the corn, the larger the insect. Several of
these have been forwarded to Mr. Punch, who—the real farmer's friend
—has submitted the insect to his microscope of peculiar power. It is
tolerably well known'that various things of insect life are significantly
marked. There is the death's head moth—the monk caterpillar. Now,,
the insect at the present time infesting the wheat-crops of 1851—an
insect almost invisible to the naked eye—shows, when submitted to a
glass of 1000 power, a white space on its back, the white marked thus
—" 5d." By which Punch divines that the blight at present found
among the British Farmers' wheat predicts—" The Best Quartern Loaf,
price 5d."