Too soon? He would have been long dead by now anyway, but you have to ponder whether he was ever concerned that his very name marked him out for early departure from Earl’s Court…
Always sunny in a rich man’s world
Sad story from 1824…
Good doctoring from 1808
A tale of an eminently practical solution to psychosomatic mental illness from August 1808. They did not call it the Age of Enlightenment for nothing…
Injudicious and erroneous education
1837 -2018; Spot the difference. I tend not to become exercised at the wilder fringes of this debate, but hey, give me a break — the discrimination in this photograph (below), is just wrong. But first, to set the context, is the tad patronising, sexist but so of its era introduction to an 1837 self-help book… Continue reading Injudicious and erroneous education
Happy Birthday Charles Mathews
If you were born on this day June 28th you are in good company. Henry VIII of England, 1491; Sir Peter Paul Rubens, in 1577; Jean Jacques Rousseau in 1712. One less famous who should be celebrated along with the others was also born this day. But this man had a trick up his sleeve.… Continue reading Happy Birthday Charles Mathews
Between the lines
In 1864 a Cambridge gentleman farmer and agricultural scientist, Philip Howard Frere by name, wrote up his experiments in feeding various combinations of fodder. He shared with the readers of the Journal of the Bath and West of England Society that by spending £25 on an “American Grist Mill” (American in name only as it… Continue reading Between the lines
Women fitter both to rule and write
“Cave” and “Aladdin’s”, not words you associate with a place to park your car. But let he (or she) who has not turned their garage into a room for the temporarily unloved and yet too precious to be parted with, cast the first knick knack into the box labelled charity shop. I am not saying… Continue reading Women fitter both to rule and write
Consequences; January 1812
“He had no debt, no creditor”
There is a time when ‘principles’ become not a good thing but an obsession. Like jealousy or revenge, stubborn adherence to ‘principles’ taken to a point where they are self-harming can erode the mind. This old man does not sound deranged but as he calmly gives his testimony, he does sound profoundly broken and angry.… Continue reading “He had no debt, no creditor”
Sailing too close to the wind
Eupion Oil is slippery stuff. It’s one of many hydrocarbons bearing classical sounding names that they could so easily be diaphanously-clad minor spirits partying with old Zeus disguised as a bull. Not wishing to sound like a Tom Lehrer tribute band, but aside from Eupion there’s kerosene, naphtha, propane and toluene. Ethane, methane, heptyne and… Continue reading Sailing too close to the wind