Women of Science in Punch: Collecting Ferns, Eels, Cuttle-Fish, and Spiders

This summer I wrote an essay about the Wilkie Collins scientist novel Heart and Science; I'm currently working on revisions and the article will appear in the Wilkie Collins Journal early next year. Heart and Science is, so far as I can tell, the first British novel to feature a female scientist character. Which has always seemed weird to me, because the actual nineteenth century was full of scientific women (my favorite is Mary Anning, the famed fossil finder of Lyme Regis), but it takes until 1882 before a fictional one appears. (It takes even longer before a non-villainous one appears; the honor goes to Ann Veronica Stanley in H. G. Wells's 1909 novel Ann Veronica.)*

While researching the history of women and science, I read an article by Suzanne Le-May Sheffield, "The 'Empty-Headed Beauty' and the 'Sweet Girl Graduate': Women's Science Education in Punch, 1860-90."† As you can infer from the title, it analyzes the depiction of scientific women in Punch cartoons in the late nineteenth century. I ended up not citing it in my essay, but I enjoyed it. The essay includes a few of the actual cartoons, but I wanted more, so I spent some of my summer research time tracking down some of the referenced cartoons, and here are the fruits of my labors.

Many women of science in the nineteenth century were interested in botany, often seen as the most appropriate science for a lady. A good botanist needs to go collecting, often to the disgruntlement of their menfolk:

HERE'S SPORT, INDEED!"—Shakspeare.
Cousin Jack (on a Visit from London) is told by the Girls that "Ferning" is the most "Awf'ly Jolly Fun in the World." Cousin Jack has his own Opinion on the Subject!!!
from Punch's Almanack for 1872, [p. vii]
(all of these, you can click to enlarge to see the details; I took pretty high-res scans)

Oh, those ladies and their ferns. Gotta love that triple exclamation mark, not to mention just how angry Cousin Jack looks:

 

Look at those crease lines around the monocle! If I had a monocle, this is an accurate depiction of how I would look when my wife and I are going on a hike, and I'm trying to keep going, and she keeps stopping to look at a plant.

But some women were into more than just ferns. Get a load of this old lady's aquarium:

TERRIFIC ACCIDENT.
 Bursting of old Mrs. Twaddle's aqua-vivarium. The old lady may be observed endeavouring to pick up her favourite eel with the tongs, a work requiring some address.
from John Leech's Pictures of Life and Character (1842-64), vol. 2, p. 177‡

Even the dog is scared of the eels, but nothing slows Mrs. Twaddle down when it comes to eel collecting.

That said, not all women were quite so at ease with live specimens, as show in this constrasting cartoon:

VALUABLE ADDITION TO THE AQUARIUM.
Tom (who has had a very successful day) presents his sisters with a fine specimen of the cuttle-fish (Octopus vulgaris).
from John Leech's Pictures of Life and Character (1842-64), vol. 3, p. 75

Love how disgusted the sister looks. You gotta be more like Mrs. Twaddle, lady! Embrace science!

The best, though isn't a cartoon itself, but the poem that appears on this page, one of three reworkings of classic nursery rhymes to be about "modern" women:

NURSERY RHYMES NEW SET FOR THE TIMES.
from Punch, vol. 68, 13 Mar. 1875, p. 115

     Little Miss 'Muffet
     Sat on a tuffet,
Reading the news of the day;
     There came a big spider
     And sat down beside her,
Inducing Miss Muffet to say:

     "Don't think you alarm me,
     Indeed, no!—you charm me;
There's nothing to which I bring more
     Unrestricted attention,
     And keen comprehension,
Than entomological lore."

This reminds me of some of the female entomologists I knew in graduate school (not to mention my own wife), who were much more calm and collected with giant spiders than I would be! I guess there's a lineage from these mocked enthusiasts to the professional women scientists of today.

* Gentle reader, if you know of any earlier examples that would prove me wrong, please let me know!

† From Culture and Science in the Nineteenth-Century Media, edited by Louise Henson, et al., Ashgate, 2004, pp. 15-28.

‡ John Leech was a cartoonist for Punch, who published his collected cartoons in a three-volume set. This is how Le-May Sheffield cites them, so this is how I found them, so I don't know when exactly they originally appeared. Probably some enterprising researcher could figure it out with a digital archive of Punch.