English School. [Anon].

a scarce medical satire, in the manner of William Heath, relating to the second cholera pandemic, depicting the standing figure of a haughty doctor, in tailcoat and white stock with his walking cane suspended by a loop in the crook of his right arm, a small pomander hanging from a red strap in his right hand while holding a watch to his ear, as with his left hand he delicately holds with little finger crooked the limp and near-lifeless wrist of his very sickly patient, displaying characteristic sunken features and very darkened complection, slumped in a highbacked armchair with an oriental chamber pot underneath, his head lolling to one side against a pillow, dressed in a nightcap and a loose gown decorated with skulls, his stockings wrinkled around his emaciated legs, on the table at his side sits a cup which seems to match the decoration of the chamber pot, and a medicine bottle, on the floor a large a jug with two empty flasks lying nearby, the doctor declaring ‘You are Bespoke! its the Cholera!! the genuine Asiatic Cholera!!! you must be bled, Rub’d with hot towels, take a doze of mustard seed, Jalap, Vomit, But the only thing that can save you is to Fast!‘

The first cholera pandemic had spread from India across Asia in both directions to the Far East and to the Mediterranean and East Africa, between 1817 and 1824. Its only real impact on Europe was in the deaths of some soldiers and other agents in overseas territories. The second pandemic, also known as the Asiatic cholera pandemic, and also thought to have originated in the contaminated waters of the Ganges Delta, spread far wider, possibly aided by lingering pockets of the first pandemic in Indonesia and the Philippines, this time travelling up through Russia, thence to the rest of Europe and eventually North America. It also lasted much longer, from 1826 to 1837, with the first cases recorded in England, from passengers arriving in the North East from the Baltic, in 1831. It soon spread to London where over 6,500 deaths were recorded, but this compares to over 20,000 in France and similar higher rates on the continent. This grim scene accurately replicates the symptoms and prescribed cures described in a notice published bhy the board of health in the London Gazetteer in October 1831. The doctor is shown holding two traditional intruments to ward off the plague, a stick for keeping contagious people at bay, and a pomander of herbs to counter airborn infection. Jalap is a laxative derived from the root of the eponymous Mexican plant. I have so far been unable to find any other record of this plate,

original hand-coloured etching, 215 x 170 mm. (8 1/2 x 6 3/4 in), trimmed within the plate mark with possible loss of printmaker’s and publisher’s details but outside image, borderline and title, mounted on a section of an old blue paper album leaf, a short tear lower left, [not in BM Satires],