"A MEMOIR OF FRANCIS TUMBLETY" from Nov. 1857

[Chris Scott]

Below is the beginning of the second part of a long article entitled:
"A MEMOIR OF FRANCIS TUMBLETY - The Indian Herb Doctor" published on 3 November 1857. I don't remember seeing this scathingly satirical article before and will post the first part shortly.

[Chris Scott]

And here is the second part of this saga:-

[Chris Scott]

I have tracked the first part of this two parter! I will post this shortly
Below is the brief intro to the articles:

[Chris Scott]

Here is the first part which was published on 31 October 1857.
This claims to give Tumblety's original name and how he acquired the name "Tumblety"

[Chris Scott]

If, like me(!), you were unaware of what a "gallipot" is...

Gallipot
A glazed earthen pot or vessel, used by druggists and apothecaries for containing medicines, etc.

[Archaic]

An Absurd Mouse Will Be Born

Great find, Chris!

This solemn account of the auspicious birth of the great Tumblety goes perfectly with a bizarre Latin phrase I came across the other day:
'Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus'...

"Mountains will be in labor, and an absurd mouse will be born."

By the way, I looked up 'Lucabrations':
lu·cu·bra·tion/ˌlukyʊˈbreɪʃən/ [loo-kyoo-brey-shuhn]–noun
1.laborious work, study, thought, etc., esp. at night.
2.the result of such activity, as a learned speech or dissertation.
3.Often, lucubrations: any literary effort, especially of a pretentious or solemn nature.

Thanks for the laugh,
Archaic

[Archaic]

Hi, Chris.
A friend saw my interest in your article and sent me the following information with permission to post it:

Quote- That autumn 1857 writing came from a Canadian magazine entitled "New Era" and its author most likely would have been Thomas D'Arcy McGee. He did most of the writing for that political magazine and he was its editor.

Ripperologist (Issue 79) printed an article in May 2007 called "A Skeleton Shingle" and it featured this 1857 New Era story. Stephen Ryder was credited for having discovered this material. -End Quote

(Thanks to my friend for sharing the info.)


You know Chris, I keep wondering if Mark Twain ever heard about Tumblety in any way and perhaps worked aspects of the illustrious Dr. T into any of his stories?

Tumblety seems to be such an over-the-top Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn sort character, and Twain loved humbugs and snake oil salesmen... wouldn't it be fun if we could find out that Twain had somehow heard of him?

Best regards,
Archaic

[mklhawley]

Great find Chris. I have recently been reading a historical medical research article about Francis Tumblety practicing at a time when modern medicine was attempting to gain credibility within the increasingly influential scientific community. The article claimed that indian herb medicine, or what today is called holistic medicine, was being purged, and Francis Tumblety (being the most popular) was being targeted. I wonder if this is correct and I also wonder if your article shows this.

Mike