Professor Fredericks' Performing Cats

We all have our hobbies, which our friends, if they are wise, suffer gladly. Professor Fredericks' hobby is animals. The horse, the pony, the goat, and the pig have all from time to time come under his influence. Just now he has a preference for the domestic cat. He possesses a large number, of all breeds and sizes, which are conveyed from his house to the place of performance each day, are exercised most mornings in his back garden. and are fed on cats'-meat and bread-and-milk. Some of them persistently prefer the latter dish. The pride of the flock is a black animal named Sloper, who originally cost his master sixpence. A fifty-pound note would not buy him to-day. This treasure is just now suffering from a severe cold, and Professor Fredericks has been obliged to put a mustard plaster on his throat. Of all animals, horses and dogs are the easiest to train. Cats are willing enough to learn, but they are unreliable. Sloper may have walked the tight-rope five nights with elegance and precision, but on the sixtn he refuses. "It's obstinacy." says Professor Fredericks ; "and when the fit is on them, the only way is to let them rest. I never use force, and never by any chance strike an animal." For training purposes, kittens are useless. They are too enterprising. Professor Fredericks prefers a middle-aged Spanish animal, whose sense of humour is not abnormally developed. Cats can be trained to care little about the audience, and they are perfectly indifferent to applause; but they do not like any alteration in the aspect of the stage. If a stranger happens to cross the boards, they will pause and look round with a serious inquisitiveness which is inimitable.
    The first item of the performance at the Oxford and the Aquarium was climbing the pole; this, of all cat tricks, is the hardest to teach, as with the first step the animal passes out of his master's jurisdiction. Whether he reaches the top of the pole or not depends entirely upon his own humour. On this occasion Arco — a tall, thin, lank Portuguese cat — was in fine form: he climbed the pole and came down head first, without so much as a mew. Walking the tight rope followed; this half a dozen animals — English and Portuguese — accomplished skilfully, with occasional encouragement from their master.
    If there is one thing of all others that Sloper most dislikes it is mice, and next it is canary birds. He treats both of them with contempt. One of the striking features of the performance was to see him walk a tight rope literally strewn with these animals. He, lifted his feet gingerly over mice and birds, and the little mishap that occurred in the second part of the journey was due entirely to his severe cold. He sneezed one of the canaries off the rope and on to the floor; but, he made up for it by returning with a mouse on his back. It will be news to most people to hear that one cat in eight has no taste for birds and mice. When the taste has been acquired, nothing save downright bullying and cruelty will correct it, and that method of training has no place in Professor Fredericks' system. Quite recently a black and white member of the company named Aquarium, by a clever piece of business, nearly succeeded in ousting Sloper from his position as leading juvenile of the show. In a moment of forgetfulness, let us hope, he bent his head and caught a rat, in his mouth. The little animal, no doubt, gave itself up for lost. A word from Professor Fredericks, however, and it was dropped at once. Mention must also be made of the boxing cats. They stood on their hind legs facing one another on two chairs, and fought three rounds in most scientific fashion. Professor Fredericks finds that Portuguese cats make the finest performers, and the Lisbon folk the best audiences. In that city cats are adored, for the reason that they act as scavengers in clearing the streets of the innumerable mice that infest them. Their lank and lean appearance is due to this pursuit, and not to severe treatment, as English audiences are apt to imagine.

    Professor Fredericks is able to train one in three cats, those of a black hue taking most readily to the work. He first teacnes them to sit up and beg; creeping through chairs follows, which leads to crawling over the backs, and so on to walking across the stage on champagne-bottles. The Professor believes that cats have no real affection at all. It takes a canary about five weeks to get used to tis natural enemy.
    There is not on record a single instance of a Radical cat. They detest change, and if taken to a new home will hide under the sofa or up the chimney till custom has soothed their fear. It is one thing for a cat to perform in a private room, but quite another to to make him go through his tricks in a public hall, as one or two cat showmen have found to their cost.
    This power over animals is a rare gift, and those who posses it are more interesting than they think. It is a sine qua non to let the beast feel that you are its master ; and that applies especially to horses. The author of  "The Silence of Dean Maitland " makes the hero lose his power over animals after a bout of evil-doing — which, of course, is nonsense. Drinking to excess will do it, as that means loss of control and of masterhood. Professor Fredericks is practically an abstainer. Here is an instance of his nerve. A few years ago he belonged to a circus company. They were performing in South America. One evening, as the lion-tamer was about to enter the cage, a nail in the wall inflicted a slight wound on his face, drawing blood. He was sufficiently brave for his work, but he also knew his business, and he knew what kind of effect the blood trickling from his face would have upon the lions; so he declined to enter the cage. The audience were clamorous, and it was decided that somebody else must put the animals through their tricks. The choice fell upon Professor Fredericks. Although he had never before had anything to do with lions, he entered the cage, and at the end of quarter of an hour made his exit. "Weren't you at all nervous?"  I asked.  "Only once — as I was opening the door to enter. Safe inside I had control over them. The danger lay in entering." And what would you have done if they had attacked you?" "Done? — nothing I could only stand still and be eaten till somebody outside had got the red-hot irons ready!" Professor Fredericks has now given up consorting with lions; it invariably gave his wife hysteric ; besides, performing cats are more remunerative.

Illustrated London News, 22 December 1888

The Floating Bath and Glaciarium

The floating structure of iron, containing a large covered swimming-bath, moored in the river just above Charing-cross Railway Bridge, was opened for use, without any ceremony, one day last week. It is placed almost close to the railway bridge and adjoining the Victoria Thames Embankment, in one of the recesses of the granite wall, which was formerly occupied by one of the floating steam-boat piers. This is the first of a series of floating baths which it is intended to establish at various points, not only along the course of the River Thames through London and elsewhere, but likewise on other rivers wherever such accommodation may be required. A word must be said for the energy and enterprise of the Floating Swimming-Baths Company (Limited) of which Admiral Elliott is chairman and Mr. Page is the active secretary. The difficulties which beset every novel undertaking have met the promoters of this design in the most aggravated form; and that it has become a realised fact is due to the unremitting exertions of all employed, and to the public spirit and courage of the directors.
    The bath, now open, was designed by Mr. E. Perrett, of Abingdon-street, Westminister, the company's engineer. It is of wrought iron, with a superstructure of wood, iron and glass in combination. The hull or lower portion was constructed by the Thames Iron and Shipbuilding Company (Limited). It is composed of two longitudinal side-box girders, connected together at the ends and bottom by iron plating and suitable iron framework, and in the central portion by two arched girders over the bath, having the appearance of bridges, and affording raised perches for divers to jump off. The end parts of the structure are partitioned off from the bath by bulkheads, and form respectively the machinery-chamber and a chamber for the storage of what is required for a refreshment-room. These end chambers are each 21ft. long, in the longitudinal direction of the structure, and 25 ft. wide.
    The bathing space is 135ft. in length and 25ft wide. The minimum depth of water is about 3ft. at one end, the wooden false bottom sloping down from the eastern end for a distance of 90ft., where the full depth of the water, about 7ft. is reached, continuing to the western end. For the purpose of warming the water, at the commencement and end of the bathing season, a heating apparatus is provided at the eastern end of the bath; this is fired from the machinery chamber, which is at the end. The superstructure is of a light though substantial character, and is relieved at each end of the bathing space by a dome, beneath which is placed a fountain; and through these fountains the water is supplied to the bath.
    The supply of water is obtained from the river. It is let in by suitable cocks, and is passed through a filtering apparatus, which completely remove all mud and other matter that may be in suspension in the water, but still allows water to retain its natural salts and soft refreshing qualities. Attempts were made to free the bathing water also from the tint pervading it; but it was apprehended that, in effecting this decolorisation, the water would become less pleasant to bathe in. The aeration of the water which takes place in the process of filtration, and in its discharge from the fountains, frees the water from the chemical impurities which might be expected to be present to some extent in Thames Water. The bath, when full, contains about 150,000 gallons of water, and the machinery is capable of filling it in six hours if need be. It is intended, however, that there shall be a continuous stream of fresh water into the bath. The charge for admission to bathe is one shilling

Illustrated London News, 17 July 1875

 THE FLOATING GLACIARIUM - Our readers will doubtless remember that on the 7th of last January skating was commenced on Mr. John Gamgee's first sheet of ice 430 square feet in extent.. A thousand square feet — the size ut the Glaciarium at Chelsea, which is still frozen — was the second attempt, and now 3090 square feet of solid and transparent ice may be seen and used at the floating swimming baths on the Thames at Charing-cross, by the special permission of the Metropolitan Board of Works. The public have shown that they fully appreciated swimming in the Thames in summer, but the winter months found the floating structure empty. If, then, the equally delightful pastime of skating can be secured when bathers fail, a pereuuial attraction will be provided on the Thames Embankment for the million The floating baths were handed over to Mr.Gamgee on the 20th of October last and within two mouths two complete sets of machinery, with all the aceessories neccessary for a Glaciarium, have been satisfactorily erected. The general principles of the floating Glaciarium are similar to those at Chelsea, which has already been described in detail in The Times. They consist of the circulation of a current of glycerine and water through a series of metal tubes immersed in water, which is converted into ice nud maintained in that condition. The details, howover, are different. There are two ice machines with the necessary engines, one at each end of the structure. Each machine absorbs over 100,000 heat units per hour, and it is stated that this immense effect is obtained by utilizing about six-horse power per machine. The water of the Thames at a temperature of about 40 or 42 deg. Fahrenheit, pumped freely through the condenser, maintains the pressure in the machine at a minimum of one atmosphere and three-quarters, whereas the pressure in the refrigerator is only nominal and corresponds to the temperature of about 0 Farrenheit. A rotary pump drives about 4,000 gallons of glycerine and water per hour through each refrigerator, and this cold liquid traverses through the tubes of the Glaciarium, and the water outside them is thoroughly frozen. The special difficulties in maintaining congelation at the Charing-cross baths arise from the great radiation from the iron structure which is caused by its immersion in the waters of the Thames and by the extensive area of glass roof covering the whole in, which greatly raisers the temperature of the internal atmosphere and is antagonistic to the developinent of artificial refrigeration. The desired result, however, has been attaineed, and on our visit to the Glaciarium yesterday,  ice two inches thick was already forrod and was skated upon, in the first instance, by two ladies.#

 The Times, 20 December 1876

footnote:  In 1885, an attempted sale by auction failed to meet the asking price, and later in the year the baths were purchased by the South Eastern Railway Co. and scrapped. Another short-lived floating baths appeared near Somerset House c. 1891 - an 'eyesore' which the LCC outlawed in 1892.

Chinese Performance

CHINESE PERFORMANE ON BOARD THE JUNK

The Chinese Junk now, by permission of the civic authorities (the conservators of the river) firmly established on the mud-bank at the end of Essex-street, Strand, close to the outfall of the main sewer of St. Clement's parish, is thrown open daily - morning and evening - with a variety of entertainment a la Chinaise including a vocal and instrumental concert, a grand assault of arms, Chinese conjuring tricks, &c. The native crew, who of course, never contemplate going to see again, are the performers, and acquit themselves in an artistic manner, worthy of the "supers" of the Victoria or Astley's. At the evening performances the queer old craft is lighted up with festoons of coloured lamps - a sort of miniature Vauxhall; and in the midst stands an open orchestra, in which four or five instrumentalists ("Barbarians" not Chinese) prepare the ear for the extraordinary combination of sounds which is to follow. Nothing can exceed the gravity of the "celestials" as they take their position in the midst of the assembly on the main-deck, and proceed to fright he ear with gong and drum and cymbal, and agonizing cat-gut; the leader beating time with a stake upon a sort of tin saucepan-lid supported on three legs. Then the vocalisation! The extraordinary squeaking duet, half plaintive, half comic, between the said leader (who is a sort of Costa and Mario rolled into one) and a younger aspirant in the background - what can possibly exceed its harrowing and ludicrous effect? Nothing except that impromptu feline discourse which we sometimes hear on house-tops at dead of night. The concert being concluded amidst the breathless silence of an astonished auditory, the war demonstrations and feats of arms then commence; and these are certainly no less extraordinary than what has gone before. The first act consist of a set of grotesque posturings, in which the performers disport themselves severally one after the onther, each striving to outdo the other in wildness and extravagance of his gestures - flying and leaping round the deck, thrusting out the arms right and left, threatening, retreating, &c. the musicians all the time keeping up a terrific clang. Next come a series of somewhat similar performances with long poles or lances; this scene closing with a set-to between two performers, which we have endeavoured to embody in our Engraving. Swords are also introduced, and brandished about in the same manner, which, if intended to give any idea of the military science of the Chinese, shows them to be very far behind any other nation in the world in that respect. One young hero, in the course of his "war demonstrations" afforded great amusement every now and then, particularly after some very startling efforts at cut and thrust, by throwing himself down and turning a somerset over his shield. When we left, the "barbarian" orchestra was about to strike up again, and dancing, it was said, was about to commence, but we did not wait for it.

Train of Rubbish

One day last week a friend of mine walked down Piccadilly behind a lady who was wearing a dress fitted with the long train now in vogue. Opposite St. James's Club she got into a cab. She consequently left behind her on the pavement all the rubbish which her skirt had collected as it swept down Piccadilly. My friend, being of a scientific turn, proceeded to make an inventory of the collection, and he has been good enough to send it to me for publication. I give it below. In the days when germs and microbes play such an important part in social life, I question very much whether these trains should be permitted by law. This lady left her street sweepings on the curb-stone; but it might be remembered that many convey them into their own or their friends' houses:-

2 cigar ends.
9 cigarette do.
A portion of pork pie.
4 toothpicks.
2 hairpins.
1 stem of a clay pipe.
3 fragments of orange peel.
1 slice of cat's meat.
Half a sole of a boot.
1 plug of tobacco (chewed).
Straw, mud, scraps of paper, and miscellaneous street refuse, ad.lib.

Lady F.W. Harberton, "Symposium on Dress," Arena, vol. 6. New York, 1892, p. 334.

[with thanks to Chia Evers for pointing this out to me]

Adulterated Olive Oil

OLIVE OIL.

OLIVE OIL, or, as it is usually called in the household, salad oil, is extracted by pressure from the fruit of the Olea Europoea. This tree is a native of Asia (where it is named zituna) and the northern parts of Africa. It is also grown in France, Italy, and Spain, and requires a calcareous, rocky soil for its cultivation. The fruit of the olive, from which the oil is obtained, is smooth and oval, like a plum, and when ripe, its skin is of a deep violet tint. Inside the fruit is soft and fleshy, and of a whitish colour, containing a hard, long, pointed nut, and is of a bitter disagreeable taste.
    The olive tree commences to yield olives in its second year, and continues to improve until it is a centry old, after which it detiorates. The fruit is gathered in November; and great care should be taken that it is sufficiently ripe, otherwise the oil it yields will be bitter: but if the olives should be allowed to be too ripe, the oil will be thick, and containing much mucilage. The very best olive oil will be found to have fruity taste; thuis is due, not so much to the method by which the oil is obtained as to the quality of the olives used.
    To obtain the oil; the fruit is usually collected in heaps and allowed to ferment, during which process they rise considerably in temperature, Great care has to be taken, while the olives are fermenting, that the temperature does not reach as high as 100° Fahrenheit, otherwise the fruit will yield an inferior oil, which will have a rancid taste. The use of thus causing the fruit to ferment is to render the olives softer, and enable them to yield their oil the more easily. When the olives have remained in heaps for the proper period, they are crushed into a paste beneath heavy rollers (which are placed so far apart as not to crush the kernels) and then placed in bags or sacks made of rushes, Eighteen or twenty of these bags are then piled up in a powerful press, and compressed as tightly as possible. The oil thus obtained is of the best quality, and is known as virgin oil. When the oil ceases to flow, the olives are removed from. the sacks, broken up in hot water, and again compressed, to extract a further quantity of oil, but which is now of an inferior quality, and which issues from the press mixed with water. The oil is now separated from the water by collecting it in cisterns, and allowing the water which is mixed with the mucilage of the olives to collect at the bottom of the vessel, while the oil floats on the surface, from which it is removed by skimming it off. The olive oil thus obtained is known in commerce as oil of the second quality.
    Even after this has been done, the kernels of the olives contain a considerable quantity of oil. For the purpose of extracting this oil, the olives are removed from the sacks and mixed up with water, by which means the broken stones fall to the bottom of the vessel, and allow the kernels to float to the top. They are then collected by means of a sieve, dried at a gentle heat, rolled into a paste, put into bags, and again compressed, when they yield oil of the third quality.
    When olive oil is first expressed, it is always found to contain a considerable quantity of mucus. This is got rid of by allowing the oil. to remain at rest for three weeks, at a temperature of about 68° Fahrenheit, when the oil deposits the mucus at the bottom of the vessel, in the form of a white albuminous substance of a fibrous consistence.
    The best olive oil is imported into England in flasks, and is then known as salad oil, from being employed in the preparation of that dish. It is packed up in boxes, called half-chests. Sometimes—and this is especially the case with oil of an inferior quality—it is sent over in jars.
    Most of the olive oil imported into England is sent from the port of Gallipoli, where it is stored in huge cisterns cut out of the solid rock. It is found that the quality of the oil is much improved by this treatment, and that when thus stored it has kept good for more than seven years. The best olive oil is said to be made in Provence, and its great excellence is supposed to be due to the care taken in cleaning the olives previous to using them.A considerable quantity of the oil imported into England, however, comes from Lucca and Florence. Olive oil is also sent over from Sicily, but is of an inferior quality, and has a resinous taste, which has been attributed to the nature of the soil on which the olives were grown.
    The oil is a compound of two principles, named oleine and margarine. Oleine is a thin and oily liquid, of which seventy-two parts are contained in each hundred of oil. Margarine is a solid substance, which, although soluble in oleine at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, is deposited when the oil is exposed to cold. This principle constitutes twenty-eight per cent. of olive oil.
    When olive oil is kept for a long period—and especially if exposed to the action of the atmosphere at a warm temperature—it becomes partially decomposed, sebacic acid is formed, and the oil acquires a disagreeable taste and odour, and becomes what is commonly known as rancid. And, at the same time, the oil deposits stearine, becomes becomes thick, and of a dark brown colour. This is especially the case if it has been adulterated with poppy oil.
     Olive oil, when of good quality and free from adulteration should have scarcely any smell, and have a bland and pleasant taste. Owing, however, to its value, olive oil is much adulterated with poppy oil, cocoa-nut oil, and rape oil. The oil procnred by expression from the seeds of the Sesamum orientate, and which is commonly known as teel, sesame, or gingelly oil, is also employed for adulteration.
 The most ready way ef detecting these adulterations and also of ascertaining the nature of the oils employed  is to place a small quantity—from ten to twenty  drops—on the middle of a slip of colourless glass, and drop on the centre of it a very small drop of sulphuric acid. If the olive oil is perfectly pure, it will assume a pale yellow appearance, which gradually changes to a yellowish green. If the olive oil has been adulterated with poppy oil, it becomes of a deeper yellow, which at length becomes almost opaque. When rape oil has been used, a ring of greenish blue forms round the acid, with some yellow-brown streaks in the centre, If whale oil (train oil) has been employed, the addition of the acid produces a movement in the centre, gradually extending over it, and at length assuming a red tint, with violet at the edges. Or if lard, or tallow oil, has been added, the liquid becomes of a brown appearance, which, if linseed oil had been used, would be almost black.
    Another way to detect whether olive oil has been adulterated with other oils, is to mix it with a solutionof the nitrate of mercury. This solution is prepared by adding eleven parts of mercury to eight parts of nitric acid in a small flask or test tube. A gentle heat should applied until the metal is dissolved, and then fourteen parts of water are to be added. To use this solution, a small stoppered phial must be half filled with the suspected oil; then half that quantity of the solution of nitrate of mercury is to be added, the stopper placed it the mouth of the phial, and the whole well shaken together for five minutes. The vessel is then to be allowed to remain at rest for a short time. again well shaken and afterwards placed on one side for some hours. At the end of that time, if the oil is perfectly pure, it will be found. converted into a solid mass; but if it contains one part in twenty of other oils, it will remain fluid. The solid mass thus produced by the action of the nitrate of mercury is due to the production of a solid fat named elaidine.

Cassells Household Guide, c.1880