1-150-382 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'Medium and Re-Medium', 1864. Here, Punch has a topical dig at the spiritual industry and the 'idiots of fashion' for providing such a fine harvest for the practitioners. The journal's point is well made by also depicting the Irish 'witch' recently sentenced to a term of imprisonment for utilising her skills to produce apparitions. Mid-Victorians were often in the midst of death and this explains the intense interest in spiritualism. The rise in popularity of spiritual and psychical 'research' can also be explained by the increasing conflict between faith and science. From Punch, or the London Charivari, November 12, 1864.