Aristocracy · Art · Mores · People · Humour

Count Hartig with his wife Eleonora as Roman Charity in a painting by Barbara Krafft

An unequal match, you say? The President of the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences, friend of Emperor Joseph II, seasoned diplomat, civil servant, and man of letters and poet of acknowledged standing in Europe, Franz de Paula Anton Count von Hartig (1758-1797), is suckled at the breast of his

Aristocracy · Archive · Observations · Mores · Humour

When I am told that I love animals too much and people too little, I remember the Duchess of Leuchtenberg, of whom it was said that, rising at 11 in the evening, she did not sleep until 9 in the morning, kept 8 dogs, and at night ordered the livers to be

When I am told that I love animals too much and people too little, I remember the Duchess of Leuchtenberg, of whom it was said that, rising at 11 in the evening, she did not sleep until 9 in the morning, kept 8 dogs, and at night ordered the livers

Science · Palaeontology · Humour

First named dinosaur bone received the name Scrotum humanum in the 18th century

This is the first dinosaur bone to receive a name, in the eighteenth century. It was christened Scrotum humanum, that is, the human scrotum. Why, I think, hardly needs explaining. The term does not, of course, conform to the Linnaean binomial, being rather descriptive in character. Some suppose that it

In the foyer of the Anatomical Museum two large elephant skeletons flank a doorway marked Anatomical Museum, with two busts on pedestals between them.

NB! · Museums · Palaeontology · Nature · Humour

Skeletons in the Edinburgh Anatomical Museum foyer belong to elephants, not dinosaurs or mammoths

For many years two skeletons in the foyer of the University of Edinburgh's Anatomical Museum were believed to be the remains of dinosaurs, and later of mammoths. They are, in fact, elephants

Archive · Books · Society · Saint Petersburg · Humour

From the Diary of Alexandra Viktorovna Bogdanovich, a Lady of Society

One peasant shook his fist at the criminals; he was seized, on the supposition that he was against the police. One woman was seized: she had waved a handkerchief. I inform the author of these lines, from 4 April 1881: there is still a great deal of comedy here, you

Archive · Monarchies · People · Humour

Bogdanovich on Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich and his identical reply to every report

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich replied to all introductions, petitions and communications in one stereotyped fashion: “Very glad, I thank you heartily.” He replied in just the same way when he was informed of the death of Dobryakov, the chief military doctor. From the memoirs of A. V. Bogdanovich

NB! · Observations · Nature · Humour

Just look at those eyes!

Just look at those eyes! This charmer of a flying fish all but begs to be picked up and cuddled

NB! · Museums · Observations · Palaeontology · Nature · Humour

The Giant Fossil Turtle from the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco: This Is How I See Russian Officialdom

A pale stone vase with relief decoration on a short pedestal, with long green blades of grass hanging beside it.

NB! · Observations · Humour

Vase on a veranda in Monte Carlo with a relief resembling both a duck and a ribbon

A vase on our veranda in Monte Carlo has made me look afresh at the "duck or rabbit" puzzle. So then: duck or ribbon?

NB! · Observations · Humour

relatable

Books · Ethnography · Humour

Another Alarming Superstition

Another alarming superstition. From a book of 1903: to carry unsalted meat across a road or a stretch of water will make the devil follow you. So do take care, and safe travels

Books · Observations · Ethnography · Humour

The author issues a warning without specifying its subject

Welsh Folklore of 1909 records this omen: if you wish to die, eat cabbage in August. As they say, I have merely done my duty and warned you.