Curiosities of Civilization

A series of critical essays examines mid-19th-century British social life and institutions, ranging from the press and advertisements to public health, urban nuisances, and state services. The collection surveys food adulteration, zoological exhibits, rats, lunatic asylums, military provisioning and barrack life, shipwrecks, telegraphy, fires and insurance, policing, criminality, and occupational mortality, combining reportage, statistical observation, and moral commentary to illuminate everyday conditions, administrative practice, and the interplay between scientific knowledge and popular habits.