[Ads-l] Further Antedating of "Mad Scientist"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Fascinating analysis, Jeff. Excellent discussion, everyone.
Here is a common mad scientist story schema:

(1) The mad scientist pursues knowledge (or power).
(2) The mad scientist breaks taboos.
(3) The mad scientist endangers humans.
(4) The mad scientist faces the wrath of society.

Remarkably, these four elements are nascent in the 1875 news article.
Garson

On Mon, Aug 3, 2026 at 1:25 PM Jeff Prucher
<000000b93183dc86-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
>  The third citation in HDSF (July 11, 1893) is pretty clearly the modern mad scientist: The scientist in question has found a way to make water combust in a self-sustaining reaction and wants to hold the world for ransom or he will burn up the entire ocean.
> The same story was reprinted many times in various newspapers. This is the earliest I found in newspaperarchives:
> The Morning News (Savannah, Ga.) (newspaperarchives.com) (this one says "from the London Tid-Bits", so presumably there is an earlier date yet, but I haven't tried looking for archives of Tid-Bits or Tit-Bits as it was originally titled.)
> "The Finger of Fire"March 19, 1893p. 15/2Nerving myself for the blow, I felled the mad scientist dead at my feet.
> -Jeff Prucher
>     On Monday, August 3, 2026 at 08:20:17 AM PDT, John Baker <0000192d2eeb9639-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org