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

[Jonathan Lighter]

I wonder if the "mad medical scientist" recalled in 1877 was Viktor
Frankenstein himself. If not, who?  (There may, of course, have been
imitators in now-lost dime novels and penny dreadfuls.)

Hawthorne's Rappacini was a mad botanist, though not a threat to the
planet. And Hoffman's Spalanzini, not a scientist, engineered Olympia, the
world's first robotic girlfriend.  (Cf.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2025/01/08/this-could-be-your-ai-robot-girlfriend-for-175000/
 )

JL

On Tue, Aug 4, 2026 at 5:26 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Great citation for "mad medical scientist", John. Nice work everyone.
> John and JL mentioned H.G. Wells's character Dr. Moreau. Here is 1919
> citation in which Dr. Moreau is called a "mad biologist".
>
> Date: October 19, 1919
> Newspaper: The Sun
> Newspaper Location: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
> Article: Man Half-Soled
> Quote Page 3, Column 2
> Database: Newspapers.com
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sun-madbiologist/203085306/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> In the dear dead days beyond recall, before Mr. H. G. Wells became a
> prophet, he described the island of Dr. Moreau, where a mad biologist
> created numberless monsters by transposing the parts of ordinary
> animals.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Tue, Aug 4, 2026 at 4:56 AM John M. Baker
> <0000192d2eeb9639-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> >  This is not the pulp fiction version of a mad scientist that Jonathan
> was looking for, but it does appear to me to be the modern term:  "Yes, it
> is an experiment.  But it will prove to be an experiment that will cost the
> very life of the Republican party.  It will be like the experiment of the
> mad medical scientist of whom I read in boyhood.  He killed a human body to
> have a vivisection, and to test whether by putting the various parts
> together, he could not vivificate it."
> > The Stark County Democrat (Canton, Ohio), June 21, 1877, at 1 col. 4
> (Newspapers.com).
> >
> > John Baker
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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