A futuristic vision: technology is over-sophisticated, and the masses devote themselves to intellectual pursuits, while the basic needs of society are neglected. Coloured etching by W. Heath, 1828, after F.A.

Signs of technology gone mad: a shop window of enormous size displaying grotesquely oversized hats; a shop so tall that the customers have to be winched up seated on an escalator; a bridge over the Channel and a tunnel beneath it, the latter collapsing; aerial bombardment from a battleship held up by balloons; an airship colliding with the moon; gas street lighting substituted for the sun; the street is full of mud because the street sweeper walks on stilts and does not need it to be cleared; transport in steam-powered cars

Signs of society collapsing because the masses are devoted to high culture: an apple-seller reads Byron's poems while a boy steals her apples; a butcher and a dustman play chess while a dog runs off with the butcher's meat; a trio of street musicians play concert music instead of popular music; a ballad-singer imitates opera stars; footmen ape their masters but smoke in the streets

London (St. James's Street) : G. Humphrey, Jany. 23 1828.

1 print : etching, with watercolour ; image 21.3 x 32.6 cm

The march of intellect. F.A. Esq. inv. [Paul Pry] del. & sculp. The "March of intellect" or "March of mind" was a popular phrase in the 1820s and 1830s, used seriously by some, mockingly by others, to denote trust in mass education and technological change to solve the problems of society: see British Museum, op. cit., pp. xliv and 67-68

British Museum, Catalogue of political and personal satires, vol. XI, London 1954, no. 15604

Wellcome Collection 36373i

By William Heath using the pseudonym Paul Pry, represented by a vignette of Paul Pry. The designer, "F.A. Esq.", is not identified in the British Museum catalogue (loc. cit.)