That Bottle of Medicine I Gave You for Baby

This pen-and-ink drawing by Bertram Prance depicts a domestic comedy: a harried mother explains to her doctor that the prescribed infant medicine vanished quickly because she and her husband sampled it first—hoping to demonstrate its safety and palatability to their reluctant baby. The sketch captures the anxieties of early twentieth-century parenting and the era's patent-medicine culture with economical, expressive linework. Descended from the satirical tradition of Gillray and Rowlandson, such drawings populated newspapers and magazines, using domestic scenes and character types to explore class relations, medical quackery, and family life. The image reflects both genuine concerns about proprietary remedies and the period's casual attitudes toward dosing—humor that emerges from real historical tensions between folk remedies, modern medicine, and consumer vulnerability.