Judge — June 9, 1906 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon satirizes a doctor's contradictory excuse-making. A well-dressed physician tells a suburban patient he's sorry for missing regular appointments because he's been attending to another patient in the neighborhood—so he can "kill two birds with one stone." The joke hinges on the phrase "kill two birds with one stone" (accomplish two things efficiently), which the doctor unwittingly applies to his medical practice in darkly ironic fashion. The implication is that by having patients geographically close together, he can treat them simultaneously—an absurdly efficient but medically questionable approach that reduces patients to mere logistical problems. The satire mocks both medical professionalism and the era's emerging suburban expansion, suggesting doctors prioritized convenience over care.