Judge — February 16, 1907 — page 2: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Doctors Go After Saint Valentine" This cartoon satirizes medical advice columns by depicting a doctor dispensing Valentine's Day health recommendations. The left panel shows a figure offering contradictory prescriptions: "eat too much," "sleep too much," "work too much," etc.—each labeled "too much." The satire targets the era's proliferation of medical advice in popular magazines. Doctors were making grand claims about treating everything from nervous exhaustion to digestive problems, often with dubious remedies. The cartoon mocks the absurdity of one-size-fits-all medical guidance and the commercialization of health advice. The text beneath elaborates on doctors' contradictory recommendations regarding Fourth of July health practices, reinforcing the joke that contemporary medical advice was contradictory and often nonsensical—a common satirical target in early 20th-century publications.