Judge, 1918-06-29 · page 14 of 37
Judge — June 29, 1918 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This WWI-era humor piece, illustrated by Albert Leverking, satirizes the mandatory vaccination procedures newly inducted soldiers endured. The "shot" refers to the hypodermic injection—a novel medical experience for many recruits. The joke compares Hippocrates' discovery that disease stems from germs (not divine wrath) to the Army's vaccination campaign. The text humorously describes soldiers' bewilderment at receiving injections beneath the shoulder blade, noting they contain millions of bacilli. The illustration shows recruits crowded together, likely awaiting their turn. The satire targets rookie soldiers' exaggerated reactions to the needle and their newfound understanding of germ theory. The title's pun on "shot" (injection versus alcohol) reinforces the comic tone. This reflects genuine soldier anxiety about wartime medical procedures while gently mocking their theatrical responses to this standardized military ritual.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
eg > ALBERT LEVERIG - Rookie Realisms By Private Cuester W. SHAFER Ambulance 330, 310th Sanitary Train Illustrated by Aubert Leverinc ‘ THAT ‘‘sHOT’’—IN THE ARM ur artist's idea of how the “ shot” ought to be ad- it is not, it is the way the Rookie thinks it is Ep. ACK in the ill-ventilated and poorly- lighted days when the league pennant fluttered over the Acropolis at Athens and the oracle at Delphi was thinking seriously of advancing her price to four bits a head, Hippocrates crashed through the un- derbrush into the open with a decision that has given every National Army soldier something to justify his expansive knowledge of profanity. At that time Hippocrates didn’t have so much as a half-fed hunch on the National Army; so shouldn’t be penalized too heavily. He was a well-intentioned, loose-leafed bird, with an extended order chin. Rated as to coco, he was far above lightweight specifications. When his reputation for heft matured and he began to realize that he was sitting pretty, he began looking around. He figured that he was paying just as much for his hard coal as any of the others, and he was due whenever he thought it was time. So he struck off on his own hook and started the investigation that made him famous. It was completed in his declaration that disease was the result of germs and not of the wrath of the gods as previously set forth. And thus came the “shot.” The shot is one of the first degrees of the National Army ritual. It is appended just under the right shoulder blade and makes every soldier wonder why the epavtetted officer is taking such a roundabout way io reach his chest. The medico uses a needle—of the hypodermic type. As he ensconces it in the quivering flesh of the private, he lets go with the serum of the shot. In each shot, accord- ing to the count of experts. there are from 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 bacilli. Consequently the first feeling of the soldier is one of extreme hospitality. He realizes that he is some comicbooks.com