Judge, 1919-02-01 · page 13 of 32
Judge — February 1, 1919 — page 13: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis for Modern Readers This satirical article mocks the early 20th-century proliferation of self-proclaimed "health experts"—figures who required no formal credentials, yet dispensed trendy wellness advice to the public. The author, H.W. Dee, exposes their formula: adopt an impressive title ("Professor" or "Doctor"), make vague proclamations about ventilation and mastication, and advocate fashionable but often contradictory health fads (sleeping outdoors, avoiding tight clothing, drinking buttermilk and cod liver oil). The accompanying cartoons illustrate the absurdity: pompous men making lengthy speeches about trivial health matters (setting a hen, planting a tree), promoting peculiar bathing methods, and pushing restrictive diets. The humor targets how these "experts" achieved prominence through mere assertiveness and pseudo-scientific jargon rather than actual knowledge. The final jab—that anyone with "common school education and no ability" could become a health expert—emphasizes the fraudulence of this emerging industry of health charlatans.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
How To Be A Health Expert By H.W. Dee NYBODY—that wants to—can_ be- come a health ex- pert. It is true that you have to talk a good deal and write some, but it is not necessary for you to know much, and you have almost nothing to do. Aside from assuming the title of ‘‘ pro- fessor” or “doctor” and being made chairman of a hygiene board or director of a life extension institute you have only to be partly familiar with the human anatomy. You will do well not to stray from the trodden path of health experts fora while. The following rules are for the guidance of young health experts who desire to make good: 1. Insist upon more ventilation and more mas- tication. 2. Advocate sleeping out of doors in all kinds of weather in any kind of bed with little or no cover. 3. Knock tight clothing, belts, corsets, flannel chest protectors and woolen socks. 4. Warn against over- eating and overweight. 5. Emphasize the im- portance of substituting buttermilk, cod liver oil, vegetable soup, beef stew, hot mush and commercialized husks and straw for standard food. Drawn by A.B. Warcen Tue Furt Dr. Cupid—Yes, she has a heart; in fact, I see five. “Let us not think that merely because this humble edifice 15 tobe only the home of an cr port that this is not an occesion for mot, Solemn reflection. The Gort ete-7 “How that we ate about to set this hen, ink 6S only fittinp that I should sy Tih oe on oth as Mote che SONE MEN CAN'T SETA HEN WITHOUT MAKING A SPEECH. Serie tipo ; “HS a apple tee, | “Nobod/l it poesnr TAKE Ei ReGiie Nea MUCH TO GET THE “ ORDINARY. malic AND HIS DESK THE TO PITH FIRST HORSESHOE OR PLANT A TREE. Pai oF Diep. WWERS ADDO Tag. Ue PITT SBURG- LITTLE OOZE CARIELL, 4 YRS. OLD, DAUGHTER OF Drawn by Dox Hexoww Ceremony Fienps 6. Advocate deep breathing, erect posture and plenty of prune juice. 7. Insist upon moderation in work, play, rest and sleep. 8. Devise some system of exercise that will demolish the bedroom suite and shatter all the windows in the house. g. Originate a new kind of bath. (The following have been worked to death: hot, cold, tepid, sun, skin, towel, friction, sponge, mud, Turkish, and Saturday night.) 10. Inveigh against alcohol, dope, to- bacco, hot biscuit, crowded street cars and anything else that the public enjoys. 11. Prove that man should live to be at least 100 years of age. 12. Publisha noisome weekly menu when- ever public interest begins to wane. Anyone with a common school education and no ability can become a health expert even without a correspondence course. comicbooks.com