Life, 1886-10-07 · page 1 of 16
Life — October 7, 1886 — page 1: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Good Reason Why" — Life Magazine, October 7, 1886 This cartoon satirizes a doctor's confidence in his medical practice. The doctor boasts he's "never heard a complaint from one of my patients," and the hostess responds with dark humor: "The errors of physicians are generally buried with their patients." The joke is a classic gallows humor jab at medical incompetence—patients who die can't complain. In 1886, medicine was still transitioning from folk remedies and bloodletting toward modern germ theory, so physician errors and high mortality rates were genuine public concerns. The cartoon mocks both the doctor's obliviousness to his own failures and the euphemistic silence surrounding medical deaths in polite Victorian society.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
OLUME VIII. NEW YORK, OCTOBER 7, 1886. Entered at New York Post Office as Second-Class Mail Matter. Copyright, 1886, by Mricuatt & Miter. GOOD REASON WHY. Doctor (who has a large idea of his own skill): INDEED, I HAVB NEVER HEARD A COMPLAINT FROM ONE OF MY PATIENTS. Hostess: I DON’T DouBT IT, DocTorR. THE ERRORS OF PHYSICIANS ARE GENERALLY BURIED WITH THEIR PATIENTS. ' comicbooks.com