Life — March 24, 1887 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Political Cartoon Analysis This page contains two satirical scenes titled "Tales of High Temperature" and "One Lung and Forty Thousand Dollars a Year." The cartoons appear to mock wealthy patients seeking medical treatment at a winter resort. The upper scene shows elegantly dressed men gathered outside, while the lower scene—framed within a profile of a man's head—depicts a wealthy invalid being examined by physicians. The satire targets the conspicuous consumption and vanity of the rich: patients spending enormous sums ($40,000 annually) traveling to exclusive resorts for dubious health treatments. The "high temperature" likely refers to either actual fever or metaphorically to the heated atmosphere of fashionable society seeking cure-alls. The cartoon mocks both the wealthy patients' credulity and the medical establishment's willingness to profit from their health anxieties through expensive resort treatments.