Life — November 22, 1888 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Commendable Caution" - Life Magazine, November 22, 1888 This cartoon satirizes a domestic scene where a woman concerned about yellow fever suggests calling Dr. Pillsbury, while her husband objects because Pillsbury is "color-blind." The humor relies on a cruel pun: the husband conflates the doctor's literal color-blindness (inability to distinguish colors) with an inability to recognize the yellow appearance associated with yellow fever—as if the doctor couldn't "see" the disease. This plays on period anxieties about yellow fever, which was a genuine public health threat in late 19th-century America. The joke mocks both the husband's absurd logic (why would color-blindness prevent medical competence?) and contemporary medical superstitions. The woman's response—calling his reasoning "commendable caution"—drips with sarcasm, highlighting how ridiculous his excuse is.