Life, 1895-05-23 · page 7 of 18
Life — May 23, 1895 — page 7: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "The Class in Vivisection" This cartoon satirizes medical education practices through a darkly comedic scene. A female anatomy student or cadaver is suspended while surrounded by male medical students and instructors conducting dissection. The caption quotes an authority figure defending vivisection (live animal experimentation) as necessary scientific practice. The satire targets two things: the gruesome nature of medical training and—given the female subject—likely contemporary debates about women entering medicine. The subsequent sections mock parental objections to such education ("too soft," references to tallow candles and custard pies) while the instructor defends scientific rigor. The joke relies on shocking imagery to critique both medical brutality and resistance to women's professional advancement, presented through Victorian satirical humor.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
DE TROP. ETWEEN the dreamy waltzes— In the intervening calm, They sat on the veranda. Beneath a spreading palm ; And he whispered love in rapture, ** Alone, at last, are we!" And she murmured, ‘* Yes, it’s lovely, But it’s horrid when there's three.” ** Aha!" laughed little Cupid, As he hurled a final dart, Then gathered up his arrows And made ready to depart. While a shadow crossed their dream- ing, A cloud rose in their sky— The summer night grew colder, And each, sadly, wondered why. Nor guessed at all the reason ; But the little love god knew, And scoffed at human wisdom, As the fickle sprite will do. “* Alas! poor foolish mortals, Perhaps you've never heard That three’s delightful company If Cupid is the thir LW. HIS WORK. IS last hour had come. His dearest friend, who had watched him growing weaker day by day, sat by the bedside, bowed down with grief. “Tam ready to go,” the dying man whispered,weakly, as his comrade wiped the death-damp from his pallid brow. “My work is done. I have finished ——" The other bent to catch the last faint words, “—coloring that meer- schaum pipe.” THE PARENTAL VIEW. R, SOLIDMAN: That young Chumpley is so soft you could run a tallow candle through him! Mr. HARDSENSE: Tal- THE CLASS IN VIVISECTION. low candle! Humph! You , ct wa sta i “Now, GENTLEMEN, THIS SUBJECT 18 AN EMINENT VIVISECTOR, AND HAS ALWays DEFENDED COUld throw a custard pie THE PRACTICE, THEREFORE, ALTHOUGH THE PRESENT EXPERIMENT WILL RE VERY LoxG ab patx- through that fellow and not FUL, WE MAY GO AHEAD WITH A CLEAR CONSCIE break it.