Life — January 24, 1907 — page 10: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "What's the Matter?" Contest - Life Magazine This page presents winning entries from a contest asking readers to explain a gentleman's distressed facial expressions shown in repeated caricatures down the left side. The two winning submissions use humor to critique early 20th-century professional life: **"The Unexpected Happens"** satirizes a doctor (Dr. D.D. Johnson) receiving an unwanted house call from a patient at night, disrupting his personal life. **"A Fatal Suggestion"** mocks a physician (Dr. Smug) whose patient consultation via telephone leads to medical misadventure—the patient's rich patron calling by phone about his mistress's illness results in a treatment that worsens her condition, forcing the doctor to contemplate the consequences of remote medical practice. Both entries humorously critique professional boundaries and the emerging technology of telephone consultation in medicine.