Life, 1911-12-07 · page 49 of 112
Life — December 7, 1911 — page 49: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes early 20th-century diet fads and medical trends through two components: **"Two Conversations"** mocks the arbitrary nature of dietary advice. A doctor prescribes severe food restriction (no red meat, vegetables, starch, sugar, gluten bread) to a thin, nervous patient, then admits he previously advocated the opposite—"stuffing treatment." The doctor cynically reveals the pattern: each fad lasts until "the public are suspicious and it becomes unprofitable." The satire suggests doctors chase fashionable treatments rather than pursuing genuine patient health, and that restrictive diets lack scientific basis. **"No Danger of Starving to Death"** depicts a castaway amid demolition (likely satirizing wartime rationing or hardship), finding cocoanuts—a dark joke about survival despite scarcity. The Christmas poem opening mocks financial anxiety disguised as patriotic sentiment ("checkbook, 'tis of thee"). Together, these pieces ridicule both faddish medicine and societal anxieties about consumption and deprivation.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Christmas Version ’ check-book, ‘tis of thee, Sad mark of penury, To thee | cling; Figures I iain had lied, ‘igures that brought no pride, Yet are the kids supplied ; So let us sing. Two Conversations HAT are you eating “Very little, doctor n't dared to cat much.” That's right. Now I'll make out « list of things. No red meat. No un- starch. No You see derground vegetables. sugar. Gluten bread T hate it.” You'll get used to it. this prescription filled powders three times a da And have Come back in a week.” The patient—a thin, nervous. little an—smiled. If I'm alive “Oh, you'll pick up gradually—in a year or so. Good morning.” Reader, this is a sample conversa- tion. It takes place several time: day in every iarge city. Do you rec- ognize it? Have you ever been one he replie NO DANGER OF STARVING TO DEATH Optimistic Survivor, Observing Cocoanuts: WELL, THERE'S PLENTY OF FOOD WERE AT ANY RATE, “THEY MIGHT HAVE TOLD ME THAT THIS MOUSE WAS DEING DEMOLISHED" of the principal characters vourself? If not, you know been, “Doctor, how long have you been dvocating the starvation treatment?” About a yea What did you advocate before someone who has tha The stufling treatment.” “Why did you change from one to the other? Not long ago it was the iad to chew your food.” “Yes. But now it has been proved —at least, it is the present ide ve chewing of food has a bad , as the alimentary canal is not ficiently stimulated. nd the next move will be to chew less?” “Yes. That fad is just coming “How long will that last?” “Until the public are suspicious and it becomes unprofitable. Thus the game goes on, Only the wise man follows his own normal de- sires, gives the specialists all the sea- room he can and thinks about himself as little as possible. comicbooks.com