Life, 1912-11-07 · page 33 of 60
Life — November 7, 1912 — page 33: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical story mocks early 20th-century medical and nutritional faddism. A sick baby, clearly malnourished, receives treatment from pompous specialists who obsess over fashionable but impractical remedies: distilled orange juice, scraped nuts, dried banana, carbolic solution—elaborate pseudo-scientific treatments popular among the wealthy. When a common-sense stranger suggests simple milk, the doctors dismiss him as a "half crazy nature-cure man" and instead adjust the baby's dosages to slightly different juices and dessicated yams—missing the obvious solution entirely. The satire targets over-intellectualization in medicine: experts so committed to complex theories they ignore basic nutrition. The implicit critique is that sophisticated theory without practical wisdom produces absurd results. It reflects Progressive-era skepticism toward specialized expertise divorced from common sense—a recurring Life magazine theme.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
and thrilled by the author's gift of placing us in immediate and responsive touch with the thought-life of a cre- ated character, but both intellectually and spiritually enlarged by having wit- nessed the working out of a mental muddle typically characteristic of our times to a pellucid, even if only a tem- porary, understanding. J. B. Kerfoot. The “ Regulars” in 2000 A. D. HE rich baby was sick. Its lips were blue. Its legs and arms were shrunken and thin. Its muscles were flabby. A conference of the great specialists had assembled. They agreed that the child was suffering from malnutrition. But why?) Why?) That was what got them. They called the nurse. “Has he had distilled orange juice three times a day?” they questioned he ince his birth,” she told them. And scraped nuts heated in the sun?” “From the time he was three months old,” she affirmed positively. “And dried banana to smell of every Sunday?" “T never missed a week,” she said. “Is his stomach washed thoroughly with carbolic solution before cach feeding?” “Of course!” to be offended. She was beginning A TRY FOR GOAL “And his mouth cleansed with boil- ing water “ Always,” she said proudly. They sent her out. “Hm?” they said, to a man, and lit cigars all round. Just then the door opened cautiously and a stranger stepped in. “Gentlemen,” he said, decisively, waiting for no ceremony, “ what that baby needs is milk! Milk would make him well and strong.” But they ignored the stranger's re- marks scornfully and called the butler to put him out “Only one of those half crazy na- Papa Reynard: THis CHICKEN SEEMS TO HAVE BUT ONE WING, 1T WAS NOT THAT WAY WIEN ture-cure men,” they said indignan’ Then they made their decision about treatment. And in place of 27% oz. of orange juice every three hours, the Laby was to have 11% oz. of apple juice, alternating with 134 oz. of prune juice. And instead of dried banana to smell of on Sunday he was to have dessicated yams to smell of alternate Mondays and Saturdays. Selah. Quick Action “P)ON'T you find that rising in the army is rather slow?” “Not in my case. I belong to the aviation corps.” SURELY 1 BROUGHT 17 HOME comicbooks.com