Life, 1912-11-21 · page 10 of 44
Life — November 21, 1912 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical page contains three separate humorous pieces mocking contemporary issues: 1. **"Strange Animals"**: A brief joke about never seeing a purple cow, yet claiming to have seen a blue bull moose—poking fun at tall tales and exaggeration. 2. **"How You Prove That Medicines Cure Diseases"**: A doctor-patient dialogue satirizing medical quackery. A German doctor prescribes sauerkraut to a smallpox patient, who dies. The doctor then publishes a medical treatise claiming sauerkraut's value—mocking how doctors claimed credit for cures while ignoring deaths, particularly among Irish patients. 3. **"Not Automobiles"**: Criticizes the automobile industry's impact on railroads and leisure travel, blaming engineers rather than cars themselves. 4. **"Time Set"**: A brief comedic phone exchange about a swallowed coffee spoon. The page reflects early-20th-century concerns about medicine, technology, and social change.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Strange Animals (With apologies to the Purple Cow) E never see a Purple Cow, Such things do not run loose; And yet this Wilson fall we all Have seen a blue Bull Moose. . How You Prove That Medicines Cure Diseases OCTOR (to German smallpox patient): You don't mean to say you left your bed, went into the kitchen and ate sauerkraut? Hans: Yas, dots vot. Und now I am perfectly well Doctor (making notes as he goes into the next patient's house, who also has smallpox): Sauerkraut is good for smallpox. Now, Pat, you get some sauerkraut at once and cat it. ~ Pat obeys the doctor’s orders and promptly dies. Ne Thereupon the doctor writes a learned medical treatise, ee Oar dilating upon the great value of sauerkraut a cure for \ German smallpox, and its excessive fatality when taken 4 by Irish smallpox patients. FORCE OF HABIT 4-—<“ Not Automobiles Te railroads, always strongly inclining to lachrymos- ity, ‘¢ found a new cause for lamentation. The: say that the rapidly increasing use of automobiles is cut- ting down their passenger receipts. The effect, they claim, is both direct and indirect. Not only do men use their cars for shorter trips that otherwise could be made by rail, but longer pleasure traveling is also decreased because men of moderate means cannot afford both automobiles and long trips to mountains, parks and lakes. For our part, we consider this an unwarranted and dastardly attack on the automobile industry. We think, if the truth were known, the fault is not with the automobile, but with the engineer. Mother: WHY, YoU DESTRUCTIVE BOY! WHAT KIND OF MAN DO YOU EXPECT TO RE WHEN YOU GROW UP? “YM GOIN’ TO BE PRES'DENT OF A HOUSE WRECKIN® COMPANY. Time Set OICE (over phone) : Oh, Doctor, our baby has swal- lowed a coffee spoon. Come quickly! Englishman: wow vib you MANAGE To THROW M. D.: Don’t worry, He will live until I get STRAIGHT ENOUGH TO HIT THAT WINDOW? there, Suffragette: 1 AtMeD AT THE WALL. fe: comicbookeon fo}