Life, 1913-04-24 · page 14 of 48
Life — April 24, 1913 — page 14: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes medical/scientific overreach. The top section quotes Doctor Friedmann's tuberculosis serum claims, mocking the notion that treatments derived from animals (cow, horse, monkey, turtle) could cure virtually any disease. The witches' brew recipe from *Macbeth* appears as satire—suggesting Friedmann's approach is as absurd and superstitious as witchcraft. The dialogue at bottom shows a social scene where someone's pony died of bronchopneumonia, likely referencing Friedmann's dubious animal-derived treatments. The satire suggests that extending such remedies to all animals and diseases is laughably illogical. The dark illustration appears to depict witches, reinforcing the "magical thinking" critique of unproven medical claims presented as scientific breakthroughs.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
826 -LIFE- And So On, Ad Infinitum “Tt is an innocuous, non-virulent, living tuberculosis bacillus derived from a turtle.” Doctor Friedmann. ITHERTO our serums have been derived from the placid cow, the docile horse and the anthropomorphic monkey. But the extension of the idea to turtles opens up an entirely new field, and Doctor Friedmann is to be congratulated upon his ingenu- ity and courage. Almost anything that crawls after this ought to be able to yield up a respectable serum of some sort, and inasmuch as there is no limit to the number of diseases we can have, the combination of serums becomes almost astronomical The thing has been semewhat anticipated by Shake- speare, who says in Macbeth: (Second Witch) Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, His Lordship (not dancing): 1 suppose THAT 1S ONE Adder's fork, and blind-worm’s sting. OF YOUR IMPROPER DA} WHAT? Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,— Hostess: yes. 17'S THE PUPPY SNUGGLE. ene ke For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble (All) Double, double toil and trouble ; Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble, (Third Witch) Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf; Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf Of the ravin'd salt Liver of blaspheming Jew; Gall of goat ; and slips of yew, Sliver’d in the moon's ecli Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips; Finger of birth-strangled babe, Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,— Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron. (Ally Double, double toil and trouble; Fire, burn; and, cauldron, bubble (Second Witch) Cool it with a baboon’s blood ; Then the charm is firm and good. ONES TO BROWN: What's become of your little Western pony? Buows 10 Joxes: Died of a cold. : Joxes To Brows: Ah! Broncho-pneu- EVEN THEN monia Eve: No, BUT YOU WOULD IF THFRE WAS ANY ONE TO FLIRT WITH comicbooks.com