Life, 1913-11-20 · page 17 of 44
Life — November 20, 1913 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains two separate satirical pieces: **Top cartoon** ("On the Firing Line"): Responds to indictments of University of Pennsylvania doctors for cruel animal experimentation on dogs—removing pituitary glands, exposing brains, artificially inducing diseases. The satire's point: if we're horrified by these experiments on dogs, imagine if your own son conducted them. Yet these same "maturer brutes" (adult physicians) perform similar unethical experiments on hospital patients without outcry, suggesting perverted sadism motivates medical researchers rather than genuine healing. **Bottom section**: A humorous etiquette guide listing safe and forbidden conversation topics with women. It reflects early 20th-century gender assumptions—women supposedly cannot discuss politics, money, age, or their own childlessness without offense, but welcome talk of fashion, servants, and romance. The contrast between "The Devil" (acceptable) and "God" (forbidden) suggests the absurdity of these arbitrary social rules.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
ON THE FIRING LINE Your Own Son, for Instance ERTAIN doctors of the University of Pennsylvania have been indicted for having “ wantonly and cruelly tortured and maimed dogs”. New York Herald says: A special despatch to the One of the most cruel operations mentioncd in the complaint was one in which the pituitary gland had been removed from a dog. With the pituitary gland gone the dog walked backward for a weck and then dicd. Another experiment, it was alleged, was the opening of a dog’s skull and the leaving of a part of the brain exposed, resulting in the animal’s death sev- eral weeks later. Various organs of dogs were removed for experiment and diseases were artificially produced in dogs, it was charged. Suppose your own boy had done that! Subjects You Can Discuss With a Woman Herself Fiction Servants Bridge Love Some Plays Flowers Clothes (in general) Autos Sports Europe New York Weather Children (if she has any) Subjects You Must Not Talk About With a ‘Woman Divorce Age Politics Hair Money Weight America Harlem Brooklyn Children (if she hasn't any) You might be ashamed of him, but he would be far less dangerous than these maturer brutes who inject their newly discovered diseases into unsuspecting hospital pa- tients. Such experiments make it easy to understand why Other Men Other Women The Suburbs (if she doesn't The Suburbs (if she does men with perverted instincts find curing the sick is dull work, live in one) The Devil live in one) God