Life, 1914-07-09 · page 23 of 40
Life — July 9, 1914 — page 23: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains satirical commentary on two medical issues: **"Nothing Strange"** critiques the explosion in appendicitis diagnoses and operations. The text sarcastically dismisses Dr. Mayo's claim that belts cause appendicitis, instead suggesting the *real* reason: financial incentive. The author argues that because surgeons can now perform appendectomies safely and charge $100-$5,000 for a 15-minute procedure with minimal legal oversight, doctors are diagnosing stomach aches as appendicitis to profit. The satire implies unnecessary surgeries have tripled in five years due to greed rather than medical necessity. **"The Man Who Never Told a Girl a Lie"** (top illustration) and the accompanying text below it appear unrelated to the appendicitis piece. The caption and illustration suggest commentary on courtship or romantic deception, though details are unclear from this page alone. **"Three Rheums and Bath"** (bottom sketch) appears to be advertising or illustrative content, its meaning unclear from the visible portion. The page exemplifies early 20th-century *Life* magazine's practice of mixing medical/social criticism with humor and advertisements.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
THE MAN WHO NEVER TOLD A GIRL A LIE Nothing Strange TH fact that operations for appendicitis have increased over three hundred per cent. in the last five years has heen explained by Dr, Mayo, of Rochester, Minn. According to a statement reprinted in the Argonaut, Dr. Mayo says this is due to the practice of wearing belts instead of suspenders, If our memory serves us, both belts and suspenders were invented before appendicitis, which is of compara- tively recent origin, It seems to us that there is a more obvious reason for the spread of appendicitis, Owing to long practice, surgeons can now remove appendixes with- out always killing the patient. They can charge for the operation as much as they think the patient will stand, there being no particular law to the contrary. When it is possible for any doctor to diagnose a stomach ache as appendicitis and get all the way from one hundred to five thousand dollars for an operation, usually not last- ing more than fifteen minutes, no wonder that appendicitis has increased three hundred per cent. in the past five years, ‘AN has his price—woman her figure, and both of them are uncertain. SULPHUR Batt OGLE ae THREE RHEUMS AND BATH