Life, 1914-11-12 · page 27 of 48
Life — November 12, 1914 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Main Cartoon ("Those two great medicines setting amidst cigars"):** This satirizes medical bureaucracy and ethics. A young doctor discovered a serum that cured 111 patients but was stopped by "Medical Authorities" because he publicized his discovery before presenting it to the State Medical Board—violating professional protocol. The cartoon mocks this rigid adherence to procedure over human welfare. A character named Frank (likely a friend) is dying, but the authorities refuse to use the effective serum because it wasn't developed "ethically" through proper channels. The doctor departs sadly, allowing Frank to die, while the authorities prioritize institutional rules over saving lives. **"The Middle Ground" (Poem by Arthur Guiterman):** An allegorical poem about the Seraphs (celestial beings) who remained neutral during the war between Heaven and Hell (referencing Milton's *Paradise Lost*). Their refusal to take sides cost them—they were exiled to Earth as minor supernatural creatures, "not good enough for Heaven nor bad enough for Hell." The satire likely comments on contemporary neutrality during World War I as morally compromising.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“Those two great medicines setting amidst cigars” had already cured 111 patients when he were dishcovered and stopped by Medical Authorities.” “ Stopped?” we arculate, “Yes, assurely, yes. There were fearful scandal about that medicine. That sinful young Interne commit severe medical crime—he told news- papers about that serum he dishcov- ered before he could lecture about it before State Medical Board. There- fore every germ in his serum must be cursed for its unrespectability.” “Would that drug cure Frank Mutomoto from his sickness?” 1 make requirement. “Yes. With great simplicity,” re- nig this medical, “Then hurry please get This from all we. “What!!!" stogger Hon. Dr standing ghast. “Would you have your friend's life saved by a serum what was not ethical?” “Ah yes cheerily!” we gollup eg- gerly. “Tam merely saddened,” he de- press while taking hat & baggish valise. “If the lay mind would ce: to lay, perhapsly Science could get along with itself.” some! So he also depart away leaving Frank breathing scarcely and in state of cromo. Hoping you are the same Yours truly Hasuimura Toco, (Per Wallace Irwin.) A DEEP THINKER 859 The Middle Ground \WHEN Lucifer’s rapscallions Unsheathed their flaming swords And Heaven's bright battalions Opposed the rebel hordes, The Seraphs of the Seasons,— Of Water, Air and Land,— For sound, prudential reasons Declined to take a hand, Lamenting that the fight was A dreadful stroke of Fate And doubting where the Right was, ‘They guessed they'd watch and wait. But after Michael's legions Had hurled the fiends accursed To Sheol’s hottest regions (See Milton, Book the First), The Seraphs who had faltered, So neutral and so nice, Their glory sadly altered, Were shut from Paradise. And now as fairies, pixies, Pigwidgeons, leprichauns, As kobolds, jinns and nixes, As satyrs, nymphs and fauns, Controlled by spirits seven On Middle Earth they dwell, Not good enough for Heaven Nor bad enough for Hell. Arthur Guiterman, A Christian Setback FORE the war in Europe started experts figured that about one- third of the population of the earth had been converted to Christianity. That result, requiring about twenty centuries, was looked upon as. satis- factory, and, had the same speed been maintained, the entire world would have been Christian in about 6000 A.D. But now we hardly know what to expect. There is very little turning of the other cheek going on in Europe just now, and this fact, together with reports from various quarters of empty churches, is very disturbing to our calculations. Salvation may be free, but it is certainly not always in a hurry. comicbooks.com