Life, 1915-10-07 · page 47 of 52
Life — October 7, 1915 — page 47: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains three distinct items: **"Typhus Fever" satirical article (left):** Life magazine mocks the medical profession for inventing a new disease name to cover their failures. When their "sure cure" serum for typhoid fever didn't work, doctors allegedly renamed the illness "typhus fever" and blamed it on a different germ to avoid admitting the treatment failed. The satire suggests doctors use verbal sleight-of-hand and invented terminology to maintain professional authority and profit, even when their medicine doesn't actually work. **Lee Tires advertisement (center/right):** A straightforward commercial claiming Lee's "puncture-proof pneumatic tire" represents the fourth great epoch in tire technology—eliminating the common problem of road punctures while maintaining comfort. **"A Bargain" joke (bottom right):** A stenographer defends her poor spelling and punctuation by noting she's only paid thirteen dollars weekly—implying you get what you pay for.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“OH, THE LITTLE MORE, AND HOW MUCH iris" —Browning. Typhus Fever YPHUS fever is more or less shrouded in mystery, but as near as we can make out from the best authorities, it is a disease invented by a resourceful medical profession for the purpose of explaining the failure of sure cures and sure preventives of typhoid fever. Having invented a profitable serum which is widely her- alded as sure to kill a certain knock- kneed germ which “causes” typhoid fever, it is rather disconcerting to find that the thing doesn’t work. To reduce this disconcertion to the minimum the doctors invented a new name for the January 22,1820 and blustery, coming 10" was mighty glad to see the lights of the Inn, where I was soon made comfortable at the fire with my favorite OLD OVERHOLT RYE “Same for 100 years” For over a century this de- lightful pure Pennsylvania Rye cheered men’s ‘What more sti ening than good Old Overholt? Aged in the wood, bottled in bond. A. Overholt & Co, Pittsburgh,Pa, THE FOUR GREAT EPOCHS IN THE HISTORY OF TIRES BUNCTURE-PROOF PNEUMATIC T= EVOLUTION OF THE WHEEL shoe exhibits four different phases: Metal, Solid Rubber, Pneumatic and Puncture-Proof Pneumatic. The history of the first three is univer- sally known. The fourth and greatest development, the production of the LEE PUNCTURE-PROOF PNEUMATIC TIRE, marks a gigantic forward stride into the future of motoring. It signifies the def- inite passing of ROAD TROUBLE while still preserving the inherent COMFORT advantages of the pneumatic principle. The elimination of puncture and blow- out naturally tends to increase the MILE- AGE of the tire. LEE Tires PNEUMATIC NON-SKID PUNCTURE- PROOF Se ——— Carry a definite written guarantee of immunity from puncture under penalty of a cash refund. Construction described in Booklet ““G"" LEE TIRE & RUBBER CO. Manufacturers of Rubber Goods since 1883 CONSHOHOCKEN, PENNA. Look up “Lee Tires” in your Telephone Directory Distributors in all the Principal Cities same disease, calling it typhus fever A Bargain and explaining that it is “caused rather by a double-jointed, cross-eyed “Look here,” said the head of the germ than by a knock-kneed one. It firm, addressing the new stenographer, might have been better to call it tyfuss this letter is all wrong. Your punctua: fever. If we ever get to a point where tion is very bad and your spelling is we have a sure cure that doesn’t work worse. I can't afford to send out any for typhus fever, we may have to con- such stuff to my ciients.” tinue this process of verbal prestidigita- “Well,” she replied, “I'm sorry if my tion and invent still other names for work don’t suit you, but was you ex: this same pesky affliction. In that event pecting to get a Mrs. Noah H. Webster we beg to suggest the names typhool for thirteen dollars a week?” fever and typhudge fever. —New Y comicbooks.com