Life, 1915-11-04 · page 45 of 56
Life — November 4, 1915 — page 45: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page mixes satirical articles with period advertisements. The main satire, "He Died Cured," mocks a real case where Mr. Stackpole died after receiving an experimental anthrax serum—technically "cured" of anthrax but killed by the treatment itself. The author sarcastically suggests this could be weaponized against Germans in World War I, highlighting the absurdity of calling a treatment successful when the patient dies. A brief query criticizes literary scholar Bliss Perry for lending his name to a book about Browning. "Progress" satirizes the "Big Brother Movement" (a contemporary social initiative), then its extension to "Big Wives"—women assigned to help struggling husbands. The snail cartoon punchline suggests skepticism about such progress. The advertisements (Calox tooth powder, Vafiadis cigarettes) represent typical period marketing, with the cigarette ad emphasizing Egyptian prestige and international availability to American smokers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
He Died Cured THE widely ‘heralded case of Mr. Stackpole, who recently died after being serumized for anthrax, merits our closest attention. It marks a new triumph in the domain of serumantics. Everything the doctors could think of had been tried upon this anthrax patient, but he still lived on. Then they brought in a serum that had never before been used upon a human being. At the first dose of this serum, the anthrax grew better and the patient grew worse. At the second dose, we are solemnly assured by eminently re- spectable newspapers, the anthrax was cured, but the serum had so overtaxed the heart of the patient that it ceased to beat and death ensued. The possibilities of a serum like this are almost beyond the powers of the human imagination. Suppose, for in- stance, the Allies should seize upon it as a new weapon of offense. If it cured the Germans as quickly and as effectively as it cured Mr. Stackpole, the war would come to an end with a most sudden abruptness. Query T is much more surprising that a man of such dignified mental ex- cellencies as Bliss Perry should have consented to let a book go out over his name with the title, “ How to Know Browning,” than it is that the book should be published by Bobbs-Merrill. What has Bliss Perry got to do with Are 32 Reasons for using Calox The OXYGEN Tooth Powder | All Druggists, 25c. Sample and Booklet Free if you mention your Druggist and this Journal McKESSON & ROBBINS 91 Fulton St, New York Teeth A CIGARETTES to The Household of the Khedive, The Imperial Court of Austriae fungary, His Royal Highness Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. the Imperial Court of Japan, the Principal Continental ‘Clube and the Regi ‘eof India, Barmah and that the Americans who have smoked our Vafiadis Cigarettes abroad may obtain them at home, the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, who import. them, have also been en- trusted with the responsibility of their production in the United States, for which purpose we have provided the blending formula of our Cairo house. Cairo, Egypt Bombay Calcutta 20, Esplanade Road 4, Dalhousie Square Rangoon London 72, Merchant Street 19, Basingball Street ported sites higher in led postage paid on ih Ave., New York. Progress 'HE Big Brother Movement having been thoroughly tested and found successful, it was then determined to have Big Other Things. The next was the order of Big Wives, to protect little husbands. Big Wives were instructed that whenever they saw a little husband who needed help, sympathy or encour- 7 agement, to hand it out to him. All “ the little husbands then got what was coming to them. Snail: 1 BELIEVE IN PROGRESS, BUT- comicbooks.com