Life, 1916-08-17 · page 12 of 38
Life — August 17, 1916 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical comic strip mocks the predictable public and scientific responses to disease outbreaks. Each panel ridicules a different recurring element: - **"Preventive Precautions"** and **"Scientific Advice"**: Officials make vague, contradictory pronouncements while the public panics - **"Elusive Micro-organism"**: Scientists search fruitlessly with microscopes - **"Eminent Specialists"**: Competing "experts" provide conflicting guidance - **"Timely Experiments"** and **"Astounding Discovery"**: Researchers conduct dubious experiments - **"Omnipotent Serum"**: A dubious cure-all is promoted - **"The Fate"** and **"Important Appropriation"**: The serum fails; funding gets misappropriated anyway - **"Incalculable Benefit to Science"**: Despite failure, scientists claim victory The satire suggests epidemic responses are cyclical theater—authorities posture, experts contradict each other, unproven remedies circulate, and science captures credit regardless of actual results.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
HORRIBLE DISEASE THE Emin€ar SPEciarsts THE Timecy ExPERiments TuE ASTOUNDING DISCOVERY THE Omnipotent Serum Tue FATE OF THE OnmiPotenT Serum THE IMPORTANT APPROPRIATION THE INCALCULABLE. BENEFIT To Science EVERY EPIDEMIC comicbooks.com