Life, 1917-03-15 · page 27 of 42
Life — March 15, 1917 — page 27: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The cartoon satirizes professorial absent-mindedness about domestic matters. A doctor visits a professor's home after delivering twins, asking the wife to confirm details since "that woman never had any head for figures"—a sexist joke implying women are bad at math/accounting. The professor dismisses his wife's testimony despite her being the one who actually experienced childbirth, suggesting absurd male arrogance and the era's dismissal of women's competence and authority over their own experiences. The accompanying poem "The Old Physician" (by Clinton Scollard) nostalgically celebrates pre-modern medicine—herbalists using natural remedies like lobelia and ipecacuanha. It contrasts this with contemporary "fads and fakes," likely referencing early 20th-century patent medicines and quackery. The poem praises old physicians' sympathy and common sense over modern medical pretension, reflecting period skepticism about contemporary medical progress.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The Doctor: THIS 18 THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE HAD TWINS, ISN'T IT? BUT PERHAPS, PROFESSOR, I'D BETTER MAKE SURE AND ASK YOUR WIFE. “DON'T RELY UPON HER, SIR, THAT WOMAN NEVER HAD ANY HEAD FOR FIGURES.” The Old Physician BEFORE our age of fads and fakes, These days of flier and of “ flivver,” He strove from mortal ills and aches The heirs of Adam to deliver. From vials tall and vials small He mixed his potions in a vessel, And doled them out to each and all, And ground his powders in a pestle. His doses to the ailing meant A blessed something more than manna,— By whatsoever name they went, Lobelia, ipecacuanha! And if his brews had bitter stings, They from the breast of earth were wrested, The vigorous and vital things, Such tonics as old Time had tested! How well I can recall his face! I never knew a smile serener; He had a bluff but kindly grace, In fact, a most benign demeanor. ‘Whene'er he spoke there seemed to be Within his voice a touch of feeling, For he believed that sympathy Has very much to do with healing. He came, he went, and in the air He left a soothing balm behind him; Should you to-day search everywhere, Alas, 1 fear you would not find him; He had no posture or preten: He made no claim to erudition; But he had something we call sense ;— All honor to the old physician! Clinton Scollard, comicbooks.com