The Wasp — 1895 — page 445: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This cartoon depicts a doctor standing over a reclining woman on a couch, with the woman saying "Oh, Doctor, I have a horror of being buried alive" and the doctor responding "No fear of that while I'm attending to you, madame." The satire appears to target medical malpractice or incompetence—specifically suggesting that the doctor's treatment is so harmful it will kill the patient before she risks being buried alive. It's a dark joke about dangerous or ineffective medical practices of the era. The remainder of the page consists of period advertisements for tailoring, bicycles, wines, tea, and hotels—typical commercial content from this San Francisco-based satirical publication.