The Wasp — 1891 — page 428: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains a satirical article by Walter C. Quevedo titled "Many Microbes Make Many Maladies," humorously describing various fictional parasites and microbes causing social problems in society. The piece mocks contemporary concerns about disease transmission by personifying microbes with absurd names like "the Tiddlywinx Microbe" and "the Mash Microbe." Rather than actual pathogens, these represent social behaviors—the Political Microbe causes political disease, the Mash Microbe induces theater obsession, and the Vocal and Instrumental Microbe creates unwanted musical performances. The satire targets upper-class social anxieties and pretensions of the era, suggesting that certain social afflictions spread through society like actual diseases. The humor derives from treating ridiculous behavioral compulsions as genuine medical conditions requiring scientific cure.