The Wasp — 1894 — page 291: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This four-panel comic depicts a snuff-taker (a person addicted to inhaled snuff tobacco) seeking medical treatment. The sequence shows: 1. The patient announcing he needs a doctor immediately 2. A doctor's consultation 3. The patient's brain described as "horribly muddled" 4. The surgery being performed The satire targets snuff addiction as a medical condition requiring intervention. The "brain horribly muddled" caption suggests the drug impairs mental faculties. By framing snuff use as requiring surgical cure, the cartoonist ridicules both the addiction and contemporary medical responses to it, likely mocking exaggerated medical claims about treating substance dependencies through dramatic interventions.