The Wasp — 1880 — page 286: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains two separate articles with accompanying illustrations: 1. **"Vaccination 'Pure Filth'"** - A lengthy editorial arguing *for* vaccination against smallpox, despite public resistance. The text critiques doctors and priests who discourage vaccination and cites statistics showing vaccinated populations have lower mortality rates. The illustration shows a chaotic medical scene, likely satirizing anti-vaccination sentiment. 2. **"Don Quixote"** - A brief satirical piece mocking idealistic but impractical reform efforts, using the famous literary character as metaphor. It criticizes those pursuing moral crusades against drinking and carrying weapons as naive. Both articles represent *The Wasp's* satirical stance on public health and social reform issues of the era, using mockery to argue for science-based vaccination and against what they saw as quixotic moral panics.