The Wasp — 1881 — page 85: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts **Mr. Death** (personified skeleton, left) introducing **Mr. Pan. Fever** (another skeleton) to what appears to be a well-dressed businessman or engineer representing the Panama Canal project itself. The cartoon criticizes the deadly health hazards of the Panama Canal construction. The skulls scattered on railroad tracks symbolize worker deaths. The tropical setting with palm trees establishes the location's disease-ridden environment. The joke is darkly ironic: Death is "introducing" Panama Fever as if presenting an old acquaintance—suggesting these two harbingers of mortality are already well-established partners in the Canal zone. This reflects contemporary American awareness that the Canal project faced catastrophic yellow fever and malaria outbreaks that killed thousands of workers during construction attempts.