(Strong measures have been taken to prevent plague and cholera from entering the country.)
“O my God! plague… look, it’s plague!!”
“Iencuțu, don’t you know me anymore?… it’s me, Mother Smara!…”
(A dig at Smaranda Gheorghiu, a Romanian writer and feminist from a noble landowning family who frequently traveled abroad and sometimes published under the moniker “Mother Smara.”)
(Furnica, Bucharest, 1908)
A multi-panel cartoon from Cosmorama pittorico, Milan, 1865:
Under the pretext of cholera certain impresarios continue to sneak out of town more than ever….
Answer to the question proposed by Spirito Folletto. The veil on the hat serves to hide the person anointed by cholera and… the occasional shame of disgusting encounters.
The true fever-reducing, anti-intestinal cholera treatment is the incomparable Fernet-Branca [an Italian bitter marketed as a cure for cholera].
Ugh! I almost prefer cholera!
Since these horrible medicines are administered in the cafes of Milan, you have to go to the pharmacies to get refreshments and ice cream!
Trust me, sir, this mixture of sulfite of soda and arsenic acid is a sovereign defense!
And why not strychnine, foxglove, and prussic acid?
Or rather the pastries, melons and all the unripe fruit that is tolerated for Milan?
“That’s right, old girl: the best remedy for cholera is a good lager.”
“That would be coming from male doctors! But when we have female physicians, they will surely prescribe us coffee.”
(Humoristické listy, Prague, 1892)
“Wearing so many commas, it was natural for Atala to die of cholera.” In 1884 Filippo Guglielmi’s Atala (libretto by G. Cappuccini) premiered in Milan to mixed reviews, apparently too Wagnerian for Lombard critics. Based on Chateaubriand’s 1801 novella Atala, Guglielmi’s opera presumably featured a Frenchman named René who joined an American Indian tribe, though I haven’t seen the libretto. Chateaubriand was arguing against “noble savage” narratives, and–bypassing a more complex story of intermarriage–for present purposes it is mainly relevant that René eventually meets a violent end. The image must be an inside joke about the costumes, at a time when cholera was resurgent in Naples. We have previously encountered the comma bacillus as proxy for cholera.
(Cosmorama pittorico, Milan, 1884)
You are sharp, but that irritates my scalp.
(Corsaren, Copenhagen, 1847)
Ditto for Copenhagen
Hey! Hey! That I like, my Lords! Free passage? I’m really going to have fun.
Military infirmary attendant during the exercise of his functions. (From the ongoing clystère theme.)
(Le Charivari, Paris, 1845)
“What fools they are with their cholera! But it’s none of our business, this nonsense. I still prefer newspaper pieces against women’s luxury.”
(Le Charivari, Paris, 1865)
“Hey! Rifleman, I’d like to join your superb corps, everybody there is armored against the Cholera.”
(Le Charivari, Paris, 1865)
“And now, Almighty, where must we strike!”
“As usual, wherever more people who worship me are.”
(L’Asino, Rome, 1909)
“Hallo, isn’t that your wife going for a walk with her cousin again, and you say nothing?”
“No, I heard that in times of cholera you shouldn’t change any habits.”
(Le Charivari, Paris, 1865)
Game pretending to have cholera to get rid of timorous hunters.
(Le Charivari, Paris, 1865)
When Bavarian authorities forbade rabbit hunting during the 1892 epidemic, Kladderadatsch published a similar cartoon.
“You’re afraid of cholera? Manners, my dear. You have the quarantine to preserve you.”
(Le Charivari, Paris, 1865)
(St. Petersburg, 1,500,000 residents)
Cholera: “Couldn’t I reduce this number by one zero?…”
(Satirikon, St. Petersburg, 1909)
(News reports that foreigners are projecting they will have to interfere in Russian public health arrangements.)
St. Petersburg leaders: “Dear Cholera! Only you can protect me from foreign interference!!!”(Satirikon, St. Petersburg, 1910)
Referee: “So far the following fighters have signed up for the fight with the Russian human in today’s international championship: Plague—champion of India, Cholera—champion of Asia, Red Rooster [implying fires of rebellion]—champion of Russia, and Double Vinegar—champion of Petersburg!!!”
(Satirikon, St. Petersburg, 1910)
Sic Transit Pestilentia 