At the amusement park

This may be the weirdest cartoon in the entire collection, yet once you know about the intestinal agonies experienced by cholera victims, the child’s observation somehow seems very relatable.

Carnival poster: See her live! The lady with no lower abdomen.

Little boy: “Boda, she must have it good now.”
“Why, foolish boy?”
“Well, at least she doesn’t have to be afraid of any cholera.”
(Kikeriki, Vienna, 1892)

Austrian cholera cartoon

Recipes against cholera

From La Esquella de la torratxa, Barcelona, 1912.

Before binging on tomatoes and vegetables, think about how much better prawns are.

Catalan cholera cartoon

Try not to leaf through the Barcelona newspapers.

If you feel a shiver like this from the intense cold… run to the doctor tomorrow!

As you go sweating through the streets, do not leave the shade for nothing… or leave money to anyone.

If you feel the vomit coming, don’t be frightened, for in the pulpits they also vomit to renounce.

Flee from reckless views, suggestive sensations, and overly ardent impressions.

When you feel very hot, before you drink water… think about how much better wine is.

If you feel a pestilent breath… (a nail pulls out another nail) go to the City Hall!

And, if you find yourself exhausted… remember that Firmly Rooted (Catalan novel) has been there three times already.

Brilliant ideas

(The Brazilian Public Health Service resolves to send its delegates to hold conferences among workers in factories and offices as a means of combating tuberculosis.)

To be a worker and married are practically synonymous! A worker cannot be understood without having a wife and at least four or five children. Currently earning what he earned five years ago, while at the same time the cost of housing and goods is of necessity going up, quadrupling in value, a poor devil who earns $6-10 a day has to live in a shed without hygiene of any kind and eat bread kneaded by the devil…

But… Hygiene thinks it has discovered “bread honey” by developing its theories for factories and offices in solemn rhetoric against tuberculosis.
What will these doctors say to the workers? This: look for good, comfortable and airy rooms; Have a good time, eating well; rest three months a year in Poços de Caldas [spa city north of São Paulo], etc… etc…
Doubt it? Go attend these conferences.
(O Malho, Rio de Janeiro, 1913)

Brazilian tuberculosis cartoon

Protection against the flu

Precautions that must be taken to avoid the spread of the epidemic, and which offer a flawless result.
(Among the items affixed to him: camphor, naphthalene, quinine, cinnamon, “Sorry for not shaking your hand,” flypaper, “Please speak to me at a distance,” alcohol, mint, fumigation by censor, a ventilation device, and what I take to be pads for absorbing humidity. Having a thermometer always at the ready is a crowning touch.)
(Caras y Caretas, Buenos Aires, 1918) (Note the similarity to Jeremiah Fastidious from 1892)

Argentine flu cartoon