‘A cholera patient experimenting with remedies’

Drawing of a distraught person with their head in their hands holding a blue pill and sitting on a chair next to a table resting on a bird skeleton and bones. A large bottle stands on the table with small devils dancing around it.
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‘A cholera patient experimenting with remedies’, coloured etching by Isaac Robert Cruikshank, c.1832 © Wellcome Collection. Isaac Robert Cruikshank (1789-1856), known as Robert Cruikshank was the older brother of caricaturist and illustrator, George Cruikshank. 

Transcript:

ROBERT BRUIKSHANK’S

 

RANDOM SHOT. — (No. 2.)

 

Text on bottle:

 

Emetic

 

Text on red label attached to bottle:

 

The dose to be repeated

 

Text on blue box:

 

Blue Pills

 

Text on table:

 

BOARD of HEALTH

 

Text on stool:

 

STARVATION

 

Text on bird skeleton:

 

Fee Fo Fum

 

« Return to Coping with Cholera

Optional Starter Activity:

  1. How does the artist suggest the patient’s fear of the illness? 
  2. What cholera treatments can be seen in this cartoon? 
  3. Do you know why they were used? 
  4. What does this reveal about the scientific understanding of the causes of the disease? 
  5. Describe the starvation stool, can you explain why it is shown in the cartoon? 
  6. What points is the artist making in this cartoon, in the image and title about: 
    • Treatments for cholera 
    • The Board of Health