This month's cover shows a caricature of 12 English quack physicians examining a urine sample. Three other physicians, shown in the background, represent well known characters of the time. These are (left to right): Dr 'Spot' Ward, Mrs Mapp (otherwise known as Crazy Sally) and Chevalier Taylor. They all hold the physicians' emblem, a gold-topped cane. The gold top incorporated a small container known as a vinaigrette, which held a strong-smelling substance to counteract the many foul odours that the physicians encountered in the course of their work. The urine sample is inspected by appearance (uroscopy), and by taste (for the more venturesome). The patient seems unlikely to survive the attentions of his physicians, as judged by the motto 'Et plurima mortis imago' [The many images of death]. The engraving was made by William Hogarth in 1736.
Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.
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