The last gasp, or, Toadstools mistaken for mushrooms [graphic]

"An elderly old-fashioned doctor, holding his gold-headed cane, sits bending forward to inspect the tongue of his agonized patient. The latter, grotesquely obese, sits in a low arm-chair (right) with his lean and hideous wife beside him; a thin grotesque footman, his hair standing on end, stands behind the doctor's chair, leaning towards his master. All three put out their tongues, and all register dismay; the equally ugly doctor gapes in unhelpful concern. The grotesque heads are closely grouped against a high window. A grandfather clock (left) shows that the time is 2.22. A thermometer hangs on the wall."--British Museum online catalogue, description of an earlier state