Dr. Sun, illustration.
Dr. Sun, illustration.
Success and health / by J. Mace Andress and W.A. Evans. Toronto : Ginn, 1925. A561s 1925z Osler - Robertson
He may resemble some overblown bourgeois Humpty Dumpty, but in J.M. Andress and W.A. Evans' 1925 children’s hygiene handbook, Success and Health, "Doctor Sun" (Fig.1) is prominently promoted as the wise choice of a family physician with very real sincerity. With his smiling face, radiating luminous rays, and open gesture, he welcomes the viewer to his domain, where in the background children dance and play. Here health and happiness are shown as one and the same. It might seem natural, even obvious, to associate sunny days with play, pleasure, and well-being. But the connection between sunshine and health has been historically less a matter of instinct than a deeply naturalised therapeutic practice, and one especially dating to the turn of the twentieth century.