Caricature of medical doctors. 19th century caricature of medical doctors performing a 'concert' with syringes and chamber pots as musical instruments. The caricature is ridiculing the type of treatment known as a purge (using laxatives to cleanse the body of poisons). Before the late 19th century, medical treatments rarely effected a cure. Three common treatments were bloodletting, emetics to induce vomiting, and laxatives to induce diarrhoea. These 'treatments' were often caricatured by the artists of the day. French artwork from around 1830.