George Cruikshank, “Alcohol, Death, and the Devil,” lithograph ca. 1830-1840. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

This disturbing image depicts a skeletal Medusa, accompanied by the Devil, urging a crowd of people to drink. Temperance campaigns gained traction in the 1830s, as did crusades for diet reform, such as the one promoted by Sylvester Graham. Both flourished after the 1832 cholera epidemic, which was widely blamed on intemperate dietary and drinking habits.