Voyage de santé

Mr. Panard has a neurotic fear of everything, but especially germs. On learning of a possible typhoid outbreak in Paris, he persuades his indulgent wife to leave the city with him for a 'health holiday.' They go first to St. Raphaël, but smelling phenol in his hotel room, Panard suspects that the previous occupant must have been ill. The Panards decamp to Cannes, then Nice, but at each, the same scenario plays out. They decide to return to Paris, but upon arrival discover why everywhere they went they smelled phenol: a vial of the liquid in Panard's medical kit had broken, spilling its contents.
Photo: Late 19th-c. view of Nice