Life — November 3, 1904 — page 6: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis of Life Magazine Page This page is **primarily advertising** with one brief satirical cartoon. The main content includes ads for Goerz camera lenses, Sozodont tooth powder, Stuyler's cocoa, Edison phonographs, Royal Canada corsets, and investment services. The central cartoon, titled "WHO KNOWS?", depicts a man studying profile sketches of his wife, daughter, and son. The joke satirizes **phrenology**—the pseudoscientific belief that facial features reveal character traits. The caption suggests the man is trying to predict his descendants' personalities or fates from their profiles. Below is an unrelated anecdote about rats in a New Hampshire home. The page reflects early 1900s consumer culture and contemporary fascination with now-discredited "scientific" theories about human nature.