Life — February 9, 1911 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page satirizes the "Mental Life" subscription service, which claims to connect subscribers with deceased famous figures—apparently wealthy industrialists like Carnegie, Morgan, and Rockefeller—through mediums and astral projection. The cartoon "It Happened in Philadelphia" depicts yogis or spiritualist practitioners, likely mocking the pseudoscientific training required to access this service. The satire targets both the gullible wealthy paying fifteen dollars annually and the con artists operating the scheme. A letter complains the service won't help a woman place her husband on the subscription list without his knowledge or consent—suggesting these services exploited family dynamics and financial disputes. The overall message ridicules early 20th-century spiritualism as an exploitative fraud preying on the bereaved and credulous.