Life — March 18, 1915 — page 31: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical cartoon titled "The Darwin Club," mocking membership in a club that apparently attracts undesirable people. The image depicts a chaotic interior scene filled with apes and monkeys alongside human figures in formal dress, all mingling together in what appears to be an elegant room. The satire references Darwin's theory of evolution, particularly the controversial idea that humans descended from apes. By showing apes as club members alongside humans, the cartoonist sarcastically suggests that joining "The Darwin Club" means accepting kinship with primates—a notion that was socially and religiously offensive to many early 20th-century readers who rejected evolutionary theory. The joke's punch line: the title declares Life magazine would "not care to join" such a club, expressing the publication's skepticism toward Darwinian evolution.