The Wasp — 1895 — page 528: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is a satirical illustration titled "Marvels of Electricity" from *The Wasp* magazine (San Francisco, July 6th). The caption explains the joke: it depicts a man and woman sitting close together in a trolley car, with the caption claiming this proximity causes "positive and negative forces to meet with startling effects"—referencing the bursts of light visible in the window behind them. The satire mocks Victorian-era pseudoscientific explanations for physical attraction or impropriety between men and women. By framing ordinary romantic proximity as an "electrical phenomenon," the cartoon humorously critiques how people of that era invoked science to explain or justify social behaviors. The elaborate clothing and formal presentation amplify the absurdity of the pseudo-scientific claim.