The Wasp — 1890 — page 369: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising and shipping schedules** for various steamship companies operating between San Francisco and ports like Honolulu, Yokohama, and Hong Kong (circa 1890, based on visible dates). The one **cartoon** depicts a woman and child with luggage labeled "C.C. LINIMENT," advertising Camphor Chloral Liniment as a medical product. The text below indicates it was "Endorsed by the Medical Faculty" and "Prescribed by San Francisco's Leading Physicians." The satire is subtle: the image appears to mock patent medicine marketing by presenting a domestic scene—a mother collecting her child—as a selling point for liniment. The humor likely derives from the absurdity of using family sentiment to advertise a medicinal product, typical of late-19th-century medical advertising practices that *The Wasp* frequently criticized.