The Wasp — 1887 — page 206: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is primarily an **advertising page** rather than a satirical cartoon page. The masthead features decorative Victorian typography for "The Wasp," and the page is dominated by classified advertisements and business notices for San Francisco merchants and services from 1887. The sole illustrated advertisement is for **Carbolic Smoke Ball** (center), which shows a mustachioed man inhaling smoke. This was a genuine patent medicine of the era—a device marketed to treat respiratory ailments, colds, and croup. The advertising reflects the period's unregulated medicine industry, when such devices made dubious health claims without scientific evidence. The page reflects 1880s San Francisco commerce but contains no political satire or cartoon commentary.