The Wasp — 1889 — page 76: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page is primarily **advertising and business listings** for San Francisco Bay Area hotels, springs resorts, and services, typical of late 19th-century trade publications. The only notable cartoon appears in the upper left: a caricatured figure labeled **"L. A. BERTELING, SCIENTIFIC OPTICIAN"** depicted as an inventor with exaggerated features, promoting his patent for "strengthening the strength of the eyes and to determine the imperfections of SIGHT." The satire here likely mocks patent-medicine-style marketing or dubious optical remedies common to the era. The remainder consists of legitimate business advertisements for hotels (Occidental Hotel, The Ebbit), the First National Bank, and The Pacific Asylum for mental health treatment—standard commercial content rather than political satire.