1 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show. I've got to 2 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 1: say right now, my co host and I are you know, 3 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: we're we're dressed pretty well, were dressed comfortably, and we're 4 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 1: sitting in a studio that has some great air conditioning. 5 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:42,160 Speaker 1: My name is Ben, Ben, my name is Noah, which 6 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: you know. And well, what's that? What's that stank? What's 7 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: that stink? What do we put some stink on it? 8 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean you you mentioned the air conditioning, 9 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: but it's feeling a little stagnant in here today. Um, 10 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: and I'm wondering was it you? It was No, it 11 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: wasn't It wasn't me. But we do share this studio 12 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:04,080 Speaker 1: with other people. Perhaps it is I who have dealt 13 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: it for I smell. This is something that has very 14 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: little to do it today's episode. But it's an interesting question. 15 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 1: It's got as much to do today's episode is anything. No, no, no. 16 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: What I'm about to bring up when have you noticed 17 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:21,760 Speaker 1: perhaps you know or you our super producer Casey Pegram. 18 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, have you guys ever noticed when you 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: walk into a room, you'll you'll sense a smell and 20 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: it may be very good. It may be very bad, 21 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,040 Speaker 1: but then within a matter of a few seconds or minutes, 22 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: it's sort of dissipates and you don't notice it. Does 23 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: that happen to you? You know? It's true. If I have, like, 24 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: for example, let's say I haven't done laundry in a 25 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: couple of days, and I have the laundry basket in 26 00:01:43,959 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: my room, it's sort of you know, uh, becomes the 27 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: base level of the smell of the room. But if 28 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: I've stayed overnight somewhere else, hubba hubba, and then I 29 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: come back the next day, I'm like, oh, laundry days, 30 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: I'm what unfresh? Hell? Is this? Right? So we know 31 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 1: that this is a phenomenon that a lot of us 32 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: have experienced. But the fact remains that some smells are 33 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,200 Speaker 1: so strong that you you don't forget them now, or 34 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: you can't you can't teach your nose to ignore them. 35 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: And today's episode is about a stink that was far 36 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,040 Speaker 1: beyond what you would normally consider smelling what either I 37 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: or Ben half dealt for debate, and and likely far 38 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:35,919 Speaker 1: beyond what we have smelled. What what we're talking about 39 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: here is something called the Great Stink of London. So 40 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: someone got upset about something. Is that you're saying they 41 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 1: made a fuss. Oh, if only there were fusses involved, right, 42 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: there were, there were fusses involved, and the city was 43 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 1: in crisis. But also literally it was a stink, a stench, 44 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: a greek and the asthma. Here we go, of feces, 45 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: cooking smells, think of think of city smells, you know, 46 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: New York City, for example. Think of the way it 47 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: smells walking down the street, The way you can pass 48 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: through so many different aromas as you travel, right, Like 49 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: one corner might smell like boiled peanuts, and then you 50 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: get hot dogs, and then you get dog crap, and 51 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: then you know you're in and stale beer. We'll think 52 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: about that. But combined with stagnant, rotting feces buried in 53 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: open pits, and also livestock corpses right from the butchery, 54 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:43,640 Speaker 1: possibly dead bodies due to disease outbreaks ni cholera. Right 55 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:47,040 Speaker 1: like we covered in our previous episode on London's Train 56 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 1: for the Dead, they were literally piling bodies upon one 57 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,600 Speaker 1: another because there was not room in the you know, 58 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 1: in the conventional cemeteries or morgues. So what we're saying 59 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: with old due respect to the great city of London, 60 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: is that it used to be filthy? Yeah? I mean 61 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: those those uh delightful little street urchins in Oliver. You know, 62 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: there's no way they could have done those sweet dance moves, 63 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: you know, with that's with that funk in the air, 64 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: they would have fallen over dead from just pure hyperventilating exhaustion. 65 00:04:20,520 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: And we're talking about the eighteen hundreds. But this all 66 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: kind of came to ahead, didn't it been in a 67 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: particular summer. Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. Noal in the 68 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: infamous and uh stinch ridden summer of eighteen fifty eight, 69 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: London was I don't want to say paralyzed, but maybe 70 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: traumatized as a fair word, by a pervasive smell that 71 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: was flooding the streets and wasn't moving from the town. Uh. 72 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 1: The temperature was around grease fahrenheit or thirty two degrees celsius. 73 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: And what people noticed was that this smell was not 74 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: class based. It didn't matter if you were wealthy or 75 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:14,359 Speaker 1: if you were poor, or if you lived in a 76 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: particular neighborhood. Anything near, especially anything near the tims, was 77 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: going to stink. And there wasn't much you could do 78 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: about it, and part of the problem goes into the 79 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: skyrocketing urban growth at the time, absolutely and the lack 80 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: of a municipal sewer system. Yeah, I mean, as we're saying, 81 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 1: they did have sort of storm drain type situations that 82 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: would essentially drain rain runoff back out into the river. 83 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: But with that overflow of human bodies, a live, live ones, 84 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: that poop that was all becoming waste, human waste, that 85 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: of brainwater. It was waste water here because you know, 86 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: some people, the wealthier people had you know, privs or 87 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: there were even flush toilets, we'll get into that a 88 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: little later, and poor people especially and that you know 89 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: there it wasn't even two poor people rich people divide. 90 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: They didn't have a sewer system, so that waste had 91 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: to go somewhere, and that somewhere were these cess pits, 92 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: of which there were in the neighborhood of two hundred 93 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: thousand in London alone. London is a sprawling metropolis, yes, yeah, 94 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: a sprawling at this point dirty metropolis. Did an article 95 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: called Solving the Great Stink, which we will not read 96 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,040 Speaker 1: the full headline yet because it contains spoilers, right, so 97 00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,480 Speaker 1: for now it's just the article named Solving the Great 98 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: Stink by Ellam Morton, and in this uh Morton introduces 99 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:53,200 Speaker 1: readers to one of the coolest names you and I 100 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: have found in the course of our research. Right, because 101 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,479 Speaker 1: these these cess pits are filling up with fecal matter, right, 102 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: and there's only so much room in your average cess 103 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,840 Speaker 1: pit six ft six ft in case that comes up 104 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,280 Speaker 1: on your next blind day, six ft of of pooh 105 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: potential there that might be important to your tender conversation. Yeah, 106 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: so there's a definitive amount, there's a threshold, and at 107 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: some point these pits need to be emptied out. It's 108 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: literally a dirty job and someone has to do it. 109 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: And that's where we learn about the night Men. Oh yes, yes, 110 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: we are always sunny in Philadelphia fans here, Casey, are 111 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: you a fan of that show? Yeah, we got a 112 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: definitive nod. Yeah it was emphatic. That wasn't one of 113 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:47,120 Speaker 1: his phoned in nods. But these night Men were real 114 00:07:47,320 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: people who had a very demanding job. They had to 115 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: go into these cess pits, working under the cover of 116 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: darkness and empty these things physically. So this is hard 117 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:05,119 Speaker 1: physical labor. And the stinch isn't just inconvenient at this point, 118 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: it's dangerous. Yeah, and these night men armed with nothing 119 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: but buckets, rope and go get her attitude, I guess, 120 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: would you know, and enter these pits? Um, And yeah, 121 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: that smell was actually physically damaging. It could give you cough, 122 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 1: It could actually cause you know, burning of your eyes, um, 123 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 1: you know, watering of the eyes, like all kinds of 124 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: you can get infections, you know, I mean it was 125 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: it was really really bad. It was just and especially 126 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: when they're kind of down in it like that. You know, 127 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,680 Speaker 1: this was not not a job for the faint of heart. 128 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:47,520 Speaker 1: These were kind of heroes in a way. They were heroes, 129 00:08:47,679 --> 00:08:52,439 Speaker 1: and they were also working against nigh impossible odds. No 130 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: matter how assiduously or regularly they emptied these cess pits, 131 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: what was opennions. There were just too many people adding 132 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: to the waste and they could barely contain it. And 133 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: let's say they weren't able to empty all the sesspits completely, right, 134 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: it's very likely at this time, and what happens is 135 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: that these cesspits start baking under the high summer temperatures. Yeah, 136 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: that's right. Um, the sun would get up to around 137 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: a hundred and eighteen degrees during the summer, which is 138 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: like West coast desert temperatures, you know, and you think 139 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: about that baking putrefying cesspit um, not to mention that 140 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 1: it would leach into the soil, into the groundwater or 141 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,319 Speaker 1: whatever and then make its way into the Thames, which 142 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:51,440 Speaker 1: was London's primary supply of drinking water. Yes, I'm so 143 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 1: glad you mentioned that, because we found something that surprised us. 144 00:09:56,640 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: So I don't want to speak for both of us, 145 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: but I was surprised that that surprised us when it 146 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: came to the history of medicine at the time. Because 147 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: you know, we we mentioned briefly in our episode on 148 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: London's Train for the Dead that there were outbreaks of 149 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: cholera in London, but we we'd like to give you 150 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: a little more detail there to to set the stage, 151 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,120 Speaker 1: because this wasn't just an occasional one person is sick 152 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: in one neighborhood thing, right, No, no, um. Around forty 153 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:31,320 Speaker 1: thousand people died of cholera in London alone between eighteen 154 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,640 Speaker 1: thirty one and eighteen sixty six. And the thing was 155 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 1: nobody knew, not only did they not know what caused it, 156 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: they had absolutely no idea how to treat it. And 157 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:44,000 Speaker 1: the prevailing theory of the time was this thing called 158 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: miasma theory that even you know, medical luminaries like Florence 159 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:51,439 Speaker 1: Nightingale were all about, Yeah, and this is the notion 160 00:10:51,559 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 1: that you got cholera from the from the funk alone. 161 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:59,079 Speaker 1: The smell like, if you can smell it, that means 162 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:02,480 Speaker 1: that you are in an invisible cloud of disease known 163 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:07,320 Speaker 1: as miasthma. Felt it right, there you go, there you go. 164 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: But that was clearly Now that we have the benefit 165 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: of looking back in time, it was clearly not the case, 166 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: but it was widely believed by luminaries of the age. 167 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:23,560 Speaker 1: There was a fellow named Edwin Chadwick who wrote a 168 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 1: report on the sanitary condition of the laboring population of 169 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:32,079 Speaker 1: Great Britain in eighteen forty two, and he argued exactly this. 170 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:36,560 Speaker 1: He argued that noxious smells were responsible for disease and 171 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: the real problem, he said, with cholera and these other outbreaks, 172 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: was a matter of ventilation. And he said in a 173 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: Parliamentary committee meeting in eighteen forty six, all smell is 174 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:54,800 Speaker 1: if it be intense, immediate acute disease and eventually we 175 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 1: may say that by depressing the system and rendering it 176 00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 1: susceptible to the action of other causes, all smell is disease, 177 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: which is a pretty pretty bold and definitive statement, especially 178 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: considering that it's you know, not true. No, it's it's 179 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:12,199 Speaker 1: not true. And then, like I said, they didn't know 180 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: how to treat it either. So treatments ranged from opiates 181 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: to things like blood letting, bleeding, people burning their skin. Um. 182 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: I'm getting some of these facts from a really cool 183 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: article called ten Amazing Facts about the Cholera and the 184 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 1: Great Stink of London from five Minute History. Um. And 185 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: then there's some more gentle cures, some more homeopathic things 186 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,280 Speaker 1: like using camphor or a syrup of tomato. Uh. Some 187 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 1: of these came from a book called T. J. Ritter's 188 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: Mother's Remedies, and those are more like folkloric kind of 189 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:51,040 Speaker 1: homeopathic remedies. But none of this stuff worked. The opiates 190 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 1: probably made you feel better, I guess, because you're super high, 191 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: But I guess jin might do the same thing for people. 192 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: This is very true. And the thing I want to 193 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:01,640 Speaker 1: mention here to jump off what you said about that 194 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: if you contain the smell, you can contain the spread 195 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: of the contamination. That is, couldn't be farther from the truth, 196 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: especially in the way that they were trying to contain 197 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 1: the smell by dumping all of this waste into their 198 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: water supply. They were trying to get it out of 199 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: their vicinity, but it was coming back to them in 200 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: the way that was actually infecting them because cholera it's 201 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:29,559 Speaker 1: water born, yes, yeah, and also just pollution general. One 202 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: very important thing about putting waste into the Thames is 203 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: that it is tidal, which means, for instance, if you 204 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: took the corpse of a horse that you have for 205 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: some reason, and you threw it in the Tims right 206 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: as the tide is going out, then tide comes back 207 00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: in and the water remains contaminated. But because they were 208 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: so focused on the idea that smell was the cause 209 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,320 Speaker 1: and the indicator of this, you know, this epidemic and 210 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,679 Speaker 1: this outbreak, they did not focus on a point that 211 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: Noel just raised there, which is the drinking water. We've 212 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:09,319 Speaker 1: mentioned this a couple of times already, and we are 213 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:15,199 Speaker 1: not alone. There's a character, a real person, sorry, and 214 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:20,360 Speaker 1: an enthusiologist at the time named John Snow spelled the 215 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 1: same way. It's the game of thrones. Guy, did he 216 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: know nothing? It turns out he knew at least one 217 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: What was that? One thing? That was? One thing is 218 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 1: that he is, according to death and miasma and Victorian London, 219 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:35,040 Speaker 1: an obstinate belief. You can see the idea there by. 220 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: A lecturer named Stephen Holiday Snow had a very important contribution. 221 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: He argued that polluted water, rather than air, was the 222 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 1: principal cause of cholera epidemics, and no other experts believed 223 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:54,720 Speaker 1: for some time. He got a he got a their 224 00:14:54,840 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 1: version of the cool story bro treatment. So Snow wasn't 225 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:05,400 Speaker 1: just you know, holding a glass of water to the 226 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: light and looking at it and saying, hey, I think 227 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,960 Speaker 1: that's a turret in there or something. What he was 228 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: doing was mapping out pollution free water sites, polluted water sites, 229 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:22,960 Speaker 1: and the spread of disease, specifically cholera. In eighteen fifty seven, 230 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:26,320 Speaker 1: he showed that the number of deaths from cholera among 231 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 1: customers at the Southwark Water Company was six times higher 232 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 1: than among customers of the Lambeth Water Company, and he 233 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 1: attributed this difference to the fact that the Lambeth Company 234 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: drew its water from Tim's didn't above the Teddington lock 235 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: where there was no danger from sewage in the tideway. 236 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: So because they were drinking you know, non sewage riddled water, 237 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,760 Speaker 1: they were less likely to get colera. Genius. I mean, 238 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: I'm kidding, but at the time it was a mystery 239 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 1: and it was still ignored. But but allay not lost 240 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: because there was progress in terms of sanitation. Right Like 241 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: earlier you had mentioned that not everybody was just um, 242 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:14,160 Speaker 1: I don't squatting by the roadside. Yeah, no, there were 243 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: definitely different um calibers of restroom facilities. In fact, it 244 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: wasn't until doing the research for this episode that I 245 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,960 Speaker 1: discovered many of you may already know this, that the 246 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: flush the flush toilets were a thing in this period 247 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:32,800 Speaker 1: in Victorian England. They were quite ornate. In fact, Um 248 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 1: I found some images of flush toilets in that article 249 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: I mentioned from five minute History, and they look more 250 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:43,320 Speaker 1: like like fine China than than something you would squat 251 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: on to relieve yourself. And they had those nice pull 252 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: handles on the chain you know that that are up top. Um. 253 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: All that technology was around because it was actually invented 254 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: by a guy named Sir John Harrington. He came up 255 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: with the original does lie for the flush toilet and 256 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,880 Speaker 1: I'm looking at it right here on Historic UK dot 257 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,680 Speaker 1: com an article called the Throne of Sir John Harrington 258 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,439 Speaker 1: by Ellen Casteloh, and the illustration of his design is 259 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,240 Speaker 1: very very much similar to what we still have today. 260 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,080 Speaker 1: It's got that that p trap at the bottom so 261 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 1: that water doesn't stagnate or you know, the smell doesn't go. Well, 262 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:24,679 Speaker 1: that's what it is. That it creates a layer of 263 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: water in that crook because that's what guards against the smell. 264 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 1: And it has sort of a bomber kind of situation, 265 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,600 Speaker 1: very similar, a little more crude. But the middle class 266 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 1: love these things. They still do. Yeah, I'm pretty pro 267 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: sanitation myself. And now the new thing is the Japanese toilet. 268 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,439 Speaker 1: They haven't improved on the flush part. Now, it's just 269 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:47,200 Speaker 1: the stuff that it does to your butt. It's like 270 00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: a whole experience though It's say, it's not just a 271 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: biday function. It will play music for you, you know, 272 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:56,360 Speaker 1: and choose the direction of rotation of the water temperature. 273 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:58,560 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I know about the temperature. Yeah, no, I've 274 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: I've I've had the the privilege of sitting upon quite 275 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: a quite delightful one. And yeah, you can go clockwise counterclockwise. 276 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: It's more like a massage chair than it is um elavatory. 277 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,960 Speaker 1: But I digress. So the flush toilet was huge among 278 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:18,119 Speaker 1: the middle class who could afford it. And you know, 279 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,239 Speaker 1: the middle class that they weren't mega wealthy, but they 280 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: were like merchants or merchants could afford the finer things, 281 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: you know, ish because you know, the gap between rich 282 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:31,879 Speaker 1: and poor was quite why the fact there was a 283 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: middle class at all, you know, they were head and 284 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: tails above the very poor people. So even that gap 285 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 1: was massive, but the gaps in the middle class and 286 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:46,959 Speaker 1: the aristocracy also massive. But these toilets were flushing practically 287 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: into the streets or like into these pits, right yeah, 288 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: because there was no sewer system. It's kind of like 289 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: having a phone that doesn't connect to a network, except 290 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: instead of the sounds of your voice through a phone line, 291 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:09,879 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's excrement. Parliament passed this law called 292 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act Um, which also 293 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: went by the Cholera Bill, and it encouraged people to 294 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: keep their homes as spotlessly clean as possible to help 295 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: get rid of the smell. So the idea of this 296 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 1: flush toilet was that it would carry the waste away 297 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 1: from your home, you know, like we know, it went somewhere, 298 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:36,359 Speaker 1: and uh, it actually made things way worse, right, because 299 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: there was still not a There was still not a 300 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: decent transit system. There was not a purification system of 301 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:48,240 Speaker 1: any sort. And as we mentioned before, since the tends 302 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,679 Speaker 1: is title, what goes around comes back, you know, not 303 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: pet cemetery style, but still in a very disturbing way. 304 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm always just trying to work pet 305 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: cemetery in the references. You know, that movie ruined me, right, man, 306 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Man, I promise I at least won't do 307 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: the accent. But perhaps I'm being unfair because they did 308 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: have something like a transit system for this, sort of 309 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,520 Speaker 1: a proto sewer, but it just went to the river, right, Yeah, 310 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: like I said, it was it was kind of more 311 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 1: designed to deal with the overflow from rain, you know, stormwater, 312 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: and that was and then it would just bring it 313 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: back out to the river, but it was not designed 314 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:37,240 Speaker 1: to deal with uh, six feet of of human stink, yeah, exactly. 315 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:39,679 Speaker 1: And the thing is because of that cholera bill and 316 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,720 Speaker 1: the notion that if we carry the stink away, were 317 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: less likely to get this fatal disease. People flushed their 318 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: toilets way more than they should, and they flushed out 319 00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: that proto sewer way more than they should, which led 320 00:20:55,040 --> 00:21:00,119 Speaker 1: to much more sewage going out into the river and 321 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:05,679 Speaker 1: then back into the Yeah, so gross. So this this 322 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,400 Speaker 1: also comes to a head. We've got cholera, we've got 323 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:13,400 Speaker 1: other diseases, we've got increasingly panic public sectors. And this 324 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:18,360 Speaker 1: comes to a head in Parliament where in eighteen fifty 325 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 1: eight and this time they are so affected by the 326 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,640 Speaker 1: smell that they cannot stay in the building. And they're 327 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:30,800 Speaker 1: taking these desperate mcgever like measures to try to keep 328 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 1: the smell out, like what they use a lime chloride 329 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 1: or a chloride of lime and apply it to the 330 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:41,240 Speaker 1: curtains by the windows, like soak the curtains and this stuff, 331 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 1: no dice, It didn't work. Now didn't work well. Poop 332 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: rose by any other name, still smells like poop ben. Yes, yeah, 333 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:55,200 Speaker 1: And they said we cannot We have no idea what 334 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: what we can do here. They could barely gather their will. 335 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: It's enough to hold a meeting, and there are there 336 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 1: are anecdotes you can see where one of the people 337 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: who's in charge of cleanliness in the building says that 338 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: he can no longer be responsible for what's happening. How 339 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:18,400 Speaker 1: can you be expected to pontificate when you know your 340 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:22,360 Speaker 1: nostrils are filled with this overwhelming foul smell. I want 341 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: to add one little thing to you. Mentioned um John 342 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,920 Speaker 1: Snow figuring out that the cholera was water born. There 343 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: was another dude that had an interesting role to play 344 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: a little a little scientist with the name of Michael Faraday, 345 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,719 Speaker 1: who you may know from the TV show Lost Right 346 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 1: or the Faraday came that that more. Um, no spoilers 347 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,919 Speaker 1: though for lost on Ridiculous History that we burned that 348 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: bridge on our other show. It's true. But Faraday, there's 349 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: a great quote from him from that five minute history 350 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:57,320 Speaker 1: article where he did some tests, He took some samples, um, 351 00:22:57,359 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 1: and he described the situation as such, near the bridges, 352 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: the feculence rolled up in clouds so dense they were 353 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: visible at the surface. The whole river was for the 354 00:23:11,119 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: time a real sewer. Michael Faraday. Feculence, God, that's a 355 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 1: beautiful word. Really, it's a horrific thing. So Parliament realized 356 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 1: that they could not ignore this. They couldn't keep the 357 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 1: stereotypical stiff upper lip of the aristocracy. They had to 358 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: fix this problem. Was it was affecting them directly. I mean, 359 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: you could argue this is the kind of thing that's 360 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: easy for politicians to get behind. Um hey, because this 361 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:43,119 Speaker 1: there's nothing controversial about wanting to get rid of this problem. 362 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:46,600 Speaker 1: This is affecting everyone. People are dying by the thousands, 363 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: and the Prince had to cancel his pleasure cruise on 364 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,920 Speaker 1: the Thames. What's a young monarch to do? Oh boy, 365 00:23:55,800 --> 00:24:00,239 Speaker 1: things got serious, Ben, Yes, yes, you're absolutely correct with end. 366 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:05,360 Speaker 1: Because there had been plans in place for a comprehensive 367 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:10,760 Speaker 1: sewage system or sewer edge system. We have to say 368 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: it that way, right edge. We absolutely have to say 369 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: it that way. Yes, yes, with that accent. This plan 370 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: had been proposed by a fellow named Joseph basil Get 371 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: and he had been pitching this for a little while. 372 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: But finally, due to the great Stink, Parliament approved a 373 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 1: bill to combat this, and it took them less than 374 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,199 Speaker 1: eighteen days, which is actually pretty fast. For imagine that 375 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 1: though I mean, if you're gonna get something done quick, 376 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: let's stop the feces from flowing through our streets freely. Yeah, 377 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: we have to emphasize its stank the entire time. And 378 00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: you know it's it's like one long fart joke. Yeah. Yeah, 379 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: that's that's kind of what this episode is. Um, this guy, 380 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: Basil gat was a civil engineer, right right, He was 381 00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:00,560 Speaker 1: a civil engineer who played a vital role in honestly 382 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: saving the city. That's that's not hyperbolee for us to 383 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: describe it this way. In an article called Construction of 384 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: London's Victorian Sewers the Vital role of Joseph basil Gett, 385 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:16,160 Speaker 1: an author named G. C. Cook gives us a brief introduction. So, 386 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,399 Speaker 1: Joseph Basilguette was born in eighteen nineteen. At the time, 387 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: he was the Chief Municipal Engineer to the Metropolitan Board 388 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: of Works or m b W. And when Parliament was 389 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,159 Speaker 1: passing the blame or trying to pass the buck to 390 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: see who who they could scapegoat for this or who 391 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: they could blame for it, members of Parliament directly said, 392 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: you know, this is the job of the Metropolitan Board 393 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: of Works, not us. These guys. And so he finally 394 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:52,159 Speaker 1: got some attention to his elaborate planned sewerage system and 395 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:58,199 Speaker 1: had three objectives one waste disposal to land drainage and 396 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: three introduction of a safe water supply system. And that 397 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,199 Speaker 1: made it a you know, that was a big difference 398 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:08,679 Speaker 1: in comparison to earlier plans or existing infrastructure. And this 399 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,640 Speaker 1: man was a wizard because he actually added a fourth thing, 400 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:17,480 Speaker 1: which was beautification. Would have thought that putting in a 401 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:21,320 Speaker 1: sewer would actually make London like look prettier. There were 402 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,960 Speaker 1: a lot of things that came from this job that 403 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 1: added a lot of wow factor to the city, like 404 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: the embankments on the sides of the Thames. So let's 405 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: let's set this scene before basil Gets projects. The embankments 406 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:42,200 Speaker 1: were disgusting. There's mudd and poop everywhere, filthy dead bodies 407 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:48,200 Speaker 1: caked with awful oh f F A L. So what happened, Well, 408 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:53,360 Speaker 1: what happened, Ben, is that Basil Get employed four hundred 409 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:58,640 Speaker 1: draftsmen to draw up the plans for his sewer system. 410 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:02,360 Speaker 1: This is a huge, huge project, um And in that 411 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,239 Speaker 1: five minute history article, which I really recommend you checking out, 412 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,320 Speaker 1: it's it's fantastic that we've pulled some things from it, 413 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: but a lot of stuff we have not mentioned. Um 414 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: bassl Gut was quoted as saying, well, we're only going 415 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:15,239 Speaker 1: to do this once, and there's always the unforeseen. So 416 00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:17,879 Speaker 1: he doubled his measurements for the size of the pipes 417 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: should be based on the calculations he had done. And wow, 418 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,239 Speaker 1: what do you know in the sixties, if he had 419 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: done it based on his original calculations, the sewer would 420 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:32,480 Speaker 1: have overflowed. Smart guy, very smart guy, very exacting. But 421 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: let's just set the scene for what the scope of 422 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,200 Speaker 1: this project was. For Trender draftsman to just lay out 423 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: the plans um it was eighty two miles long of 424 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,159 Speaker 1: the main part the main sewer system, eleven miles of 425 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,840 Speaker 1: street I guess runoff areas. And then there were these 426 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: massive or nate pumping stations and these are beautiful. These 427 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:59,400 Speaker 1: these look like religious structures. And then they had water 428 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 1: treatments in an as well. But yeah, do the pumping 429 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:05,160 Speaker 1: stations are a thing to behold. And there are two 430 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:10,240 Speaker 1: that you can still see today, one at crossness Um. 431 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,560 Speaker 1: And they had steam pumps that were named after they 432 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: had really fancy names. My note here says fancy pants 433 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: pump names which were Victoria, Prince Consort, Albert Edward and Alexandria, 434 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: which were all members of the British royal family at 435 00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:30,520 Speaker 1: the time. UM. And then there's another one called Abbey Mills, 436 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: and both of them have these ornate Byzantine architecture designs. 437 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: They look like some sort of temple or something that's insane. 438 00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,400 Speaker 1: And apparently one of them you can rent out today, 439 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,320 Speaker 1: the Crossness Station, which is on the South Bank in Bexley. 440 00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:50,560 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it is for what it's for product launches. 441 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: That's one of the uses, right, Yeah, there's an official 442 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: website for this, and they recommend that you give it 443 00:28:55,440 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 1: a shot for product launches, Shakespearean theater productions, UM or 444 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,360 Speaker 1: making viral videos. That's the one that surprised me as well. 445 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: Who sets out and says, all right, we're going to 446 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 1: make this viral video. It's time to uh, time to 447 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,640 Speaker 1: book the location. It'd be cool for a music video, 448 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,080 Speaker 1: you know, like I said, it's gorgeous. It would be 449 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,240 Speaker 1: a great setting for an action film or a thriller. Yeah, 450 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 1: because you know, you don't you don't even see where 451 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,800 Speaker 1: the original intent was that they're just these insanely huge 452 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 1: structures because the pumps themselves were underneath the floor of 453 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: the building itself. So when you go in, it's like 454 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:37,520 Speaker 1: just this gorgeous space and very high ceilings, very high ceilings, 455 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: a lot of intri kates marble, I want to say, 456 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: and like tile work and stuff, and you don't really see, 457 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: um the guts of what it's actually doing. And we 458 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: would love to hear from you if you have visited here. Now. 459 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: The problem wasn't solved automatically, because I think you can 460 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: tell friends and neighbors from the scope of this erration. 461 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: It took several years for this to be completed, right, 462 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: and so you know, Rome was not built in a day. 463 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:13,960 Speaker 1: Neither was Basiligat's dream system. But as they were building 464 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: this system, they noticed that there were advantages to populations 465 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: and neighborhoods that were hooked up to it, and they 466 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: started to pay more attention to John Snow's previously dismissed 467 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:33,080 Speaker 1: belief about contamination in water. And when we say years, 468 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: we mean what what was it nearly a decade? Over 469 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: a decade. Over a decade they opened it officially unofficially, 470 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: I don't know. In eighteen sixty five, Edward, Prince of Wales, 471 00:30:43,680 --> 00:30:46,200 Speaker 1: had a like a ribbon cutting ceremony, but it wasn't 472 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: going to be finished for ten more years from that 473 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: point right exactly. And as this construction was occurring, there 474 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,200 Speaker 1: were people in parts of London that were not part 475 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: of this system that we're still drinking contaminated water, encountering 476 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: to sease, encountering cholera. And in eighteen sixty six London 477 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: had another cholera epidemic. But people noticed this epidemic occurred 478 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: in an area that was not yet protected by Basil 479 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:21,280 Speaker 1: gats sewerage system was in the East end, right spot on. 480 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: And this caught the attention of someone named William far 481 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: who noted that the eighteen sixty six epidemic was confined 482 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: to a small area of Whitechapel and said that his 483 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: inquiries showed the East London Water Company's reservoirs have been contaminated. 484 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 1: And he wrote, only a very robust scientific witness would 485 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: have dared to drink a glass of water of the river. 486 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:52,800 Speaker 1: The elements influencing mortality which has undergone the greatest change 487 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: in recent times is the system of drainage. So finally 488 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 1: Basil gat begins to get his due, as does your 489 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 1: man John Snow. Basil guy definitely got his, dude. He 490 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: was knighted for his efforts in eighteen seventy five. And 491 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: there's a great quote from John Dosat, who is an 492 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:15,000 Speaker 1: author and historian. Um It says basil Gat probably did 493 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: more good and saved more lives than any single Victorian official. 494 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: Uh And based on what we're seeing here that that 495 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: seems to be very likely entirely true. And there's one 496 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 1: other fascinating note that we would like to end today's 497 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 1: show on, which is that although the experts were arguing 498 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:44,760 Speaker 1: in favor for years about this concept of miasthma, it 499 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: sounds like the the common public and especially the satiristic 500 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 1: cartoonists of the time, we're on board with the idea 501 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:57,760 Speaker 1: of water contamination way earlier than the you know, those 502 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: stiff collars up in Parliament. We see, especially in Punch 503 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:07,160 Speaker 1: cartoons of the time, that there's a clear association with 504 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:10,200 Speaker 1: health and contamination of water. That's right. There was a 505 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,440 Speaker 1: really popular satirical magazine called Punch or the London sharavari 506 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: Um that came out starting in eighteen forty one and 507 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: was hugely influential for its political cartoons, and it does 508 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 1: an incredible job of a chronicling this whole situation over 509 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 1: the years with a fictional deity by the name of 510 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 1: old Father Thames, Yes, the Spirit of the River, the 511 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: spirit of the River and pre stinc he is portrayed 512 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 1: as this very stately, typically nude, bearded Zeus like figure. 513 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:51,040 Speaker 1: As it turns out, there's a lot of archaeological evidence 514 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,719 Speaker 1: that there were river worshippers in the area. There were 515 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: a lot of Bronze Age artifacts recovered from the River 516 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: Christian pre Christian times that were seen as being offerings 517 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 1: to some sort of river deity. Um in eighteen fifty 518 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,840 Speaker 1: seven there was this kind of shield that was pulled 519 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,080 Speaker 1: up and there was like horned helmets that were found. 520 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: A lot of these things are on display um in 521 00:34:17,120 --> 00:34:20,600 Speaker 1: the British Museum. But this idea of Father Thames, he 522 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:25,640 Speaker 1: was sort of this bearded, usually nude Zeus like figure 523 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 1: surrounded by sea creatures, almost like a like a king 524 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:32,439 Speaker 1: Triton from the Whotle Mermaid or something like that, but 525 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:36,280 Speaker 1: you know, with but with no pats. And this began 526 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 1: to change as the river became increasingly contaminated. Boy did 527 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:45,520 Speaker 1: it ever, um, Father Thames that started being portrayed much 528 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: more as some sort of uh terrifying David Lynch in hobo. Um. 529 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: There's one that keeps popping up, uh. This this comic 530 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:01,360 Speaker 1: called Father Thames introducing his offspring to fair City of London, 531 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: and it has this horrifying creature with matted, black tar 532 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,600 Speaker 1: covered beard and hair emerging from the river with this 533 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:18,320 Speaker 1: kind of shriveled, emaciated mermaid creature and a very skinny, 534 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:23,240 Speaker 1: malnourished child and like a zombie kind of thing coming 535 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,400 Speaker 1: crawling out of the water. So it was it was 536 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:30,080 Speaker 1: really this is not really funny satire. It's much more 537 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:34,120 Speaker 1: disturbing than that. Um and that continued. But here's the 538 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:37,280 Speaker 1: happy ending for a Father Thames when all came around, 539 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:41,239 Speaker 1: when the sewer system was fully in place. There's a 540 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:46,080 Speaker 1: comic from eight four that shows Father Thames as a dapper, 541 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:52,280 Speaker 1: upscale gentleman with a top hat and a coat, holding 542 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,640 Speaker 1: a trident and doffing his cap to a gentleman with 543 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,800 Speaker 1: Swan's bathing in the background, and the caption is Father 544 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,920 Speaker 1: Thames is him self again, which is a beautiful note 545 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:07,720 Speaker 1: to end the story of London's Great Stink and the 546 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: innovations that arose from this crisis. We do also want 547 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 1: to mention, of course, that the problem of river pollution 548 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:23,200 Speaker 1: across the planet has not by any means been solved. Unfortunately, 549 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:30,319 Speaker 1: you can see various instances of incredibly vital river sources 550 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:36,480 Speaker 1: being incredibly and some might even add irredeemably polluted, such 551 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:41,399 Speaker 1: as the Ganga Ganjis in India, the Mississippi River here 552 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:44,759 Speaker 1: in the United States, and on and on. The good 553 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 1: news is, however, that nowadays, thanks in large part to 554 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,440 Speaker 1: the efforts of people like John Snow, people like Basil 555 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:56,759 Speaker 1: gat and more, we as a species are aware of 556 00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:01,719 Speaker 1: the supreme importance of sanitation, and hopefully, if you are 557 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,120 Speaker 1: lucky enough to live near a river, lessons learned from 558 00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 1: this strange episode of history have been applied to keep 559 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: your river safe and clean. That's going to wrap it 560 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,520 Speaker 1: up for us today, folks. As always, we would like 561 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:19,080 Speaker 1: to thank our super producer, Casey Pegram, and we'd like 562 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:23,000 Speaker 1: to thank Alex Williams for composing our soundtrack. And we'd 563 00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,120 Speaker 1: also like to thank regular contributor Candice Gibson, who wrote 564 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,439 Speaker 1: The Great Stink of London, for how stuff works, um, 565 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: But most importantly, we'd like to thank you, and you 566 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:37,160 Speaker 1: can contact us directly via Instagram the friends cerinal I 567 00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:40,239 Speaker 1: started a friend stir side note, I probably should run 568 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 1: that past Casey, but he seems okay with it. The 569 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,200 Speaker 1: social media team is going to have a fit. Yes, 570 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:49,000 Speaker 1: yes they will have a fit, but check out our 571 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:51,680 Speaker 1: friends turn now. They're still dogging us to make that 572 00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:54,840 Speaker 1: Pinterest and I told them no, dice. You can also 573 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,319 Speaker 1: find us, of course, on on Twitter and Facebook if 574 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:01,560 Speaker 1: I didn't mention that earlier. But what do you do 575 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: if you say I have a great idea for an episode, 576 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: I'd like to tell you about my experience living near 577 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:08,520 Speaker 1: the river, but I don't want to go for all 578 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:12,719 Speaker 1: that hooplah and brew ha ha of the social media 579 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 1: communication route. We have a another way for you to 580 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:19,279 Speaker 1: reach us directly. Yeah, it's caught an email and it's 581 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,399 Speaker 1: ridiculous at how stuffworks dot com, Um, and we hope 582 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:23,960 Speaker 1: that you come back and hang with us next time 583 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: for another episode of ridiculous history.