1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:34,520 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Who doesn't love London? Who 4 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: doesn't love beer? Who doesn't love cholera? Record? Scratch? What? What? 5 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: What are we talking about? Well? First, who'd like to 6 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: introduce our super producer, Mr Max Williams. They called me 7 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: ben No, we're coming in hot And I think one 8 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: of those things is not like the other. I think 9 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: you can love London and beer and not love color. 10 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:59,880 Speaker 1: I think that's that's entirely a plausible scenario. Agreed, Agreed, 11 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: And this is also it's funny. We're talking about today's 12 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: episode off air for a while, and one of the 13 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: things that we noticed is that we've run into several 14 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: stories about London and cholera. You may have heard our 15 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: earlier episode on the Train of the Dead or the 16 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: so called Great Stink, But today we're we're returning to 17 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: this period in time with a little bit of a 18 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: different take. Now, if you you've listened to our previous 19 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,839 Speaker 1: episodes Ridiculous Historians, you know that in eighteen fifty four, 20 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,840 Speaker 1: there was an outbreak of cholera in London, specifically in 21 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 1: the Soho district. And previously we had introduced a physician 22 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: with a name that was not associated with Game of 23 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: Thrones at the time, doctor named John Snow. Yeah, this 24 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 1: guy knows lots of stuff, unlike John Snow, who who 25 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: knows nothing but also new some things, but also a 26 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,160 Speaker 1: little bit dumb. John Snow is this fellow's name. It's true. 27 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 1: He was an epidemiologist, I guess, which you could refer 28 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 1: to before that was even a thing. He sort of 29 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: like blaze the trail for that field, um, and he 30 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: was very much responsible for figuring out why so many 31 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: people in London and and the surrounding areas were getting 32 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: so very sick. There was at the time this concept 33 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: known as miasthma theory, the idea of bad air, you know, 34 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,519 Speaker 1: and that that that these diseases and maladies were being 35 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: spread through the air. Snow, through some trial and error 36 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: and uh, you know, some crack medical detective work, figured 37 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: out that wasn't the case at all, and uh he 38 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 1: traced it to the water. And one thing that really 39 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: helped him do that was isolating the beer drinkers from 40 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:55,760 Speaker 1: the people who were drinking like well water and then 41 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 1: the water that came from the pumps, which oftentimes was 42 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: directly pumped from the Thames River, which, as we know 43 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: even today, it's not in the place you'd really even 44 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: want to take a dip let alone drink water from. 45 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: But um, that's the broad Strokes. Let's set up. Let's 46 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: backtrack a little bit. Um. We've had six worldwide cholera 47 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: epidemics from eighteen seventeen to nineteen twenty three, and during 48 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: one of the biggest outbreaks in London, the water and 49 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: the Thames got so bad that there was a political 50 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: cartoon that dubbed it a monster soup uh, and it 51 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: was like one of those really you know, cool kind 52 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,640 Speaker 1: of stylized political cartoons that had it full of like 53 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: all these like hydras and locknest monsters and chimeras and 54 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: Gorgon's and all that good stuff. And check out Mental 55 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 1: Flaws for an article about five infamous epidemics that we 56 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: hope to never see again where we pulled sminfo for 57 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:53,120 Speaker 1: this episode. Flash to eighteen fifty four though, and also 58 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: check out Vintage News by Diana Rodesca. Uh. The eighteen 59 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:03,400 Speaker 1: fifty four cholera outbreak of Broad Street, so during eighteen 60 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: fifty four, which is the third epidemic. Parts of London 61 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: were bad when it came to cholera, very like To 62 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: be clear, it was in multiple areas of town, but 63 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: the biggest, worst part of the outbreak was in Soho. 64 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: In the space of just three days, a hundred and 65 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: twenty seven people died, and just a month later there 66 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:29,919 Speaker 1: were five hundred plus people dead from cholera. And folks 67 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: again thought that it spread through my asthma, which is 68 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: the air being bad, specifically air rising from the soil 69 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,720 Speaker 1: at night, you know. So you could say these people 70 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: are getting sick. Maybe they lived by a graveyard or 71 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,440 Speaker 1: some other place where the soil might be considered tainted. 72 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,640 Speaker 1: But the thing is, the Soho of that time was 73 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 1: not the Soho of today. It didn't have all the cool, 74 00:04:55,800 --> 00:05:00,080 Speaker 1: you know, gentrified stuff, the restaurants, the clubs, the have 75 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:04,280 Speaker 1: been diversions as they're called sometimes. Uh. Instead it was 76 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: a slum. It was a really tough place to live. 77 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: There were a lot of sanitation problems, not least of 78 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: which the fact that the wells from which the population 79 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: got their water were like right next to cess pits 80 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: and trash piles and they knew what cholera was, right. 81 00:05:25,400 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: They didn't know how it spread, but they knew its effects. 82 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:32,119 Speaker 1: And this is where John Snow, who has already made 83 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: his name as an obstetrician. Uh he this is where 84 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,000 Speaker 1: he comes in. He publishes this Treatise on the Mode 85 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,159 Speaker 1: of Communication Cholera in eighteen forty nine, and he says, look, 86 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: it's not bad air, folks. The plague here is caused 87 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,799 Speaker 1: by dirty drinking water. It's caused by pollution, it's caused 88 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: by sewage, and it always commences with disturbances of the 89 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: functions of the alimentary can out. Everybody ignored him. Yeah, 90 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 1: even his fellow physicians, the medical um community. I thought 91 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: that he was really overreaching, because, you know, it was 92 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: sort of like the equivalent of like the idea of 93 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: the humors, you know, back in the earliest days of 94 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: of medical of medicine um, the idea of having too 95 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: much bile or being like overloaded with one particular humor 96 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:25,680 Speaker 1: or another being like colocky or what has it been 97 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: not colloquy? Yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah, um, the idea 98 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: that your temperament would be in your you know, your 99 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: health would be determined by the balance of these like 100 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,320 Speaker 1: ephemeral kind of like substances that existed in the body. 101 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:40,480 Speaker 1: And of course all that stuff has been debunked. Uh. 102 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: It's very much akin to like leeching and bad blood. 103 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: You know, this is bad air and it was totally 104 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: accepted by the medical community. So that being the case 105 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,599 Speaker 1: is miasthma theory, you know, being the that's what it is, 106 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: and then we can do about that. That's the funny 107 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: thing about it too, is like it's the theory that 108 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: really doesn't have much recourse. You can't exactly suck the 109 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,039 Speaker 1: b at air out of the sky and filter. They 110 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: didn't have that technology. At least, you know, John snow 111 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: had a theory of a thing that we could maybe avoid. 112 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: Let's just try it out. What do you say we 113 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: try to you know, drinke water from elsewhere, or like 114 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: boil the water or do something to to purify it. 115 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: At least he didn't get thrown in an asylum like 116 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: the guy asked people to wash their hands shout outside exactly. 117 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: That's how things were in those days. These were very 118 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,120 Speaker 1: you didn't want to upset the apple cart of science. Um, 119 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: which is apparently an apple cart situation. Uh, so caller 120 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: albres continued in London and Newcastle and in eighteen fifty 121 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: three more than ten thousand people lost their lives due 122 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:39,680 Speaker 1: to this outbreak due to this epidemic, and then again 123 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: in the summer of eighteen fifty four UH in Southwark, 124 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: London and Lambeth, which is south of the Thames, we 125 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: saw another devastating outbreak and then the big one hit 126 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: in Soho. But we set up the episode with August 127 00:07:52,080 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: thirty one, seven people in three days were killed and 128 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,640 Speaker 1: that people started to freak out and just flee this city. 129 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: And this was very similar behavior to what had happened 130 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: during the Bubonic plague in sixteen sixty six. There was 131 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: some you know, echoes of that and people were not 132 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: sticking around to find out what happened next. Yeah, why 133 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,280 Speaker 1: would you. Three quarters of the population and left by 134 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: September seven. We do have to point out John Snow. Dr. 135 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: Snow lives near Soho, so this is close to home 136 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: for him, you know what I mean. I think it's 137 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: important to established he's not hanging out in some country 138 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: cottage expounding on things based on his own humors of 139 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:37,839 Speaker 1: the time. Look, this was a huge problem and this 140 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: kind of disease could be a great equalizer. It was 141 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,679 Speaker 1: striking people based on their water sources. They would come 142 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,040 Speaker 1: to find in the middle of the eighteen hundreds, you know, 143 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: folks didn't have their tushies shout out, tushy, check out 144 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: our episode, or running water in homes. It would be 145 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: incredibly unusual. Instead, you have a communal pump, you'd have 146 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,520 Speaker 1: a town well, and you would get the water that 147 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: you used for literally everything, washing, cooking, drinking water. Septic 148 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: systems were super old. This is weird, but this for 149 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: some reason, this used to fascinate me when I was 150 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: a kid reading about this period of time. A lot 151 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:24,679 Speaker 1: of untreated sewage or like animal waste crap from livestock 152 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: basically would either be thrown directly into the tims. Back 153 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,280 Speaker 1: in the day, it used to be instead of a 154 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: sewage system, there used to be this open sewer running 155 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 1: down the middle of streets and you would just throw 156 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: your stuff from there, and you would sometimes do it 157 00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: from the second floor, so it wasn't a common to 158 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: get hit with a pile of filth. But they also 159 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: had these open pits called cesspools, and to make it worse, 160 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 1: water companies pulled in Nestley. They would go to the tims, 161 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:58,080 Speaker 1: which was a free source of water. They would bottle 162 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: the water and then they would h sell it to 163 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,559 Speaker 1: pubs and breweries and other businesses. Nobody was checking the sewage. 164 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: There was not like a big filter, not even a 165 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: primitive filtration system that they ran this through. So Dr 166 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: Snow reasonably says, you know, I think it might be 167 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:21,320 Speaker 1: that we're dumping all of our trash in the river 168 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: or into these literal centuries old trash piles, and I 169 00:10:27,679 --> 00:10:32,079 Speaker 1: think that might be bad for the water. And he 170 00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: was moting he had thought this for a while, and 171 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: the opportunity to really try to prove his theory came 172 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: amid this great tragedy of this cholera outbreak. Yeah, and 173 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:47,480 Speaker 1: he he be opined on this. Uh in his journals 174 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 1: um he wrote, within two fifty yards of the spot 175 00:10:50,559 --> 00:10:54,439 Speaker 1: where Cambridge Street joins Broad Street, there were upwards a 176 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: five hundred fatal attacks of cholera in ten days. As 177 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:00,959 Speaker 1: soon as I became acquainted with the city station, an 178 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: extant of this eruption of color, I suspected some contamination 179 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 1: of the water of the much frequented street pump in 180 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: Broad Street. Remember that the street pump, that is where 181 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:25,400 Speaker 1: he traced it to, or at least that was the 182 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: most obvious culpri Yeah, and picture picture a increasingly sleepless 183 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:37,960 Speaker 1: dr snow working around the clock. Scenes flashback and forth 184 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,679 Speaker 1: of him tracing things around the town pump, him talking 185 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:45,880 Speaker 1: to people, him hitting the bricks while there's the sound 186 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: of a ticking clock. Well wait, we don't know about 187 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: the sound design yet, Max, because second hands on clocks 188 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: appeared in the fifteen century on German clocks, but they 189 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: didn't really become common until the eight century. So there 190 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: you go. Be fun at parties. Anyhow. The idea here 191 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: is that he was he was studying this the same 192 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,959 Speaker 1: way like a like a civil engineer or a traffic 193 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: engineer might sit at a light and study traffic, and 194 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:22,800 Speaker 1: he was looking at public records. He found this strong correlation. 195 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,960 Speaker 1: People who lived or worked near the pump, this one 196 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,319 Speaker 1: in particular in Broad Street were more likely to use it, 197 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,800 Speaker 1: and thus they were also more likely to contract cholera. 198 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: He established this correlation. He used a geographical grid to 199 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: chart deaths from the outbreak, and in each case he 200 00:12:43,520 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: tried to determine conclusively whether they had access pump water 201 00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: or whether they were more likely to. And then he 202 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 1: was eventually pretty quickly actually convinced that this pump was 203 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 1: the source of the epidemic. In soho, it's kind of 204 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:03,880 Speaker 1: like finding out the killer lives in your neighborhood. It's 205 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: pretty cool though, because I mean he really did take 206 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: a strategic approach when all of these other you know, 207 00:13:08,679 --> 00:13:13,880 Speaker 1: frankly quack physicians were just blaming you know, the magical 208 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,720 Speaker 1: bad air, um, the miasma or whatever, which also we've 209 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: seen UM kind of lampooned in political cartoons like like 210 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: almost like UM personifying the air as some sort of 211 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: like spooky ghost or something like that, you know, with 212 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: like evil tendril type fingers or whatever. I we've seen 213 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: those before and previous episodes where we've talked about this subject. 214 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: But he traced it to that pump, and he was 215 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: able to kind of, like you know, like I said, 216 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:40,959 Speaker 1: do some kind of slew thing. And he asked around, 217 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: and he found the proprietor of this uh little cafe 218 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:48,199 Speaker 1: in that neighborhood who served water to our customers directly 219 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:50,800 Speaker 1: from the Broad Street pump along with their meals, and 220 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,200 Speaker 1: she personally knew of nine customers that had gotten cholera. 221 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: This is kind of cute. There's a popular kind of 222 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,960 Speaker 1: a sweet drink at the time was called sure it Um. 223 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: Not the sure but we know the delicious fruity, creamy 224 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 1: ice cream type substitute. But this was a powder that 225 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: you would put in water and it would get fizzy um. 226 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: And in the Broad Street area of Soho, the water 227 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: that was used for that very popular drink was from 228 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: the Ding Ding Ding Broad Street pump as well and snow. Really, 229 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: at this point, I'm starting to believe that this was 230 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: the source of the outbreak. So he started to look 231 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: at different clusters around the neighborhood of of of outbreaks 232 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: of cases and then you know, through process of elimination, 233 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 1: determine whether or not they had drank water from that pump. 234 00:14:39,680 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: And he actually started to collect and kola this data 235 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: and what would ultimately become like a cholera map kind 236 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:49,960 Speaker 1: of thing. Yeah, yeah, and this is a brilliant move. 237 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:55,360 Speaker 1: You're also seeing some testing for the people who we're 238 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: totally fine, who didn't drink from this particular pump and 239 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 1: checking whether or not they also avoided cholera. This is 240 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: a very important part of the test, and this is 241 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: where we find the ridiculous thing. This helped Snow rule 242 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: out possible sources of contagions. He found some examples of 243 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 1: people who didn't have cholera. One was a workhouse, which 244 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,280 Speaker 1: is basically a prison. At this point. The workhouse in 245 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,240 Speaker 1: the Soho area adjacent to it had over five in mates, 246 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:39,040 Speaker 1: but almost no colliary cases. Snow discovers it's because the 247 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: workhouse has its own well and it brings in water 248 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: from outside of the area. There's also and this is 249 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: this is the funny part. This is the ridiculous part. Max. 250 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: If you were waiting, fellow, ridiculous stories. If you're waiting, 251 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: Snow also found there's a brewery on Broad Street, which 252 00:15:59,680 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: should like ground zero for colliery cases. But the guys 253 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: who work at this brewery don't get cholera because they're 254 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: drinking so much malt liquor. It's it's because according to 255 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: the owner of the brewery, a guy named Mr. Huggins, 256 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: he said, look, my guys drink the liquor they make, 257 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: or they drink water from the breweries. Well, we don't 258 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: go drink that Broad Street pump water. And none of 259 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,760 Speaker 1: them at cholera because they were day drinking. To jump 260 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 1: in here. I mean, this is actually a very um 261 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: common trend, and it's around this time period, especially earlier. 262 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: Like my dad has a book about the Founding Fathers 263 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:45,400 Speaker 1: and their alcohol youth. It's like, you know, copious, like 264 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: John Adams woke up in the morning and the first 265 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,520 Speaker 1: thing he did was drink too hard ciders. Like he's 266 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: in bed drinking these hard ciders because it's like, you know, 267 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: for a very long time, drinking the water would kill you, 268 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 1: as we're seeing literally in the story, but even like 269 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:02,960 Speaker 1: centuries before that. So I mean, I just find it funny, 270 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,160 Speaker 1: like it's part of history. I feel like we don't 271 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: really ever talk about, but it's pretty entertaining it It's funny, 272 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:10,440 Speaker 1: and people got the job done. It's like we joke 273 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 1: about like mad Men era, like you know, uh, Madison 274 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: Avenue executives and stuff in the fifties and sixties, like 275 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: drinking highballs all day long. But it goes back way 276 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: farther than that, and people knew how to hold their 277 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: booze and get stuff done. Apparently, it would seem I mean, 278 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: and I will say as a as a restaurant manager, 279 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 1: for a number of years. I've been through a number 280 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: of breweries and guess what, they're still drinking the beer 281 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: and the berries. This is not something that's changed, right, 282 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: There's there's this other thing. Um, you know, we we 283 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:42,439 Speaker 1: should point this out. There's always fascinating me too, in 284 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: this period of time when water would sometimes we considered 285 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 1: unsafe and you would drink of for minute beverage. But 286 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:53,680 Speaker 1: in this period, in this period of time, the average 287 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: person wasn't drinking like distilled liquor, like brandy or something. 288 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:03,159 Speaker 1: It was going to be wine or need or beer. 289 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: It is fascinating though. I love Let's give a shout 290 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: out once again to Max's brother Alex for his famous 291 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: eggnog recipe, which shows you just how boozy George Washington 292 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: in particular was. Yeah, and I mean, you know, it's 293 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: a good point. Like all of this stuff was relatively 294 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: lower alcohol by volume than liquor, so it wasn't like 295 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 1: they were waking up and pounding shots or something like that. 296 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:28,679 Speaker 1: This is something that you could maintain on. And I 297 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: just got back from a trip to Germany and that's 298 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 1: still the way they drink there. Everybody's people drinking kinds 299 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:40,880 Speaker 1: of beer for breakfast, you know, but it's like low 300 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,200 Speaker 1: a b V and you can maintain that. Me personally, 301 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 1: beer makes me super sleepy, not really drunk, It just 302 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:50,439 Speaker 1: makes because to the amount you have to drink of 303 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,760 Speaker 1: it to get a buzz for me just puts me down. 304 00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:56,159 Speaker 1: I feel like I've eaten three loaves of bread. So 305 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: I just that part of it doesn't click for me. 306 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,240 Speaker 1: But it is kind of a built in safe hard 307 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,160 Speaker 1: to keep people from getting like way too rowdy. Because 308 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,119 Speaker 1: I noticed I didn't notice any bar fights while I 309 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,640 Speaker 1: was there. I didn't notice anybody like slashed or puking 310 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: in the streets. I think it is a much more 311 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: of a cultural part of their existence. Uh, and they 312 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,360 Speaker 1: know how to handle it better. Yeah. Last time I 313 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:21,159 Speaker 1: was in Germany, I one thing that startled me was 314 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,439 Speaker 1: he had to get used to the casual drinking. But 315 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: you make a great point. I didn't see a ton 316 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 1: of people slashed. I did see a guy pushing a 317 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 1: baby carriage, and you know it's one of those like 318 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 1: I call him action carriages where they've got like the 319 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:38,200 Speaker 1: big back two wheels, the one in the front. Since 320 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: the tripod designer Delta design, they have these cup holders, 321 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:44,760 Speaker 1: and this guy was pushing this off the off the 322 00:19:44,800 --> 00:19:48,920 Speaker 1: train and then he lifted up, Uh, he's coming out 323 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: of the stage. He lifted up the holder and he 324 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,640 Speaker 1: had like a tall boy of some beer, which I'm 325 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: assuming is very nice, and it seemed it seemed fine. 326 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: But yeah, that's true. Lest we paint these factory workers 327 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: or these brewery workers as some kind of like raging, 328 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: wet brained alcoholics, we do have to point out yet 329 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: it's a benefit for them because it's just a side 330 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:14,920 Speaker 1: benefit of where they work. You know, if they worked 331 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 1: at a ham factory, they probably eat a lot of ham. 332 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: It also wasn't a case of them just being completely 333 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,320 Speaker 1: dooped to the moon every day. It's just like you 334 00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,919 Speaker 1: guys said, it's a more casual thing for them. But 335 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: they didn't have cholera. And Snow goes to this other 336 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: factory that is near the pump, and this one's at 337 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:42,560 Speaker 1: thirty seven Broad Street, and he finds out sixteen workers 338 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:47,720 Speaker 1: there died from cholera. Also, the factory was known to 339 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:51,399 Speaker 1: keep two tubs of water on hand for employees to 340 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: drink at work, and that water was ding ding ding 341 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: from the Broad Street pump. That's right. Then we have 342 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: another case of an aunt and her knee who died 343 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: because of cholera. And this was one that really perplexed 344 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 1: Snow because the aunt did not live near Soho at all, 345 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,919 Speaker 1: nor did her niece, and there was no direct connection 346 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 1: to the deadly pump, the deadly Broad Street pump. But 347 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,120 Speaker 1: he did some interviews like he like he was wont 348 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: to do, and he talked to the woman's son who 349 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 1: said his mother had lived in the Broad Street area 350 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: at one point and liked the water so much that 351 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: she had bottled it up and and saved it and 352 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: like you know, had like a stockpile of it in 353 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: her home. Let's be honest, what's that flavor coming from? 354 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,600 Speaker 1: Good Lord, it's coming from the poop, It's coming from 355 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: coming from stuff, animal blood. If it's if it do 356 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:52,679 Speaker 1: you know what? It could be anything? It could be 357 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: like a foot. It could just be a foot that's 358 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:00,359 Speaker 1: slowly rotting. She might just be in the foot flavored water. Yeah, 359 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 1: it's possible. It Satia staro. And just to clarify, she 360 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:05,960 Speaker 1: she had had stockpiled some of it, but also was 361 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: having like she had it delivered to her. I guess 362 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 1: it's some kind of service. Um, that's pretty posh. Don't 363 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: you think she would have had to spend a little 364 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,240 Speaker 1: extra to get special delivery of water from across town? 365 00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: That is so weird. The privilege here seems seems a 366 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: little weird, right for modern example, It's almost like saying, uh, 367 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,640 Speaker 1: we've traced the latest clamydia outbreak too. Uh, sun basket 368 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 1: the delivery service, but not Hello Fresh with sponsors, no show. Yeah, 369 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:41,720 Speaker 1: that's true. I mean it's and and it's it's it's 370 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,760 Speaker 1: sad because they died literally the next day. They were 371 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,679 Speaker 1: able to trace the pumping of the water that they 372 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: drank to August thirty one, which was the day of 373 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:55,440 Speaker 1: the outbreak. Uh. And she and her niece would would 374 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:59,960 Speaker 1: take the air on the verandah and share a glass 375 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,879 Speaker 1: of cool water for refreshment, and then they died the 376 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: very next day. Yeah. And Snow is a heroic scientist, 377 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:16,600 Speaker 1: just just so you know, folks, because he is still 378 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:20,000 Speaker 1: at this point proving a theory. By this point, he 379 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:25,919 Speaker 1: is more than certain that cholera is coming from the 380 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: well water. But what happens next in September eighteen fifty 381 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: four completely cements his understanding. He uses a microscope and 382 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: takes a sample of water from the Broad Street pump 383 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 1: and in it he sees white, flaculent particles. He goes 384 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,439 Speaker 1: to the board of Guardians over at St. James Parish 385 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,320 Speaker 1: and says, look, I know this might sound crazy, but 386 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,399 Speaker 1: you've got to disable this pump, remove the handle, shut 387 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: it down. They're killing people. And the folks of the 388 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 1: parish aren't totally buying his story. But again, so many 389 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: people are contracting cholera and dying that they're desperate enough 390 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: to try anything. So the handle gets removed on September eight, 391 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: and people can't draw water from the pump. It doesn't work. 392 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: It's such an easy, foolproof solution. And at this point, 393 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:29,080 Speaker 1: which yeah, and then cases dropped. Cases almost immediately drops. 394 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:34,320 Speaker 1: So let's get some fanfare. Noise Todctor John snow, wait wait, 395 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: cut it, cut it, no, no, Max, cut it. Because 396 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,719 Speaker 1: the despite the fact that he was absolutely correct about this, 397 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: public officials were still like, this guy's a crackpot. Well, 398 00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: that's the thing. He had to fight to the nail 399 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,200 Speaker 1: to even get them to listen to him at all, 400 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: even in the slightest and he was the whole time risking, 401 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: you know, professional uh annihilation essentially because he was, you know, 402 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,840 Speaker 1: pushing the He was the to his figure pushing the 403 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:03,879 Speaker 1: rock up the hill. Everyone was pointing at him and 404 00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: laughing and saying, why are you doing that, idiot? And 405 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,960 Speaker 1: so yeah, even though they did the thing that he suggested, 406 00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:14,879 Speaker 1: um and the cases dropped precipitously, still wasn't enough. They 407 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: refused to do anything to actually address the problem. How 408 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,920 Speaker 1: about that sounds familiar. It's like, oh, yeah, well, well, 409 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: well we'll pinch off this one source, but we're not 410 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: actually gonna go beyond that any further. So they refused 411 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,879 Speaker 1: to clean up all of these open sewers and cesspools, 412 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,199 Speaker 1: and the Board of Public Health put out a report 413 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: saying literally that they saw no reason to take on 414 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: Snow's beliefs um and they called what he was putting 415 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:51,240 Speaker 1: out their mere conjectures. Actually the word they used was 416 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: suggestions cord, which feels like there's a Michael Scott somewhere 417 00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: in the parish or on the board of Uh. Yeah, 418 00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: they still they still insisted on attributing the cholera to 419 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:10,720 Speaker 1: mi asthma or bad air. But over the years, Snow's 420 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:15,160 Speaker 1: theory begins to gain traction because he is correct, and 421 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:21,639 Speaker 1: people would take his research and later use it to 422 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: gain a new perspective, a new understanding of how to 423 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: protect themselves from cholera. But there's one question he didn't answer. 424 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:34,199 Speaker 1: There's one thing that left him baffled. He could not 425 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: prove where the contamination originated, Like, how did the okay, 426 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:41,920 Speaker 1: if it comes from the pump, how did the water 427 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,400 Speaker 1: get dirty in the first place? We joked about foot 428 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 1: water or um let's be honest, we're all we're all 429 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: mature people here. We can say it poop water. And 430 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: and there was the the officials said, there's no way 431 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,320 Speaker 1: sewage from our town pipes leaked to the pump. And 432 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: Snow said, I can't figure out whether the sew had 433 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: just coming from open sewers. Maybe they're drains that are 434 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:13,199 Speaker 1: just going straight into the groundwater, maybe they're cesspools. But 435 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:18,840 Speaker 1: someone did solve the mystery, and they did it because 436 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,880 Speaker 1: they wanted to prove John Snow wrong. Let's be Reverend 437 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,919 Speaker 1: Henry Whitehead, last name, all one word. He said, the 438 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:30,719 Speaker 1: outbreak was not caused by tainted water. It was caused 439 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:39,280 Speaker 1: by wait for it, god, divine intervention. And so he 440 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: investigated this, he couldn't find any proof and is published 441 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:49,280 Speaker 1: reports in fact confirm what John Snow said. And then 442 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 1: John Snow was able to use Reverend Whitehead's research to 443 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: learn something pretty interesting, because you see, Whitehead was conducting 444 00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,640 Speaker 1: interviews of his own. That's right. He interviewed a woman 445 00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: who lived at forty Broad Street whose child had gotten 446 00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 1: cholera from a different source. Right. But since there weren't 447 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: really any regulations as to you know, where sewage was 448 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: supposed to go and and where one might wash, you know, 449 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 1: soiled clothes, this mother would wash. You know, this is 450 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:24,960 Speaker 1: not the days of disposable diapers. This is the days 451 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: of cloth diapers that you would reuse because no one 452 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: could afford anything like that that that you to use 453 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,360 Speaker 1: to just use a sing a single use garment. That's absurd, 454 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 1: because it was so they would be washed and this 455 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: particular cholera uh stricken child's dirty diaper. And sorry' all 456 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: meant to point out that it gets a little grocer 457 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:47,200 Speaker 1: from here. We're washed in a body of water that 458 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,800 Speaker 1: ran off into into the the thamps, which was directly 459 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: um feeding that um that Broad Street pump. Yeah, so 460 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,280 Speaker 1: he said, this is what caused that horrific cholera outbreak, 461 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: and about a year later a magazine of the time 462 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:11,960 Speaker 1: called the build publishers Reverend Whitehead's findings, and then they 463 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: issue a challenge to the powers that be of Soho, 464 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 1: and they say, closed that cesspool, repair the sewers and drains, 465 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,959 Speaker 1: because in spite of and there's a good point, in 466 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: spite of the late numerous deaths, so they say, we 467 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,560 Speaker 1: have all the materials for a fresh epidemic or a 468 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: fresh edemic. They did not use that portmanteau, but missed opportunity. 469 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: And it's still it still took it still took a 470 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: long time, like we're talking most we're talking spans of 471 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: years before public officials did make those recommended improvements in 472 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: that color infected kid who was an innocent did turn 473 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: out to be the vector for the spread there in Soho. 474 00:29:56,560 --> 00:30:02,240 Speaker 1: And all in all, the contamination OUs more than six deaths, 475 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: but there would have been many more deaths were it 476 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: not for John Snow's investigation, and were it not for 477 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 1: the delightfully boozy fact brewery workers that he was able 478 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,200 Speaker 1: to he was able to use to kind of correlate 479 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: the spread of this pump water and the spread of 480 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:30,040 Speaker 1: this contagion. There's a great Wired article. Uh, Noel Maximum, 481 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 1: we both we all looked at this. Uh there's a 482 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: great Wired article where you can read more in depth 483 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 1: about his mapping process and about how he was able 484 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: to convince the local authorities to finally like, can you 485 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,520 Speaker 1: imagine you have the They treated him a little like 486 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: a crackpot. They were like, all right, well, doc, we'll 487 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: take the handles off. But that's it, you know, we'll 488 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 1: see what happens. So he was really fighting the hour 489 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,400 Speaker 1: for a while. So shout out to Randy Alfred over 490 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,520 Speaker 1: at Wired for that one. Like we said that he 491 00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: did leave a legacy. I mean, it's twenty twenty two, 492 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,640 Speaker 1: we're talking about him today, right absolutely. I mean the 493 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: idea of sanitation is key, you know, to having a 494 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: functional society where people aren't you know, falling out from illness. 495 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: I mean, and again we know we're living in the 496 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,160 Speaker 1: midst of a pandemic right now, I mean, hopefully the 497 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: back end of one, but yet there it is. I mean, 498 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 1: we certainly had to adopt very quickly some very specific 499 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: sanitation regulations in terms of you know, showing vaccination and 500 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: wearing masks and all of that stuff, and it is 501 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: in the service of the public good. Uh. And you 502 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: know the COVID nineteen pandemic obviously killed thousands and thousands 503 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,920 Speaker 1: of people. Um, so you gotta take that stuff seriously. 504 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:50,440 Speaker 1: At the very least, public health officials did take it seriously. 505 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: And I would argue that's largely because of the legacy 506 00:31:53,360 --> 00:32:00,040 Speaker 1: of Dr John Snow. Yeah, agreed. If you go to 507 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: the site of the original pump and soho today, you'll 508 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,600 Speaker 1: see something interesting. You'll see a plaque and you'll see 509 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: a pump without a handle. That's on purpose. It is 510 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: a monument to John Snow. The exact pump location is 511 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: a little bit different. The street it's on is named 512 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: Broadwick Street now, and you'll see a colored sidewalk slab. 513 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: And you know what that slab is right outside, folks, 514 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 1: the john Snow Pub where you can drop in and 515 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:37,200 Speaker 1: have a guarantee Colera free time. They did not make 516 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: that guarantee. I just made that guarantee. But I feel 517 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: like that's a safe one to make, right. I think 518 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: it's a safe guarantee to make on their behalf. Then 519 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:49,080 Speaker 1: the beer and water collar free. But you know, as 520 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:50,840 Speaker 1: we know I mean today, I mean, you know, things 521 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,959 Speaker 1: like kombucha and you know, probiotics and all of that, 522 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 1: and these kinds of drinks are known to be good 523 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 1: for your health and um, you know, cultivating good gut 524 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,880 Speaker 1: back tierria that can help you fight disease. So the 525 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: beer situation, while it also had to do with the 526 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:07,720 Speaker 1: fact that the water was different and that it was 527 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:12,040 Speaker 1: you know, treated, the actual fermented angle of it is 528 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,480 Speaker 1: something that has carried on today and it's still very 529 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:17,840 Speaker 1: popular necessarily associated with like okay, drink beer for your health, 530 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,600 Speaker 1: but fermented beverages are known to to do something very 531 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,880 Speaker 1: positive for people's you know, day to day health. Outside 532 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 1: of Germany. I think in Germany should beer for your health? 533 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:33,800 Speaker 1: Uh brust But yeah, it's it's a fascinating story. And 534 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,479 Speaker 1: there is a study from the Journal of the Royal 535 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: Society of Medicine that's not to not too out of date. 536 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: It's from eleven and this study is called simply Alcohol 537 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: and Cholera by Janet S. Guthrie and DARRYL oho Yan. 538 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: The idea is what they did is they used gin. 539 00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: So this is not a one to one in comparison 540 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: with the brewery, but they found and cholera did not 541 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:09,439 Speaker 1: survive more than one hour in any solution that's gin, uh, 542 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 1: and it survived. Like they go through gin, red wine 543 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,880 Speaker 1: and ethanol and they look at the I guess the 544 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: alcohol percentages in the mixture. So that study is fascinating 545 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,040 Speaker 1: to to read if you are if you want to 546 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,560 Speaker 1: get a little more in the weeds. But there is Yeah, 547 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,880 Speaker 1: there's a little bit of science to it. And just 548 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:34,319 Speaker 1: like you said, no, I think we could do an 549 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:39,800 Speaker 1: entire episode maybe on probiotics. The probiotics are live micro 550 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,520 Speaker 1: organisms that are supposed to, you know, help you when 551 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:45,799 Speaker 1: you consume them. Do you get they were drinking raw water? 552 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: I haven't. I'm just asking out of curiosity, the same 553 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:52,239 Speaker 1: as raw milk. Isn't that illegal from like a water cow? 554 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,799 Speaker 1: It's from a manity, I got you, It's just raw water. 555 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: It's uh like I got an older article. I saw 556 00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: a daily show a little litt bit about it. But 557 00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:01,239 Speaker 1: I space look just like someone went out to a 558 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,920 Speaker 1: creak and got a bunch of water and now sells 559 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,479 Speaker 1: it for like for a to and a half gallon thing. 560 00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,600 Speaker 1: Oh that's weird. Yeah, No, I've I've when I'm like 561 00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: living in the wild, or's something I've drank from creeks 562 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,400 Speaker 1: or streams? But would you pay forty dollars for a 563 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:23,279 Speaker 1: jug of raw water in your part? Wait? Us dollars? Yes? 564 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,279 Speaker 1: How did that change at all? Well? It could have 565 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,239 Speaker 1: been some other kind of currency, you know, it could 566 00:35:31,239 --> 00:35:35,640 Speaker 1: have been it was forty roubles man, sign me up anyhow, 567 00:35:36,480 --> 00:35:38,960 Speaker 1: walk down the street from that joke. This one was 568 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,480 Speaker 1: a blast, and we hope that we hope that you 569 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: enjoyed this episode of Folks. We also hope that you 570 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,680 Speaker 1: take some time to check out some of our earlier 571 00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:52,719 Speaker 1: episodes on London. There's always something weird going on there. 572 00:35:52,800 --> 00:36:00,440 Speaker 1: If you want a particularly grizzly story about London and street, 573 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:03,200 Speaker 1: then go over to our show Stuff They Don't Want 574 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,360 Speaker 1: You to Know and check out was Benjamin Franklin a 575 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,000 Speaker 1: serial killer? Not gonna spoil the answer, but that was 576 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: a wild drive, don't you think? No? It was? I mean, yeah, 577 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:16,440 Speaker 1: he definitely was up to some some weird stuff, but 578 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,120 Speaker 1: no spoilers here. Check it out, and also check out 579 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:21,400 Speaker 1: our previous episode on the Great Stink of London and 580 00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: check out our sister podcast Stuff you Missed in History Class? 581 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 1: Who've also delved into some of this London sanitation nonsense. 582 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: And Uh, in the meantime, why not to find us 583 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:38,000 Speaker 1: on the internet. Uh, we are on Facebook at Ridiculous Historians, 584 00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:40,319 Speaker 1: as any of our Facebook group. You can also find 585 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,080 Speaker 1: us on Instagram as a show or as human people. 586 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,400 Speaker 1: I am at how now Noel Brown exclusively on Instagram, 587 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:49,520 Speaker 1: But then I believe you're in two internet locales under 588 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 1: this persona. Yes, you can find me folks on Instagram, 589 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,560 Speaker 1: where in a burst of creativity, I have calling myself 590 00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,719 Speaker 1: at ben Bowl and bo w l I n uh. 591 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:03,520 Speaker 1: If you pop on over there and befriend me, then 592 00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:05,719 Speaker 1: you will get behind the scenes looks at some of 593 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:08,560 Speaker 1: the stuff I'm working on, research I'm doing, and my 594 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:14,160 Speaker 1: various strange non work or semi work related adventures. For instance, 595 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: over on Instagram, check out my reels. I have just 596 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:23,239 Speaker 1: discovered a very strange subterranean passage here in Atlanta, and 597 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:26,359 Speaker 1: it goes far beyond the footprint of the building. I'm 598 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: quite excited about it. I'm going back. I want to 599 00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,560 Speaker 1: see how far the tunnel goes. So that might be 600 00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:34,000 Speaker 1: the end of me. We'll see. But in the meantime, 601 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:35,799 Speaker 1: you can also follow me on Twitter if you're not 602 00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,080 Speaker 1: on Instagram and client, that's happen bull in hs W. 603 00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:42,280 Speaker 1: And while you are there on Twitter, why not follow 604 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,359 Speaker 1: our good pal Mr Max Williams. Yes, you can find 605 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:49,160 Speaker 1: me exclusively on Twitter at at L Underscore Max Williams. 606 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: So you will mostly see me retweeting about Star Trek, 607 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,840 Speaker 1: which was a very exciting day yesterday. Oh yeah, the 608 00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:59,080 Speaker 1: new series premiered. Oh no, it didn't premiere, It was 609 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,200 Speaker 1: just on now. P card trailer which was not very 610 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,799 Speaker 1: exciting for me and my eight year old self came 611 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,360 Speaker 1: out and then But mostly you just find me trolling 612 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 1: Ben because you know, let's be honestly deserves it. Yeah, 613 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: I'm the worst. We'll see you next time, folks. For 614 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart 615 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,200 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your 616 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:26,960 Speaker 1: favorite shows.