1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:05,039 Speaker 1: Ooh, that smell. This is a classic episode ridiculous historians. 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,799 Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Have you ever been to London, folks? 3 00:00:08,840 --> 00:00:12,640 Speaker 1: I think you and I I'm Ben, we've both been 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: to London and we had a pretty great time. 5 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 2: You know, I haven't been in London since I was 6 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 2: a very small child. My mom used to tell me 7 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:24,040 Speaker 2: that I pooped my pants on every heath in the 8 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 2: city of London Town. That's the way she tells that story. 9 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,319 Speaker 2: I can neither confirm nor deny that. But there was 10 00:00:30,360 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 2: a time in London where it smelled as though everyone 11 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 2: had pooped their pants all the time. 12 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, the city smelled so so bad, and it wasn't 13 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: It wasn't like walking in New York today. New York 14 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 1: has a cavalcade of amazing and terrible smells right block 15 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: by block. 16 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 2: That's right, and he kind of kind of comes and goes. 17 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 2: You catch it in little waves. The Great Stink of 18 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 2: London was so absolutely stinky that essentially it was due 19 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 2: to we'll get into it in the episode, but it 20 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 2: was due to a lack of the kinds of things 21 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 2: that many of us take for granted today, like things 22 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 2: like sanitation, things like sewage you know, infrastructure, et cetera. 23 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 2: But they were all kinds of theories as to what 24 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 2: was causing the stink and what was it doing to people, 25 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 2: everything from the miasma theory, which I really like, you know, 26 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 2: this idea of like it was this this disease cloud. 27 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:29,760 Speaker 2: I guess that was what it was. Actually. Also the 28 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 2: water was poison because it had lots of poopin bodies 29 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 2: to dead bodies. Think of money, Python, bring out your dead, 30 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 2: you know, just piles of I mean, this is a 31 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:43,200 Speaker 2: little bit of a different era, but this is the 32 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 2: eighteen hundred in London and they had a problem, and 33 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 2: boy did they need someone to help them solve it. 34 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 2: Check out the hook while the DJ revolves it. 35 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: Let's get a whiff of London in the eighteen hundreds. 36 00:01:55,320 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, ridiculous history. The production of iHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen, 37 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: welcome to the show. I've got to say right now, 38 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: my co hosts and I are you know, we're dressed 39 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:39,359 Speaker 1: pretty well, we're dressed comfortably, and we're sitting in a 40 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,600 Speaker 1: studio that has some great air conditioning. 41 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 2: My name is Ben, Ben, my name is Noah, which 42 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,959 Speaker 2: you know, and well, what's that what's that stank? What's that? 43 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: Do we put some stink on it? 44 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:52,560 Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean you mentioned the air conditioning, 45 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,200 Speaker 2: but it's feeling a little stagnant in here today, and 46 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 2: I'm wondering it was it you? 47 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: No, it wasn't It wasn't me. But we do share 48 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:04,640 Speaker 1: this studio with other people. 49 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 2: Perhaps it is I who have dealt it before, I 50 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 2: have smelled it. 51 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: This is something that has very little to do with 52 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: today's episode, but it's an interesting question. 53 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,519 Speaker 2: It's got as much to do as today's episode as anything. 54 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, what I'm about to bring up. 55 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:22,680 Speaker 1: Have you noticed, perhaps you know or you our super 56 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: producer Casey Pegram Ladies and gentlemen, have you, guys ever 57 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: noticed when you walk into a room, you'll sense a 58 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: smell and it may be very good, it may be 59 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: very bad, but then within a matter of a few 60 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: seconds or minutes, it sort of dissipates and you don't 61 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: notice it. Does that happen to you? 62 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 2: You know? It's true if I have, like, for example, 63 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 2: let's say I haven't done laundry in a couple of days, 64 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 2: and I have the laundry basket in my room. It's 65 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 2: sort of you know, becomes the base level of the 66 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 2: smell of the room. But if I've stayed overnight somewhere else, 67 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 2: hubba hubba, and then I come back the next day, 68 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 2: I'm like, ho, laundry days? 69 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: What unfresh? 70 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 2: L is this? 71 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: Right? So we know that this is a phenomenon that 72 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: a lot of us have experienced. But the fact remains 73 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: that some smells are so strong that you you don't 74 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: forget them now, or you can't you can't teach your 75 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: nose to ignore them. And today's episode is about a 76 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: stink that was far beyond what you would normally consider smelling. 77 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 2: What either I or ben hath dealt previously, that's up 78 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 2: for debates. 79 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: And likely far beyond what we have smelled. Indeed, what 80 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: what what we're talking about here is something called the 81 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: Great Stink of London. 82 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,160 Speaker 2: So someone got upset about something. Is that what you're saying? 83 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 2: They made a fuss? 84 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: Oh, if only there were fusses involved, right, there were, 85 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: There were fusses involved, and the city was in crisis. 86 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: But also literally was a stink, a stench a reek. 87 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 2: And the asthma. Oh, here we go of feces, cooking smells, 88 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 2: think of think of city smells, you know New York City, 89 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 2: for example, Think of the way it smells walking down 90 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:16,479 Speaker 2: the street, the way you can pass through so many 91 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 2: different aromas as you travel, right, Like one corner might 92 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 2: smell like boil peanuts, and then you get hot dogs, 93 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 2: and then you get dog crap, and then you know 94 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 2: urine and stale beer. Well think about that, but combined 95 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 2: with stagnant, rotting feces buried in open pits. 96 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: And also livestock corpses right from the butchery, possibly dead 97 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: bodies due to disease outbreaks, the cholera right, like we 98 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: covered in our previous episode on London's Train for the Dead, 99 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: they were literally piling bodies upon one another because there 100 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,600 Speaker 1: was not room in the you know, in the conventional 101 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:02,360 Speaker 1: cemeteries or morgues. So what we're saying, with all due 102 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: respect to the great city of London, is that it 103 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: used to be filthy. 104 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, those delightful little street urchins in Oliver. 105 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 2: You know, there's no way they could have done those 106 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 2: sweet dance moves, you know, with that funk in the air. 107 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 2: They would have fallen over dead from just pure hyperventilating exhaustion. 108 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 2: And we're talking about the eighteen hundreds. But this all 109 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 2: kind of came to a head, didn't it, Ben in 110 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:30,720 Speaker 2: a particular summer of stank. 111 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:36,279 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, you're absolutely right, Nol. In the infamous and 112 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: stench ridden summer of eighteen fifty eight, London was I 113 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: don't want to say paralyzed, but maybe traumatized as a 114 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: fair word, by a pervasive smell that was flooding the 115 00:06:54,520 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: streets and wasn't moving from the town. The temperature was 116 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,719 Speaker 1: around ninety degrees fahrenheit or thirty two degrees celsius. And 117 00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: what people noticed was that this smell was not class based. 118 00:07:12,800 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: It didn't matter if you were wealthy or if you 119 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: were poor, or if you lived in a particular neighborhood. 120 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: Anything near, especially anything near the Thames, was going to stink, 121 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: and there wasn't much you could do about it. And 122 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: part of the problem goes into the skyrocketing urban growth 123 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: at the. 124 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 2: Time, absolutely, and the lack of a municipal sewer system. Yeah, 125 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,200 Speaker 2: I mean, as we're saying, they did have sort of 126 00:07:41,320 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 2: storm drain type situations that would essentially drain rain runoff 127 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 2: back out into the river. But with that overflow of 128 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 2: human bodies, live ones that poop that was all becoming waste, 129 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 2: human waste, right, instead of brainwater, it was wastewater because 130 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 2: you know, some people, the wealthier people had you know, 131 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:09,840 Speaker 2: privies or there were even flush toilets. We'll get into 132 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 2: that a little later. And poor people especially, you know, 133 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 2: it wasn't even into poor people rich people divide. They 134 00:08:17,040 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 2: didn't have a sewer system, so that waste had to 135 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 2: go somewhere, and that somewhere were these cesspits, of which 136 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 2: there were in the neighborhood of two hundred thousand in 137 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 2: London alone. London is a sprawling metropolis. 138 00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, it's sprawling and at this point dirty metropolis. 139 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 1: In an article called Solving the Great Stink, which we 140 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: will not read the full headline yet because it contains spoilers, right, 141 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: so from now it's just the article named Solving the 142 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:50,840 Speaker 1: Great Stink by Ella Morton, and in this Morton introduces 143 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 1: readers to one of the coolest names you and I 144 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: have found in the course of our research, right, because 145 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: these these cesspits are filling up with fecal matter, right, 146 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: and there's only so much room in your average cess pit. 147 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 2: Six feet six feet in case that. 148 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: Comes up on your next blind. 149 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,679 Speaker 2: Day, six feet of pooh potential there that. 150 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: Might be important to your tender conversation. Yeah, so there's 151 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: a definitive amount, there's a threshold, and at some point 152 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,960 Speaker 1: these pits need to be emptied out. It's literally a 153 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: dirty job and someone has to do it. And that's 154 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: where we learn about the Nightmen. Oh, yes, yes, we 155 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: are always sunny in Philadelphia fans here, Casey, are you 156 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,080 Speaker 1: a fan of that show? Yeah, Oh we got a 157 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: definitive nod. Yeah, that was emphatic. That was one of 158 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: his phoned in nods. But these Nightmen were real people 159 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: who had a very demanding job. They had to go 160 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: into these cess pits, working under the cover of darkness 161 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: and empty these things physically. So this is hard, physical labor. 162 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: And the stinch isn't just inconvenient at this point, it's dangerous. 163 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, and these Nightmen armed with nothing but buckets, rope 164 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 2: and go get her attitude. I guess, would you know 165 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 2: and enter these pits and yeah, that smell was actually 166 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,800 Speaker 2: physically damaging. It could give you cough, It could actually 167 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 2: cause you know, burning your eyes, you know, watering of 168 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 2: the eyes, like all kinds of you get infections, you know. 169 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 2: I mean it was really really bad. It was just 170 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 2: and especially when they're kind of down in it like that, 171 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 2: you know, this was not a job for the faint 172 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 2: of heart. These were kind of heroes in a way. 173 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: They were heroes, and they were also working against nigh 174 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: impossible odds. No matter how assiduously or regularly they empty 175 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 1: these cesspits, what was happening is there were just too 176 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: many people adding to the waste and they could barely 177 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: contain it. And let's say they weren't able to empty 178 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:14,720 Speaker 1: all the sesspits completely, right, very likely at this time. 179 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: And what happens is that these cesspits start baking under 180 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: the high summer temperatures. 181 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:24,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, and the sun would get up to 182 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 2: around one hundred and eighteen degrees during the summer, which 183 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 2: is like West coast desert temperatures, you know, And you 184 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 2: think about that baking putrefying cesspit, not to mention that 185 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:44,319 Speaker 2: it would leach into the soil, into the groundwater or 186 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,439 Speaker 2: whatever and then make its way into the Thames, which 187 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,880 Speaker 2: was London's primary supply of drinking water. 188 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 1: Yes, I'm so glad you mentioned that, because we found 189 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,840 Speaker 1: something that surprised us I don't want to speak for 190 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:03,400 Speaker 1: both of us, but I was surprised that surprised us 191 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:07,559 Speaker 1: when it came to the history of medicine at the time, 192 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: because you know, we mentioned briefly in our episode on 193 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,959 Speaker 1: London's Train for the Dead that there were outbreaks of 194 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:19,319 Speaker 1: cholera in London, but we'd like to give you a 195 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: little more detail there to set the stage, because this 196 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: wasn't just an occasional one person is sick and one 197 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 1: neighborhood thing, right. 198 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:31,960 Speaker 2: No, No, Around forty thousand people died of cholera in 199 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 2: London alone between eighteen thirty one and eighteen sixty six. 200 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:39,560 Speaker 2: And the thing was nobody knew. Not only did they 201 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 2: not know what caused it, they had absolutely no idea 202 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 2: how to treat it. And the prevailing theory of the 203 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,040 Speaker 2: time was this thing called miasma, theory that even you know, 204 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 2: medical luminaries like Florence Nightingale were all about. Yeah, and 205 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 2: this was the notion that you got cholera from the 206 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 2: funk alone. 207 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: The smell, like, if you can smell it, that means 208 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: that you are in an invisible cloud of disease known 209 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:08,320 Speaker 1: as miasma. He smelled it, he felt it right, there 210 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: you go, there you go. 211 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:10,560 Speaker 2: But that was not true. 212 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:13,840 Speaker 1: That was clearly now that we have the benefit of 213 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,559 Speaker 1: looking back in time, it was clearly not the case, 214 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,240 Speaker 1: but it was widely believed by luminaries of the age. 215 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:25,720 Speaker 1: There was a fellow named Edwin Chadwick who wrote a 216 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: report on the sanitary condition of the laboring population of 217 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: Great Britain in eighteen forty two, and he argued exactly this. 218 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 1: He argued that noxious smells were responsible for disease and 219 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: the real problem, he said, with cholera and these other outbreaks, 220 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: was a matter of ventilation. And he said in a 221 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,880 Speaker 1: parliamentary committee meetiing in eighteen forty six, all smell is 222 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,920 Speaker 1: if it be intense, immediate, acute disease, and eventually we 223 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,720 Speaker 1: may say that by depressing the system and rendering it 224 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 1: suceptible to the action of other causes, all smell is disease, 225 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 1: which is a pretty pretty bold and definitive statement, especially 226 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: considering that it's you know, not true. 227 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,280 Speaker 2: No, it's not true. And like I said, they didn't 228 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:17,320 Speaker 2: know how to treat it either. So treatments ranged from 229 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 2: opiates to things like blood letting, bleeding, people burning their 230 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 2: skin I'm getting some of these facts from a really 231 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 2: cool article called ten Amazing Facts about the Cholera and 232 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 2: the Great Stink of London from five Minute History. And 233 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 2: then there are some more gentle cures, some more homeopathic 234 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,400 Speaker 2: things like using camphor or a syrup of tomato. Some 235 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 2: of these came from a book called TJ. Ritter's Mother's Remedies, 236 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 2: and those were more like folkloric kind of homeopathic remedies. 237 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 2: But now none of this stuff work. The opiate's probably 238 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 2: made you feel better, I guess sure, because you're super high. 239 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,520 Speaker 1: But I guess Jen might do the same thing for people. 240 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 2: This is very true. And the thing I want to 241 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 2: mention here to jump off what you said about that 242 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 2: if you contain the smell, you can contain the spread 243 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,880 Speaker 2: of the contamination. That couldn't be farther from the truth, 244 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 2: especially in the way that they were trying to contain 245 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 2: the smell by dumping all of this waste into their 246 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 2: water supply, right, they were trying to get it out 247 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 2: of their vicinity, but it was coming back to them 248 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 2: in the way that was actually infecting them. Because cholera 249 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 2: it's water borne. 250 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, And also just pollution in general, one very 251 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: important thing about putting waste into the Thames is that 252 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: it is tidal, which means, for instance, if you took 253 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: the corpse of a horse that you had for some reason, 254 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: and you threw it in the Thames right as the 255 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: tide's going out, then tide comes back in and the 256 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: water remains contaminated. But because they were so focused on 257 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,239 Speaker 1: the idea that smell was the cause and the indicator 258 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: of this, you know, this epidemic and this outbreak, they 259 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: did not focus on a point that Noel just raised there, 260 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: which is the drinking water. We've mentioned this a couple 261 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: times already, and we are not alone. There's a character, 262 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: a real person, sorry, an anesthesiologist of the time named 263 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: John Snow spelled the same way. It's the game of thrones. 264 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 2: Guy, did he know nothing? 265 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: It turns out he knew at least one thing. 266 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 2: What was that one thing? 267 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: It was one thing? Is that he is, according to 268 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,160 Speaker 1: death and Miasma and Victorian London, an obstinate belief. 269 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 2: You could see the idea there by a. 270 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: Lecturer named Stephen Holliday Snow had a very important contribution. 271 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: He argued that polluted water, rather than air, was the 272 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: principal cause of cholera epidemics, and no other experts believed 273 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: him for some time. He got their version of the 274 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: cool story bro treatment. So snow wasn't just you know, 275 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:08,439 Speaker 1: holding a glass of water to the light and looking 276 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,200 Speaker 1: at it and saying, hey, I think that's a turd 277 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: in there or something. What he was doing was mapping 278 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:20,320 Speaker 1: out pollution free water sites, polluted water sites, and the 279 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 1: spread of disease, specifically cholera. In eighteen fifty seven he 280 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: showed that the number of deaths from cholera among customers 281 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:33,320 Speaker 1: at the Southwark Water Company was six times higher than 282 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:37,960 Speaker 1: among customers of the Lambeth Water Company, and he attributed 283 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: this difference to the fact that the Lambeth Company drew 284 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: its water from Tim's Ditton above the Teddington Lock where 285 00:17:44,840 --> 00:17:48,639 Speaker 1: there was no danger from sewage in the tideway. So 286 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: because they were drinking you know, non sewage riddled water, yeah, 287 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 1: they were less likely to get colera. 288 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:58,040 Speaker 2: Genius. No, I mean, I'm kidding, But at the time 289 00:17:58,760 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 2: it was a mystery. 290 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,040 Speaker 1: It was still ignored, but all was not lost because 291 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:07,240 Speaker 1: there was progress in terms of sanitation. Right Like earlier 292 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: you had mentioned that not everybody was just I don't know, 293 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: squatting by the roadside. 294 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, there were definitely different calibers of restroom facilities. 295 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 2: In fact, it wasn't until doing the research for this 296 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 2: episode that I discovered many of you may already know this, 297 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:31,359 Speaker 2: that flush toilets were a thing in this period in 298 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:35,320 Speaker 2: Victorian England. They were quite ornate. In fact, I found 299 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,680 Speaker 2: some images of flush toilets in that article I mentioned 300 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 2: from five Minute History, and they look more like like 301 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:47,199 Speaker 2: fine China than something you would squat on to relieve yourself. 302 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 2: And they had those nice pull handles on the chain, 303 00:18:49,720 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 2: you know, that are up top. All that technology was 304 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:57,880 Speaker 2: around because it was actually invented by a guy named 305 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:02,400 Speaker 2: Sir John Harrington. He came up with the original design 306 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 2: for the flush toilet, and I'm looking at it right 307 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 2: here on HISTORICUK dot com in an article called the 308 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 2: Throne of Sir John Harrington by Ellencastelo, and the illustration 309 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 2: of his design is very very much similar to what 310 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,280 Speaker 2: we still have today. It's got that p trap at 311 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 2: the bottom so that water doesn't stagnate or you. 312 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: Know, the smell doesn't go smell. 313 00:19:24,520 --> 00:19:26,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what it is. That it creates a layer 314 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 2: of water in that crook because that's what guards against 315 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 2: the smell. And it has sort of a bobber kind 316 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 2: of situation, very similar, a little more crude. But the 317 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 2: middle class loved these things. They still do. 318 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm pretty pro sanitation myself. 319 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. Now the new thing is the Japanese toilets. They 320 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 2: haven't improved on the flush part. Now, it's just the 321 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:48,960 Speaker 2: stuff that it does to your butt. 322 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,439 Speaker 1: It's like a whole experience though it's not just a 323 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: bidet function. It'll play music for you, you know. 324 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 2: And can choose the direction of rotation of the water temperature. 325 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I know about the temperature. Yeah. No, I've 326 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:06,879 Speaker 2: had the privilege of sitting upon a quite delightful one. 327 00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:10,639 Speaker 2: And yeah, you can go clockwise counterclockwise. It's more like 328 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 2: a massage chair than it is a lavatory. But I digress. 329 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:18,879 Speaker 2: So the flush toilet was huge among the middle class 330 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:20,879 Speaker 2: who could afford it. And you know, in middle class, 331 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 2: they you know, weren't megal wealthy. 332 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 1: But they were like merchants. 333 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,680 Speaker 2: Were merchants owned proper. You could afford the finer things, 334 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 2: you know, ish because you know, the gap between rich 335 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 2: and poor was quite wide. The fact, there was a 336 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,679 Speaker 2: middle class at all. You know, they were head and 337 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,879 Speaker 2: tails above the very poor people. So even that gap 338 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 2: was massive, sure, but the gap in the middle class 339 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 2: and the aristocracy also massive. But these toilets were flushing 340 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,880 Speaker 2: practically into the streets or like into these pits, right, yeah, 341 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 2: because there was no sewer system. 342 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: It's kind of like having a phone that doesn't connect 343 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,639 Speaker 1: to a network, except instead of the sounds of your 344 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,400 Speaker 1: voice through a phone line, you know, it's it's excrement. 345 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:12,040 Speaker 2: See in eighteen forty six, Parliament past this law called 346 00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 2: the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act, which also went 347 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 2: by the Cholera Bill, and it encouraged people to keep 348 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 2: their homes as spotlessly clean as possible to help get 349 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 2: rid of the smell. So the idea of this flush 350 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 2: toilet was that it would carry the waste away from 351 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,120 Speaker 2: your home, you know, like we know, it went somewhere, 352 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:37,400 Speaker 2: and it actually made things way worse. 353 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,120 Speaker 1: Right because there was still not a there was still 354 00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: not a decent transit system, there was not a purification 355 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: system of any sort. And as we mentioned before, since 356 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: the Thames's title, what goes around comes back, you know, 357 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: not pet semeentary style, but still in a very disturbing way. 358 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm always just trying to work pets 359 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: cemeterian to references. 360 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,479 Speaker 2: You know that movie ruined me, right, Ben, I know. 361 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Man, I promise I at least won't do 362 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:13,520 Speaker 1: the accent. But perhaps I'm being unfair because they did 363 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: have something like a transit system for this sort of 364 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:21,159 Speaker 1: a proto sewer, but it just went to the river, right. 365 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, Like I said, it was kind of more designed 366 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:29,360 Speaker 2: to deal with the overflow from rain storm water, right, 367 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:30,679 Speaker 2: and that was and then it would just bring it 368 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,160 Speaker 2: back out to the river, But it was not designed 369 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:39,400 Speaker 2: to deal with six feet of human stank. Yeah, exactly. 370 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 2: And the thing is, because of that colera Bille and 371 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 2: the notion that if we carry the stink away were 372 00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,679 Speaker 2: less likely to get this fatal disease, people flushed their 373 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 2: toilets way more than they should, and they flushed out 374 00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:56,960 Speaker 2: that proto sewer way more than they should, which led 375 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 2: to much more sewage going out into the river and 376 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 2: then back in to the drink. 377 00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, so gross. So this this also comes to a head. 378 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:13,160 Speaker 1: We've got cholera, we've got other diseases, We've got increasingly 379 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 1: panic public sectors, and this comes to a head in 380 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:21,760 Speaker 1: Parliament where in eighteen fifty eight, in this time, they 381 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: are so affected by the smell that they cannot stay 382 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,199 Speaker 1: in the building and they're taking these desperate mcguiver like 383 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,840 Speaker 1: measures to try to keep the smell out. 384 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 2: What they use a. 385 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,399 Speaker 1: Lime chloride or a chloride of lime and apply it 386 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:41,720 Speaker 1: to the curtains by the windows. 387 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:43,399 Speaker 2: Like soak the curtains and the stuff. 388 00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: No dice, No, it didn't work. It didn't work. No, 389 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: didn't work well. 390 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 2: Poop rose by any other name still smells like poop ben. Yes. 391 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: Yeah. And they said we cannot We have no idea 392 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: what we can do here. They could rarely gather their 393 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:06,679 Speaker 1: wits enough to hold a meeting. And there are anecdotes 394 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: you can see where one of the people who's in 395 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 1: charge of cleanliness in the building says that he can 396 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: no longer be responsible for what's happening. 397 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 2: Now. How could you be expected to pontificate when you 398 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 2: know your nostrils are filled with this overwhelming foul smell. 399 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 2: I want to add one little thing to you. Mentioned 400 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 2: John Snow figuring out that the cholera was waterborn. There 401 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 2: was another dude that had an interesting role to play. 402 00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:38,400 Speaker 2: A little scientist by the name of Michael Faraday, who 403 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 2: you may know from the TV. 404 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: Show Lost Right or the Faraday Case. 405 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:48,359 Speaker 2: That more. No spoilers though for Lost on Ridiculous History. 406 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 2: I wouldn't do that. 407 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:51,160 Speaker 1: We burned that bridge on our other show. 408 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 2: It's true. But Faraday, there's a great quote from him 409 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:57,639 Speaker 2: from that five minute history article where he did some tests. 410 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:02,760 Speaker 2: He took some samples, and he described the situation as such, 411 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,119 Speaker 2: near the bridges, the feculence rolled up in clouds so 412 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:12,160 Speaker 2: dense they were visible at the surface. The whole river 413 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 2: was for the time a real sewer. Michael Faraday. 414 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: Feculence. God, that's a beautiful word. Really a horrific thing. 415 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: So Parliament realized that they could not ignore this. They 416 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:31,920 Speaker 1: couldn't keep the stereotypical stiff upper lip of the aristocracy. 417 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: They had to fix this problem. 418 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:37,840 Speaker 2: It was affecting them directly. I mean, you could argue 419 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 2: this is the kind of thing that's easy for politicians 420 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,160 Speaker 2: to get behind ay because this there's nothing controversial about 421 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:46,160 Speaker 2: wanting to get rid of this problem. This is affecting everyone. 422 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 2: People are dying by the thousands, and the Prince had 423 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 2: to cancel his pleasure cruise on the Deames. What's the 424 00:25:54,840 --> 00:26:00,640 Speaker 2: young monarch to do? Oh boy, things got serious, Ben, Yes, yes. 425 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:05,080 Speaker 1: You're absolutely correct, my friends, because there had been plans 426 00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:10,360 Speaker 1: in place for a comprehensive sewage system or sewer edge system. 427 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: We have to say it that way, right, kiloage. 428 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 2: We absolutely have to say it that way. 429 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,719 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, with that accident, this plan had been proposed 430 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:25,280 Speaker 1: by a fellow named Joseph Basilget, and he had been 431 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: pitching this for a little while, but finally, due to 432 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 1: the great stink, Parliament approved a bill to combat this 433 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,840 Speaker 1: and it took them less than eighteen days, which is 434 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: actually pretty fast. 435 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 2: For imagine that though. I mean, if you're gonna get 436 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 2: something done quick, let's stop the feces from flowing through 437 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:43,919 Speaker 2: our streets freely. 438 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:47,439 Speaker 1: Yeah, we have to emphasize. It stank the entire time, 439 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: and you know it's it's like one long fart joke. 440 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:53,359 Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, that's kind of what this episode is. 441 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,440 Speaker 2: This guy's basil Get was a civil engineer, right right. 442 00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:01,119 Speaker 1: He was a civil engineer who played a vital role 443 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: in honestly saving the city. That's not hyperbole for us 444 00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,240 Speaker 1: to describe it this way in an article called Construction 445 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: of London's Victorian Sewers. The vital role of Joseph Basilget, 446 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,480 Speaker 1: an alter name GC Cook gives us a brief introduction. 447 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:22,199 Speaker 1: So Joseph Basilget was born in eighteen nineteen. At the 448 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,000 Speaker 1: time he was the chief Municipal Engineer to the Metropolitan 449 00:27:26,119 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: Board of Works or MBW. And when Parliament was passing 450 00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:32,879 Speaker 1: the blame or trying to pass the buck to see 451 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,120 Speaker 1: who they could scapegoat for this or who they could 452 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: blame for it, members of Parliament directly said, you know, 453 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,960 Speaker 1: this is the job of the Metropolitan Board of Works, 454 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: not us, these guys. And so he finally got some 455 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:54,960 Speaker 1: attention to his elaborate planned sewerage system. It had three 456 00:27:55,160 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: objectives one waste disposal, two land draining and three introduction 457 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 1: of a safe water supply system. And that made it 458 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: a you know, that was a big difference in comparison 459 00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: to earlier plans or existing infrastructure. 460 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:13,679 Speaker 2: And this van was a wizard because he actually added 461 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:18,919 Speaker 2: a fourth thing, which was beautification. Who'd have thought that 462 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:23,000 Speaker 2: putting in a sewer would actually make London like look prettier. 463 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,960 Speaker 2: There were a lot of things that came from this 464 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:29,479 Speaker 2: job that added a lot of wow factor to the city, 465 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 2: like the embankments on the sides of the Thames. 466 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:38,240 Speaker 1: So let's set this scene. Before Basilgat's projects, the embankments 467 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: were disgusting. There's mudd and poop everywhere, filthy, dead bodies 468 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: caked with. 469 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 2: Awful O f f al exactly. So what happened, Well, 470 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:55,440 Speaker 2: what happened, Ben, is that basil Gat employed four hundred 471 00:28:55,840 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 2: draftsmen to draw up the plans for his sewer system. 472 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 2: This is a huge, huge project and in that five 473 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,400 Speaker 2: minute history article, which I really recommend you checking out it, 474 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,560 Speaker 2: so it's fantastic. We've pulled some things from it, but 475 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,360 Speaker 2: a lot of stuff we have not mentioned. Basilget was 476 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 2: quoted as saying, well, we're only going to do this once, 477 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,840 Speaker 2: and there's always the unforeseen. So he doubled his measurements 478 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 2: for the sizes the pipes should be based on the 479 00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 2: calculations he had done. And wow, what do you know, 480 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 2: in the sixties, if he had done it based on 481 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 2: his original calculations, the sewer would have overflowed. 482 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, smart guy. 483 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 2: Very smart guy, very exacting. Let's just set the scene 484 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:37,840 Speaker 2: for what the scope of this project was for hundred 485 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:41,480 Speaker 2: draftsmen to just lay out the plans. It was eighty 486 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:45,240 Speaker 2: two miles long of the main part the main sewer system, 487 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:50,959 Speaker 2: eleven hundred miles of street I guess runoff areas. And 488 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 2: then there were these massive ornate pumping stations and these 489 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:56,240 Speaker 2: are beautiful. 490 00:29:56,360 --> 00:30:00,000 Speaker 1: These these look like religious structure. 491 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 2: And then they had water treatment centered as well. But yeah, dude, 492 00:30:03,240 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 2: the pumping stations are a thing to behold. And there 493 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,680 Speaker 2: are two that you can still see today, one at 494 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 2: Crossness and they had steam pumps that were named after 495 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 2: they had really fancy names. My note here says fancy 496 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 2: pants pump names which were Victoria, Prince Consort, Albert Edward 497 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 2: and Alexandria, which were all members of the British royal 498 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 2: family at the time. And then there's another one called 499 00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 2: Abbey Mills, and both of them have these ornate Byzantine 500 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 2: architecture designs. They look like some sort of temple or something. 501 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 2: It's insane. And apparently one of them you can rent 502 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 2: out today, the Crossness station, which is on the South 503 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 2: Bank in Bexley. 504 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it is for what it is for product launches. 505 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: That's one of the uses. 506 00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 2: Right, there's an official website for this, and they recommend 507 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 2: that you give it a shot for product launches, experience 508 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,880 Speaker 2: theater productions, or making viral videos. 509 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: That's the one that surprised me as well. Who sets 510 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 1: out and says, all right, we're going to make this 511 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: viral video. It's time to time to book the location. 512 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 2: It'd be cool for a music video, you know, Like 513 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 2: I said, it's gorgeous. 514 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: It'd be a great setting for an action film or 515 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:22,560 Speaker 1: a thriller. 516 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, because you know, you don't you don't even see 517 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 2: what the original intent was. They're just these insanely huge 518 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 2: structures because the pumps themselves were underneath the floor of 519 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 2: the building itself. So when you go in, it's like 520 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 2: just this gorgeous space and very high, very high ceilings, 521 00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:42,720 Speaker 2: a lot of intricate marble, I want to say, and 522 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 2: like tile work and stuff, and you don't really see 523 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 2: the guts of what it's actually doing. 524 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:54,040 Speaker 1: And we would love to hear from you if you 525 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: have visited here. Now. The problem wasn't solved automatically because 526 00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,160 Speaker 1: I think you can tell friends and neighbors from the 527 00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: scope of this operation. It took several years for this 528 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 1: to be completed, right, So you know, Rome was not 529 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: built in a day, neither was Basilgat's dream system. But 530 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: as they were building this system, they noticed that there 531 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: were advantages to populations and neighborhoods that were hooked up 532 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 1: to it, and they started to pay more attention to 533 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: John Snow's previously dismissed belief about contamination in water. And 534 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: when we say years, we mean what was it nearly 535 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: a decade? 536 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 2: Was over a decade, over a decade, over a decade 537 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 2: they opened it officially, unofficially, I don't know. In eighteen 538 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 2: sixty five, Edward, Prince of Wales had a like a 539 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,480 Speaker 2: ribbon cutting ceremony, but it wasn't going to be finished 540 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 2: for ten more years from that point, right exactly. 541 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: And as this construction was occurring, there were people in 542 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:58,920 Speaker 1: parts of London that were not part of the system 543 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:03,560 Speaker 1: that were still drinking contaminated water, encountering disease, encountering cholera, 544 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: And in eighteen sixty six London had another cholera epidemic. 545 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 1: But people noticed this epidemic occurred in an area that 546 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: was not yet protected by Basaga's sewerage system, in the 547 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: East End. Spot on, and this caught the attention of 548 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: someone named William Farr, who noted that the eighteen sixty 549 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 1: six epidemic was confined to a small area of Whitechapel 550 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: and said that his inquiries showed the East London Water 551 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 1: Company's reservoirs have been contaminated, and he wrote, only a 552 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: very robust scientific witness would have dared to drink a 553 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 1: glass of water of the river. The element influencing mortality 554 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,880 Speaker 1: which has undergone the greatest change in recent times is 555 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:01,120 Speaker 1: the system of drainage. So finally Baslgat begins to get 556 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,920 Speaker 1: as due as does your man John Snow. 557 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 2: Oh, basil Gat definitely got his due. He was knighted 558 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 2: for his efforts in eighteen seventy five. And there's a 559 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,719 Speaker 2: great quote from John Dosat, who is an author and historian. 560 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,080 Speaker 2: It says basil Gat probably did more good and saved 561 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:23,319 Speaker 2: more lives than any single Victorian official. And based on 562 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,160 Speaker 2: what we're seeing here, that seems to be very likely, 563 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:30,280 Speaker 2: entirely true. 564 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:36,160 Speaker 1: And there's one other fascinating note that we would like 565 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: to end today's show on, which is that although the 566 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:45,520 Speaker 1: experts were arguing in favor for years about this concept, 567 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: of miasma. It sounds like the common public and especially 568 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 1: the satirist and cartoonists of the time, we're on board 569 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:58,440 Speaker 1: with the idea of water contamination way earlier than the 570 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,880 Speaker 1: you know, those stiff collars up in Parliament. We see, 571 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: especially in Punch cartoons of the time, that there's a 572 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:11,479 Speaker 1: clear association with health and contamination of water. 573 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,120 Speaker 2: That's right. There was a really popular satirical magazine called 574 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 2: Punch or the London Shahravari that came out starting in 575 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 2: eighteen forty one and was hugely influential for its political cartoons, 576 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,839 Speaker 2: and it does an incredible job of a chronicling this 577 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:35,480 Speaker 2: whole situation over the years, with a fictional deity by 578 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 2: the name of Old Father Thames, Yes, the Spirit of 579 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,960 Speaker 2: the River, the spirit of the River and pre stink. 580 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:48,440 Speaker 2: He is portrayed as this very stately, typically nude, bearded 581 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 2: Zeus like figure. As it turns out, there's a lot 582 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:57,400 Speaker 2: of archaeological evidence that there were river worshippers in the area. 583 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 2: There were a lot of Bronze Age artifacts covered from 584 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:05,000 Speaker 2: the river pre Christian times that were seen as being 585 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:10,600 Speaker 2: offerings to some sort of river deity. In eighteen fifty seven, 586 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,319 Speaker 2: there was this kind of shield that was pulled up 587 00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:17,239 Speaker 2: and there was like horned helmets that were found in 588 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:19,320 Speaker 2: a lot of these things are on display in the 589 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 2: British Museum. But this idea of Father Thames, he was 590 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:28,520 Speaker 2: sort of this bearded, usually nude zeus like figure surrounded 591 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 2: by sea creatures, almost like a king Triton from The 592 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:36,400 Speaker 2: Little Mermaid or something like that, but you know, but 593 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:37,240 Speaker 2: with no pants. 594 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 1: And this began to change as the river became increasingly contaminated. 595 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:47,080 Speaker 2: Boy did it ever, Father Thames that started being portrayed 596 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:53,400 Speaker 2: much more as some sort of terrifying David Lynchian hobo. 597 00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 2: There's one that keeps popping up, this comic called Father 598 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:03,480 Speaker 2: TEMs introducing his offspring to the fair City of London, 599 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:09,359 Speaker 2: and it has this horrifying creature with matted, black tar 600 00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:13,719 Speaker 2: covered beard and hair emerging from the river, with this 601 00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 2: kind of shriveled, emaciated mermaid creature and a very skinny, 602 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:25,360 Speaker 2: malnourished child and like a zombie kind of thing coming 603 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,520 Speaker 2: crawling out of the water. So it was it was 604 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:32,200 Speaker 2: really this is not really funny satire. It's much more 605 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:36,560 Speaker 2: disturbing than that. And that continued, but here's a happy 606 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:40,400 Speaker 2: ending for Father Thames when all came around, when the 607 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:44,120 Speaker 2: sewer system was fully in place. There's a comic from 608 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:48,280 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty four that shows Father Thames as a dapper, 609 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:54,440 Speaker 2: upscale gentleman with a top hat and a coat, holding 610 00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,759 Speaker 2: a trident and doffing his cap to a gentleman with 611 00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:00,920 Speaker 2: swans bathing in the background, and the caption as Father 612 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 2: Thames is himself again. 613 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: Which is a beautiful note to end the story of 614 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 1: London's Great Stink and the innovations that arose from this crisis. 615 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,920 Speaker 1: We do also want to mention, of course, that the 616 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:22,319 Speaker 1: problem of river pollution across the planet has not, by 617 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:28,800 Speaker 1: any means been solved. Unfortunately, you can see various instances 618 00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 1: of incredibly vital river sources being incredibly and some might 619 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: even add irredeemably polluted, such as the Ganja Gandhis in India, 620 00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: the Mississippi River here in the United States, and on 621 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:49,480 Speaker 1: and on. The good news is, however, that nowadays, thanks 622 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,800 Speaker 1: in large part to the efforts of people like John Snow, 623 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:57,960 Speaker 1: people like basilgat and Moore, we as a species are 624 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:03,560 Speaker 1: aware of the supreme importance of sanitation, and hopefully if 625 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,440 Speaker 1: you are lucky enough to live near a river. Lessons 626 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 1: learned from this strange episode of history have been applied 627 00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:14,759 Speaker 1: to keep your river safe and clean. That's going to 628 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:17,279 Speaker 1: wrap it up for us today, folks. As always, we 629 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,799 Speaker 1: would like to thank our super producer Casey Pegram, and 630 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,560 Speaker 1: we'd like to thank Alex Williams for composing our soundtrack. 631 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,520 Speaker 2: And we'd also like to thank regular contributor Candice Gibson, 632 00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:31,000 Speaker 2: who wrote The Great Stink of London for How Stuff Works. 633 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 2: But most importantly, we'd like to. 634 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:37,279 Speaker 1: Thank you and you can contact us directly via Instagram. 635 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,000 Speaker 1: The friend signal I started at friends side note. I 636 00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:44,439 Speaker 1: probably should run that past Casey, but he seems okay 637 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:44,680 Speaker 1: with it. 638 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,440 Speaker 2: The social media team is going to have a fit. 639 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: Yes, yes they will have a fit, but check out 640 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:52,240 Speaker 1: our friends turn now. 641 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:54,520 Speaker 2: They're still dogging us to make that Pinterest and I 642 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:55,560 Speaker 2: told them no, dice. 643 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,399 Speaker 1: You can also find us, of course on Twitter and 644 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,239 Speaker 1: fa if I didn't mention that earlier. But what do 645 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:05,399 Speaker 1: you do if you say I have a great idea 646 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,960 Speaker 1: for an episode, I'd like to tell you about my 647 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,279 Speaker 1: experience living near a river, but I don't want to 648 00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,080 Speaker 1: go for all that Hoopla and brew haha. Of the 649 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:19,000 Speaker 1: social media communication route, we have another way for you 650 00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:19,960 Speaker 1: to reach us directly. 651 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,799 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's called an email and it's ridiculous at HowStuffWorks 652 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:25,200 Speaker 2: dot com and we hope that you come back and 653 00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:32,279 Speaker 2: hang with us next time for another episode of ridiculous history. 654 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:40,400 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 655 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.