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details. Hi

1:09

everyone, welcome to the

1:11

podcast. Hello everyone, Sakuri here.

1:13

And I'm Gabby. And welcome back to the podcast,

1:15

my hoes. Oh my God, has it been an

1:17

interesting week? Okay, so first off, we just got

1:19

back from the event that we were doing with

1:22

the War of the Barons getting everything set up,

1:24

which is this larping event that we were doing

1:26

in South Carolina at the end of this February

1:28

from the 23rd to the 24th. And if you

1:30

are still interested in being one of my knights

1:33

or one of my men in arms, there are

1:35

still some positions that are available for you to

1:37

sign up in. So if you want to bash

1:39

people with me, wait, that sounds really rough.

1:41

I don't think you can bash people, it's foam

1:43

or larping. You can't, but there's a fiberglass core,

1:46

which means that it actually is still fun to

1:48

hit people. It's not like it's pool noodles or

1:50

anything like that. What I'm saying

1:52

is you all should definitely join me in this event because it's

1:54

going to be a bunch of fun. I'm going to be

1:56

a nun because I don't want to get hit in

1:58

the face with a sword. Fair

2:01

point. We actually had gotten back from

2:03

that event or rather from the setup

2:05

for the event that we were going

2:07

out to only to find that our

2:09

kitchen which had unfortunately had a pipe

2:11

burst in it here a couple weeks

2:13

ago was completely warped and we now

2:15

had to have the entire thing gutted

2:17

so that was fun. Yeah like it's

2:19

completely ripped out we have no kitchen.

2:21

I'm worried because it's been a

2:23

week since they ripped it apart and we're just

2:26

waiting I guess. Whatever it's

2:28

totally cool and today is Steve's birthday so

2:30

we went to our cabin because you know

2:32

our entire house the entire downstairs is a

2:34

disaster and last night you know

2:36

the night of his birthday Joya got

2:38

a stomach bug and spent all night

2:40

throwing up so it's been real.

2:43

An interesting week to say the least and you

2:45

know all this got me thinking you know my

2:47

initial plan from when I posted the whole thing

2:49

on patreon about the our house flooding people were

2:51

like oh you should do an entire history of

2:53

plumbing and I thought that is a great idea

2:55

and so I thought that that's

2:57

what I was gonna do and then I

2:59

started doing research and all the sparing stuff

3:01

with plumbing and sewage and everything else and

3:04

I came across something that I found to

3:06

be significantly more interesting for an episode because

3:08

I also think if I was gonna do a whole thing on plumbing

3:10

as much as some people would really like it that

3:12

would require a lot more varying sources across

3:14

all different things with history whereas the thing

3:16

that I wanted to talk about now is

3:19

what happens when you don't have

3:22

proper plumbing the thing that happens when

3:24

you don't properly manage your sewage or

3:27

you're drinking water for whatever reason ends

3:29

up getting mixed with sewage. Death. That's

3:31

right. Disstructions. That's right. Well in this

3:33

case what it ended up destroying is

3:35

large swath of the poor of British

3:37

society because what we were talking about

3:40

today is the British and

3:43

cholera epidemics which became a very

3:45

very common thing in the 1800s.

3:48

Now for those of you who are

3:50

curious as to what it is that I am talking

3:52

about I'm sure that many of us are aware that

3:55

Great Britain was the home of the Industrial Revolution. This

3:57

is something that over the course of the 1700s Great

4:00

Britain was transforming into an industrialized nation,

4:02

one of the most powerful states to

4:04

exist over the course of the entire

4:07

earth. And by the

4:09

1800s, London was the largest city

4:11

in the world. It

4:14

resulted in many different social changes that

4:16

were being brought about across all of

4:18

society through this

4:20

industrialization. The poor were

4:22

becoming, well, in some cases better off,

4:25

in other cases poorer as they were

4:27

trapped into the cities, and

4:29

mass migration from the countryside meant

4:31

that more and more people were

4:33

being crammed into smaller and smaller

4:36

areas inside of towns. And

4:38

do you know what happens when a whole bunch

4:40

of people are crammed together in very tight spaces

4:42

that are typically not very clean? Disease.

4:45

Disease. Exactly. But

4:48

see, London was a city that

4:50

was overwhelmed not just by the

4:52

number of people, but the things

4:54

that people have a tendency to

4:56

produce. Waste. And

4:59

its population just kept on continuously

5:01

growing. A population who the majority

5:03

of which would live in squalor

5:06

in overcrowded slums. Human

5:08

waste would pile up in courtyards and

5:10

overflow from basement cesspits into the gutters

5:12

and waterways and just in general, London

5:16

stank. Oh my god,

5:18

did London really stink?

5:22

In such conditions, diseases, I

5:24

mean that's something that's a guarantee. It's going

5:26

to happen. It's inevitable. Outbreaks

5:28

of diseases such as typhoid and scarlet fever

5:31

were common. But in

5:33

the 1800s, the arrival of

5:35

cholera was going to lead to investigations

5:37

into sanitation as well as the causes

5:39

of the disease and from that was

5:41

actually going to transform how we approach

5:44

modern sewage and hygiene. So

5:46

okay, In order to talk about

5:48

this, we're going to be going back into a

5:50

little bit of the history of Cholera as well

5:52

as sanitation reform, which was the thing at this

5:55

time. They Weren't all completely stupid. I Know that

5:57

a lot of us when we're talking about things

5:59

in the past, you know, we think the things

6:01

like leeching and all the other ideas for medicine

6:04

and how people bought about society and. I

6:06

eugene that it wasn't the best. Or.

6:09

It's weirdly enough, in this

6:11

time of scientific developments, people

6:13

did have ideas that at

6:15

least two their minds had

6:17

some basis of science scrape.

6:20

Slick. European doctors were not familiar

6:22

with these symptoms and prognosis for

6:24

our. When. This for started to

6:27

spread the had no real idea

6:29

about how something like that spreads.

6:31

There really was no cure. The.

6:33

Rapid onset of symptoms such as

6:36

diarrhea. I'm not sure of bombing

6:38

All this result in severe dehydration

6:40

from fluid lost. It results in

6:43

with Rg erratic heartbeat, sunken eyes,

6:45

as well as dry in

6:47

shriveled skin with a characteristic

6:50

bluish tint. Like. Cholera

6:52

is something that for own since and

6:54

purposes. If. You want to create

6:56

a zombie film and said it in the

6:58

eighteen hundreds. You. Could probably

7:01

say that is a mutant very to cholera.

7:03

Because. That is pretty much what ends up

7:05

happening with people. As

7:07

others combination of very scary and

7:10

very deadly sister like symptoms as

7:12

was fear the unknown. This is

7:14

something that see the public's imagination

7:16

and Cholera was something that was

7:18

the hero find two people. Not.

7:20

Just because it was a deadly disease? Or the because

7:22

it was seen as something that isn't. British.

7:25

He. Was born. So

7:28

the record: British Diseases. Who's

7:30

New wasn't the same way as people associate

7:32

Smallpox would like you know, bringing to the

7:34

new world to wipe out the need. It

7:36

and the Bubonic Plague came from Asia. Our

7:39

up was also the same kind

7:41

of thing like Cholera was at

7:43

the time known as Asiatic Cholera

7:46

because it came from. Asia.

7:49

That. Was the idea behind like that?

7:51

That's what it was. And so. The.

7:54

Idea of Cholera been fading. The

7:56

nation was a very real one.

7:59

so as an example The first

8:01

appearance of cholera in 1831 was

8:03

very quickly followed by another epidemic

8:05

in 1837 and 1838. And

8:10

this was then followed by epidemics

8:12

of influenza and typhoid fever. We're

8:15

talking about rapid onset diseases again and

8:17

again and again, and it's not pretty

8:19

for anyone. And

8:22

what this did was it prompted the

8:24

government to ask a lawyer and leading

8:26

social reformer by the name of Edwin

8:29

Chadwick to go and carry out an

8:31

inquiry into sanitation and figure out, okay,

8:33

how can we not have this disease

8:35

spread literally everywhere? So

8:37

in his publication, The Sanitary

8:39

Conditions of the Laboring Population

8:41

in 1842, which can you

8:44

just imagine from that sentence, it's possibly

8:46

one of the most British things that

8:48

you could possibly say, oh yes,

8:50

the sanitary conditions of the laboring

8:52

population. Jowl

8:55

shaking. So

8:58

this is a book that was published in 1842 or

9:00

not a book, but a work that

9:03

was published. And Chadwick used quantitative methods

9:05

to show that interestingly enough, and I

9:07

know this sounds crazy to a lot

9:09

of us nowadays, there

9:11

was a direct link between

9:14

living in poor conditions, disease,

9:19

and life expectancy. I

9:22

could believe people having to be told that

9:24

because they also had to be told to

9:26

wash their hands and there were doctors. Yes,

9:28

this is true. And everyone made poor semovis, it looked

9:30

like he was... Do you want to tell that little

9:32

story here real quick for this so people understand the

9:34

context of what we're talking about for the most basic

9:36

of basic things that children are taught for washing their

9:38

hands? So there was a really

9:41

high mortality rate amongst new mothers

9:43

in, I forgot, which I'm pretty

9:45

sure was like Germany, it's not when you're

9:47

at. And it was because

9:49

doctors would go, they

9:51

would dissect cadavers and then they'd go back

9:53

and they would deliver babies and then the

9:56

moms would get sepsis. And

9:58

Then this guy, some of us... The like hey

10:00

guys on maybe we wash our hands

10:03

because I think that might be late.

10:05

And. Everyone was like how dare you

10:07

were doctors, We don't We don't need

10:09

to wash our hands like we would

10:12

you making us look bad. We're not

10:14

to be killing our patients. And

10:16

so it was super bad. He got

10:19

shot and he died in a mental

10:21

institute. I'm pretty sure. And

10:23

then it turns out, oh yeah, know, like

10:25

we'd definitely soon have been cutting open dead

10:27

people and then delivering babies. Because they

10:30

were actually showing their patients. So.

10:33

That and yes so death, the context,

10:35

the society that we are talking about

10:38

your this point just fuel really

10:40

under stand this. oh. And if you

10:42

don't learn more about that and a lot of

10:44

other medical history, if you're ever in Austria like

10:46

Vienna, you should go That he just has been.

10:48

am. It is so cool!

10:50

Oh yes, with all the wax

10:52

model there's. A lot of wax

10:54

models of the human body and different

10:56

conditions. There's like this whole line with

10:58

like every single possible birth condition. It

11:02

shows like a whack. Carving.

11:04

Essentially I was model of like the

11:06

mom and baby inside. there's like of

11:08

all of your organs brain it is

11:10

so cool and then there's a lot

11:12

of other like medical history, medical technology

11:14

history and then you know the not

11:16

so great stuff that happens from what

11:18

we're to. Yes, Yes,

11:21

there is a lot of that. Not really

11:23

is something that assassinated in. This is a

11:25

time period in which medical technology is advancing

11:27

rapidly, but also simultaneously. there's a there's There's

11:29

a series of road blocks from where people.

11:32

Understand. About it. Play

11:35

So. The investigation in which

11:37

they discovered that hate being poor

11:39

and living in poor conditions has

11:41

an adverse effect upon your health

11:43

and life expectancy. Well bad to

11:45

something that would inspire the Public

11:47

Health Act of eating Forty eight

11:49

Mb establishment of the General Board

11:51

of Health of which Chadwick and

11:53

in a being be sourced director.

11:56

Sorry. In eighteen, forty eight, the

11:58

times we just. Cholera is

12:00

being the best of all. Sanitary

12:03

or force is being because everyone

12:05

who has. Anything. To

12:07

high Hell because of the disease and they

12:09

really want to fix this. Therefore, they were

12:11

actually trying to do things to help. And

12:14

since Chadwick was appointed to be

12:16

the first Not Board of Health

12:18

director person, he would become the

12:20

Sanitary Commissioner of London, so to

12:22

speak. And. In this

12:25

course of his investigation right or

12:27

over the course of this is

12:29

investigations into the living conditions of

12:31

the poor. Chadwick became interested in

12:34

the problem of sanitation and how

12:36

it works, and he became convinced

12:38

convinced of this crazy stupid idea

12:40

that. Some. Simple weird

12:43

measures such as leaning.

12:46

And proper drainage. And

12:48

ventilation for clean air did these

12:50

with things that would somehow

12:52

improve the health of working people

12:55

and therefore. Are

12:57

you? Are you ready for the most British answer?

12:59

Possible illness? Or maybe American depending upon what time

13:01

period your are you expecting. Wouldn't say. This.

13:05

Needed to be done to improve people's

13:07

health so that it would therefore make

13:10

them a boat or less dependent on

13:12

welfare. Yes,

13:15

Ah, Yes,

13:17

You did your didn't want to do something

13:19

where people would potentially be leeching off the

13:21

resources so you want to make and health

13:23

year before that which I have. The last

13:26

sunday telling us because he and to

13:28

this they're like oh you know if

13:30

we want lower. Cost Of

13:32

Health Insurance Law that Starfleet everybody

13:34

healthier. They are banning smoking, ban alcohol,

13:36

ban anything that can hurt people and and

13:39

therefore you'll run into a situation where people

13:41

are peltier and it costs so much because

13:43

no and bringing down. Yeah, pretty

13:45

much. Any more unhealthy a population

13:47

as the more you're going to be dishing

13:49

out in health care costs and then according

13:51

to the illness. Not. Just the healthcare

13:54

costs. but if they can't work. Than.

13:57

Oh exactly Yes. welfare. Yes,

13:59

this, that's true. And for what

14:01

Chadwick supported from this is the rapid

14:04

removal of human waste. seeing this as

14:06

being one of the major sources. Oh,

14:08

that's. Not germs. Rather,

14:11

Bad. Air. The. Cause disease,

14:14

Because. Unfortunately, his limited improvements to

14:16

the extreme the chaotic Susan drainage

14:18

system. oh my god the mouth

14:20

suffer be talk about Fourth Britain

14:22

and it's sewage system and how

14:25

it worked overtime. the whole yeah

14:27

no from trying to clean or

14:29

the streets of all the waste

14:31

and everything that was korean these

14:33

problems within society. This led to.

14:36

Read or flow of raw sewage

14:38

into the River Thames, which was.

14:41

In guess it. The main source

14:43

of drinking water. For. London.

14:46

And. So by further contaminating

14:48

London's water supply. The. Risk

14:51

of Cholera drastically increased.

14:55

The that damned sewage into

14:57

their drinking water supply. If

14:59

they. Didn't. See that as

15:01

a whether they're think. We. Dump the poop

15:04

and and then it dilutes so much it's safe

15:06

to drink with that. The. Dot Profit. They didn't

15:08

understand germ theory. It wasn't that. Know

15:11

but literally. I feel

15:13

like somewhere in your brain. The.

15:15

Fact that you are dumping that. Makes.

15:18

You realize, hey, maybe it shouldn't be.

15:20

Near. Me: Then you drink the

15:22

water. There were to be fair, Many

15:24

different water companies that existed to be

15:27

providing drinking water for people and different

15:29

companies had different system from which they

15:31

would provide. Like there were companies that.

15:33

Quadruple. Filtered their water before

15:36

he was pumped it and usually that

15:38

was for the more will to do

15:40

Neighborhoods naturally the could afford to pay

15:42

for that kind of thing. And

15:44

so those water companies the recipients

15:46

of it generally speaking at a

15:48

lower disease ratings in some of

15:51

the ones that were in the

15:53

poorer areas. that just.assess Ah yeah,

15:55

take what you can get. So

15:58

to speak, And so, battle. by

16:00

that. Yeah. Like those companies

16:02

couldn't get sued? Nope, not back in the

16:04

day. Or even if you did, they just...

16:07

Laws were very, very

16:09

different back in the day. That was not

16:11

something that necessarily really applied. Did you know

16:14

actually, because this is super weird to me.

16:16

So I'm from Trinidad and obviously everybody catches

16:18

their rainwater. You know,

16:21

we have tanks outside. Like yeah, there's

16:23

public water, but also you usually

16:25

have like a well and those who don't have wells,

16:27

they catch tank water and then you

16:29

would use that for drinking and whatnot. Yes.

16:32

In the US, there's like rules

16:35

against catching water. Depending

16:37

upon where you are. And that is crazy.

16:39

That's wild to me. Like it's

16:41

water from the sky and we can't just

16:43

catch it. It's true. And use it and

16:45

drink it. That's nuts. That's... I feel like

16:47

the US is so controlling. For what?

16:50

It's water. It should be easily

16:53

available, easily accessible. Why? I

16:56

understand like acid rain and

16:59

potential like pollution, but

17:01

if you're out in the middle of nowhere, what

17:03

is the reason? Why can't we just catch rainwater?

17:05

I'm trying to remember. Okay,

17:09

for anyone who is watching this on YouTube right now, because I'm not

17:11

looking it up, I'm not putting any of this stuff in here. If

17:13

someone wants to give a reasoning for

17:16

why if they live in a particular

17:18

state or area where it is illegal

17:20

to catch your own rainwater or whatnot,

17:22

if you could say why it is

17:24

in the comment section, please let

17:26

me know because that's something that actually you're genuinely

17:28

curious about. Like what is it for Kentucky? Out

17:30

of curiosity. I don't know what it is. This says,

17:33

out of the low 48 states in the US, only

17:35

two Colorado new to have restrictions in place when it

17:37

comes to harvesting water, which I guess makes a

17:39

lot of sense. Yes, they have severe water issues.

17:41

So this is so funny because I am

17:44

technically a water resource management major, but

17:46

it's something about... Can you

17:48

set the stage a little bit so people understand what happened?

17:50

In 1969, 14

17:54

black student athletes were kicked off

17:56

their university's American football team for

17:58

planning a show of support. against racism.

18:01

We were really protesting our treatment

18:03

on the field. Amazing sports stories

18:06

from the BBC World Service tells their

18:08

story. We became brothers that day when

18:10

you did that tour. We made a

18:12

change fighting for what we deserve. Search

18:15

for amazing sports stories wherever you get

18:17

your BBC podcasts. Step

18:24

into the hidden corridors of the

18:26

past with hometown history where

18:29

every episode uncovers the untold

18:31

stories and secrets nestled in

18:33

the streets and alleys our

18:35

own backyards. We

18:37

bring history to life revealing

18:39

the extraordinary and the ordinary

18:41

from local legends to forgotten

18:44

tales that shape the communities

18:46

we know today. Tune

18:48

into hometown history and embark on a

18:50

journey through time right from where

18:52

you are. Apparently the law

18:54

in Colorado dates back over 120 years.

18:57

The law implies that the rainwater that falls

18:59

on your property could flow downstream into someone

19:01

else's water supply which would mean that you're

19:03

taking it from them if you collect it

19:05

on your own property which goes right back

19:07

to water rights and water rights like

19:09

usage rights which is huge

19:11

in like Colorado and places like it's

19:13

oh my gosh that makes a lot

19:15

of sense. Particularly in places that are

19:17

naturally speaking more dry in areas. Yeah

19:20

that does make a lot of sense

19:22

actually. So okay

19:24

the whole thing though for water and

19:27

their ideas behind disease and what was

19:29

going on there. This is

19:31

all a story of

19:34

miasma versus what would be

19:36

a contaminant so to

19:38

speak a contagion basically but

19:41

it's something that is going to affect

19:43

things. Is it bad air or

19:45

is it actually something that is

19:48

contaminating or affecting something. See

19:50

cholera was a new and exotic

19:52

disease from Asia and it

19:55

brought into focus something that was

19:57

very distinct between these two.

20:00

Different. Ideological thoughts behind

20:02

medicine. I don't really know how else it is

20:04

that I can phrase it. That's just the best

20:06

way that one really can because it was political

20:08

for many people. So miasma

20:11

theory, the way that it essentially works is

20:14

that diseases are caused by the presence

20:16

in the air of a miasma. This

20:19

being a type of poisonous vapor,

20:21

so to speak in which there

20:23

are suspended particles of decaying matter

20:25

that is characterized by a foul

20:28

smell. So when you go to

20:30

a place, like when a corpse is literally rotting,

20:33

well, the foul air, the thing

20:35

that you smell, that is

20:38

the thing that can cause disease because it

20:40

is something that is actually poisonous. The

20:42

theory is something that goes back hundreds of

20:44

years into the midi, like in the Middle

20:47

Ages, but even the ideas before that, like

20:49

the ideas of this go back even back

20:51

to like ancient Greece, but

20:53

was really codified in proper medicine, so

20:55

to speak, I guess you could say,

20:58

in the Middle Ages going into the Renaissance. The

21:01

advocates of the contagion theory,

21:03

right, they believe that it's

21:05

not the air itself, it

21:08

is an infectious agent that spreads from

21:10

person to person, which would

21:12

explain why those who cared for

21:14

sick people often got sick themselves,

21:16

even though they weren't in an

21:19

area where there was, say, rotting

21:21

corpses or sewage or other things.

21:25

It's one of those that neither theory

21:27

could really seem to account for

21:29

the little details with the other

21:31

for what would be the truth, you

21:34

know, because they didn't have knowledge of germs.

21:36

They didn't know exactly what caused it, they

21:38

just could just kind of see something

21:40

was happening and they were guessing at what

21:43

it possibly was. So

21:45

measures to prevent and control the spread

21:48

of infectious disease were based on these

21:50

two theories, with the most popular one

21:52

being the asthma. It's what has been

21:54

going back for many more hundreds of

21:56

years. Sanitation and good

21:58

hygiene practices such as... washing

22:00

walls and floors, removing foul-smelling

22:02

sources of miasma, you know,

22:05

fecal matter, dead bodies,

22:07

these kinds of things, the decaying

22:10

waste and sewage, all of

22:12

those were not done because of the germs.

22:15

They were anti-miasma

22:17

efforts. They wanted

22:19

to remove the things that smelled bad

22:21

because by removing the things that smelled

22:23

bad, that would stop the disease. Ironically

22:26

enough, by removing sewage

22:28

from your immediate area, yes,

22:31

it's going to stop it from, you

22:33

know, smelling so bad, but also any

22:35

of the bacteria or other things that

22:37

could be present are also simultaneously removed.

22:41

So to them, the science checked

22:43

out, like the math, math, it

22:45

added up, it made sense, right?

22:48

Contagious efforts though, these

22:51

like quarantine, restrictions of movement, all

22:53

the other things like preventing direct

22:55

contact with potentially infected people, all

22:57

that stuff was something that still

22:59

kind of worked, but

23:01

they didn't know what caused it

23:03

or what could prevent it. And

23:05

things that people think were containment

23:07

efforts were in fact miasma

23:10

efforts. So okay, this is going to

23:12

sound really, really dumb, but you have to understand this for why this

23:14

is so interesting and unique. Remember how in

23:16

the Black Death, there were plague doctors,

23:19

right? Yeah, the people with the giant

23:21

masks and whatnot. Yeah. So

23:23

okay, okay. Which was 13th century?

23:27

Yeah, well, 14th. 14th century. Well, actually, technically, I

23:29

think it's the end of the 13th, going into

23:31

the 14th century. Yeah, actually, late 13th. So if

23:33

you do anything early, I only know that because

23:35

I'm more of the barons. Yes. My

23:38

friend wanted to be a plague doctor. Yeah. And

23:40

it's wrong time period. Just that makes

23:42

sense, I guess. Yes. So

23:44

those masks that they wore were filled

23:47

with sweet smelling perfumes and other kinds

23:49

of things. And they didn't wear the

23:51

masks to stop the spread of germs.

23:54

They wore the masks to

23:56

purify the air. Yeah, with

23:58

good smell. but it helped

24:00

because it was blocking anything from

24:04

really coming through, because it was so long. If it was

24:06

properly sealed, yes. Yeah. It's

24:09

really ironic how they did. They were so

24:11

close. They did the math wrong, but they

24:13

came to the same answer. Yeah, it's

24:15

like throwing a dart, you know? And you get

24:17

a bullseye, but on the other board. Exactly,

24:20

literally, that is what it is,

24:22

yes. So ironically,

24:25

the efforts that they had of banning strangers

24:27

from entering towns and all these other things

24:29

that could bring disease, it was because they

24:31

thought that the miasma could potentially be clinging

24:33

to them and enter into their town as

24:36

well. Not germs, but

24:38

just again, the spread of miasma.

24:40

So that was a plague doctors

24:42

plus everything else meant that they

24:44

were following germ theory, even while

24:46

simultaneously thinking that it was actually

24:48

miasma. So in practice,

24:51

both types of measurements were used during

24:54

the Black Death and other things. And

24:56

this is actually something that did help.

24:59

At the end of the 1800s, germ theory

25:01

was able to account for both

25:03

types of infection, whether it was

25:05

through primary contaminants in the air

25:07

and water and other things, person

25:09

to person contact, all this kind

25:11

of stuff where someone wasn't touching

25:13

sewage, but they were in contact

25:16

with a person that was sick,

25:18

whereas miasma theory couldn't really do

25:20

this. But he couldn't

25:23

answer why this

25:25

was happening. And one of

25:28

the most confusing things and where people would

25:30

disregard germ theory was think about this, Gabby,

25:32

what happens in our household where joy

25:34

gets sick and then one of us

25:36

gets sick, either you or me, and then the other

25:38

person doesn't. Because not everybody got

25:41

sick. Exactly. So they would

25:43

go, oh, it's not that. Exactly, because

25:45

there's no way because four other people were around the

25:47

sick person and they didn't get it. I do that

25:50

too though, because when you get sick and she

25:52

gets sick, I'm like, oh, well, you

25:54

know, it must have been an hour. Literally.

25:58

So, well, they wouldn't have said hour view at the

26:00

top. because they wouldn't have understood it, but they would

26:02

not think that germ theory was real, and that was

26:04

one of the big problems back in the day. So

26:07

it was really confusing. So

26:10

in the 1800s, in England, miasma theory

26:12

seemed to be the thing that made

26:14

the most sense to sanitary reformers. That's

26:16

what it is that you had to

26:18

follow. Rapid industrialization and urbanization

26:20

created a lot of people that were

26:23

really poor, really dirty, and from that

26:25

these poor and dirty people would live

26:27

in poor and dirty neighborhoods, and these

26:29

poor and dirty neighborhoods tended to be

26:31

the focal points for disease and epidemics.

26:34

So if they did some very

26:36

simple things, improving the housing, improving

26:39

sanitation, general cleanliness of these existing

26:41

areas, then the levels

26:43

of disease would fall.

26:46

And guess what? What? That did

26:48

happen. They actually cleaned

26:50

up these areas, and the diseases that were

26:52

commonly occurring in these spots, yes,

26:55

there would be the occasional epidemic, but in

26:57

reality, for the most part, it did

27:00

actually help. This seemed to further

27:02

prove that miasma theory was correct.

27:06

But okay, enough of that, talking about the theory

27:08

and what it was that was going on at

27:10

the time, how does all of this then factor

27:12

into cholera? So there

27:15

were several epidemics of cholera, but

27:18

in 1848 to 49 there

27:20

was a second outbreak, a major outbreak

27:22

of cholera, and this was followed

27:24

by a further outbreak in 1853 to 1854.

27:27

And towards the end

27:30

of that second outbreak that we're talking about, there

27:32

was an individual by the name of Sean Snow,

27:35

who was a physician that was based out

27:37

of London. He went

27:39

and published a paper called On the

27:41

Mode of Communication of Cholera in 1849,

27:43

in which he proposed the

27:46

very crazy and stupid idea that

27:48

cholera was not transmitted by bad

27:50

air, but rather water,

27:54

which didn't make sense for miasma. But

27:57

it wasn't miasma theory that he was utilizing. It

27:59

was the early... stages of germ theory.

28:02

But when he did this, no one really paid

28:04

attention to the paper. It wasn't seen as something

28:06

that was actually applicable.

28:09

That being, until a few years later,

28:13

1854 rolled around and it got

28:15

quite nasty. Remember,

28:17

1853 is when the cholera epidemic broke

28:19

out and this is something that would continue all the

28:21

way into the next year. And

28:23

on the 31st of August, 1854, after

28:26

several other outbreaks had occurred elsewhere in the city,

28:29

a major outbreak of cholera occurred

28:31

in Soho. Now, Snow

28:33

would later call it, quote, the

28:35

most terrible outbreak of cholera which

28:37

ever occurred in this kingdom. But

28:41

I mean, of course, the other epidemics

28:43

were nasty here, but this was incredibly

28:45

densely concentrated. Over the next

28:47

three days, 127 people that were on or near

28:49

Broad Street would die.

28:53

During the next week, three quarters of

28:55

the residents of like the entire

28:57

population in that region fled it.

29:00

Were they fleeing because they thought it

29:02

was airborne or? Yes, literally. Here's

29:06

the thing. When people even still like, there's

29:08

two reactions that people typically had to disease

29:10

in history. One, hide.

29:12

Two, run. And

29:16

that's the thing. There are strengths

29:18

and weaknesses to both. Like you could hide away,

29:20

shut yourself out, shut the rest of the world

29:22

out. And perhaps from that, you will protect yourself

29:25

from infection. Or two, it

29:28

could also simultaneously lock you in there with

29:30

all the things that cause the disease. And

29:32

it's going to spread to you anyway. Wasn't

29:34

that like an Edgar Allan post story about the

29:37

plague? With the

29:39

king who locked themselves in a palace?

29:41

I'm trying to remember. I swear

29:43

I think that you are right. But for the life

29:45

of me, I cannot remember. I flew forever ago. I'm

29:47

vaguely remembering. It's going to bother me. Okay,

29:50

I can't remember, but I think that you are right.

29:52

Anyone right now in the comments section on YouTube is

29:54

going to let us know how stupid I am right

29:56

now for not being able to remember this. I'll

29:58

let you know how stupid you are anyway. time just ask. Thanks

30:01

Gabby, I appreciate it. Anyway,

30:03

a bunch of people ran away, you know, which

30:06

was the second type of thing that you potentially

30:08

do to stop yourself from catching a disease. The

30:10

problem was is that if you have something like

30:12

you know, bubonic plague or other stuff,

30:14

when that happens, you could be bringing it

30:16

exactly. You could just be taking

30:18

the infection elsewhere. So it,

30:21

it varies. A

30:24

whole bunch of people ran away. And by mid

30:26

September, more than 500 people

30:28

had died. The mortality rate

30:30

in the like in the city from

30:32

this was very high. We're talking like

30:34

12.8 per thousand inhabitants in some parts

30:36

of the city, which doesn't seem like

30:38

a lot. But for a death ratio,

30:40

that is a pretty good amount of

30:42

people that are just dying, like a

30:44

decent rate. And in some areas, it

30:46

gets much, much, much, much worse. By

30:49

the end of the outbreak, 600

30:51

something people in that area had died. Though

30:54

of course, in many other places

30:56

throughout history, there were way worse

30:58

pandemics. This was highly concentrated. And

31:01

you have to remember, so many people had

31:03

already fled. Many of

31:05

the victims here were actually taken to

31:07

the Middlesex hospital where their treatment was

31:09

overseen by Florence Nightingale. That's an individual

31:11

that I actually should go and do

31:13

a podcast episode on, because she is

31:15

one of the key reasons why we

31:18

think of famous nurses in

31:20

history. She is the archetype

31:22

of that, you could say. So she

31:24

joined in with that hospital in September in order to

31:26

actually be able to help people that were suffering. Fun

31:29

little fact. So where

31:31

does Jon Snow come in then? And

31:33

I agree. Jon Snow? Yes. Okay. So. Okay. I know

31:36

he was thinking, but his name is. His name is

31:38

Jon Snow. And then we can go to the

31:40

very end where he has the dragon, you know

31:42

what I'm saying, at the Battle of Winterfell. Actually,

31:45

does he win that or does he die? Hmm.

31:48

I think he lives. You know,

31:50

it would have been way more ironic

31:52

if we were talking about someone either

31:54

preserving something in ice like cryogenics or

31:56

from the other side, if he was

31:58

talking about purifying utensils. through fire

32:00

that would have been way more

32:02

iconic. I do know that Jon Snow

32:05

knew nothing so this is probably gonna

32:07

make this story interesting. Mmm. You

32:09

know nothing Jon Snow. Funny thing is that's

32:11

literally what okay we're gonna spoiler alert that's

32:14

pretty much what everyone thought about him. Oh see. They

32:16

thought he was a crackpot. He was. Because of

32:18

germ theory. Well. That wasn't that wasn't

32:21

the shyness of the day it's clearly

32:23

the meow-shmah from the air it's just

32:25

filthy water Jon

32:27

Snow. You know nothing Jon Snow.

32:29

Good at that. Because I used

32:31

to practice doing things with like Richard Nixon and

32:33

the Jowls like brr. It looks like a what

32:35

is it dog? You know, is

32:39

it a Great Dane? A dog with a

32:41

giant? With flaps. Yeah. Yeah. Is that a

32:44

Great Dane? Like a Great Dane or Bulldogs

32:46

also have it. It depends. Poor Bulldogs. French

32:48

Bulldogs. Justice-filly little Bulldogs. So

32:52

that was basically people said pretty

32:54

much like Game of Thrones you know nothing

32:57

Jon Snow and thought that he was crazy.

33:00

But by talking to local residents

33:02

who had actually stuck around along

33:04

with a reverend by the name

33:06

of Henry Whitehead Snow

33:08

would during this time identify the source

33:11

of the outbreak. It wasn't

33:13

anything from like you know people going directly to

33:15

the River Thames and just drinking out of it

33:17

or anything like that. It was a public water

33:19

pump on Broad Street which is

33:22

now known as Broadwick Street. This

33:24

being at Hambridge Street and

33:26

although Snow went and examined this water and

33:28

actually looked at it to try and identify

33:31

if there was something in it is chemical

33:33

and microscope examinations of the sample of water

33:35

didn't find anything

33:38

but he knew he knew that from

33:41

the patterns of illness and death among

33:43

the residents in Soho the only thing

33:45

that they all had in common was

33:47

this specific pump. So

33:51

what he did is he went to the

33:53

authorities at the St. James Parish and he

33:55

asked them to please disable the well

33:57

pump by removing its handle. and

34:00

they did. In

34:02

Snow's own words, he would say, quote,

34:04

on proceeding to the spot, I found

34:06

that nearly all the deaths had taken

34:08

place within a short distance of the

34:10

Broad Street pump. There were only 10

34:12

deaths in houses that were situated decidedly

34:14

nearer to another street pump, and

34:17

in five of these cases, the families of

34:19

deceased persons informed me that they always sent

34:21

the pump or they were always sent to

34:24

the pump in Broad Street, as they preferred

34:26

the water of that pump which was near.

34:29

In three other cases, the deceased were

34:31

children who went to school near the

34:33

pump in Broad Street. With

34:35

regard to the deaths occurring in the locality belonging

34:38

to the pump, there were 61

34:40

instances in which I was informed that

34:42

the deceased persons used the drink or

34:45

used to drink the pump water from

34:47

Broad Street either constantly or occasionally. The

34:50

result of the inquiry then was that there

34:52

had been no particular outbreak or prevalence of

34:54

cholera in this part of London except among

34:56

the persons who were in the habit of

34:58

drinking the water of the above mentioned pump

35:01

well. I had an interview

35:03

with the Board of Guardians of St. James

35:05

Parish on the evening of Thursday, the 7th

35:07

of September, and represented the above circumstances

35:09

to them. In consequence of what

35:12

I said, the handle of the pump was removed

35:14

the following day. The

35:16

interesting thing about this is that many people when they

35:18

talk about this kind of event in history, they think,

35:21

oh my god, he did it.

35:23

He stopped the outbreak and this

35:25

actually is not true, at

35:28

least from what we think

35:30

about it. Yeah, it's popularly

35:32

said that this is something that totally saved everyone,

35:34

but in reality the epidemic at this point seemed

35:36

to have already been in decline. Remember,

35:39

as we said, that a whole bunch of

35:41

people had already fled and if 75%

35:43

of the population had already

35:46

fled the area, there really wasn't

35:48

much spreading to do in

35:50

the first place. Even

35:53

snow would specifically state, quote, there

35:55

is no doubt that the mortality

35:57

was much diminished, flight

36:00

of the population, which commenced soon

36:02

after the outbreak. But the

36:04

attacks had so far diminished before the use

36:06

of water was stopped that it is impossible

36:08

to decide whether the well still contained the

36:11

color of poison in an active state or

36:13

whether from some cause the water had become

36:15

free from it. So

36:17

what he'd done here and what he would do afterwards, because

36:19

remember he just talked to a bunch of people in order

36:21

to determine that this well was the cause, is

36:24

that he started to plot it out.

36:27

You know those scenes, Gabby and like a detective,

36:29

not detective, well I guess a detective show, some

36:32

kind of crime scene, some kind of crime

36:34

show where they use all those colored tacks and

36:36

things and they slap it up on a wall

36:39

where there's a map and things that they're trying

36:41

to identify and they're connecting it with strings and

36:43

everything. It's basically a concept map. We use them

36:45

in school all the time, but usually for arguments,

36:48

like water rights agreements,

36:50

not for solving the murder

36:52

mystery. Cholera, outbreak, yeah. But

36:54

did it work? It did. It

36:56

did. It was a dot map

36:58

to illustrate how cases of cholera occurred specifically

37:01

around this pump and his efforts

37:03

to connect to the incidence of cholera

37:05

with their geographic sources, this

37:07

was something that would later become known

37:09

as a Voronoi diagram. He

37:12

mapped the locations of individual water pumps

37:14

and generated cells which represented all the

37:16

points on this map that were closest

37:18

to the pump. And

37:21

the section of the map that

37:23

represented areas of the city with the closest

37:25

available source of water where

37:27

the highest rate of disease was occurring,

37:30

that was in the Broad Street pump

37:32

location. Just think about it like this.

37:35

It's like you have, what it would do is that you

37:37

have the map. You have the location

37:40

of one colored tack that represents a

37:42

pump and then around that you would

37:44

have the prevalence of cases. And

37:46

only within the circle, only within the

37:49

cell that was around Broad Street was

37:51

it so incredibly dense and high. And

37:54

it all surrounded that pump.

37:58

Snow Also performed a statistical comparison. Harrison.

38:00

Between the South Work and Fox Or

38:02

Waterworks Company as well they waterworks it

38:05

feeding well that was owned by the

38:07

at Lambeth Waterworks companies. The.

38:09

Issue that would occur during as as he

38:11

was trying to identify the source of were

38:13

oh or was coming from from this pump.

38:16

Is that some of these companies

38:18

were getting water from the River

38:21

Thames further upstream than others? So

38:23

what would end up happening is

38:25

that some companies that delivered water

38:28

to some areas got sure forms

38:30

of water while others were lower

38:32

down in the stream so that.

38:35

as waste and other stuff from more

38:37

humans for coming into it. The further

38:40

down the river thames you are. You.

38:45

Can kind of work the idea of what

38:47

I'm talking about here for what would happen.

38:49

Lot where their water filtration

38:51

practices. Okay, so some of

38:53

them would filter it. What's. Some.

38:56

Of them would filter it to where he was

38:58

a. Filter it out What our filter

39:00

and their filter it is. We don't

39:02

just filter. Water We treat water.

39:04

Yes. So. What were

39:07

their processes? It listen Going to love

39:09

with each company had different method some of them

39:11

used chemical. And another for yourself. What chemicals

39:13

they? That's what I gotta know was a

39:15

standard water filtration for seats here for this

39:17

time for I guess what? What? There

39:20

was no standard. You're.

39:22

Going to ask me the questions your for like what

39:24

was the hundred and you're talking all something in the eighteen

39:27

hundreds of which there was no standard practice of what they

39:29

were. decidedly do like that something and honestly, I could.

39:31

I think that I should go into here and see

39:33

there was something more that I could turn into a

39:35

short when talking about this. but. In. General, each

39:37

company had their own kind of different method.

39:39

Some would you simple things for just like

39:41

a filtration with grapple with charcoal. other stuff

39:43

like that. Others would use chemicals entirely dependent

39:45

upon your how much work they want to

39:48

put into it and how many steps they

39:50

would do it. A tally. This

39:52

started. Slow sand filtration and eighteen hundreds,

39:54

but there was just starting. Yep, seats

39:56

so that's on top of the gravel and sand

39:58

and stuff like that was arguably the most basic

40:01

thing to do. And then others were treated in

40:03

different ways. It's just. Oh

40:05

God it's it's. it's not. Got. They

40:08

really had a struggle at the

40:10

waterborne illnesses until they introduce chlorine.

40:12

yet. In the early Nineteen

40:14

hundreds? Yup. Yup,

40:17

Has a Ninety Million Chlorine was used for

40:19

the first time as a primary disinfectant of

40:21

drinking water in Jersey City, New Jersey That.

40:23

Is. A passing the actually at this time

40:25

we're talking to list of in to London

40:28

is the biggest point New York in the

40:30

mid eighteen hundreds. Here at this time in

40:32

history is also experiencing Cholera outbreaks around. Know

40:34

what? I'm. Around the early nineteen

40:36

hundreds ozone. Was beginning to

40:38

be used. In Europe. Oh that a why

40:40

when I'm not familiar with our. Other disinfectant

40:43

such as I was on and off

40:45

federal regulation of drinking water quality. It

40:47

began in nineteen fourteen when the Us

40:49

Public Health Service as size but he

40:51

bacteriological quality of drinking water. But.

40:54

Before that they were to the. Either little

40:56

outdated. They. Like ah, I'm

40:58

a looks good enough. Because

41:00

in the seventeen hundreds, filtration was established

41:02

as an effective means of removing particles.

41:05

But. They couldn't dated. They're.

41:07

Not a measure. It sounds like a the old

41:09

man who bacteria be didn't understand it at all.

41:12

While. The I wasn't until Jon

41:14

Snow is like oh Germs that they're

41:17

like maybe we pour some place and.

41:20

So kitten. Persona and

41:22

forth but he was able to

41:24

from this proves that the people

41:26

the doctor water from certain companies

41:28

further upstream actually had mortality rates

41:31

that were fourteen times know where.

41:33

He asked him what was supplied

41:35

by the others. They still

41:37

had death. Though the all

41:39

stupid thing is. It's.

41:41

Not always going to be one hundred percent

41:44

there's to change something happening and he can't

41:46

really account for literally everything and that where

41:48

we don't And Tapulous. Oh My. God. Yes.

41:51

We do or not. the people that don't

41:53

drink water is the grow up. Some of

41:55

them do okay is but those are she

41:57

Donna Florida the mood go down their eyes

41:59

Florida. The hurricane is that is. Reserved

42:02

for a guy forty one that has not

42:04

been. Florida is a free swampy and and

42:06

for the bad enough when when you are

42:08

especially after a storm certain parts of Florida

42:11

it just straight up he's like sulfur it

42:13

is it is rotten eggs for some of

42:15

the for tap water is not very pleasant

42:17

times. He either way

42:20

the funny detail but oldest is

42:22

that there was one very significant

42:24

anomaly. Something. That's going

42:26

to you kind of shock us, You

42:29

know something, is he truly surprising. And

42:31

that is that none of the workers

42:33

in the nearby Broad Street Brewery ended

42:35

up contrasting color. None.

42:38

Of them. Everyone else was dying but

42:40

not these people because guess what? They

42:43

were given a daily allowance of

42:45

beer. They. Did not consumed

42:47

water from the nearby will because

42:49

they were drinking beer. And

42:51

during the brewing process be like on

42:53

for minted beer is boiled in part

42:56

so that hops can be added and

42:58

this step because it is partially boiled

43:00

ends up killing the color of bacteria

43:02

in the water study would use to

43:04

brute with making the beer safe to

43:06

drink. Which.

43:08

Is interesting as know that whole thing in

43:11

history of people talk as if read boil

43:13

water slick Literally one of the ways that

43:15

people would clean water is by. You're

43:17

boiling it that are. You'd make it portable c

43:19

to drink. And they did

43:22

that through. During. Which.

43:24

Ironically, throughout history is one the key

43:26

reasons the people would say in the

43:28

middle age, Y U was safer for

43:31

people to drink alcohol than it was

43:33

to drink water. And. Are like

43:35

to keep that going in

43:37

modern day. I personally think

43:39

the health benefits. Oh.

43:42

My. God. We're.

43:46

Speaking. Of health benefits. then you're probably gonna

43:48

be able to grow. Stop at the part. As.

43:51

If I wasn't grossed out by the whole pie, So

43:53

remember how we were talking by how of the

43:55

disease was being spread about through the river Thames

43:57

and all that was going on? Well.

44:01

What? Do you later found. Or

44:03

the origin of disease. And how

44:05

the seem to happen in the

44:07

first place is that it was

44:09

discovered later that the public well

44:11

here had been dug three feet

44:13

from an old split. I

44:15

know that because I did this

44:17

story early on arrays do at

44:19

science than a segment on my

44:21

to talk. Know yes for the short. See

44:23

for people were horrible. Ah yeah

44:26

I. I. Cover that

44:28

like out and ride you did for

44:30

this year Will for anyone who is

44:32

unfamiliar with his dance. yeah of that.

44:35

The problem with i'm digging appeared and

44:37

throwing toxic things into it or other

44:39

fecal matter. the isn't It didn't disappear

44:42

right? That stuff. Migrates,

44:44

Under Brownies or Ilia they are

44:46

is the word It leeches. So.

44:49

Would it seems to be is that

44:51

wastewater from washing I never used like

44:53

the British words that would have year

44:55

for our diapers. Well that.

44:58

Is something that drained into this

45:00

estimate and from that says bit

45:02

since was so close eat a

45:04

leech to into the nearby water.

45:07

That's Not good. It's. Opening

45:09

was under a nearby house that had

45:11

been rebuilt further away after a fire

45:13

in a street widening. And at

45:15

the time there were says bit under

45:18

most homes so most families just tried

45:20

to have their raw sewage collected and

45:22

dumped into the thames in order to

45:24

stop their says it from feeling faster

45:26

than the sewage could decompose into the

45:28

soil. Or. In this case leads

45:30

out to other stuff which is seems to

45:32

what have been happening here. Either

45:35

way, After. The Cholera epidemic

45:37

has cited The government officials replaced

45:39

the Broad Street pump handle. They

45:42

just put it back. Because. They didn't see

45:44

this being necessary anymore. The

45:46

weird and dumb part about this and

45:49

I'm saying that not an ironic or

45:51

you know funny way is that they

45:53

really only removed it because of the

45:56

urgent threat to the population of the

45:58

time. After all, he

46:00

didn't see Jon Snow's theory as

46:02

being validated. The whole you know

46:04

nothing Jon Snow is actually true

46:06

here in their mind, they did

46:09

not believe his fury. To accept

46:11

his proposal would mean that they

46:13

had to accept that be and

46:15

full matter in all the other

46:17

thing they were actually causing this

46:19

disease like germ theory. Is

46:21

that was real? And it just discredited

46:24

their entire sanitation base and effort that

46:26

they've been working on for literally years.

46:28

Everything that made them what they were.

46:31

Saudi Aramco and or adage of the thing

46:33

in yeah, well because they didn't know what

46:35

was causing Cholera there was this arm and

46:37

a daughter was airborne. Mail

46:39

and this device. Way when you got a letter

46:42

you had to run it through this device. That

46:44

was first that. Quote. On clean

46:46

it up. The cholera. Susan.

46:49

They had all sorts of. Biden.

46:52

Little wacky inventions up until I

46:54

realized and yeah know maybe like

46:56

hoopla to isn't the best choice

46:58

of and drink. Maybe

47:01

poop water is that. You know if

47:03

you make a compelling argument gabby because

47:05

you sustain appearing. Guess. So

47:07

would you like your toilet? Yeah.

47:11

But they will Festival here is. A.

47:16

Everybody's I had no aware of it as

47:18

as. The. Garage

47:22

Door I'd I'd I'd I don't get it.

47:24

It. It's. Speak

47:26

chinese food or gone to to your citizens

47:28

have sorted media which is now you has

47:30

to go like your time I know I

47:32

do not know you know it's guy out

47:34

on we now have to say yes no

47:36

no no not everybody of. You think is

47:38

enough to live up to his words? Know.

47:42

I'll. Get color and die. I'll do have

47:45

more my own terms immediately. Hide a. Good

47:49

mood. A real sad part about all

47:52

this is of course, in the end,

47:54

Jon Snow is discredited and he doesn't

47:56

actually get to see himself be proven

47:58

right. because he dies

48:01

very shortly after that, June

48:03

1858. This being during an event that

48:05

at its

48:07

height would become known as the

48:10

Great Stink, which for anyone

48:12

who has seen any of the shorts or anything that

48:14

we have done on this before, I'm gonna give you

48:16

a little bit of a rundown of this or I

48:18

guess the longer version of it versus my short 30

48:20

to 60 second bit. Basically

48:23

in the summer of 1858 the city of

48:26

London came to a stand, like to

48:28

a complete standstill. The government could not

48:30

function, people did not want to leave

48:32

their houses and they demanded action from

48:34

the government to actually do something. And

48:37

if you're wondering what caused the entire

48:39

city of London to be brought to

48:41

its knees, it wasn't cholera, it

48:44

wasn't buponic plague, it wasn't

48:46

scarlet fever, it wasn't anything like any kind

48:48

of major disease. No, it was the fact

48:51

that the River Thames stank

48:53

to high health. We're

48:56

talking about one of the worst stentages

48:58

ever recorded by humans in history. See

49:01

for centuries when we're going back in

49:03

and talking about this, England's most famous

49:05

river, the Thames, was arguably

49:07

one of the most important rivers for

49:10

England overall, for London. They used it

49:12

for literally everything. But it was brackish.

49:14

So they used it for industry and

49:16

all of that stuff but they also like

49:18

their drinking water and stuff had to have

49:20

come from tributaries because it was tidal. So

49:26

these streams that ran in, they could have

49:30

just kept those a little bit cleaner. No,

49:32

you forget how big London was at the time

49:34

for everything that went around. Like they were taking

49:36

it from all kinds of different tributaries, different everything

49:38

but all that stuff was getting contaminated. The

49:41

really interesting story

49:43

of their plumbing system where they would bring water

49:45

from their streams, from far out

49:48

streams into the city because the water in

49:50

the river itself was just brackish. Yes. And

49:52

impossible to use for a lot of stuff.

49:55

This is correct. So the Thames was

49:57

essentially London's dumping ground for literally every kind of waste

49:59

you can find. imagine, whether that was from

50:01

a human, an animal, industrial waste, whatever.

50:03

It is, it was

50:06

incredibly bad. As the population

50:08

of London has grown, yes, this

50:10

is also true. So

50:12

as the population of London had grown

50:14

over time from a tiny little Roman

50:16

settlement into a massive metropolitan city, the

50:18

amount of waste that it produced naturally

50:21

went up. And remember, by

50:23

the time that we were talking about

50:25

here, London is the most populated city

50:28

in the world. By

50:30

the 1600s, which is not the

50:32

largest at that point, but we're getting

50:34

there, many people began to recognize that

50:36

the pollution of the city's most vital

50:38

water source was becoming a little bit of a

50:40

problem. But with no

50:42

real idea, no comprehensive set of rules for

50:45

how any of this functions, no idea of

50:47

how to fix the issue, no action

50:50

is taken. They don't do anything. The

50:52

people just continue to use the Thames as

50:54

both a water source and also a rubbish

50:56

bin. They don't bite

50:59

the hand that feeds you, don't shit where

51:01

you eat, etc. They

51:03

did all that. They did all

51:07

of that. Absolutely. And

51:09

so by the arrival of the 19th century,

51:11

the problem had been left to stew for

51:13

too long. Bad

51:16

choice of words in this. Enough

51:18

waste and pollution had accumulated in

51:20

the Thames to make it the

51:22

most contaminated and unhygienic river in

51:25

the entire world. It

51:27

is bad. So they were like the great

51:29

stink of London? It was the great stink. Now

51:32

the situation in the Thames was noticeable

51:34

before this time period. Everyone knew

51:37

that the Thames was pretty bad,

51:40

but it was the summer of 1858 that finally got

51:42

the attention of the politician. Then

51:45

they do that and by the time they got it approved,

51:47

it was like 18 days was a thought. Literally,

51:49

one of the fastest passing of

51:51

the law ever in the city.

51:53

They're like, law, immediately it's broke.

51:55

Exactly. That particular summer,

51:58

it was a pretty hot one. There

52:00

was a massive heat wave

52:02

and as a result of that, all of the

52:04

sewage and the temps began to ferment in the

52:07

scorching sun and centuries,

52:09

we're not talking about just over the past

52:11

couple of years, remember, all of this crap,

52:13

and I say that in the most

52:15

literal sense, was settling to the bottom

52:17

of the river, right? And

52:20

so centuries of this was

52:22

then exposed and began to

52:24

cook in the summer heat.

52:26

The result was a smell that is

52:28

arguably, like I don't know what it

52:30

is now, but to the people

52:32

of the day, the contemporary records, the

52:35

most offensive, disgusting, foul

52:38

and evil thing that could be imagined.

52:41

And there were so many different accounts of

52:43

people that were just talking about this. There

52:46

were some stories of people saying

52:48

that men were struck down with

52:50

the stench as they walked and

52:53

fatal diseases sprang up left and right

52:55

on the banks of the river. Like

52:58

you could just walk near the river and be

53:00

struck dead, basically, by

53:02

the disease that would be spreading up from it.

53:05

Now, luckily enough for the denizens of

53:08

London, it wasn't just the

53:10

average person. It wasn't just

53:13

the people, the poor, the average

53:15

suffering ne'er-do-well. No, no, no, no.

53:17

This time, it was going to

53:19

affect the people that really mattered

53:22

in society. A politician.

53:24

A politician. Exactly.

53:26

And of course, for anyone who is listening

53:28

to me right now, do not think that

53:30

I am saying that seriously. We all know

53:32

how things go in here, like when it

53:34

comes to politics, generally speaking, unless a

53:37

stupidly large number of the average

53:39

people get affected. Usually,

53:42

the elite of society are content

53:44

with just letting people suffer so

53:46

long as they themselves do not

53:48

also have to actually suffer. But

53:51

the intense heat had driven the

53:53

legislators of Britain from the buildings

53:56

that overlooked the river. Their

53:58

offices, all the things that they did. would have seen.

54:01

A few members, apparently bent upon investigating

54:03

the matter to its depth, went

54:05

into the library to try and see what it is

54:08

they could figure out, but they were

54:10

then forced to retreat because it stank even

54:12

in there, no matter how far they actually

54:14

went away from it, and the men were

54:17

recorded as fleeing from it, with handkerchiefs being

54:19

held to their nose. Members

54:22

of Parliament did try at first to do

54:26

what Parliament does best. Ignore

54:28

it. They tried to not do anything.

54:31

They wanted to continue their sessions without actually

54:33

agreeing to any kind of drastic plans or

54:35

reform because they knew that if

54:37

they tried to fix anything that A, they didn't know

54:39

what they would be doing in the first place so

54:41

it was kind of hard to figure out, and ugh,

54:44

it's just, it's too

54:46

hard. I don't want to, I don't want

54:49

to figure that out. I want to address a

54:51

problem. I want to do simple things like figuring

54:54

out where I'm supposed to go to brunch today.

54:57

That was the real job of a politician, but no,

54:59

no, no, they didn't want to

55:02

figure that out. Like they

55:04

would end up being forced to, because

55:06

the problem, the stink, would grow so

55:08

incredibly terrible that

55:11

they were forced to do the worst thing

55:13

that a politician could possibly do. Actually

55:16

try to fix an issue and spend money on it. That

55:19

was not something that they wanted to do at all, but

55:21

they had to. Now, the

55:24

first attempt to quench the

55:26

stench involved dousing the curtains of

55:28

parliament with a mixture of chloride and lime. Like

55:30

they weren't going to actually try and address the

55:32

river itself at first. No, no, no, no. Instead,

55:34

they were going to try to stop the smell

55:37

by insulating the building themselves that they

55:40

were working in and making sure that

55:42

it didn't stink like steak. But

55:45

that didn't work. No, no,

55:47

no, no, no. When that didn't work, they

55:49

tried to possibly move the entire

55:52

government from the Westminster area, despite

55:54

the fact that the newly constructed

55:56

building that they were operating in

55:58

was, as I said. newly

56:00

constructed, it was recently acquired,

56:02

and so that idea of

56:04

just completely abandoning the area

56:06

was dropped and days

56:08

would pass without the formation of any

56:10

kind of solid resolution. Eventually,

56:13

the stink became so

56:16

bad, it just grew so

56:18

strong that even the most ardent

56:20

members of parliament, the ones who would

56:23

absolutely not spend a penny to do

56:25

anything... well, okay, yeah,

56:28

no, they eventually were forced to

56:30

actually do something, as some of

56:32

these could even be seen, quote,

56:34

fleeing from the chamber, handkerchief to

56:36

the nose, complaining loudly about the

56:39

Stygian pool that the Thames had become,

56:42

with like the Stygian pool, like a literal pool

56:44

of death. That's what

56:46

that is a reference to. One

56:48

of the most vocal and well-known supporters

56:50

of the Thames reform was this English

56:52

chemist and physicist by the name of

56:54

Michael Faraday, and he staunchly

56:56

supported a complete reformation of the

56:59

river to, you know, stop it

57:01

from being toxic. So

57:03

much so, that after a boat

57:05

ride along its surface, he

57:07

just couldn't take it anymore. He composed

57:10

and sent a letter to the editor of the

57:12

Times newspaper, and the letter was entitled, this

57:15

is the funny thing, observations on

57:17

the filth of the Thames, and

57:19

it would become a massive rallying point for

57:21

the public for an overall restoration of the

57:23

Thames. He wrote a

57:26

very blunt dissection of the situation

57:28

regarding the polluted river, as he

57:30

described how he tossed over pieces

57:33

of paper into the water, which

57:35

almost immediately disappeared, like they

57:37

just completely broke apart. It wasn't, you know, like,

57:39

you don't want to put paper and it's like

57:41

it's gonna float for a little bit, no, no,

57:43

no, no, it was

57:45

so toxic, the paper

57:47

almost immediately dissolved. Like,

57:50

it was not good,

57:52

it just disappeared. The

57:55

whole of the river was an opaque

57:57

pale brown fluid. It was

58:00

no longer a river, it was a real

58:03

sewer. And that

58:05

is how he would address it. Faraday

58:07

also made it very clear when

58:09

he cautions that, quote, if we neglect

58:11

this subject, we cannot expect to do

58:14

so with impunity, nor ought we to

58:16

be surprised, ere many years over, a

58:18

hot season gives us sad proof

58:20

of the folly of our carelessness.

58:24

That is the quote from him. So

58:27

yeah, that was pretty ironic because that was absolutely

58:30

going to happen. Either way, thankfully,

58:32

through a combination of public pressure, as you

58:34

can imagine, was probably happening, and a

58:37

whole lot of nasal suffering because everyone,

58:39

it just didn't really stink. Parliament

58:42

would finally choose to act instead of just

58:44

leaving the issue for another hot season to

58:46

occur, which is kind of hilarious, you know,

58:48

that they didn't just kick the can down

58:50

the road because, lord knows, that's how

58:52

these things usually end. They also began

58:55

to realize that simply relocating the seat

58:57

of government wasn't actually going to do

58:59

anything to alleviate the suffering of the

59:01

people, you know, that voted them into

59:03

power in the first place. So

59:06

either way, disregarding the motives behind

59:09

the renovation, London's most important river

59:11

was finally going to get the

59:13

care that it rightfully deserved. The

59:15

reformation of the Thames included not only the

59:18

implementation of a sewage system that was going

59:20

to be designed by a very famous civil

59:22

engineer by the name of Sir Joseph Alsagett,

59:25

but also the construction of embankments along the

59:27

sides. And with these

59:29

reforms, the great stink would

59:31

slowly dissipate, and Londoners were

59:33

finally able to actually breathe

59:35

again within their city. Not

59:38

just for the whole sense of, you know, clean

59:40

air, but also for the benefits that actually come

59:43

with having a proper good and

59:46

modern, in this case, sewage system.

59:49

Because not only did the Thames gradually evolve over

59:51

time to be one of the cleanest

59:53

rivers in the world, but also

59:55

the implementation of a functioning

59:58

sewage system where waste water

1:00:00

was not just being dumped willy-nilly into the Thames,

1:00:03

that actually helped with the elimination

1:00:05

of several waterborne illnesses that had

1:00:07

plagued London for centuries, like cholera.

1:00:11

Because here's the thing, Baldigat's engineering

1:00:13

solution was a system that channeled the

1:00:15

waste through miles of street sewers to

1:00:18

a series of main intercepting sewers which

1:00:20

would slowly transport it from downstream so

1:00:22

that it could be pumped into the

1:00:25

tidal temps from which then it would

1:00:27

be swept out to sea and not

1:00:29

be in the immediate area that people

1:00:32

were actually getting their drinking water from.

1:00:35

I know it sounds like a crazy invasion, like it

1:00:37

should be obvious, but that was a really big deal

1:00:39

for the time. Baldigat

1:00:41

insisted on constructing really wide

1:00:43

egg-shaped brick walled sewer tunnels

1:00:45

rather than simple narrow bore

1:00:47

pipes that had previously been

1:00:49

favored by others because, you

1:00:51

know, they were cheap and

1:00:54

easy to do. By making it

1:00:56

this massive thing, it meant that

1:00:58

as the population of London grew

1:01:00

and the waste amount increased, the

1:01:03

sewer system could actually grow with

1:01:05

it and the sewer system was

1:01:07

opened in 1865. Guess

1:01:11

what happened? What happened? The

1:01:13

following year, a cholera outbreak

1:01:16

occurs. Oh

1:01:18

wow. Now here's the funny thing. Here's

1:01:20

the funny thing. The victims

1:01:22

of the outbreak were almost

1:01:25

entirely in the area of

1:01:28

East London. Guess what was

1:01:30

unique about East London? What was

1:01:32

unique about East London? It was the

1:01:34

only area at the time that was

1:01:36

not yet connected to the modern sewage

1:01:39

system. Oh, so they were

1:01:41

still dumping. They were still dumping and

1:01:43

utilizing everything from before. There

1:01:45

were barely any cases that were anywhere

1:01:47

else. So these slum dwellers

1:01:49

were left with very little option but

1:01:52

to drink contaminated water. And that final

1:01:54

outbreak both justified the expensive sewer system

1:01:56

for the rest of the city and

1:01:58

actually proved it. But also

1:02:01

it would prove that cholera was

1:02:04

coming from the water that

1:02:06

it was a waterborne transmission It

1:02:09

wasn't until 1866 that William far

1:02:12

who was one of snows chief

1:02:14

opponents who? Discredited him and

1:02:16

did not believe that he was right realized

1:02:20

that John snows points were

1:02:23

valid He

1:02:25

realized he was right and

1:02:28

after this insisted that the people who lived

1:02:30

at Bromley by bow Should

1:02:33

not actually go and drink water That

1:02:36

was unboiled he issued that order

1:02:38

in response because he realized he was wrong and

1:02:41

that John snow a guy that he Extensively

1:02:44

criticized was actually right He

1:02:48

denied John snows explanation of how

1:02:51

exactly the contaminated water spread cholera

1:02:53

But he did accept that

1:02:56

you know it had a role to play He

1:02:58

wasn't going to fully admit that he was

1:03:00

wrong And in fact some of

1:03:02

the statistical data that he would end up collecting

1:03:05

in order to try and prove his points Would

1:03:07

end up helping to promote John snows views public

1:03:10

health officials would recognize that during

1:03:13

this time period political struggles

1:03:15

for varying reformers between the different

1:03:17

systems This was something that

1:03:19

plagued the entire health system of

1:03:21

London it entirely depended upon

1:03:24

who wasn't power new ideas

1:03:26

Didn't really propagate until alfana death

1:03:28

had actually ended up occurring but

1:03:32

eventually Cholera was pretty much

1:03:34

wiped from the city only to

1:03:36

be seen again in very isolated cases and

1:03:38

never again on the scale of mass epidemics

1:03:41

At least in London the thing that I'm gonna

1:03:44

go ahead and end this podcast on is by saying that Cholera

1:03:46

is still something that does affect people

1:03:48

all over the world today You

1:03:51

typically see it in areas that are

1:03:53

suffering from major disasters like in the

1:03:55

case of earthquakes that completely wreck sewer

1:03:57

and water Systems because if both your

1:03:59

water pump and also your sewer

1:04:01

are underground and underground kind

1:04:03

of gets destroyed from an earthquake, go

1:04:06

figure, a lot of that ends up getting contaminated and

1:04:08

mixed. Unfortunately things like

1:04:10

what happened in Haiti here in

1:04:12

recent history in the past couple

1:04:15

decades meant that at one point

1:04:17

after the Great Haitian earthquake, around

1:04:20

47% of cases of cholera that would

1:04:22

break out during that time period would

1:04:24

end up proving to be fatal. It

1:04:28

is something that even to this day can happen

1:04:31

and I don't really know what kind

1:04:33

of point I want to leave this

1:04:35

on here but just caution people that

1:04:37

these diseases never actually went away. Smallpox,

1:04:40

cholera, bubonic plague,

1:04:43

all of it still exists and could happen.

1:04:45

Where I'm from we have leprosy, a

1:04:47

leprosy outbreak right now. So

1:04:51

that's fun. These are

1:04:53

all things, they're not just part of history, they are

1:04:55

a very real reality that can happen. And

1:04:57

with that, I guess I'm leaving you

1:05:00

on that ominous message. I'm sorry, I don't know what else

1:05:02

to do with this here in the end. But my friends,

1:05:04

thank you for listening. And goodbye. Bye

1:05:06

everyone. Thank

1:05:24

you. Bye.