John Snow: Pedia, The Free Encyclopedia

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John Snow
Born
15 March 1813
York, England
Died
16 June 1858 (aged 45)

London, England
Citizenship
United Kingdom
Nationality
English
Fields
Epidemiology
Alma mater University of London

Known for
Anaesthesia, locating source of
acholera outbreak, thus establishing the

link between this infection and water as
its vector.
John Snow (15 March 1813 16 June 1858) was an English physician and a
leader in the adoption of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one
of the fathers of modern epidemiology, in part because of his work in tracing the
source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, London, in 1854. His findings inspired
fundamental changes in the water and waste systems of London, which led to
similar changes in other cities, and a significant improvement in general public
health around the world.
Contents
[hide]
1 Early life and education
2 Career
3 Anaesthesia
4 Cholera
o
4.1 Political controversy
5 Later life
6 Legacy and honours
7 See also
8 References
9 Sources
10 External links
Early life and education[edit]

Snow was born 15 March 1813 in York, England. He was the first of nine children
born to William and Frances Snow in their North Street home. His neighbourhood
was one of the poorest in the city and was always in danger of flooding because
of its proximity to the River Ouse. His father was a labourer [1] who may have
worked at a local coal yard, by the Ouse, probably constantly replenished from
the Yorkshire coalfield by barges, but later was a farmer in a small village to the
north of York.[2] Snow was baptised at All Saints' Church, North Street, York
All Saints, North Street
Snow studied in York until the age of 14, when he was apprenticed to William
Hardcastle, a surgeon in Newcastle upon Tyne. It was there, in 1831, that he first
encountered cholera, which entered Newcastle via the seaport
of Sunderland and devastated the town.[3] Between 1833 and 1836 Snow worked
as an assistant to a colliery surgeon, first in Burnopfield, County Durham, and
then in Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire. In October 1836 he enrolled at
the Hunterian school of medicine on Great Windmill Street, London.[4]
Career[edit]
In 1837 Snow began working at the Westminster Hospital. Admitted as a member

of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on 2 May 1838, he graduated from
the University of London in December 1844 and was admitted to the Royal
College of Physicians in 1850. In 1850 he was also one of the founding members
of the Epidemiological Society of London, formed in response to the cholera
outbreak of 1849.[5]
In 1857 Snow made an early and often overlooked[6] contribution to epidemiology
in a pamphlet, On the adulteration of bread as a cause of rickets.[7]
Anaesthesia[edit]
Snow was one of the first physicians to study and calculate dosages for the use
of ether and chloroform as surgical anaesthetics, allowing patients to undergo
surgical and obstetric procedures without the distress and pain they would
otherwise experience. He designed the apparatus to safely administer ether to
the patients and also designed a mask to administer chloroform.[8] He personally
administered chloroform to Queen Victoria when she gave birth to the last two of
her nine children, Leopold in 1853 and Beatrice in 1857,[9] leading to wider public
acceptance of obstetric anaesthesia. Snow published an article on ether in 1847
entitled On the Inhalation of the Vapor of Ether.[10] A longer version entitled On
Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics and Their Action and Administration was
published posthumously in 1858.[11]
Cholera[edit]
Main article: 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak
Map of a later cholera outbreak in London, in 1866
Legend for the map above
Snow was a skeptic of the then-dominant miasma theory that stated that
diseases such as cholera and bubonic plague were caused by pollution or a
noxious form of "bad air". The germ theory of disease had not yet been
developed, so Snow did not understand the mechanism by which the disease
was transmitted. His observation of the evidence led him to discount the theory of
foul air. He first publicised his theory in an 1849 essay, On the Mode of
Communication of Cholera, followed by a more detailed treatise in 1855
incorporating the results of his investigation of the role of the water supply in
the Soho epidemic of 1854.[12]
By talking to local residents (with the help of Reverend Henry Whitehead), he
identified the source of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street
(now Broadwick Street). Although Snow's chemical and microscope examination
of a water sample from the Broad Street pump did not conclusively prove its
danger, his studies of the pattern of the disease were convincing enough to
persuade the local council to disable the well pump by removing its handle. This
action has been commonly credited as ending the outbreak, but Snow observed
that the epidemic may have already been in rapid decline:
There is no doubt that the mortality was much diminished, as I said before, by the
flight of the population, which commenced soon after the outbreak; but the
attacks had so far diminished before the use of the water was stopped, that it is
impossible to decide whether the well still contained the cholera poison in an
active state, or whether, from some cause, the water had become free from it.
Original map by John Snow showing the clusters of cholera cases in the London epidemic
of 1854, drawn and lithographed by Charles Cheffins.
Snow later used a dot map to illustrate the cluster of cholera cases around the
pump. He also used statistics to il

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pedia, the free encyclopedia

16 June 1858 (aged 45)

Alma mater University of London

Anaesthesia, locating source of

acholera outbreak, thus establishing the

1 Early life and education

4.1 Political controversy

6 Legacy and honours

Early life and education[edit]

All Saints, North Street

In 1837 Snow began working at the Westminster Hospital. Admitted as a member

Map of a later cholera outbreak in London, in 1866

Legend for the map above

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