The Story of John Snow & the Broad Street Pump

The stroy of John Snow, the epidemiologist, is one of the most cliche stories in the history of medicine. Very few sources tell the full story of the 1854 cholera epidemic in London and the Broad Street Pump. In this video, Patrick Kelly will teach you how it happened.
☠️NONE OF THE INFORMATION IN THIS VIDEO SHOULD BE USED AS MEDICAL ADVICE OR OPINION. IT IS FOR GENERAL EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT☠️
🔗 L I N K S 🔗
📱Instagram: / patkellyteaches
🐦Twitter: / patkellyteaches
💰Patreon: / corporis
🔬Main channel: / corporis
📚My favorite books docs.google.com/document/d/1w...
🔑 P A T R O N S 🔑
Michelle H
Rourou Y
Joanne K
Luna
Joe B
Kristoffer R
Brandon K
Brendan P
Karly N
Ron Blumenfeld
Dane M
📜 S O U R C E S 📜
The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson (buying from this link earns me a little commission bonus at no extra cost to you)
www.amazon.com/gp/product/159...
On the Mode of Communication of Cholera (1849) collections.nlm.nih.gov/ext/c...
Rivalry of Foulness (1998) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Vibrio cholera replication (2022) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/s...
Intestinal colonization of vibrio cholerae (2015) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Cholera, The Lancet (2012) www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
Maps and Myth-Making in Broad Street, The Lancet (2000) www.thelancet.com/journals/la...
Chadwick www.thegazette.co.uk/all-noti...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
A line-by-line fact check version of the script can be found here: / broad-street-and-79549036
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:54 1831 Epidemic
9:59 1848 Epidemic
15:46 1854 Epidemic
28:46 1866 Epidemic
💻 C O N T A C T 💻
If you’d like to sponsor a video or have other business inquiries:
patkellyteaches [at] gmail.com
#historyofmedicine #medicalhistory

[@PatKellyTeaches]

This video wouldn't have been possible without the support of my lovely patrons. If you want to support me, head to www.patreon.com/corporis

[@ashleelarsen7765]

21:39 ish sorry so bleach right? would this make the cholera more virulent?

[@pghparkins]

Ugh, Patrick, your videos are criminally underwatched. You are on a roll with the topics lately, all very interesting.

[@davisbrowne1906]

I am a criminal, and I'm watching it. What are you saying?

[@nickparker5200]

Agreed man I just now found this channel and it's unbelievable

[@j-b-9610]

Urghhh honestly it's insane these number don't reflect the quality of the video. Found his channel last week I've watched all his videos 3 times. Love this channel

[@Rosie-yt8nd]

I love that you expect Snow and Whitehead to beef but instead Whitehead double checks Snows result, finds his data compelling and after further research they find the solution together. That's the spirit of science. Peer review, evidence and collaboration

[@showboat1556]

Your content strikes a perfect balance between human nature, microbiology, virology, history, and even the scientific method. It's extraordinary. All wrapped up in gripping short stories with great editing and great production value. I cannot more vehemently encourage you to continue making these videos.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I appreciate the kind words! Plenty more videos in the pipeline

[@geraldmartin9792]

I didn't know what to expect, not being familiar with the Broad Street Pump story, but wow! Well done. Fast paced and interesting, glad I subscribed!

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I appreciate that! Welcome to the channel

[@SueFerreira75]

John Snow also gave the first anesthetic in the United Kingdom on 19th December 1846 only two months after the first successful public demonstration of anesthesia in Boston on October 16th 1846. A plaque commemorates this at 45 Gower Street, London. I graduated in 1970 from University College Hospital, a couple of blocks further up Gower Street and specialized as an anesthesiologist, teaching the history of medicine and anesthesia. There is so much history of John Snow, Joseph Lister and more all in this small area of London.

[@TommoCarroll]

Adding this to my watch later! Can't wait!

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I appreciate you 🥺

[@anarchoraven]

The thing about miasma is that it is occasionally true (airborne stuff) so it was especially hard to disprove

[@haileybalmer9722]

The more I learn about London in the 1800's, the more I think it was one of the worst times and places to be alive. Victorian London looks so cool in the movies and in fashion plates, but considering how most people were forced to live, I really don't think it looked anything like that.

[@nikevisor54]

Perfect content for a Sunday afternoon coffee break. Thank you for your hard work putting this together for us, Patrick!

[@hedgehog3180]

A lot of the history of the British empire, and probably European empires in general but I haven't really read much about others, is a history of slowly developing the kind of large scale data collection and surveying that is now just a normal part of governance. Like there's a similar story about how they supplied the coal for their ship, the UK had the best coaling system in the world but towards the 1890s they started to become worried about how it'd hold up in a crisis, so they started doing tests of the system, both the logistics and also specific tests of how good the coal from each mine was. At first these tests were irregular but over time they became a regular part of the system. This kind of surveying where governments regularly test, carry out surveys and collect data is basically the backbone of the modern world. I think 19th century people would probably be astounded at the wealth and breadth of data governments collect now and the fact that this is regular and constantly on going now. Like our entire food and medicine industry is based on regular tests of products, factories and restaurants, but we also do the same for almost all consumer goods. Beyond that we also track enormous amounts of data about the natural world, terrain data, soil data, biodiversity data and so on. And opinion surveys are also a regular thing now. Collecting this kinda data is no longer just a thing you do in a crisis it's a basic part of proper governance now and is a vital backbone of modern industrialized society.

[@roxannlegg750]

Very well researched and great listening to. Its proof that unless we as researchers today, are prepared to challenge what we are conventionally taught to be true, we wont find answers to unsolved medical mysteries today. At least they began to see what it was they didnt know. If only researchers would be more open minded today.

[@lovefalcon1111]

I just watched your Belladonna video! I loved it!! I hope you make more videos on the rare medicinal plants they use to use…❤️

[@PatKellyTeaches]

You're going to enjoy the videos I have scheduled for summer then!

[@yurineri2227]

Great video, even though I had seen a lot of other videos about this story, you always included details that although less well-known always enrich the story tremendously =)

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I appreciate that! My goal was to include much more depth than the other videos

[@fictthecreator7083]

I just found this channel and oh my is it underrated! You have such a natural way of presenting, and the way the “story” laid out is pretty much perfectly paced! Not to mention, these sorts of stories about how people figure these things out is great inspiration-I’m a writer (or at least, I’m trying to be) and I want to write about a “smart doctor” character one day. It can be tricky to figure out what that looks like, but it’s so helpful to see something akin to that put in a real-world context: a person looking at the information around them, drawing from what was previously gathered, and ultimately reaching a different conclusion from what was previously accepted Great work!! I’ll definitely be looking at y’all’s other videos!

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I appreciate the kind words on my work! Best of luck on your journey as a writer

[@mariekatherine5238]

Caution, do not watch while eating rice pudding!

[@everythingpony]

Just fine? I got no adverse reaction?

[@pentaco0243]

This is so good. The first time I saw this channel, I always thought you had many more subscribers than this. Criminally underrated.😮

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Much appreciated. Penicillin video coming soon

[@ClassyCrayfish]

Extra History did a great episode on this topic, and it’s good to know that they got things correct beyond the myth as well.

[@ericjohnson1472]

Another great and entertaining learning video 10/10

[@piyushv8026]

As a med student who’s going through the medical textbooks, it amazes me how the diseases and pathology we study came about. I really wish our professors would include medical history in their lectures. Watching your videos gives so much more context to what we study today and makes everything seem more meaningful. Plus there’s the added bonus of it just being an amazing piece of content. Keep up the work :)

[@annmcnitt8749]

Outstanding discussion of cholera and John Snow. Thank you!

[@PatKellyTeaches]

My pleasure -- it was a fun one to make

[@andy_c]

One of the best, as always!

[@goodun2974]

So....." You know *something*, John Snow"! 😉😁

[@tonayflattum-riemers7982]

By far the best video on John Snow. One minor correction, the percussion cap manufactory in which the eley brothers kept full with tubs of water from the broad street pump was not blocks away, it was adjacent to the pump on 38 broad street, hence the 18 bars on snows map. Also a special call out to the case of the hampstead widow. It confounded even EA Parkes in his critique of Snow. Terrific job, I loved that you added East London in 1866, most people miss that.

[@2TheSponge2]

So glad I stumbled on this channel. Loving the vids so far!!

[@annaSHRRR]

On a Partick Kelly binge! Love all of your stuff so far!!

[@nickparker5200]

Dude i somehow stumbled onto your channel tonight and this is the 3rd vid in a row i watched youre great man very educational yet entertaining content man. Subbed

[@apolloandwarrior_3229]

I just found your channel and I think I'm getting close to having seen every video! 😅 it's so informative and easy to digest

[@halonothing1]

This is one of my favourite scientific discovery stories. I think definitely my favourite for biology.

[@JW-vi2nh]

This was such a great video! The way you lay these stories out keeps me on the edge of my seat, even though I ultimately already know the basics of how things played out in the end. You're a great storyteller and it can't be easy, since the stories you tell are complex, steeped in quite a bit of myth and legend and deal with topics that can be hard to understand.

[@ninadgadre3934]

Love your content! It’s nothing short of a quality PBS video, but yet has so many views!

[@moonrock41]

Wonderful! I had already seen a more concise version of this story, so I was glad for the extra detail provided. I've always been impressed by how a rigorous investigation can reveal pertinent, vitally important information, even if it doesn't answer every question. When the investigators bow to the evidence revealed, despite their own hypotheses, you know they're not driven by ego or delusion.

[@rayoflight62]

You are a great storyteller and your research is excellent. Have my compliments. Greetings, Anthony

[@MichaelWilliamz]

Good video. Very well said and explained. I liked and subscribed

[@klausgartenstiel4586]

this could be made into a great buddy comedy - dead baby and all.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Ohh 100%. And honestly, the plots on CSI Miami were way more gruesome

[@dariadarling]

This was awesome, loved it!! ❤

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Thank you so much!!

[@nassalspray77]

Love how all thr videos relate - currently watching while on Anesthesic rotation

[@connorarmstad3582]

These videos are really good

[@christophershrout2367]

I *really* liked the sidebar about fireballs. It wasn’t expected, but it was very exciting and brief.

[@diywithemma]

Your videos are fantastic

[@jfu5222]

Thank you!

[@douglasstemke2444]

Great video. I've been teaching the legendary version in my microbiology class. I will update the discussion, (but only so far, that's a lot of detail for a class to cover!)

[@darrylday30]

Fantastic!

[@FunkyFreshCaesar]

Awesome video, this was super fascinating! Just wanted to point out though as I’m a uk based registrar, the actual work of General Registration Service of England and Wales was actually commenced on 1st July 1837 not 1836. I’ve looked through numerous death records from the 1830’s in my office’s archives, there’s some absolutely fascinating and very outdated medical terminology in them- can’t wait for your potential future video on marasmus, apoplexy or dropsy, Patrick!

[@Kevin-jb2pv]

I can't believe that everyone in this comment section is really just letting the fact that this guy's name was John Snow slide. I can't tell if it's extreme discipline or obliviousness.

[@hpdpco6634]

You know nothing Kevin Snow

[@ShaneLevins]

Watched one of your videos yesterday and have binged every single on of them since. Barely over a day

[@PatKellyTeaches]

I need to make more videos for you to watch then!

[@ShaneLevins]

@@PatKellyTeaches they are absolute quality. So thank you 😊

[@caitlinelizabeth7808]

Your channel is the best channel on KZbin

[@davidtrindle6473]

Excellent

[@letsclimb5828]

This story should be a full length tv show

[@RadioFreeMN]

Ghost Map! I have that one on my shelf 😊

[@ShiftingDrifter]

William Farr - also recognized as the first to introduce statistical data and its veracity to be used as standard practice within diagnostic medicine! He is also the leading pioneer in the quantitative study of morbidity and mortality - in what is now generally referred to as Biostatistics. Thanks to Farr, doctors are trained that patients respond like numbers and biostatistics are now essential in diagnosing patients individually and as large groups. And the kicker is - he's now admired by insurance companies.

[@DoingStuffWithDiana]

Get this man to 100k KZbin medicine gods

[@padminimayur4049]

The Ghost Map is a must-read.

[@TealCheetah]

Im always amazed cities like London survived themselves

[@rebeccacampbell8020]

I hope to see a video about the testing method used for detecting Covid 19.

[@purerage7963]

20:30 I don't know how long it took you to come up with that, but it was totally worth it.

[@mariekatherine5238]

If you got sick in the old days, go right away for the laudanum!

[@goodun2974]

Normally it would help bind you right up but I don't know if it's effective when the cause of your problems is cholera!

[@Lorentz_Factor]

Aside from the fact that the laudanum being an opiate and inebriating alcohol, did the conspatory effect of the opiate inclusion also play a role in it's use for cholera treatment at this time?

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Good question. Laudanum has had different recipes over the centuries, and I couldn't find a ratio of opium : alcohol that they recommended in 1831, so it's a maybe

[@jobdylan5782]

the answer is yes

[@cas8971]

Damn, John Snow knew so much!

[@skybluskyblueify]

I read the book: Things Come to Life, by Harris to learn about the fight about spontaneous generation Ghost Map will help let me see the start of a few biology revolutions in science. Are there other book that are good for see the fights and foundations that went on way before 1900?

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Yes! The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris tells the story of Joseph Lister, the surgeon who pioneered antiseptic surgery in the 1860s. It's a great story

[@gwdexter]

You miss one nuance about cesspits - before the nineteenth century, they were relatively dry. You used the outhouse or emptied your chamber pot into the cesspit, but you didn’t then add huge amounts of additional water. Rainwater could get in; they weren’t actually dry, but still - when it was full, the “night-soil men” would come (at night) and dig out the contents with a shovel-not a bucket or pump. What changed was the innovation of flushing toilets, which took off like wildfire among all classes almost as soon as they were accessible commercially. It’s obvious why-who wouldn’t want a clean, scent free toilet indoors! And miasma theory might make getting a flush toilet a matter of life and death. But flushing toilets became a thing decades *before* municipal sewers were a thing, and during those decades the old cesspits and drainage channels were being put to a new use they were never designed for. Of course, there were epidemics before the nineteenth century- but the pre-1800 system of nigh-soil removal kept more poop out of the drinking water than you might imagine, particularly since today our mental image of a “cesspit” is of something filled with liquid. (Don’t google what happened to night-soil men who were caught illegally dumping their “soil” close to drinking water supplies.) The technology that seemed at the time to be a “hygienic” breakthrough, the flush toilet, actually created the conditions for cholera. #irony

[@pkre707]

Laudanum is actually an effective treatment for diarrhea.

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Okay, so I thought the same thing - opium is a classic anti diarrheal, so a mixture of alcohol and opium must have the same effect. But since laudanum doesn’t have a standard recipe (people have put all kinds of stuff in it since Paracelsus’s day), and the source didn’t define their recipe (just the amount - 20 to 40 drops) I wasn’t sure if 1831’s laudanum would be as effective an antidiarrheal as modern opium. So I hedged my language, saying “it wouldn’t have cured your cholera”, since it sure wasn’t effective against V. cholerae.

[@pkre707]

@@PatKellyTeaches fair enough. I do think though that any tincture of opium made would have enough to induce its psychoactive effects. It would be bad business otherwise. Laudanum was just a shelf stable oral delivery mechanism for opium. And psychoactive concentrations will also effect the intestines (in those without tolerance). Additionally opium’s anti-diarrheal effects were well known at that time. I think it would have been interesting to note that as one of the very few effective applications of medicine at that time. But I do understand your thought process, and it really isn’t that big a deal. Love the channel btw! Just found it today.

[@Eloraurora]

I do think it's cool to think Jon Snow's firmness against miasma was due to his work in anesthesiology. "I spent a long time figuring out how gases work, I might not have a solid case _for_ the pump, but I _know_ it's not miasma!"

[@michaelmcdowell7096]

Laudnum, if I'm spelling that right, can prevent diarrhea or atleast help it. If thats how cholera kills u then essentially, yes, Laudnum morphine or anything similar could possibly keep u alive. We even have an otc for diarrhea that works on this pharmokenetics. I know my digestive science a little bit.

[@taylorcervantes1995]

Antimotility agents (such as the otc loperamide that you’re referring to) are not recommended for infectious diarrheas

[@jobdylan5782]

@@taylorcervantes1995 Depends!

[@BaronVonQuiply]

_"You know something, John Snow."_

[@yakacm]

The laudanum would have helped with the diarrhoea surely, as opiates make you constipated. In fact up until very recently, you could buy kaolin and morphine over the counter in the UK, and I'm talking within the last 20 years, which was sold for diarrhoea, or rather to stop it.

[@stella-vu8vh]

How is morphine available OTC?

[@alexisflory6496]

Do I see a wee plague doctor in the background?

[@tonayflattum-riemers7982]

what always made me scratch my head is the iceberg component of that outbreak. Estimates of untreated cholera infection fatality rate is around 4% in Haiti. Classical cholera was likely deadlier and some historical analysis estimate 10 percent. That means close (plus or mins a substantial amount) to 6000 plus people must have been infected from the pump. Never mind that is assuming everyone who drinks gets sick in the first place. Even 50 percent, which is generous estimate, implies 12000 people must have drank from that pump within a few day window for the peak. Rather absurd amount of useage. It becomes even odder when you consider it would be the largest point source of cholera in recorded history. Never mind that most other cases or contaminated wells, usually only 25 or so people die, as was the case in Manchester 1849, hope street. Never mind the leaps of faith one must make for this case. Such as the only physician who saw the index patient, not believing the child had cholera (never disputed why he was wrong we just assume he was even though the symptom profile doesn’t march), or no clear visible effect upon the pump handle removal.

[@elihyland4781]

What a THRILLING chanel

[@m.streicher8286]

Cant believe this video is months old with 3k views. Only a matter of time before this goes big.

[@EmmaMaySeven]

Thank you for making the link between data collection in overseas colonies and the same done in England! The governing elite treated poor English people just like colonial subjects, but it's not really recognised, even today.

[@SandyRiverBlue]

Imagine drinking water directly from the Thames.

[@christopherbrennan4858]

These videos are amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing the explosion of views and subscribers happen.

[@mariekatherine5238]

My cousin is married to Dr. William Farr.

[@paullough4946]

Public Health decisions today are also made on an economic underpinning. Cost-Benefit Analysis. Just that the Butterfly Effect of any Inaction is hedge against. Because we understand the interweaved fabric of commerce, and understand that we cannot calculate all of the possible effects of not acting...so, we act.

[@deeznutz-bn9sl]

10:36 Did run on sentences not exist in the 19th century?

[@veefrain6232]

Awwww maybe the answere to cholora is the friends you make along the way 😂

[@davidemonetto2433]

A nurse once told me: clostridium difficile poop smell is like love: you can't describe it, but when you find it you now it Happy to see there il alwais something worse 😂

[@joelspaulding5964]

Laudanum has the "benefit" of promoting constipation and potentially easing bowel cramps- Some old docs would swear by the B&O suppositories 😉

[@kazekamiha]

I enjoyed Blue Jay's (Brief) Take on it. John Sow: What about water... without the poop?

[@GoneZombie]

One of my very favorite things in the world is not having cholera. ❤

[@periteu]

John Snow 16:22

[@periteu]

1849, 26:50

[@Joy-TheLazyCatLady]

Uh, Mr Kelly? Did you quit saying "Have fun, be good, and thanks for watching"? What's up with that?

[@templebrown7179]

Overall quite good. I would stress investigating the common pronounciation of miasma and registrar, though.

[@Dead-vh4kq]

bad video for eating to

[@PatKellyTeaches]

Especially if you’re eating rice or pudding

[@jamesanonymous2343]

KELLY'S HISTORY AMATUER HOUR, ????????????

[@hpdpco6634]

You know nothing John Snow...

[@HmmmYeahRiiiiiight]

you know nothing, John Snow

[@crapmalls]

You know nothing john snow

[@50srefugee]

Was there any idea at the time that the laudanum might have helped control diarrhea, given that it can constipate healthy users? Likely wouldn't be effective, but it might have made intuitive sense.