How the Toilet Changed History

How the Toilet Changed History — page 5 — which was known as the miasma theory People believed they could catch cholera by inhaling air infected by exposure to the disease Author Steven Johnson explains what Snow proved about cholera Sanitary conditions were crucial to fighting the disease but foul air had nothing to do with its transmission Cholera wasn't something you inhaled It was something you swallowed CHOLERA The cholera bacteria arrived in London from India in 1831 It is a waterborne disease transmitted primarily through human feces and it affects the stomach As a result a person infected with cholera experiences great bouts of diarrhea Not only is this uncomfortable but one loses great amounts of water at the same time The water loss quickly affects other organs including the liver and kidneys Eventually fatigue settles in and the patient becomes unconscious At the time of the London outbreaks no one knew what caused cholera nor were there any effective remedies Two thirds of those who contracted cholera never recovered Despite the naysayers Snow marked on a map all the deaths in one area of London This revealed deaths were concentrated around a water pump on Broad Street Snow visited homes and businesses in the area One remarkable finding was a nearby brewery was unaffected by cholera Snow believed it was because patrons drank beer not water Confident the water source on Broad Street was contaminated Snow removed the handle of the pump so no one could use it The result was a marked drop in deaths in the area demonstrating a link between cholera and contaminated water Newly gathered data also revealed death 10

How the Toilet Changed History — page 6 — rates were higher in densely populated areas than in rural ones suggesting the foul urban environment contributed to the disease During the 1890s Louis Pasteur's germ theory demonstrated how disease spread and emphasized good hygiene was essential to good health Despite these discoveries however there was no concrete evidence linking contaminated water and disease and Snow's ideas were dismissed It took 30 more years until Snow's theory was proven In the meantime the miasma theory remained the popular explanation for epidemics Summer of 1858 By the summer of 1858 the Thames was an open sewer Every day 12 million cubic feet 340 000 cu m of human waste went into the river Then to make Snow argued there was a misconception about how cholera was spread

How the Toilet Changed History — page 7 — matters worse it was summer and extraordinarily hot and humid in London The heat combined with low water levels and accumulated waste made the smell in London unbearable People were so affected by the stench it made the newspapers The City Press in London wrote NEW YORK CITY In the United States New York City faced a massive influx of immigrants in the 1800s and the city's sanitation system could not keep up with the increased population The collection and disposal of human waste became a major issue for city planners In an attempt to curb the problem city planners passed regulations directing how people disposed of their waste This included directions for building and maintaining privies which were subject to inspection Finally in 1871 a new sewer system for the city was approved Still rich neighborhoods were connected first leaving the poor sections of the city with continued waste problems Gentility of speech is at an end the Thames stinks and whoso once inhales the stink can never forget it and can count himself lucky if he lives to remember it Many people even tried soaking linens and curtains in disinfectant and hanging them in windows to combat the smell But the Great Stink was overpowering It even kept Parliament from meeting because the Thames flowed right by its windows The stench of the River Thames often bothered members of Parliament 12

How the Toilet Changed History — page 8

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