The Ghost Map Analysis

The work of these two men changed the contemporary views on how disease was spread. By solving the cholera mystery, they helped contribute to making the world safe for bigger cities. Over the next few years a lot of changes were made. Both the medical and public health establishments latched onto Snow’s waterborne theory and through one of the greatest feats in engineering history, London started the process of making an entirely new sewer system. This, along with other precautions such as boiling water that was suspected to be contaminated, brought an end to city-wide choleric outbreaks. Besides the improvements in sewage, the improvements of sanitary conditions all around greatly diminished the spread of disease and held a major part in making the modern city possible. Overall, it turned out that something that was once horrendous and deadly for a massive amount of people, eventually turned out to be helpful for the future of mankind. (Johnson)

One of my main objections that I have with this book is that it doesn't present enough of a point of view. It is sort of like a bad research paper, without an opinion, it is simply an organized sheet of facts. Although I wouldn't call this book terrible or a failure, I would call it incomplete. It gives the feeling of reading an encyclopedia, but with more interesting details. It is understandable to have a weak opinion in an informational book, but no opinion at all is scarcely acceptable.

In the book The Ghost Map, cholera was going into a massive outbreak in London during 1854. The story begins as one of the characters, baby Lewis, Contracts cholera, and when the mother washes diapers and cleans for the baby, she throws the water into the street. This leads to the outbreak. While the Board of Health believed the smell of the city was the cause of the outbreak, there was another citizen who believed otherwise. Henry Whitehead was a doctor who began to specialize in anesthesiology. Meanwhile, John Snow was researching his own theories, and he worked his way through the city to locate where high volumes of people were dying. While he was doing his research he began making a map, and he graphed where people were dying. Each house

In American industrial cities, late 1800s, Poor neighborhood were not the best place to live. With poor living conditions, poor sanitation and crowded housing, many epidemics of infectious disease spread into the poor population and touched even the wealthy class. Cities such as New York were crowded and workers were living in tenements, which were often cramped, poorly lit and poorly aerated. Moreover, these tenements lacked of adequate plumbing, therefore waste was flooding in the public streets. Streets was crowded of waste and garbage. Population was poorly nourished and has a poor life hygiene like water pollution and poisoned food and milk. Accordingly, infectious disease was the common death reason. Big cities had known outbreaks of

Firstly, access to medical care. Years ago medical care in the 19th century was not very good. The hospitals were very basic, many beds in a large room (ward) there were very rarely curtains around the beds for privacy because in those days clothes were short and extra material would be made into clothing. Also, they may not have been very clean, they were hygienic to work in but for people that were very ill they may of made that person more poorly. Clinics were similar; they had the basic bed to check patients on and the small amount of medicines. Not all the time did they have the correct suitable medication for patients. So some patients may have had to suffer for longer than what they should off because it was hard to get medication that was going to cure

In the very first chapter, Steven Johnson begins to set the scene of how the overpopulation of London coupled with extreme levels of poverty created the perfect opportunity for Cholera to spread in the rapid manner that it did. On page one it states; “These were the London underclasses, at least a hundred thousand strong. So immense were their numbers that had the scavengers broken off and formed their own city, it would have been the fifth-largest in all of England.” Johnson mentions that the city of London had become a city of Scavengers, consisting of; bone-pickers, pure-finders, dredgermen, sewer-hunters and night-soil men. However, the harshest reflection of the Cholera epidemic of 1854 is conveyed by John Snow himself. On page 59 it states; “The young Snow observed

He linked the common illness cholera to people whom drank from the wells. He observed those getting ill and which areas and pumps they drank from and recorded it on a map, he was then able to establish all those getting ill were in fact drinking from the same pump, and consequently in 1854 John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street pump and ceased the epidemic of Cholera in Soho, London

The tenements where immigrants lived were unacceptably tiny and unsanitary. The East Side was packed at the rate of 290,000 per square mile at one point, while the greatest crowding of Old London was at the rate of 175,816 (12). Due to this overpopulation, diseases spread rapidly and killed thousands of unprotected tenants. Tenements also lacked fresh air because they did not have windows, which contributed to the fast advancement of cholera until around 1869 (14). One of the homes that Riis visited had “half a dozen persons washing, cooking, and sorting rags, lay

Dr. John Snow was known as an intelligent physician who had a background with anesthesia advancements. He believed that cholera was a waterborne disease and that it was contaminated by the sewage. Snow’s goal was to convince others about the issue and stop it from spreading. His theory about the intestinal disease, in which was published in 1849 in an article, was laughed at and many doctors believed that his idea was “wrong” and they continued to believe that it was airborne. He wanted to prove many wrong and begin to further research and experiment the disease.

Sewage was in the streets, as much as 10 people lived in 1 room. In the busiest parts of Manchester as many as 200 people shared a single outhouse which often overflowed. In doc 2, it tells how crowded the houses are together, people crowd the narrow streets,buildings are black with smoke, among other things. This shows the harsh living conditions of a rapidly growing city that has terribly low living standards. In doc 7, it portrays the people that lack proper clothing, bedding, furniture, even proper food. This shows the physical suffering and the harshed living conditions where every day is survival.This is likely valid because it is a published journal which would have no reason to be untrue. In doc 6, it tells of the diseases and death seen every day by the people of Manchester. The annual loss of life was high as well as the terrible moral influences among these people.This is likely unbiased because it is a report of his observations. In all the severe living conditions of Manchester caused immense suffering that brought many negative reactions from

A report on the sanitary conditions stated that the lower classes were falling ill which lowered life expectancy. “These circumstances tend to produce an adult population short-lived” (Doc 6). This health reformer in 1842 was trying to help the working class. His intention was to make people aware that diseases were spreading and killing many. The conditions in which workers were spending most of their days was worsening their chances of staying healthy because the damp climate and filthy equipment was not being taken care of, which allowed diseases to grow.

On the other end of the society scale, the working poor were working and living in unbearable conditions. There were no irrigation systems, running water or any way of preserving hygiene in the homes or the factories. The working poor lived in slums and tenements which were breeding grounds for diseases. In the book, “The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844” by Friedrich Engels, he states, “...at the end of the covered passage, a privy without a door, so dirty that the inhabitants can pass into and out of the court only by passing through foul pools of stagnant urine and excrement.” (page 78)1. This gives us a peek into the horrible unsanitary conditions that the working class were forced to endure while the business owners were living in beautiful mansions and summer houses.

Johnson chronicles the journeys and the lives of Dr. John Snow, Henry Whitehead, William Farr, Benjamin Hall, and Edwin Chadwick, all of whom play pivotal roles in the decisions around sanitation in the city. These characters provide a depth of different perspectives on the outbreak and the conflict between them helps drive the story.

The hygiene movement helped in the avoidance of communicable diseases, diseases for example cholera, tuberculosis and water illnesses in large part by modifying the people surroundings. In the 1850s, John Snow assisted in recognized the importance in data collection and documentation. His actions terminated an outbreak of cholera in a district of London. Using the same methodology Ignaz Semmelweis, applied it to restraint fever of childbirth a major source of maternal mortality. The reason that this was happening was that after physicians worked on the death bodies, usually they did not wash their and delivered babies and contaminating both, the mother and the baby.

I truly enjoyed the readings especially Why study copy cat crime? I find the readings very ironic in two ways my husband occasionally plays grand theft auto five and when my little sister comes over she always wants to play with him, but the violence and language in the game turns a sweet little girl into a viscious player within seconds. Shouting get him! shoot! run her over! now she understands its a game and its not real and goes back to her sweet self once she done playing, but imagine playing this game 8 hours a day to where realty and the game become one. Devin Moore turned a game into reality in his mind there was no difference between the two now I know some of my classmates will disagree with me in this next point, but as a future