To the modern mind, John Snow’s theory of cholera as a waterborne organism seems evidently correct.
However, because it contradicted an explanation for the disease’s transmission which had been accepted for two thousand years and which was still promoted by the leading figures in public health at that time, it was repeatedly dismissed in the Medical Gazette and in public debate. How did the work of William Farr and the work of Edwin Chadwick help AND hinder Snow’s diligent efforts to prove to the nation and those responsible for its inhabitants’ health that cholera was indeed waterborne?
#work #William #Farr #work #Edwin #Chadwick
