Ghost Map 109-188

I thought that it was interesting, the whole miasma theory. No one today would ever even consider believing that smell causes disease. But that is what i found interesting, when we look back at old medicine practices we laugh because of how ridiculous they are or how ignorant they were, but whose to say that we know much better than they did. Medicine has come a long way but it does bring you to question how many things modern medicine may be wrong about. In a hundred years people may laugh at the fact that we thought that skin cancer came from too much sun or that you could get lung cancer from second hand smoke. It will be interesting to see what science and medicine discover down the road.

This chapter also discusses Whitehead’s interaction with the people. It is almost like Holmes is a combination of these two, Snow and Whitehead, in that Snow has the book knowledge and whitehead has the street knowledge. Holmes is like a super character that can do it all, but there are a lot of similarities between the three.

Ghost Map 111-188 {Simone G.}

I though that the “all smell is disease” chapter amusing. It shows just how humanity was trying to grow in medicine and how they had many trials and errors to get to where we are today.The miasma theory is ridiculous but I guess at the time any explanation was better than none at all. Again Snow and others are having a hard time proving something that cannot be seen. Holmes had a more easier time trying to find clues because he would eventually “see” them. The situation is not the same for proving that v.cholerae is in the water.In my Govt 132 class we have been discussing about population overgrowth and Malthusian theories and I thought it was interesting how on page 115 Henry Mayhew saw waste recyling through Malthusian thinking.

I liked how Snow decides to make a map about the patterns of the deaths in London. He considers not only the death but foot patterns also. In a way he is making something similar to the modern day Google or Yahoo Maps. On page 173 Johnson mentions how Whitehead’s local knowlegde gave im an advantage. This is very similar to Holmes and how he an advantage over the police because he knew who to go to in order to find out information to assist him in a case.

Ghost Map 57-109

In this part of the book, we are introduced to man named John Snow. He is a physician and many other things. He enjoyed learning new things and trying new things. He was a very smart person. At the beginning we learn about his family. Then we find out about how he came up with the anesthesia “ether”, which actually came out to be a success. Also the miasma theory is mentioned. The theory was that all causes of disease was the air and and just the peoples surrounding. As we read more, Snow starts investigating cholera and its causes. He does a great job at the investigations and getting samples of water and other things that could help him.

55-107 Ghost Map

In the next part of Ghost Map, the story begins to focus on a man named John Snow. Snow was a scientist that had made great improvements in the delivery and use of Chloroform and ether so that it could be safely administered to patients. He became interested in studying and trying to solve the cholera epidemic that was sweeping the Soho and broadstreet area in London. The current theory of what spread cholera was smell or some sort of airborne disease, but Snow didnt believe that was the case because of the way the disease seemed to be spreading and how it was confining itself to certain areas. I think its interesting however that Snow was able to pick up on water as the possible carrier of the disease. It would be interesting to know if that was his first hunch, or if he pursued a few other theories to the spread of cholera at the same time before he settled on the waterborne theory. It was fascinating to see Snows foresight and ability to piece together a huge amount of information on the micro level to the city wide level in helping to determine a theory and discover how cholera was assailing London.

1-55 Ghost Map

The first part of Ghost Map is spent setting up a mental image and trying to help the reader understand what it would be like to live in London in the 1850s.  London was the largest city in the world at the time and was a sort of experiment to see if millions of people could live in a confined area without imploding upon itself.  The cholera epidemic that struck London’s Soho region around the broad street pump was going to be a catastrophe that needed to be dealt with, even though nobody really new how to.  People started dieing in their homes from cholera and the disease spread at an alarming rate throughout the community.  It was particularly interesting when the book spoke of several people finding the actual cure for cholera but that they were overshadowed by other less scientific or effective “cures”.

Ghost Map 57-109 Victor C.

As the cholera continues to spread we are introduced to a doctor named John Snow. Snow is a man that discovered one of the first anesthetics: ether. The cholera epidemic intrigued him so he decided to try to find out what exactly was causing the spread once and for all. At the time, it was widely accepted that the desease was being spread through the air, not by bacteria like most of us would think but rather, but rather by the bad smell of the cities.

The problem that Snow had with this was that it were caused by smell and was in the air, then that wouldn’t explain why it affected some areas but completely skipped over other parts. There really wasn’t an even spread of the disease like there would have been if it were truly being spread through the air. This lead to further investigation which lead Snow to believe that it was actually caused by contaminated water that people were drinking.

I think this might have been the era where the term “Don’t shit where you eat” may have come from, because workers in this time did just that. Most of us would gag at the thought of actually doing that, but this was common place for people back then. It really isn’t much of a surprise that the disease broke out.

Ghost Map 1-57 Victor C.

In this book we are introduced to Victorian London. It is amazing (and terrifying) to hear about how terrible the conditions were living in that age. With things like Human feces piling up in the streets it is really no wonder at all how the disease spread so quickly. I cant even imagine what London must have smelt like back then. It seems weird that the whole book is about how cities are needed and Johnson even later argues that they are much better as far as energy conservation and living in general, yet he begins the book with how terrible this city was. and how these people living in these close quarters with such terrible health conditions lead to the demise of countless innocent people.