THE GHOST MAP ALSO BY STEVEN JOHNSON INTERFACE CULTURE: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate EMERGENCE: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software MIND WIDE OPEN: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life EVERYTHING BAD IS GOOD FOR YOU: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter The GHOST MAP The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World STEVEN JOHNSON RIVERHEAD BOOKS a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc New York 2006 RIVERHEAD BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi–110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Copyright © 2006 by Steven Johnson All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission Please not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights Purchase only authorized editions The passage from Walter Benjamin’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History” is from Illuminations, translated by Harry Zohn A list of illustration credits can be found on back matter Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Johnson, Steven, date Ghost map : the story of London’s most terrifying epidemic—and how it changed science, cities, and the modern world / Steven Johnson p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN: 1-4295-0131-6 Cholera—England—London—History—19th century I Title RC133.G6J64 2006 2006023114 614.5'14—dc22 MAP BY MEIGHAN CAVANAUGH While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content For the women in my life: My mother and sisters, for their amazing work on the front lines of public health Alexa, for the gift of Henry Whitehead and Mame, for introducing me to London so many years ago… CONTENTS Preface Monday, August 28 THE NIGHT-SOIL MEN Saturday, September EYES SUNK, LIPS DARK BLUE Sunday, September THE INVESTIGATOR Monday, September THAT IS TO SAY, JO HAS NOT YET DIED Tuesday, September ALL SMELL IS DISEASE Wednesday, September BUILDING THE CASE Friday, September THE PUMP HANDLE Conclusion THE GHOST MAP Epilogue BROAD STREET REVISITED Author’s Note Acknowledgments Appendix: Notes on Further Reading Notes Bibliography Index A Klee painting named “Angelus Novus” shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread This is how one pictures the angel of history His face is turned toward the past Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed But a storm is blowing in from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such a violence that the angel can no longer close them The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward This storm is what we call progress —Walter Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History” aria nufacturing, London pping systems, urban ps of cholera outbreak and future epidemics local knowledge Snow’s, originality of gulis, Lynn x, Karl ss behavior ss communication, in Victorian-era London yfair (London district) yhew, Henry London Labour and the London Poor and miasma theory Morning Chronicle article and waste recycling dical education, in nineteenth century dicine, in Victorian era and cholera scientific method and surgery gacities kalanos, John hane gas explosions ropolitan Commission of Sewers and cholera outbreak ropolitan life See Urban life; Urbanization xico City sma theory of cholera spread biological basis Board of Health and and Broad Street pump Chadwick and confirmation bias Farr and Hall and maps and power of Snow and social prejudice and Vestry Committee and robes See Bacteria roscopes dlemarch (Eliot) dlesex Hospital (London) ore’s Law rning Chronicle (London) and Chadwick Mayhew article rton, William zart, Leopold zart, Wolfgang Amadeus d-larks mbai, Squatter Colony h, John ive Americans, and alcohol sea ghborhoods, street-level knowledge herlands, waste recycling and wirth, Robert w River Water Company w York City cholera outbreak 311 service 911 system w York Evening Post wspapers, in Victorian-era London and cholera outbreaks and medicine See also specific newspapers wton, Isaac wton, John Frank he environments, in cities holas Nickleby (Dickens) ht soil, and night-soil men htingale, Florence and miasma theory attacks nrenewable energy, urbanization and es on Nursing (Nightingale) lear weapons sances Removal and Contagious Diseases Prevention Act tuary of Snow erver (London) and cholera deaths ensive trades Ford reservoir Air, Water, and Places (Hippocrates) the Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether in Surgical Operations (Snow) the Mode and Communication of Cholera (Snow) um Mutual Friend (Dickens) en, David ini, Filippo n management, Snow and demic, global s, in nineteenth century iament Farr’s testimony Snow and Thames pollution and teur, Louis ent medicines ny Newsman (London) ys, Samuel cussion caps pendadores thouse fields er Street, cholera outbreak , in Victorian-era London se transitions, human societies and lips, Richard enology sicians, in Victorian era Snow as physician and treatment of cholera gue, government intervention and gue burial grounds and Street (Soho), cholera deaths and Street Workhouse tics, network technology and r Law Amendment Act of 1834 ulation Bomb, The (Ehrlich) ulation control, cities and ulation density and disease and environment perils of and transmission of cholera urbanization and in Victorian-era London ulations growth of London, 1800s statistics urban tland (Oregon) tal service, London ttraumatic stress disorder erty in developed world in Victorian-era London edisposing” causes of disease lude, The (Wordsworth) e gouging by drug companies gress, intellectual karyotes MED-mail ust, Marcel lic health Chadwick and cities and information networks institutions, future of statistics, Farr and lic Health Act of 1848 lic infrastructure engineering mp Broad Street See Broad Street pump ch “Who Shall Decide When Doctors Disagree?” e-finders ck cures cliffe, John Netten lway system ers son, and superstition ycling of waste Mayhew and ent Street (London) istrar-General’s Office igion, miasma theory and earch, medical, in Victorian era Snow and urn to Nature: A Defence of the Vegetable Regimen, The (Newton) hard the Raker hardson, Benjamin Ward hardson, James de Janeiro, Rocinha area inson, James ers, John ers, Richard ers, William me medieval, building materials for mor, and cholera outbreak al areas Bartholomew’s Hospital James’ Parish, and cholera outbreak Board of Governors Vestry Committee James Workhouse Luke’s Church (Berwick Street) itary conditions and cholera itation, Chadwick and venger classes in developing countries in Victorian-era London entific establishment, and waterborne theory entific method, Victorian-era medicine and gwick’s Principles of Sanitary Science and Public Health wer-hunters miasma theory and wer system, London construction of investigation of Broad Street dow Cities (Neuwirth) ntytown developments lley, Percy gshot water purifier all intestine, cholera and ell as disease Snow and sense of in Victorian-era London th, Angus w, John and anesthetics attacks on and Broad Street outbreak cause of epidemic grand experiment map of sociological evidence and cholera consilient thinking death of and Epidemiological Society Farr and information resources The Lancet and and miasma theory reasoning style scientific studies and water companies waterborne theory opponents of Whitehead and ial prejudice and miasma theory ioeconomic element in cholera outbreak iologist, Snow as o (London district) cholera epidemic newspapers and in Victorian era See also Broad Street (Soho); Golden Square (Soho); London; specific sites o Field o Square fertility, waste recycling and th America, cholera outbreaks th London Water Works thwark and Vauxhall (S&V) water company oat, William atter cities ndage, Tom istics of public health, Farr and et-level knowledge, Snow’s map and cultures, in cities urbs cide bombers erstition geons, in nineteenth-century London gery, in Victorian era rey building (Horsleydown), cholera outbreak herland, John enham, Thomas ning of leather hnology of density and urbanization ecommuting rorism biological 9/11 attack population density and mes River pollution of sewer system and ories, incorrect, support of eses on the Philosophy of History” (Benjamin) rd World, population control eats, intolerable service, New York City es, The (London) See London Times lets and water closets hers wns medieval, waste recycling in nsgenic shifts pical rain forests scott’s Court (Horsleydown) e, Edward The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Visual Explanations n Towers, population density erclass, in Victorian-era London ted Nations, Global Report on Human Settlements versity College Hospital (London) anitary conditions, deaths from an density See Population density an life in developing world flow of ideas See also Cities; Inner-city air, as disease source; Inner-city life, in Victorian era; Towns an mapping systems anism, Broad Street cholera outbreak and anization benefits of Industrial Revolution and pandemics and threats of cines, production of etarian, Snow as try Committee See St James’ Parish, and cholera outbreak rio cholerae (cholera bacterium) battle against in Broad Street well “El Tor” strain transmission route toria, Queen of England childbirth torian novels, and children al phages (cholera) uses evolution of genetic swaps ual Display of Quantitative Information, The (Tufte) ual Explanations (Tufte) onoi diagrams ges of night-soil men gner, Richard dor, Matthew K rfare, asymmetric See Asymmetric warfare rren, John Collins ste disposal London in Victorian era recycling ste management er clean search for contaminated as cure for cholera er closets er purifiers er supply and air quality London Board of Health and Broad Street sanitary erborne theory of cholera spread acceptance of Board of Health and evidence for experiment Farr and official endorsement supporters Vestry Committee and Whitehead and ather, and disease, theories ekly Returns of Birth and Deaths (Farr) and “Great Stink” and waterborne theory stminster Hospital stminster Medical Society ewell, William tehead, Henry The Cholera in Berwick Street and cholera outbreak investigation of local knowledge and Snow and theories of cholera spread waterborne theory son, E O rdsworth, William rkhouses, in Victorian era rld Trade Center, population density rld Wide Web, and information oo! k (surveyor) ILLUSTRATION CREDITS Courtesy Illustrated London News Courtesy General Research Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations Courtesy Ralph R Frerichs, UCLA Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow.html Courtesy National Museum of Photography, Film, & Television/Science & Society Picture Library Courtesy National Library of Medicine and Light, Inc Courtesy Ralph R Frerichs, UCLA Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow.html © Lester V Bergman/Corbis ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steven Johnson is the bestselling author of Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter; Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life; Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software; and Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the WayWe Create and Communicate He writes for Wired, Discover, and The New York Times Magazine, and is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University’s Department of Journalism He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and their three sons Online, he can be reached at www.stevenberlinjohnson.com ... movie Most of the activity would be a blur of urban tumult: ? ?the noisy and the eager, and the arrogant and the froward and the vain…[making] their usual uproar,” as Dickens put it at the end of... outnumber the mild ones No single bacterium is aware of the cost-benefit analysis, but thanks to their amazing capacity for adaptation, they’re able to make the analysis as a group, each isolated... By most standards, he was already a remarkable success story: a laborer’s son who now had a thriving medical practice and a vibrant career as a researcher and lecturer At the recommendation of