Cholera and the pump Superstition The handles Commentary

John Snow pathology

Cholera and the pump

• John Snow removed the handle of the pump
• from the well in Broad Street, the center
• of the cholera epidemic, spanning an area
• less than 450 meters across,
• in London’s Soho
• and proved that cholera was borne by water
• not by air from putrefaction
• of vegetable and animal wastes
• thereby contradicting superstition and hearsay
• and establishing the science of epidemiology.

Superstition

• A drunken student in New Orleans
• in the deep of night
• dared by his friends to hammer a nail
• into the wall of the voodoo queen’s crypt
• hammered the nail into the wall
• but also through his own coat, and,
• thus restrained
• died of terror.
• *
• In a nightclub on fire
• more people are killed
• from being trampled at the doors
• than from asphyxiation or heat.
• *
• People who drank the tainted water
• from the pump on Broad Street
• didn’t see or taste anything funny.
• No one knew
• the water would kill them.
• *
• Little wonder that the mind
• provides lively interpretations
• where facts are wanting
• and causes us to cling blindly
• to the specters we fear.
• We can’t scorn these people
• or any others.
• Soldiers who did what they were told,
• patients who took medicines with undiscovered side effects,
• downhill skiers, underwater divers, parachute jumpers,
• and freeway tailgaters
• all calculate their risks in ignorance.
• Superstition grows
• even where reality is respected;
• it is our reality—haunting us.

The handles

• I’m looking for the handles
• to end war
• and prevent accidents
• regardless of whether
• the extent of human misery
• is a universal constant
• regardless of whether
• people will continue to believe
• pain and sacrifice are necessary
• because I know
• people who shouldn’t need to
• are and continue to suffer.
• I’m searching for the handles
• because I know
• we cannot make people
• look twice before crossing the street,
• eat well, exercise frequently,
• respect the environment,
• stop blaming others,
• or realize that nations
• cannot achieve peace
• by waging war.
• Pride and greed
• also ignorance and immaturity
• are as necessary as love and experience.
• They cannot be bought and sold
• cannot be legislated
• cannot be circumvented.
• So, if I find the handles
• and disable the pumps
• I’ll show everyone
• how to put the handles back on.