England: The Broad Street Pump - You Know Nothing, John Snow - Extra History

My high school history teacher was the one that got me hooked into the subject. He asked us our thoughts based on the historical evidence of the printing press instead of just having us memorize dates and names which meant nothing to me. I was possessed with the love of learning from that teacher and carry it with me today.

Farzad Mansouri

I love this whole series so much that I feel like Team Extra Credits should lock themselves in a dungeon and churn out new episodes every day. Can't get enough! Great stuff guys!

Tanmay Jadhav

I always call it a "cartoon'". Now that I think about it, it's not really. I guess my imagination is just jumping in to make it seem like one. Ha, I forgot you can't make paragraphs in Patreon on comments so I'll just go right on to the next two things I was going to say. I showed my grandmother the Justinian series (I forget why we were discussing the Byzantine empire on her birthday but we were). She's a big history buff. She tried to go to school for biology but back in the day her professor refused to teach the class if she was there, so she ended up getting her degree in history and she's still a big enthusiast even though she's been retired for some time now. She liked the videos but she complained that Dan was talking too fast for her to follow, which is something I hadn't really noticed. I think I've just gotten used to the EC style. She asked me why the voice is like that and I said "Because it's a cartoon". She said she'd watch all the Extra History episodes on her tablet later. (I don't have a tablet, I'm not as cool as she is.) One of my closest friends is an instructor in the Navy and after I linked him to the Admiral Yi series he decided to show the other instructors and had the opposite problem. They loved Dan's voice! All they wanted to talk about was how wonderful the art was how cute bean Dan is. I love both facets of the show, the art and the history.

De

I always call it a "cartoon'". Now that I think about it, it's not really. I guess my imagination is just jumping in to make it seem like one.

De

Also, the cities stank and people hated that, totally understandably. I'm a terrible researcher so I can't remember the name of Snow's biggest opponent; I'm sure we'll be seeing him next episode. Anyway, he was convinced of the miasma theory and when Snow presented his findings it looked to his opponents as if he'd been bribed by businesses to find some source of disease that would allow them to continue to pollute the air. I can sympathize with this point of view. Wouldn't it seem mighty suspicious? Like all those doctors who come along and claim that sugar has no ill effects on a person's health only for it to come out that they're funded by big sugar. People got confused. What they wanted was an excuse to stop industries from polluting and they latched on to cholera as their means of doing so. When Snow came along and tried to take that excuse away, people were angry.

De

When it was announced I read the Wikipedia page on it. So much of it was familiar that I'm sure some class covered it briefly at some point, but I had forgotten most of the interesting details. As usual, the Extra History series will be far more memorable than reading about it!

David Harkness

Spoiler alert: Everyone who was alive in England at that time is DEAD today!

David Harkness

EC, I already say that today about several contemporary issues. However, we're unlikely to question situations that we're born into. That being said, basic sanitation is still lacking in many parts of the world.

David Harkness

I concur! Whenever I describe the series to friends and family, I always use the word "animation" even though I know it's not. I explain the difference, of course, but I feel like I'm watching a movie as if my brain is simply filling in the missing frames.

David Harkness

The fellow giving the lecture at the beginning of the episode kind of sounds like the Ice King.

Jason Shafer

After Admeral Yi I was hoping that we would have a character that others actually believed. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Parker

It's the trap of one of our cognitive shortcuts: The human mind is great at making shortcuts to speed up mental processing of situations, but nuance and flexibility can be lost. It's easy to take a popular theory and treat it as axiomatic, even great scientists can fall into this trap. And then when something completely different appears it's really difficult to reorient your mindset to consider it. A possible recent example is the shift away from concern about fat in diet to carbs in diet. And the thing is that miasma, the prevalent theory of the day, was arrived from observation and reasoning. It wasn't like the humours, though some still believed in those even in John Snow's day, it was an evidence backed theory. I'd go so far as to say it's less "wrong" as it is "incomplete", because it's undermined by the assumption that only foul odours can transmit disease. But public health measures based on it worked for the most part. A filthy smelly street is disease ridden. Clean it up, disease rates drop. QED! The hurdle John Snow had to clear to gain acceptance was that he could only show the "what" and "when" of cholera, and the "what" and "when" were just familiar enough to miasma's as to invite skepticism. What would have sealed the deal would be showing the "how" and "why". But it would take Louis Pasteur to give medicine the tools to uncover the "how" and "why".

RMS Oceanic

My high school chemistry teacher was one of my best teachers as well...Kind of the cool old guy who does crazy things (from a high schooler's perspective) just because he knows he can. IE one time he mixed Sulfuric acid and Sodium Hydroxide and drank it just to show everyone neutralization really does make water....great way to learn for kids.

Corey Wallen

I love this series already! I'm curious though, why did the medic establishment reject his findings? Hadn't the scientific method been around for several hundred years by this point?

Chase Denecke

A lot of them were anonymous too. Tells you how overwhelming Cholera was.

RMS Oceanic

War gets the most coverage in history texts since it's so easy to glorify, but we're hoping to tell a lot more of the non-war stories!

Extra History

Dan got to practice some acting chops in that opening! And Lil is doing a FANTASTIC job; we are so lucky to have found her.

Extra History

We don't talk about Sarphati specifically but we are going to talk about sanitation in this series! It's kind of amazing what people were willing to put up with in the cities... and makes you wonder how much people in a hundred years will look back on us today and just go "Really? They let that happen?"

Extra History

That should be our Lies segment at the end. ;)

Extra History

So if we reference it multiple times an episode, does that mean you'll have to link to the same episode multiple times?

Extra History

It is the fate of John Snows everywhere: never can they catch a break!

Extra History

We're trying to get a good mix in there! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Extra History

I love the weekly schedule so much! Every time we have a new episode I'm just dying to get it out to you folks, and now that I get to do it every week, my Saturdays are even better. P.S. I can't guarantee that, but if you want to suggest that, you'd be welcome to! Just note that we won't be taking any suggestions until January, so it'll be a bit of a wait.

Extra History

Cholera's not gone, that's for sure. :\

Extra History

Spoiler alert (but it won't be in this series anyway): this John Snow died fairly young, but he had a pretty successful and happy life.

Extra History

I've loved the history of sciences ever since a high school chemistry teacher (recognizing that I was very into reading) realized he could get me to learn the lessons by loaning me a history of chemistry textbook. HOOKED. -Soraya

Extra History

Ah well...

Brian Rose

It's also a little sad to think of all those poor cholera sufferers being thrown into a mass grave.

Extra History

Alas, he will not!

Extra History

Well, no need to beat around the bush with that one. ;)

Extra History

Hey folks! We had to fix the end credits so there is now a brand new video link. If you left any comments before, I'm afraid they've been lost!

Extra History

It's not about knowing something, it's about proving it -- he didn't have evidence in episode 1 beyond one single street.

Øyvind Wallentinsen

One street is a very small statistical sample, and correlation doesn't equal causation. Our dear Snow didn't really have as solid proof as he believed himself.

Øyvind Wallentinsen

I love how you put the obvious Song of Ice and Fire reference right in the title of the video xD

Øyvind Wallentinsen

Those in the establishment of academics are loathed to be challenged by an upstart. Sadly, not much has changed in that regard.

Michael Jebbett

Oh how ignorant and closed minded people can be, always thinking that the current mindset is right and never exploring outside the box, this is ever so common in history.

Michael William Hamilton II

He. Doctored. For the fucking. QUEEN! I'm pretty damned sure if you guys are willing to let him put her to sleep he knows something!!!! It sometimes pisses me off how damned RECENT alot of our understanding of medical science is while alot of 'doctoring' hadn't yet changed since the sword was the prevalent weapon.

The Cayute

I admit, I forgot that history is more than just war and battles and this episode prove that you don't need to be a brilliant tactician or adept commander to leave a mark on history. Glad to see variety of EH.

Hung Nguyen

FANTASTIC episode! I love the little opener, and again, the art is so snappy and well-paced and -edited that it looks like animation at times. It must have been a staggering amount of work! SO looking forward to the rest of this series. :D :D :D

Amy Reynolds

Awesome! I'm very keen to see the rest of it :D I've recently watched a documentary about the same issue in Amsterdam around 1850, dr Samuel Sarphati eventually managed to convince the city counsel to build pipelines for fresh water, which saved a lot of people. Before Sarphati they would throw feces, garbage and corpses in the canals...and get their drink water from it D: (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Sarphati)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Sarphati)</a>

Aldo de Leeuw

I bet Walpole invented Cholera....

Dave Hoyt

Almost reaching 14K funds. This has worked out quite nicely with John Snow. I'll link to this episode whenever I see the reference used.

Mask

Can John catch a bloody break, please?! Fascinating I didn't know about this stuff and it's awe-inspiring.

Farzad Mansouri

I love the wide variety of history Extra History is covering. I never even heard of the Broad Street Pump before. But, now I'm very interested in seeing what happens next. Keep up the good work.

Todd Carter

PS: Please put The Irish Famine on the list of possibles! It had such a huge impact not just in Ireland but on America too!

Tom Murphy

Great new series... I'm loving that we get lots of Extra History so quickly now... makes me glad I'm a Patreon! Keep up the great work! I didnt like history in school but dare I say it, Extra History has outstripped Extra Credits for me now (and I'm a game designer!) :)

Tom Murphy

Learned about this in History nearly a decade ago and it still resonates with me, probably because it crosses into science. The ridicule that Snow recieved after he repeativly showcases the evidence is boggling but still apparent in society today. If my mind remembers right things get bad before they get better in this story.

Masa

Interesting story. Reminds me of Ignaz Semmelweis. I hope John Snow's ultimate fate was better than Ignaz's or his counterpart from the book :) .

Glad to see a story about early science/medicine. I like history, but science will always be my first love.

Corey Wallen

Interesting story about how much Cholera remains feared and respected: On the Stranmillis Road in Belfast, right next to the Ulster Museum, is Friar's Bush Graveyard. It dates back to the 14th Century and has all sorts of intersting stories, such as the infamous Burke and Hare applying their "trade" there, but what's important is that it's where victims of a Cholera outbreak contemporaneous to the Newcastle outbreak were buried, in the sort of mass grave you associate with the Black Death. A few years ago there was talk of widening the street - it is pretty narrow, especially at the Museum - but they abandoned the plans for fear of having to move the graves and sparking a Cholera outbreak.

RMS Oceanic

Will Ignaz Semmelweis be making an appearance this series?

Brian Rose

Ah! Thanks for the heads up. I'll ping Dan about it.

Extra History

Great first episode! Although you forgot to put up the new credits for this week. It still says the "Drums of War" where "Broad Street Pump" should be.

Zachary Taylor

Thank you! :D

Extra History

Great first episode! I also dabble a bit with making comics. There is a lot to learn about how you visualize the topic. Additionally to the topic itself. Great, great work!

Christian Becker

I'm actually a bit surprised by how many people had already heard of it, but I think it's awesome that so many have! Hope you enjoy the series!

Extra History

This is a story I alread read a lot about. Great choice!!

Christian Becker