Snow's Contemporaries

This portion of the web site contains writings by John Snow's contemporaries who shared similar interests in current medical and public health issues. Some agreed with his interpretations and actions, some took other tacks. Our ultimate goal here is to provide a range of viewpoints on inhalation anesthesia and epidemiology/public health during Snow's lifetime.

Click on the author-title entries below for searchable text of the entire title, or extracts, as noted.


Inhalation Anesthesia

Gazette's Reviewer, "Snow's Ether Manual," London Journal of Medicine (5 November 1847): 812-14.

James Robinson, A Treatise on the Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether for the Prevention of Pain in Surgical Operations (February 1847).

A Provincial Surgeon, "Chloroform as an oral remedy for cholera," Medical Times (14 October 1848): 14.

James Hill, M.D., "Treatment of the cholera by chloroform, etc., in Peckham House (Poor) Asylum," Lancet (4 November 1848): 514.

Jones Lamprey, "Inhaled chloroform as a remedy for cholera," Medical Times (27 January 1849): 286-87.

Editors, "Translation of Aschendorf's report on Death from Chloroform," London Medical Gazette (7 February 1851): 261–62.

Augustin Prichard, "Presidential address to the Bath and Bristol branch of the British Medical Association," British Medical Journal (25 July 1857): 629-32.

Augustin Prichard, "Account of a death from chloroform in Bristol," British Medical Journal (13 March 1858): 207-08.

Augustin Prichard, "Death from Chloroform -- critique of Snow," British Medical Journal (27 March 1858): 252.

Ether Chronicles

18 December 1846
London Medical Gazette (LMG): "Animal magnetism superseded--discovery of a new hypnopoietic."

26 December 1846
Lancet (L): "Correspondents. Dr Boott's important communication."

26 December 1846
Medical Times (MT): "Operations without pain."

1 January 1847
LMG: "Performance of surgical operations during the state of narcotism from ether."

1 January 1847
Pharmaceutical Journal (PharmJ): Reprint of LMG notice, with comment; two surgical operations using ether; and description of an apparatus.

2 January 1847
MT: "Painless surgical operations."

2 January 1847
L: "Original Papers. Surgical operations performed during insensibility, produced by the inhalation of sulphuric ether"; editorial comment.

8 January 1847
LMG: Editorial on the significance of inhaling "the vapour of ether."

9 January 1847
L: "Original papers. Inhalation of ether in surgical operations."

9 January 1847
MT: "Painless Surgical Operations."

16 January 1847
MT: Exhibition of apparatus at Pharmaceutical Society, and painless surgical operations.

16 January 1847
L: Apparatus for ether inhalation and operations without pain.

22 January 1847
LMG: Letters and reports on administering ether vapor.

23 January 1847
L: Snow presents an ether uptake table; operations without pain at St. George's, St. Bartholomew's, and Charing Cross Hospitals; Tracy describes apparatus used in dental extractions.

30 January 1847
L: Snow presents "an apparatus for inhaling the vapour of ether."

1 February 1847
PharmJ: "On the inhalation of the vapour of ether"--Mr. Squire's paper, and secretary's minutes from 13 January meeting.

5 February 1847
LMG: Letter from S. J. Tracy of Bart's on use of ether; painless operations on lower animals and at Lynn; dental operations at Westminster Hospital.

6 February 1847
L: Snow's first operations at St. George's Hospital; use of ether at Cheltenham, Maidstone, and Bristol; letters on ether and etherization.

13 February 1847
L: Robinson "on the inhalation of ether"; discussion of ether inhalation in Paris; operations without pain at St. George's, Middlesex, King's College, Chletenham General Hospitals, and the Royal Cornwall Infirmary; letter from Birmingham; and a synoptic report on etherization to date from a correspondent.

13 February 1847
MT: "Painless surgical operations."

20 February 1847
MT: Review of Robinson's Treatise; "To correspondents"; letters regarding "painless surgical operations."

27 February 1847
L: Discussion of ether at the Medical Society of London; Snow's paper on ether inhalation at the Westminster Medical Society; "operations without pain" at Middlesex Hospital, London Hospital, Leamington Hospital, Stockport Infirmary, and Northern Dispensary; and modification of the Herapath bladder apparatus.

1 March 1847
PharmJ: Owen's ether apparatus; Dr. Snow's apparatus; Jeffreys' apparatus; inhaler used at the London Hospital; inhaler's by Smee and Startin;and correspondence on the attempt to patent the inhalation-ether procedure.

12 March 1847
LMG: Editorial about mixed results of inhalation ether; Snow demonstrates use of ether vapor on a green linnet; "operations under the narcotism of ether" at Buckinghamshire General; letter from John Morgan; and three operations at St. George's Hospital with Snow administering ether.

22 May 1847
L: Snow administers ether, using Sibson's face mask, at St. George's and University College Hospitals.

10 July 1847
L: Snow administers ether at St. George's Hospital, introducing a face mask of his own devising in two operations.

18 December 1847
L: Operations without pain at St. George's Hospital--Snow administers chloroform using ether vaporizer.

Epidemiology and Public Health

James Jameson, Report on the Epidemick Cholera Morbus, as it visited the territories subject to the Presidency of Bengal, in the Years 1817, 1818, and 1819 (Calcutta: Government Gazette Press, 1820).

Frederick Corbyn and Sir Gilbert Blane, "Account of the epidemic spasmodic cholera, which has lately prevailed in India," Medico-Chirurgical Transactions (1821): 110–56.

James Johnson, "To the Editor ["cholera-phobia" as a predisposing cause]," Times (27 June 1831): 6, b-c.

James Johnson, "On the [contingent] contagion of cholera," Times (29 October 1831): 3,f.

James Johnson, "To the Editor [contingent contagion of cholera]," Lancet (3 December 1831): 339.

William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, Report on the Chemical Pathology of the Malignant Cholera (London: Highley, 1832).

Westminster Medical Society, "Discussion on the cholera," Lancet (7 April 1832): 21-24, 51-54, 85-88.

Westminster Medical Society, "Concluding debate on contagion or non-contagion of cholera," Lancet (5 May 1832): 146-50, 156-57.

Edwin Lankester, "Essay on the uncertainty of medical science, and the numerical method of M. Louis," London Medical & Surgical Journal 10 (25 November 1836).: 468-76.

Ero. [pseudonym], "Influenza and cholera [general atmospheric cause]," Lancet (18 March 1837): 115.

William Farr, "Statistical nosology--zymotic diseases," (1842): 119-22.

Dr. Watson, "Lectures: sporadic and epidemic cholera," London Medical Gazette (15 April 1842): 113-20.

Thomas Watson, "Lectures on the principles and practice of physic: #73, Entozoa, etc.," London Medical Gazette (6 May 1842): 225-34.

Editors, "Medium of contagion—lungs, stomach, and skin as contagious portals to the human body; Henle on parasitical organized beings as exciting causes of contagious diseases," Lancet: 111.

James Copland and the Editors of LMG, "Infectious nature of pestilential cholera," London Medical Gazette (18 September 1846): 517-21.

Charles Clark, "Non-contagious nature of cholera, and its treatment," Lancet (May 1846): 651-52.

Thomas Laycock, "Summer diarrhœa, cholera, and typhus fever [local miasmatism]," London Medical Gazette (7 August 1846): 227-35.

James Milman Coley, "Diseases of children--typhus [secondary] fever," London Medical Gazette (15 January 1847): 97-100.

Gavin Milroy, "On the writings of Sydenham," Lancet (16 January 1847): 60-65, ff.

General Board of Health, "The Public Health," Times (7 October 1848): 7a–c.

Editors of the Medical Times, "Asiatic cholera is non-contagious," Medical Times (14 October 1848): 11-12.

J. H. James, "[Infectious] Nature and probable causes of the propagation of cholera maligna," London Medical Gazette (1 December 1848): 929-34.

Dr. Fourcault and Editors of LMG, "Cholera only contagious in its typhoidal form," London Medical Gazette (February 1849): 261.

Dr. Frettenbacher and the Editors of LMG, "Contingent contagious propagation of cholera in Russia," London Medical Gazette (2 February 1849): 217.

Editors of LMG, "Diffusion of cholera by fomites," London Medical Gazette (2 February 1849): 199-202.

Alfred B. Garrod, "On the pathological condition of the blood in cholera ," London Journal of Medicine (May 1849): 409–37.

John Grant to the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, Cholera in St. George's Road and Horsleydown. (9 August 1849).

Editors, "Review of Snow, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera," London Medical Gazette (14 September 1849): 466-70.

Frederick Brittan, "Report of a series of microscopical investigations on the pathology of cholera," London Medical Gazette (28 September 1849): 530-42.

William Budd, Malignant Cholera: Its Mode of Propagation and Its Prevention (London: Churchill, October 1849).

Joseph G. Swayne, "An account of certain organic cells peculiar to the evacuations of cholera," Lancet (6 October 1849): 368-71.

William Budd, "To the editor," Lancet (13 October 1849): 399.

Joseph G. Swayne, "Missing illustrations from previous issue," Lancet (13 October 1849): 398-99.

A member of the Bristol Microscopical Society, "The Bristol Microscopical Society versus the President of the Microscopical Society of London," Lancet (27 October 1849): 460.

John Sutherland, "Appendix A. Report on the Epidemic Cholera of 1848-49 [Entire Report]," (1850)

John Sutherland, Extracts from Appendix (A) to the Report of the General Board of Health on the Epidemic Cholera of 1848 & 1849--"Report by Dr Sutherland." (1850).

General Register Office [William Farr], Report on the mortality of cholera in England, 1848-49 (London: H.M.S.O., 1852).

D. D. Main, "The Water Supply at Newcastle," Times (10 November 1853): 5.

William Farr, "Cholera and the water supply." Supplement to the Weekly Return (19 November 1853).

William Farr, "State of the London Water Supply." Supplement to the Weekly Return (3 December 1853).

Edmund Cooper, Report to the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers on the house-drainage in St. James, Westminster during the recent cholera outbreak (London: Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, 22 September 1854).

A. P. Stewart, "Cholera in St. James's," Medical Times and Gazette (30 September 1854): 351.

Rev. Henry Whitehead, The Cholera in Berwick Street, 2nd ed. (London: Hope & Co., October 1854).

A. P. Stewart, "Cholera in the Middlesex Hospital," Medical Times and Gazette (7 October 1854): 363-65.

Registrar-General, "Influence of the waters of London on the mortality of cholera," Association Medical Journal (27 October 1854): 983-84.

Benjamin W. Richardson, "Water supply in relation to health and disease [review essay, including MCC2]," Journal of Public Health, and Sanitary Review (1855): 130-40.

Edmund A. Parkes, "Review of Snow's Mode of Communication of Cholera," British and Foreign Medical Review (April 1855): 449-63.

Cholera Inquiry Committee (CIC), Report on the Cholera Outbreak in the Parish of St. James, Westminster, during the Autumn of 1854 (London: J. Churchill, July 1855).

Henry Whitehead, "Report of his special investigation of Broad Street," in the Report on the Cholera Outbreak in the Parish of St. James, Westminster, during the Autumn of 1854 (London: July 1855).: 121-69.

General Board of Health. Medical Council, Report of the Committee for Scientific Inquiries in Relation to the Cholera-Epidemic of 1854 (London: 14 July 1855).

General Board of Health: Donald Fraser, Thomas Hughes, and J. M. Ludlow, Report on the Outbreak of Cholera in the Sub-districts of Berwick Street, Golden Square, and St. Anne's (London: HMSO, 26 July 1855).

General Board of Health. Medical Council, Supplement to the Report of the Committee for Scientific Inquiries in Relation to the Cholera-Epidemic of 1854 (London: 26 July 1855).

General Board of Health. Medical Council, Appendix to the Report of the Committee for Scientific Inquiries in Relation to the Cholera-Epidemic of 1854 (London: 26 July 1855).

General Board of Health, Medical Council, Report to Sir Benjamin Hall in Relation to the Cholera Epidemic of 1854 (London: HMSO, 26 July 1855).

J. A. Hingeston, "Atmosphere in relation to disease [general miasmatism]," Journal of Public Health, and Sanitary Review (December 1855): 351-59.

Dr. Mühry, "Miasmatic and contagious diseases--the distinctions between them--and their geographical relations," Edinburgh Medical Journal (January 1856): 657.

Sir James Kay Shuttleworth, "An address delivered at the School of Medicine, Chatham-street, Manchester," Lancet (2 February 1856): 115-22.

John Simon, Report on the Last Two Cholera-Epidemics of London, as Affected by the Consumption of Impure Water (London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 13 May 1856).

Editors, "Endorsement of John Simon's report on cholera mortality in South London in 1853-54," Times (25 June 1856): 8, cols. E-F.

J. M. Coley, M.D., "On adulteration of bread with alum," Lancet (22 August 1857): 205-06.

Board of Health, "Epidemic cholera," Times (6 October 1857): 4, cols. C-D.

BMJ, "The cholera," British Medical Journal (10 October 1857): 848-49.

Journal, "Extract from Weekly Return on cholera in West Ham," Medical Times and Gazette (31 October 1857): 457.

Editors, "The cholera at West Ham -- a critique of Snow," British Medical Journal (31 October 1857): 910.

Editor, "Endorsement of Snow's hypothesis on the recent cholera outbreak in West Ham," Medical Times and Gazette (7 November 1857): 479.

Editors of SR&JPH, "Epitome of sanitary literature [Pinkerton & Lankester]," Sanitary Review and Journal of Public Health (1858): 138-39.

Benjamin Ward Richardson, "Investigation of epidemics by experiment -- paper delivered at the Epidemiological Society (of London)," British Medical Journal (13 March 1858): 213-14.

Editors, "Sanitary reforms best preservative against cholera and other infectious diseases," Times (19 August 1865): 8, cols. D-E.

Medical Cartography

Edmund Cooper, Report to the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers on the house-drainage in St. James, Westminster during the recent cholera outbreak (London: Metropolitan Commission of Sewers, 22 September 1854).

Cholera Inquiry Committee, Plan Shewing the Ascertained Deaths from Cholera in part of the Parishes of St. James, Westminster, and St. Anne, Soho, during the Summer and Autumn of 1854 (London: J. Churchill, July 1855).