Extracts from Medical Journals on London Water Supply

"Public Hygiene." LMG 20 (1837): 402–05. [pure water is 3rd on the list]

Westminster Medical Society–21 February 1838. Lancet 1 (1837–38): 826. [Dr. Johnson was back again at the podium, discussing a company recently formed to keep the Thames water pure by building sewers to divert all fecal contaminants from the river, delivering the sewage instead to reservoirs where it could be recovered in the form of manure for gardening.  There was extended discussion from the members, comparing this scheme to plans under way in several Continental cities, and mentioning in passing that, "The idea of continually feeding on the product of feculent matter was revolting" (826).  Several alluded to the ill health which was almost certain to result from the evaporation of gases from these reservoirs of sewage.  Mr. Costello added, "regarding the purity of the Thames water he might mention, that he had seen an apparatus for filtering, by which, in twenty minutes, as much water might be rendered perfectly pure as would fill a common–sized lock in a canal; this apparatus had been offered for sale to the various Water Companies in London, and none of them would purchase it!" (826).]

"Putrescent Exhalations." LMG 22 (1838): 783–84. [issue of 11 August]

"Some Statistical Records of the Progress of the Asiatic Cholera over the Globe." M–CTrans 27 (1844): 405–31. [William J. Merriman, Physician to the Westminster General Dispensary; read 25 June 1844; structure of argument and reasoning similar to what JS will use later. After describing the "progress" of cholera between 1817 and 1831, Merriman summarizes: "The opinion of the members of the Central Board, and also of many other practitioners, was, that the cholera was propagated by infection or contagion, and was not epidemic" (411). Thinks this true in most cases; "nevertheless, it appears also incontrovertible, that the number of victims in each place depended very materially upon the local peculiarities of dirt and damp, want of ventilation, irregular and depraved habits of living, and possibly, of the weather" (411–12)–ie., there were determining environmental contingencies and predisposing social causes. Mentions that cholera frequently appeared at seaports, canals and rivers; "doubtless we have here all the requisites for the conveyance of contagion, but the dampness, the dirt and irregular living of the inhabitants must have assisted this contagion, if contagion it was, distinguished from a general aerial influence. . ." (412). Similarly in mining and manufacturing districts, where "want of ventilation, and irregular living, prevail, and must have exerted their influence" (412). Compares two extremes of mortality, "which can only be explained, I confidently expect, by the peculiarity of situation [environmental contingency], or by there being a difference in the character of the inhabitants [predisposing causes]" (414). After many tables, "infection" used synonymously with contagion (427), an environmental contingenc–"Point Frederick, near the dock–yard, the air of which was vitiated by the rotting ships" (428), different genera of cholera (mild and dangerous forms; 428), use of saline transfusions in hopeless cases (429), and "a ferruginous taste in the air" as indicative of cholera (429).]

"Filtering of Water."  Lancet 2 (1845): 550. [in Nov issue, description of the sand/gravel filtration system devised in Nottingham. Goes on to say that "self–cleaning filters" have been erected elsewhere that provides pure water for 50K inhabitants for cost of £800. "What a contrast do these inventions, by which water supplied to a whole town is purified by one operation, present, when compared with the existing system by which only the comparatively rich can afford to purchase a private filter."] [the journal was unaware of JS' suggestions for home–distilling water at minimal expense]

On the Health of Towns, as influenced by Defective Cleansing and Drainage. LMG 38 (1846): 169. [review of book by W. A. Guy. Part of the group who advocated using urban sewage for improving productivity of land. "There can be no doubt . . . that defective drainage is one of the most fertile sources of disease in all large towns." Suggests using water to carry off excreta]

"State of the Public Health in the Metropolis." LMG 38 (1846): 240. ["Some alarm has been created by the circulation of a report that the Asiatic cholera had made it appearance in London. . . . this rumour is unfounded. . . . [summer] cholera and diarrhœa are and have been for some weeks past very prevalent; but there are always one or more fatal diseases peculiar to every season, and the spring excess in deaths from hooping–cough and measles has now been exchanged for a summer excess in deaths from diarrhœa and cholera, the former principally among young children." Then shows table that the majority of deaths (between 6–10:1) are due to diarrhœa, not summer cholera. Note the Sydenham/humoral assumptions about seasonal affective diseases]

Editorial–"sanatory reform." Lancet 1 (1847): 101. [23 January; connected to health of towns commission, with "the Asiatic cholera creeping . . . towards Europe" adding to the import of doing something soon.]

Editorial–Health of Towns Bill. LMG 39 (1847): 634–39. [9 April issue; overall endorses Lord Morpeth's bill in HoC, although thinks statistical argument for a general increase in longevity is flawed by figures that do not take into account relative ages. Also suggests the expansion of bill's purview to include small towns and villages. Gives historical overview of run–up to the bill: Sanitary Commission report of 1843, which "proved that in the metropolis, and in all great towns, the mortality was excessively high, compared with that which prevailed in country districts, and that this excess of mortality was really due to the prevalence of diseases arising from causes which might be removed by sanitary legislation. Nifty quote from Southwood Smith on the "filth" hypothesis for prevalence of fevers. Also has some mapping–"if you trace down the fever districts on a map, and then compare that map with the map of the Commissioners of Sewers . . ." (635). Also approvingly quotes from report on correlation between accumulation of organic matter in crowded areas, increase in temperature, and "epidemics of diarrhœa, dysentery, and cholera" (636)–ie., the presence of  "nuisances . . . gives the disease [cholera] breath, life, and being" (636). Does endorse sanitary legislation as likely to reduce "the great foci of zymotic diseases" but not to expect such legislation to save as many lives or increase life–span the way some of its advocates suppose (638).]

Medical Intelligence–Health of Towns Bill. LMG 39 (1847): 875. [14 May issue; Lord Morpeth will postpone parts of bill dealing with metropolis at another session.]

Editorial–Asiatic cholera coming, but anti–sanitary views predominate." LMG 40 (1847): 592. [1 October issue; reports cholera has reached Poland, and moving northwesterly direction. "With greatly augmented mortality from zymotic diseases, and the unchecked continuance of causes which promote this mortality, it is obvious that the metropolis is but ill prepared to resist the invasion of this formidable malady. . . . Anti–sanitary views are at present triumphant. . . . The Government may appoint Boards of Health, but so long as crowded streets are undrained, unsewered, and unventilated, their efforts to avert the attacks of cholera will be futile. All this was as well known in 1831 as it us at present; yet sixteen years have been suffered to elapse, and the only practical step actually taken, has been the appointment of a committee, within the last few weeks, to inquire into the special means requisite for the sanitary improvement of the metropolis! . . ."]

Editorial–Sanitary Legislation. LMG 40 (1847): 761–64.  [29 October; cheered that "the prospect of a visitation from the cholera" is strengthening the position of the "Health of Towns' party" in Parliament, and that the "Filth of Towns' party" is unable to block all sanitary legislation (761). Singles out Dr. Hector Gavin's pamphlet on "Unhealthiness of London, and the Necessity of Remedial Measures" and prints extensive extracts from it. Emphasis on higher mortality in towns than country, and thinks deaths in towns are under–reported. Suggests a "rough plan of the metropolitan districts, shaded according to the intensity of the mortality" (763), and also feature Gavin's "graphic description of this disease–mist" that hangs over London (762). Journal clearly aligned with Health of Towns party, and pushing for sanitary legislation as an antidote to cholera mortality.]

Editorial–Sanitary condition of English towns. LMG 40 (1847): 808–11. [5 November; riffs on the recent publication of the Quarterly Return of the Registrar–General on this subject. Cites statistics, which for London shows no improvement in health. Then quotes from the Report (Farr): "All the diseases of the zymotic class–such as small–pox, measles, scarlatina, typhus, influenza, and cholera–have the remarkable property of becoming epidemic. After certain intervals of time, in which they are fatal to a smaller or greater number of persons in different places and seasons, great multitudes are suddenly attached and destroyed in a given locality; the disease in this intense form involves the neighbouring population, spreads around the whole region, and sometimes travels over the tracks of human intercourse through the world. Little is known of the immediate chemical or vital causes of epidemics; but in given circumstances, where many are immersed in an atmosphere of decaying organic matter, some zymotic disease is invariably produced; where there is starvation, it is most frequently typhus; cold, influenza; heat, it is cholera, yellow fever, plague. . . . A city breathing an atmosphere perfectly pure may not be exempt from every epidemic; but observation has shown that such irruptions are infrequent, and fatal to few persons of strength or stamina. Internal sanatory arrangements, and not quarantine or sanatory lines, are the safeguards of nations. A salubrious city in an epidemic . . . is exposed to danger and injury, but not to the same extent as the present cities of Europe . . ." (810).]

Review of The Philanthropist: a Sanatory, Miscellaneous, and Popular Monthly Journal: LMG 40 (1847): 899. [19 November issue.]

Review of Journal of Public Health: or, Monthly Record of Sanitary Improvement. LMG 40 (1847): 899. [19 November issue.]

Editorial. Sanitary Reform and the Medical Profession. Lancet 2 (1847): 578–79. [27 November; "With cholera advancing . . . all the medical advocates of sanitary reform should exert themselves with zeal to cement the union between sanitary measures and the profession of medicine, so that the latter may receive an accession of strength and influence from the enactment of sanitary laws" (578). Also prints copy of circular sent by Metropolitan Sanitary Commission to Poor Law Union medical officers, asking "what provisions are made in your district for the prompt removal of filth and refuse, and the due supply of water, and the condition as to cleanliness of the interior of the houses in which you have found sickness to be most prevalent" (579).]

"Medical News. Asiatic Cholera." Lancet 2 (1847): 637. [11 December issue; abstract of first report of the Sanitary Commissioners, which recommends replacement of Metropolitan Commissions of Sewers with one sanitary commission for entire London, except the city corporation.]

"Medical News. Government Precautions against the Cholera." Lancet 2 (1847): 664. [18 December issue; "In the House of Commons, on Friday last, in answer to an hon. member, Lord Morpeth said, that the Act which had been passed in 1832, for the purpose of preventing the spread of cholera, was still in force, and on the first alarm which should arise of the existence of cholera among us, would be put in operation by means of proclamations directing the formation of boards of health. It was at present under consideration whether the form of proclamation which had been used on the former occasion should be modified or not."]

Editorial on need for purer water for London. Lancet 1 (1848): 103–05. [issue of 22 January; lays out where each water company draws its water and the number of houses it serves, and where, each day. Applauds Lambeth Water Works decision to move its source to Ditton, and urges Parliament to require other companies to do likewise; pre–1852 act]

Editorial, applauding Lord Morpeth for introducing a sanitary reform bill. Lancet 1 (1848): 216. [19 February; missing several important elements, including "the graveyard nuisance prevention," but a step in needed direction. Then reminds readers of journal's position that "public health is a department of the profession of medicine, and that State Medicine can never be efficiently administered unless a large share of its control be placed in the hands of responsible medical men. . . .  And shall we hand over the sanitary control of the sewers, and the water courses, to those who have brought tem into their present infamous condition?"]

Westminster Medical Society–18 March 1848. Lancet 1 (1848): 341–43; LMG 41 (1848): 559–62. [ Dr. Ogier Ward reading paper, "Contagion of Cholera."; he considers the recent report of the Sanitary Commission, in which Southwood Smith & Mr. Owen declared "that the cholera was not contagious, even ‘contingently' . . . though when the subject had been discussed before the Westminster Medical Society in 1831, the arguments of the contagionists were so powerful as to compel their opponents to admit that cholera was contagious ‘contingently,' if not absolutely" 559–60). Ogier Ward accuses the commissioners of stacking the case for anticontagionism by virtue of the witnesses they chose and the questioning. Then he goes through all the arguments for contagion (by persons, fomites, and infectious via "contagious miasmata . . . thrown off from the body of the diseased person by the secretions and the exhalations of the lungs, skin, &c" (561)), plus its contingency–"all miasmata are volatile, and are suspended in the atmosphere, and follow its movements. In damp, foggy weather . . ." (561). A Mr. Hancock counters with own experiences (sitting in a cholera hospital overnight and dissecting bodies of cholera victims) showing that it's non–contagious; Lankester rejoinder is that just one certain instance of contagion should settle the dispute; others contribute, but no mention of JS]

Westminster Medical Society–25 March, 1 and 8 April. Lancet 1 (1848): 451–52. [continuation of discussion of contagion]

"Asiatic cholera in the Metropolis." MT 18 (1848): 25. [ed from 13 May, noting two confirmed cases in London]

"Indications of the Approach of Cholera." MT 18 (1848): 227. [miasmatic and sanitarian editorial of 5 August; predisposing social causes accepted; seems to be humoral in thinking that intemperate diet could push simple "gastric disturbance" into a "severe attack of cholera."]

"Cholera.–Preventive Qualities of Carbonic Acid Gas and Charcoal." Lancet 2 (1848): 165. [5 August issue; rec that water companies filter drinking water through a bed of charcoal "to counteract any predisposition to this scourge."]

Editorial on parallels between 1831–32 and 1848 cholera. LMG 42 (1848): 582–85. [6 October; shows its contagionist stance with a signature word (progress) in opening sentence: "One of the most remarkable facts connected with the Asiatic Cholera is, that, in its present progress throughout Europe, it should follow so nearly the course which it took in 1830–31." A few paragraphs later: "It is worthy of remark that in 1830–1, as in 1847–8, the cholera has manifested itself chiefly in the great lines of intercourse along frequented roads, and the banks of navigable rivers, attacking chiefly towns and cities where the population was most dense, producing the largest amount of mortality in its first onset, then slowly diminishing in severity, and finally disappearing to reappear in a neighbouring locality" (583). [N.B. that anti–contagionists could interpret this remark as supporting their position, and that the first onset argument is not the usual evidence cited by contagionists] "This comparatively slow progress, together with its advance in the face of prevailing winds, is very unlike the usual mode of diffusion of a purely epidemic disease" (583)–[now back to a typical line of contagionist reasoning]. Suggests origin of the premonitory diarrhea hypothesis–observations by Russian practitioners. "All kinds of treatment have failed to diminish the number of deaths; and the recoveries in this stage [the second, in which "art is powerless"] are probably more to be ascribed to the innate energies of the constitution–to the vis vitæ in combating the poison–than to any of the supposed remedial measures adopted" (585). Offers suggestions for the premonitory stage, but emphasizing that since opium is both "useful and popular" medical men should be consulted–then follow several bedside medicine assumptions (age and other circumstances in determining dosages, role of diet, keep warm, avoid wet or damp).]

CBH–instructions . . . respecting the treatment of cholera." LMG 42 (1848): 595–98. [Emphasizes "the important difference that exists between Cholera and Fever [?? influenza], with respect to the mode of propagation of these epidemic diseases. Fever, it is well known, is highly contagious, or easily propagated from one individual to another, while all experience shows that Cholera is rarely, if ever, contagious" (595)—> no need to separate sick from well, for healthy to shun the sick, to set up cholera hospitals when most can be treated in own dwellings. A bit later: "Cholera being rarely, if ever, contagious, there is not the risk of infection, as in Fever . . ." (595). Then how to respond to attacks: "In nearly all cases of Cholera, there are two stages of the disease; the first being merely Diarrhœa, or simple looseness of the bowels; the second being the stage of Collapse or Blue Cholera, marked by cramps, failure of the circulation, lividity of the skin, cold, clammy perspiration, and all the other well–known symptoms of the disease. In the first stage of the disease, medical treatment is frequently successful: in the second stage too often of no avail" (597). Lists various preservatives, including "Be very careful that the water used as drink is of good quality." But their concluding recommendations leaves out water: "In fine, shun damp places, particularly for sleeping; breathe pure air; observe cleanliness; keep the surface of the body warm; avoid fatigues, and excesses of all kinds; use wholesome plain food; live temperately; preserve, as much as possible, a state of general good health, and you will have adopted the best safeguards against Cholera."]

RCP suggestions for measures adopted respecting prevention of Asiatic cholera. LMG 42 (1848): 815–16. [The College's Cholera Committee was unwilling to take a stance on contagion/non–contagion, but noted that "Cholera appears to have been very rarely communicated by personal intercourse" (815). "the disease has almost invariably been most destructive in the dampest and filthiest parts of the towns it has visited." Hence, sanitary measures including improving state of sewers and drains, removals of "decaying vegetable and animal matter," ventilation, etc. Similar preventative measures as suggested by BoH, but cannot agree on a "uniform plan of treatment." Set up Cholera Hospitals to assist the poor (not because of fears of infection) in the event the visitation is serious.]

"On the Production of Cholera by Insufficient Drainage." Lancet 2 (1849): 232–34. [by Alfred Smee, FRS. Doesn't think cholera follows water, citing New River; baffling reasoning]

"South London Medical Society." LMG 44 (1849): 429–33. [mtg at which Dr. Lloyd spoke about effects of impure water; cited by JS in MCC2, 30.]

Editorial on London water supply. Lancet 2 (1849): 298–99. [15 September]

"Proposed New Society for the Investigation of Cholera and Other Epidemic Diseases." Lancet 2 (1849): 301–02. [15 Sept issue; signed "Pater"]

Review of Thomas Shapter, The History of the Cholera in Exeter, in 1832. London: Churchill, 1849. [8vo., pp. 297] Lancet 2 (1849): 317. [issue of 22 Sept]; LMG 44 (1849): 500–03.

Westminster Medical Society. Lancet 2 (1849): 401–04. [at first meeting of session, 6 Oct, Dr. Webster delivered a paper, "Observations of the Health of the Metropolis during the last six months, more especially in reference to the recent epidemic of cholera." Mention is made of pure water (but not JS's hypothesis) and of the fungi theory of Brittan. Comment by Lankester; none by JS.]

Editorial on need for pure water, etc. Lancet 2 (1849): 435. [sanitarian]

Editorial. LMG 44 (1849): 672–75. [applauds action of the Sanitary Committee of Nottingham; features the provision of "the almost unlimited supply of wholesome filtered water, obtained from the river Trent, and copious springs in the neighborhood" (672); cited by JS in PMCC, 926.]

"Further Remarks on the Proposed New Society for the Investigation of Cholera and Other Epidemic Diseases." Lancet 2 (1849): 592.[signed J. H. Tucker, 17 Nov]

"The Cholera and the Districts of the Metropolis." MT 21 (1850): 170. [issue of 2 March, with ref to diagram in the weekly return that compares altitude levels and water supply of housing on the two sides of the Thames, including statement that southern side has water chiefly drawn from below Battersea]

"Epidemiological Society." MT 22 (1850): 132–33. [founding meeting; JS not among first list of officers]

Review of Report of the General Board of Health on the Epidemic Cholera in 1848 and 1849.  Med. Times 22 (1850): 315–17.

"Medical Topography of London." MT 3 (1851): 64–65.

"Water Supply for the Metropolis." MT 3 (1851): 70–71. [editorial, 19 July]

"Prevention of Cholera: A Governmental Duty." MT 3 (1851): 100–01. [editorial, 26 July]

"Water Supply for the Metropolis." MT 3 (1851): 128–29. [editorial, 2 August]

"Metropolitan Water Supply." MT 3 (1851): 260–61. [editorial, 6 Sept]

"Water Supply for the Metropolis." MTG 4 (1852): 163–64. [editorial, Saturday 14 Feb]

"Sanitary Movement." MTG 6 (1853): 92–93. [editorial; refers to 1849 cholera epidemic]

Review of Thomas Shapter, Sanitary Measures and their Results; being a Sequel to "The History of Cholera in Exeter in 1832, 32 pp., Churchill, 1853. MTG 6 (1853): 298–99.

"The Cholera. The Laws of Cholera." MTG 7 (1853): 429–30. [editorial of 22 October. "The Thames and its tributaries furnish all the illustrations it will be necessary to present for the purpose of showing the inseparable connexion between polluted waters and the plentiful diffusion of choleraic poison."]

"The Cholera and the Drainage of London." MTG 7 (1853): 455. [editorial of 29 October]

"Clergy versus Cholera." MTG 7 (1853): 480–81. [editorial of 5 Nov, indicating active work by clergymen in behalf of sanitary reform, but institutional lethargy]

"The Epidemiological Society and Cholera." MTG 7 (1853): 504–06. [editorial of 12 Nov; lists questions one should ask "regarding the origin, propagation, pathology, and treatment of epidemic cholera"]

"Report of the Registrar–General for the Quarter ending September, 1853." MTG 7 (1853): 506–08.

"Cholera and the Water Supply." MTG 7 (1853): 535–36. [extracts from paper read at Pathological Soc of Newcastle, 27 October, about Newcastle's water supply; in 19 November issue]

"Cholera and the London Water Supply." MTG 7 (1853): 558–59. [editorial of 26 Nov, with citations from Farr's Supplement to the Weekly Return, and a table]

"The Cholera." MTG 7 (1853): 606–08; 632–35 [editorials of 10 Dec, commenting on Dr. Mac again and also printing "Extracts from Mr. Simon's Report" on London sanitation; second extract from Simon includes discussion of "London Pump–Water"]

"Report of the Outbreak of Cholera in the Borough Gaol of Newcastle–on–Tyne." MTG 7 (1853): 627–28. [by Greenhow, in 17 Dec. issue]

"The London Water Supply and the Cholera." MTG 8 (1854): 42. [editorial of 14 January]

"Mode of Communication." MTG 8 (1854): 303. [phrase is used in an article about a case of equina]

"The London Water Supply and the Cholera." MTG 8 (1854): 88–89. [editorial of 28 January]

"Statistics of the Cases of the Cholera Epidemic, 1853, Treated at the Newcastle Dispensary." MTG 8 (1854): 106–08, 129–31, 182–83. [J. S. Pearse and Jeffery A. Marston; "Dr. Snow thinks, that the introduction of some of the excretions into the system may propagate the disorder; hence we may here incidentally mention, that one of the dispensers drank (by mistake) some rice–water evacuations, without any injurious effects whatever" (182).]

"The London Water Supply and the Cholera." MTG 8 (1854): 137. [editorial of 11 February]

"The Cholera." MTG 8 (1854): 408–09. [ed of 22 April, noting appearance of two cases of cholera and bemoaning how little in the way of prevention is undertaken by various authorities (including the BoH. Advocates govt relief for the poor and various measures such as cleansing streets, etc. Other than "the utility of fresh air and pure water" there is no specific endorsement of JS's theory or recommendations.]

"Water Supply of London and Cholera." MTG 9 (1854): 427–28. [issue of 21 October, extract from what may be Reg–Gen report, but mentions Mr. Glaisher; cf. 1849 and part of 1854; "The impure water of the Thames is still supplied by the Southwark Company. . . and the deaths by cholera are already more numerous than they were in 1849; while in the parish of Lambeth Company, the mortality is much lower than it was in 1849." "The pipes of the two Companies which were once in active competition often run down the same streets, and through the same sub–districts, so that alternate streets or houses in the same sub–districts are supplied with the pure and the impure water." etc]

"Influence of the Waters of London on the Mortality of Cholera." AMJ (1854): 983–84. [extracts from Reg–Gen Rpt of 14 October]

Medical Society of London. MTG 9 (1854): 452–53. [discussion at 21 Oct mtg about cholera, with Richardson beginning with ref to Buchanan's exp on injecting water into cellular tissue of cholera victims; Lankester makes reference to Snow's investigation of Br. St, but that his theory is vitiated by a solid [sic] brick lining of the well; shows himself to be an effluvialist.]

"Parliament Bills and Returns. III. Metropolis Water." JPH&SR 1 (1855): 83–85. [Daily supply of water in 1853 by nine water cos. "The main proportion of this water is derived from the Thames. . . . It would seem . . . that the Thames, after all, is the only safe surce of supply as regards quantity, and that a more correct application of the engineer's and chemist's knowledge would speedily render this supply equally safe in respect to quality" (84–85).]

"Sanitary Condition of Lambeth Square and the Surrounding Districts." JPH&SR 1 (1855): 178–79. [abstract of report dated 11 October 1854 to GBH by Dr. D. Fraser, Superintending Medical Inspector. "This district is partly supplied by the Vauxhall Water Company, and the water is of a poisonous character, full of dirt and animal matter; many of the water–butts are kept in such a bad state, and placed so near the privies, as to render the water unfit for drinking use" (179).]

"Report of the Committee for Scientific Inquiries of the Medical Council of the General Board of Health, in relation to the Cholera Epidemic of 1854." JPH&SR 1 (1855): 318. ["Meteorological observations accord well with the view that the channel of cholera poison is the lungs." Dismiss JS's "exclusive theory." Fence–sit on contagion/non–contagion.]

"Cholera–Water Supply." JPH&SR 1 (1855): 396. [notice of publication of CIC's Report: "they have agreed to the opinion that by far the most probable cause of the outbreak of cholera in St. James, was the drinking of impure water, derived from the Broad–street pump, of cholera notoriety. This, as most of our readers are aware, was Dr. Snow's original hypothesis. (Para) The labours of the Rev. Mr. Whitehead in this extended inquiry are beyond all praise."]

"The Cholera Epidemic of 1854." JPH&SR 1 (1855): 397–99. [Notice of pub of Report of the CSI of the GBH, with extracts from Dr. Thomson on atmosphere in a cholera ward and Hassall on water supply and pathology of cholera ("rice water discharge, which even while enclosed in the intestines, swarmed with vibriones, the presence of which exhibits at least a proneness to rapid decomposition" (399).]

"The Propagation of Cholera." JPH&SR 1 (1855): 402–03. ["The theory first advanced by Dr. Snow regarding the mode of propagation of cholera is, with certain modifications, the value of which has been already discussed in this Journal (Richardson's review??), becoming very widely known and accepted" (402). Then mentions Alison in Edinburgh and gives abstract of Pettenkofer's Mode de Propagation du Cholera on the 1854 epidemic in Bavaria.]

"Reports on the Water Supply of London." JPH&SR 1 (1855): 420–21. ["London water is no longer directly contaminated with London sewage, the companies having obtained their supplies from a point above Kingston–on–Thames" (420). Then proceed with an inorganic analysis of West Middlesex Co water.]

"Impure Water a Source of Disease." MTG 13 (1856): 15–16. [ed of 5 July, referring to Simon's report on cholera and impure water in 1854. Rehearses conclusions that support MCC2, but eds. refrain from complete endorsement of Snow's "hypothetical views" because they believe that miasma must be a co–factor.]

"Drainage Difficulties." MTG 13 (1856): 65–66. [editorial of 19 July; "the whole common sense of the country is now aroused to the filthiness of polluting the streams by town sewage."]

Sewage difficulties. MTG 13 (1856): 418–19. [ed of 25 Oct, about waste of time on stemming flow of sewage into the Thames]

"The Water Supply of London."  JPH&SR 2 (1856): 391–92. [notes that of the 9 cos that supply London in 1856, 5 still derive supply from the Thames. But sources have been moved, and amount of organic matter in water of all cos is diminished when compared with 1851 supply.]

Metropolitan Water Supply. MTG 13 (1856): 533. [brief report on organic matter/water company]

"Sanitary Self–Government." MTG 15 (1857): 196–97. [editorial, 22 August; sanitarian perspective in urging Parliament to check, "by all known means, the spread of disease by the removal of nuisances . . . . it is better to destroy the germs of disease, which are always too thickly sown among our crowded population, than to attack the hydra–headed monster of Cholera or Typhus when it has stalked over the length and breadth of the land  . . ." (197).]

"Notice of cholera at West Ham." MTG 15 (1857): 457. [31 Oct issue, the one after JS's article appeared; extracts from Weekly return, with belief that it and two other locations "were occasioned by the use of impure pump–water at the seat of the outbreak."]

London Water. MTG 16 (1858): 207. [Feb number, on impurities found]

Sewage of Towns. MTG 16 (1858): 508. [May number, commenting on report from commission]

Composition of water supplied by London water cos. MTG 16 (1858): 618.

Announcement of Snow's death on 16 June. MTG 16 (1858): 633–34. ["our distinguished and estimable brother, Dr. Snow."]

"Disinfection of London Sewage." MTG 17 (1858): 151–52. [7 August issue; ltr to ed by Dr. A. Bernays]

"Epidemics and their Everyday Causes." SR&JPH 4 (1858): 256. [essay by W. I. Cox, surgeon: "the dependence of outbreaks of cholera on the use of foul water, is now too well known to be questioned, even by the most skeptical on such points." But seems to mean water fouled by excess of organic matter, including human egesta–not from cholera victims specifically.]