The Map That Stopped a Pandemic

Morning Cartographers!

200 years ago, in London, people were dying left, right, and center from this mysterious disease called Cholera.

But no one knows how it's spreading, where it's coming from, or why some people get it while others don’t.

All they know is that there's a 50% chance they’ll just straight up die if they do get it.

And usually pretty quickly…

See, Cholera forces your body to flush out as much water as possible—up to 40 pints a day…

This causes…

• your eyes to sink into your skull

• your blood to thicken

• your body to turn slightly blue

• And A LOT of vomiting and diarrhea

Yuck… you’ll end up looking like this:

So scientists try to figure out what is causing this mysterious disease.

After about 20 seconds of thinking, they decide it must be spreading through the bad air.

(this is totally wrong btw)

It isn’t until a guy called John Snow comes up with a profound idea:

A shocking revelation!

The trouble is, all those scientist guys ignore his theory in favor of their “bad air” explanation.

Snow needs better proof.

So, he goes from door to door, recording whether people had cholera or not.

Then he makes a list of everyone with cholera and where they live, and plots it all on a single map:

This is where Snow makes an astonishing discovery.

Pretty much all the recorded cases occur around the Broad Street water pump.

The further away from the pump, the fewer deaths he recorded.

So he thinks Cholera must be coming from the pump, and takes his map to the local health commission.

They are finally convinced to remove the handle from the pump.

And literally immediately, the cholera cases start drying up.

So what was wrong with that one pump? All the others were fine.

Well, it turns out that it all stemmed from one baby living at number 40.

This baby's mother had been washing diapers in the house's underground cesspit.

But the thing is, there was a crack in said cesspit that led straight into the Broad Street water supply.

Ughhhhhh…. Yuck.

Stay Cute,
Henry & Dylan 🌈

P.S if you enjoyed this lesson, forward it to a friend.

If you’re that sexy friend, subscribe here.