Unknown Hero: Dr. John Snow
There are people out there who change our world, and we have no idea
who they are. I intend on highlighting them with "Unknown Hero"
postings.
For hard-core HAWT readers, you've seen this Unknown Hero before in Disease: Cholera. Dr. John Snow was a physician in London in the 19th century who was one of those people who looked at the standard, Medieval medical practices and said, "WTF?" Just like that. W (pause) T (pause) F (pause) (question mark) He's a man who helped shape history and set modern medicine on its way. Anyone who's gone under the knife or gotten sick owes a toast to him. That should be all of you humans. This is John:
Born in 1813 in York, England, he had a pretty standard route to doctor-dom, which means he was a surgeon's apprentice at age 14. How times change. I mean... we don't let 14 year-olds be baristas now, much less assist on heart surgeries. By the time he was a full-on doctor, at age 25 at Westminster Hospital, he was well on his way to changing the world, medical style.
For hard-core HAWT readers, you've seen this Unknown Hero before in Disease: Cholera. Dr. John Snow was a physician in London in the 19th century who was one of those people who looked at the standard, Medieval medical practices and said, "WTF?" Just like that. W (pause) T (pause) F (pause) (question mark) He's a man who helped shape history and set modern medicine on its way. Anyone who's gone under the knife or gotten sick owes a toast to him. That should be all of you humans. This is John:
Born in 1813 in York, England, he had a pretty standard route to doctor-dom, which means he was a surgeon's apprentice at age 14. How times change. I mean... we don't let 14 year-olds be baristas now, much less assist on heart surgeries. By the time he was a full-on doctor, at age 25 at Westminster Hospital, he was well on his way to changing the world, medical style.
Dr. Snow's first interest was anesthesia. Snow was assisting surgeries as young as age 14, and he saw there were no standard measurements or procedures for ether or chloroform administration. Just... um... huff up. Of course, there were complications that resulted, like addiction or people not being as "out" as they should be. Snow thought there was a more precise option, and he started thinking about it as modern science (which wasn't the norm back then... science wasn't modern yet). He published his findings - measurements and standard procedures - in the book On the Inhalation Of The Ether Vapours and another work published posthumously called On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics, and Their Action and Administration.
On the Inhalation Of The Ether Vapours is actually an interesting read. (I'm sure it'll rocket up Amazon's sales charts with HAWT's endorsement.) And oh, how meticulous! Snow really explores the science of anesthesia like never before. One of the things the book discusses is the fine balance between going under and going too far under. To differentiate, he defines "degrees" of intoxication along with relative symptoms. He discusses the ratios of ether to water to use. He details the recommended equipment, right down to defining each piece of the apparatus, including dimensions and materials to use. For example, Snow explains how his first face-masks only covered the mouth and they had to pinch the nose to make sure the ether was administered. Well, that wasn't very effective so Snow's recommendation, in the book, is a mask that covers both mouth and nose. (Seriously? This is so interesting, I almost want to build my own ether distribution system right here on my laptop... and... breathe.) Snow also realized that when you take ether just after eating, you vomited. He therefore told his patients not to eat before surgery. (Seems obvious to us, but a serious finding at the time.) Snow wraps the document up with statistics about hospital's operations. For example, 2/5 amputations in University College Hospital resulted in death. 3 of 21 died in St. George's hospital from amputations. Wow, things have changed.
Snow was instantly recognized as the king of anesthesia. He was chosen to administer chloroform to Queen Victoria when she gave birth to her two youngest children. Chloroform? During childbirth? What could that lead to? Well, chloroform suppresses the nervous system. So, if you inhale too much, there can be serious problems, like fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Over usage can seriously damage the liver and kidneys. Oh, it can also cause miscarriages if used during pregnancies. That's no good. Good thing Snow was there assisting Victoria, notes in hand.
The Dr. took this precision in science to communicable diseases. In his sights: Cholera. In the 19th century, diseases like Cholera and Bubonic plague were thought to be caused by "bad air" or miasma. The germ theory was a laughing stock at the time. It took the work of men like Snow to prove germs were the cause of the pain. How? Well, he deduced (correctly) that the cholera bacteria traveled the city through the water supply. Snow convinced London's officials that once there was a Cholera outbreak, the city should take the water pumps' handles away so no more water could be consumed from there. Outbreaks, from that action alone, were almost instantly contained. Snow's work in London quickly spread globally, including a great article in the New York Times in 1892: Facts About Cholera; Origins, Stages, and Methods of Treatment.
This is one of his cluster maps he made of the impact of the 1854 Cholera epidemic in London.
From build-your-own-ether-distribution system to the electronics we have now that monitor heart rates and brain function. From defining what bacteria is to building and programming our own now. A 14 year old assistant surgeon to a 14-year-old sitting on a couch playing XBOX. Times, they have changed.
If you want to read more about this Unknown Hero, hit up this interesting (and confusingly laid out) John Snow page. Of course, there's always Wikipedia as well.
Dr. John Snow's some old-school HAWT action [hot ak-shuh
n]. Thanks, Snow. I toast ye with my ether contraption.
On the Inhalation Of The Ether Vapours is actually an interesting read. (I'm sure it'll rocket up Amazon's sales charts with HAWT's endorsement.) And oh, how meticulous! Snow really explores the science of anesthesia like never before. One of the things the book discusses is the fine balance between going under and going too far under. To differentiate, he defines "degrees" of intoxication along with relative symptoms. He discusses the ratios of ether to water to use. He details the recommended equipment, right down to defining each piece of the apparatus, including dimensions and materials to use. For example, Snow explains how his first face-masks only covered the mouth and they had to pinch the nose to make sure the ether was administered. Well, that wasn't very effective so Snow's recommendation, in the book, is a mask that covers both mouth and nose. (Seriously? This is so interesting, I almost want to build my own ether distribution system right here on my laptop... and... breathe.) Snow also realized that when you take ether just after eating, you vomited. He therefore told his patients not to eat before surgery. (Seems obvious to us, but a serious finding at the time.) Snow wraps the document up with statistics about hospital's operations. For example, 2/5 amputations in University College Hospital resulted in death. 3 of 21 died in St. George's hospital from amputations. Wow, things have changed.
Snow was instantly recognized as the king of anesthesia. He was chosen to administer chloroform to Queen Victoria when she gave birth to her two youngest children. Chloroform? During childbirth? What could that lead to? Well, chloroform suppresses the nervous system. So, if you inhale too much, there can be serious problems, like fatal cardiac arrhythmia. Over usage can seriously damage the liver and kidneys. Oh, it can also cause miscarriages if used during pregnancies. That's no good. Good thing Snow was there assisting Victoria, notes in hand.The Dr. took this precision in science to communicable diseases. In his sights: Cholera. In the 19th century, diseases like Cholera and Bubonic plague were thought to be caused by "bad air" or miasma. The germ theory was a laughing stock at the time. It took the work of men like Snow to prove germs were the cause of the pain. How? Well, he deduced (correctly) that the cholera bacteria traveled the city through the water supply. Snow convinced London's officials that once there was a Cholera outbreak, the city should take the water pumps' handles away so no more water could be consumed from there. Outbreaks, from that action alone, were almost instantly contained. Snow's work in London quickly spread globally, including a great article in the New York Times in 1892: Facts About Cholera; Origins, Stages, and Methods of Treatment.
This is one of his cluster maps he made of the impact of the 1854 Cholera epidemic in London.
From build-your-own-ether-distribution system to the electronics we have now that monitor heart rates and brain function. From defining what bacteria is to building and programming our own now. A 14 year old assistant surgeon to a 14-year-old sitting on a couch playing XBOX. Times, they have changed.If you want to read more about this Unknown Hero, hit up this interesting (and confusingly laid out) John Snow page. Of course, there's always Wikipedia as well.
Dr. John Snow's some old-school HAWT action [hot ak-shuh
n]. Thanks, Snow. I toast ye with my ether contraption.Join the HAWTaction reader group on Facebook.
This guys sounds like an old school pimp. For real. Nothing's pimpier than introducing modern science into science. It's like how I introduce kick ass blogging into blogging.
I'm the best blogger, ever.
- JLF
Dr. Snow sounds like a sweetheart! Thanks for bringing him to our attention, John!