The John Snow Pub

My sister recently finished reading a book called The Ghost Map, by Steven Johnson. This is the remarkable, but true, story of a cholera epidemic that swept through London in 1854 and the doctor who brought it to an end. Dr. John Snow studied the lives of approximately 600 disease victims and came to the conclusion that everyone infected had used the same Broad Street pump for their water, a pump that was in close proximity to a neighborhood privy. He was eventually able to persuade the Parish Council to take the handle off the pump. Once no one could drink from the infected well, the epidemic came to a rapid halt. Dr. Snow was one of the first doctors to study the epidemiology of a disease, and today there is a pub named in his honor on Broadwick Street (Broad Street was renamed in 1936 because there was another street with the same name). Across the street is a replica of the pump in question. One of my tasks once I get to London is to visit the site of this pub and take pictures for my sister. The good news is it appears to be within walking distance of our London quarters.