John Snow was born on March 15, 1813 in York, England.
He was the first of nine children born to coal laborer William and Frances Snow in their North Street home.
In 1827, when he was 14, Snow obtained a medical apprenticeship with William Hardcastle in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
As a very young medical apprentice Snow was sent to Killingworth, a coal-mining village to work on victims of England's first cholera epidemic in the early 1830s. Snow treated many victims of the disease and gained a lot of experience.
In 1837 Snow began working at the Westminster Hospital. Admitted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on May 2, 1838, he graduated from the University of London in December 1844 and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians in 1850.
Only a year after the anesthetic ether was introduced to Britain, in 1847, Snow published a short work titled, On the Inhalation of the Vapor of Ether, which served as a guide for its use. It remained a standard reference until well into the 20th century.
Snow devised an apparatus for the use of ether, which gave proper control. By 1848, Snow was considered the most accomplished anesthetist in Britain and London’s principal surgeons all wanted his assistance.
Dr. Snow also was an expert operator of chloroform, which had been introduced in 1847 by James Young Simpson, a Scottish obstetrician. Between 1847 - 58 he administered chloroform 4,000 times.
In the early 1850s there was strong opposition to chloroform from Calvinist churchmen as they reasoned that in the third chapter of Genesis in the Bible, Eve was told "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." It became an established means of anesthesia after Queen Victoria allowed herself to be chloroformed by Dr John Snow to diminish the pains while giving birth to Prince Leopold in 1853. Afterwards, the religious objections quietened.
In 1854 London witnessed a severe outbreak of cholera. The area around Soho was particularly struck and, in a matter of weeks, over five hundred people had died. At the time doctors believed that cholera was caused by bad air or pollution, which was common in such an overpopulated place. However, Snow had formulated his own conclusions that cholera was carried by an infectious organism in faeces-contaminated drinking water. He believed that the polluted Thames water was a major culprit.
In Broad Street, Soho, which was in Snow's locality there was a pump where a sewer pipe passed particularly close to its well. As this was an especially cholera-prone neighborhood of London he decided to demonstrate his viewpoint by removing the handle from the water pump. When the numbers of fatalities in the area dropped significantly, contamination of water by excrement was agreed to be a key factor in the spread of cholera.
The adoption of Snow's recommended sanitary precautions such as boiling all drinking water eliminated cholera from entire communities in England.
Snow was a bachelor who lived alone on Sackville Street in Soho, London. He suffered a stroke while working on his magnum opus, On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics in his London office on June 10, 1858.
Snow never recovered, and died aged 45 at 3 pm on June 16, 1858 attended by his brother Thomas. He was buried in Brompton Cemetery.
He was the first of nine children born to coal laborer William and Frances Snow in their North Street home.
In 1827, when he was 14, Snow obtained a medical apprenticeship with William Hardcastle in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
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| Dr. John Snow (1813-1858), British physician. |
In 1837 Snow began working at the Westminster Hospital. Admitted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England on May 2, 1838, he graduated from the University of London in December 1844 and was admitted to the Royal College of Physicians in 1850.
Only a year after the anesthetic ether was introduced to Britain, in 1847, Snow published a short work titled, On the Inhalation of the Vapor of Ether, which served as a guide for its use. It remained a standard reference until well into the 20th century.
Snow devised an apparatus for the use of ether, which gave proper control. By 1848, Snow was considered the most accomplished anesthetist in Britain and London’s principal surgeons all wanted his assistance.
Dr. Snow also was an expert operator of chloroform, which had been introduced in 1847 by James Young Simpson, a Scottish obstetrician. Between 1847 - 58 he administered chloroform 4,000 times.
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| Antique bottles of chloroform. By Kevin King - Flickr: |
In the early 1850s there was strong opposition to chloroform from Calvinist churchmen as they reasoned that in the third chapter of Genesis in the Bible, Eve was told "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." It became an established means of anesthesia after Queen Victoria allowed herself to be chloroformed by Dr John Snow to diminish the pains while giving birth to Prince Leopold in 1853. Afterwards, the religious objections quietened.
In 1854 London witnessed a severe outbreak of cholera. The area around Soho was particularly struck and, in a matter of weeks, over five hundred people had died. At the time doctors believed that cholera was caused by bad air or pollution, which was common in such an overpopulated place. However, Snow had formulated his own conclusions that cholera was carried by an infectious organism in faeces-contaminated drinking water. He believed that the polluted Thames water was a major culprit.
In Broad Street, Soho, which was in Snow's locality there was a pump where a sewer pipe passed particularly close to its well. As this was an especially cholera-prone neighborhood of London he decided to demonstrate his viewpoint by removing the handle from the water pump. When the numbers of fatalities in the area dropped significantly, contamination of water by excrement was agreed to be a key factor in the spread of cholera.
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| John Snow memorial on Broadwick Street (formerly Broad Street), Soho. Wikipedia |
The adoption of Snow's recommended sanitary precautions such as boiling all drinking water eliminated cholera from entire communities in England.
Snow was a bachelor who lived alone on Sackville Street in Soho, London. He suffered a stroke while working on his magnum opus, On Chloroform and Other Anaesthetics in his London office on June 10, 1858.
Snow never recovered, and died aged 45 at 3 pm on June 16, 1858 attended by his brother Thomas. He was buried in Brompton Cemetery.
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