Essay On John Snow's Map

In 1854, Dr. John Snow, devised a map of the London Cholera outbreak. He was known to be one of the founding fathers of epidemiology. During that time period, many civilians were dying quickly and rapidly from Cholera (Frerichs). Dr. John Snow suspected the containment was coming from a well known area like a water pump. Snow obtained data of where the individuals lived and the location of the water pumps and mapped the outcome (Frerichs). The map has many different aspects.First, I will discuss the background of the map
Snow had concluded that the disease was waterborne and sought to find evidence. After connecting the public water pump with the epidemic, Dr. John Snow used this information to link the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company of getting polluted water from the Thames river and giving it to homes (“Dr. John Snow’s Map..”). Afterward, Snow inferred that the epidemic had originated from a mother washing her ill infant’s diaper by a cesspit that was close to the water pump (“Dr. John Snow’s Map..”). Ultimately, this polluted the water pump and resulted in many individuals to become sick. The map contributed tremendously to the findings. The map pinpointed 578 deaths and 13 water pumps (Frerichs). The places of the deaths were displayed by black …show more content…
All of these items exemplified the accuracy of the map. According to J.B Harley in The New Nature of Maps Essays in the History of Cartography, “The accuracy of maps consists of mirroring their subject matter” (Pg.5). In Snow’s map, the subject was the deaths from Cholera in correlation with water pumps. Because of this, every death was located along with the water pumps in the area. Most of the deaths were aligned in Broad Street. This linked the water pump in the intersection of Broad Street and Cambridge Street to the deaths surrounding that