As The Ghost Map came to an end, I couldn’t help but reflect on the simple event that left a lasting impact on Broad Street, London, and even science as a whole. Removing the Broad Street pump handle was truly a turning point in history. Dr. John Snow, some “unknown person” who was not a household name then or even now, went against a popular belief at the time and turned out to be right (162). He put so much time and effort into both proving his theory and disproving miasma, as well as trying to convince others (specifically the Board of Health) of something as simple as “cholera is waterborne.” Snow’s research even came with a cost, as more individuals needed to contract and die from cholera in order for him to continue to obtain scientific evidence.

However, I don’t understand that even if there was a thought or some small chance that cholera was waterborne (even if only one person believed it), why didn’t they remove the pump handle sooner? In the time it took for Snow to research and convince the Board, including Henry Whitehead, more people were perishing from the disease. Why couldn’t they have removed the pump handle as a precaution and then have given John Snow a chance to prove the pump-contamination theory? This may be a stretch, but if the removal of the pump handle wasn’t difficult, couldn’t they always put it back on if the theory turned out to be wrong? After all, they weren’t 100% positive that miasma was causing cholera either and they still tried to take precautions in that area. For example, the waste was put into the Thames River in an attempt to take the cause of the noxious fumes out of the air. My final question is this – how many people need to be convinced that something is true before something is done about it? Is there a minimum amount of individuals (whether they be of importance in society or not) that need to first “figure it out”?