“62 percent of all recorded deaths were of children under five. And yet despite this alarming mortality rate, the population was expanding at an extraordinary clip (74).”
I sampled this quote, because it is indicative of an interesting mistake I think people make in talking about lifespan in pre-antibiotic times. People often state that the average lifespan during medieval into industrial revolution times was around 30 years, or something like that. However as we can see from Johnson’s quote, the majority of deaths from this disease, and in general mortalities altogether, afflict those under the age of five. This means that because there were so many infant deaths at that time, when you calculate the average lifespan the age is vastly reduced because the young deaths of babies offset the statistic. In actuality, if you survived past five, many people enjoyed healthy lives into their 50s and 60s.
The observations regarding beer—that those who avoided water and stuck to fermented beverages seemed to dodge the affliction—was also interesting. This research, while I am sure is accurate, contradicts to an extent findings that other researchers into cholera in London—such as Friederich Engels—found. He found a higher correlation between alcoholics and deaths from cholera. Researchers today have since connected the correlation between alcoholics and susceptibility to certain infections of the gut to the fact that regular excessive consumption of alcohol significantly changes the PH values of your stomach, making conditions of life more favorable for some bacteria. I guess the conclusion I would draw from Snow’s observation that some beer drinkers seemed protected from the disease is that they likely were protected if they stuck strictly to beer and beer only. Because if they had any exposure to the bacteria, even a dispersed and non concentrated sample, the PH conditions in their stomach likely would lead to rapid bacterial growth and their progression of symptoms from cholera would occur at perhaps a higher rate then other individuals.
-Jesse Geisler
