“The prosecutor had turned out to be the defense’s star witness.” (The Ghost Map, pg. 183)
We can look back at Victorian London and shake our heads over Benjamin Hall’s unwillingness to even investigate John Snow’s theory, but our view of the matter is skewed since the truth was exposed a long time ago. John Snow’s concept of cholera being a waterborne disease was revolutionary, but why would anyone believe him when every other intellectual in the city is insisting that the disease is caused by miasma? Rev. Whitehead was one of the many who didn’t believe Snow, but perhaps what made him different than many others was his lack of scientific knowledge. Whitehead was not a scientist, but rather someone who was entrenched in the epidemic and recognized that many theories did not match up with what was actually happening. I chose the quote at the top of the post because I thought it summarized Whitehead’s approach to the waterborne theory well. Whitehead was prepared to prove Snow wrong once and for all, and instead the two solved the mystery together and became lifelong friends. So now I have to ask-why is this not a movie yet?
While Snow’s concept was indeed revolutionary, it should not have taken thousands of death over a matter of weeks for Whitehead and others in power to even consider that perhaps the cause of cholera is not miasma. The very fact that Snow’s theory only started getting some attention when many died, and people only started acting on his theory after many more died sheds light on the fact that there might have been some pride or ego issues along with a blind belief in a false theory. But I do agree with you, I want this to be a movie as well.