Snow's Theory Of Anesthesiology Essay

Snow was unable to study cholera first-hand after the end of the first cholera outbreak of 1832. It was not until 1849, when a second outbreak occurred, that he could study its transmittance again. In between these two outbreaks, Snow conducted research on respiration and anesthesiology which caused him to think that the miasma theory could not be true. He started his research on respiration while still at the Hunterian School of Medicine. This is when Snow studied the gas laws and applied this research to the newly formed branch of medicine, anesthesiology. His extensive knowledge of respiration helped him to become an “original leader in the science of anesthesiology.” Anesthesiology was first practiced in 1846. At this time, Snow researched
These works include: Albion Terrace research by Dr. Milroy in 1849, Rotherhithe research by Dr. Lloyd in 1849, Manchester reports in the “Report of the General Board of Health on the Cholera of 1848 and 1849,” Ilford, Essex by Dr. Chambers in 1849, Newburn by Dr. Craigie in 1849, Cunnatore by Dr. Cruikshanks in 1853, and the Black Sea Fleet in 1854 by a medical officer. Many people were researching and trying to prove water as the means of communication of cholera (Snow, 1855). John Snow was able to prove it by conducting an extensive survey and by using other researcher’s work as support. It is unknown whether Snow received the idea from one of these authors, Parkin, someone else, or thought it up himself. John Snow’s study of cholera in 1849 was what John Parkin theorized many years before. Even though Parkin had this idea well before Snow, Snow had performed a much more convincing study which supported water as the source of cholera. Snow also had the advantage of mapping the outbreak of cholera and finding its source, sewage. This is much more believable than Parkin’s theory that the disease was a poison from the earth (M. G.,