John Snow: Brief History

(1813 –1858)

Snow was born in York, England. His neighbourhood was one of the poorest in the city. His father used to work in the local coal yards.

He was admitted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and graduated from the University of London and was later admitted to the Royal College of Physicians.

Work in Public Health: 

• In 1850 he was also one of the founding members of the Epidemiological Society of London, formed in response to the cholera outbreak of 1849.
• He is considered as the father of modern epidemiology because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, London. His findings inspired fundamental changes in the water and waste systems of London, which led to similar changes in other cities, and a significant improvement in general public health around the world.

Contributions to Anaesthesiology: 

• He is also considered as the father of Anaesthesia. He was the 1st physician in England to take up full time interest in Ether for which he invented an inhaler. He was the 1st to scientifically investigate ether and the physiology of General Anaesthesia. In 1847, Snow published the 1st book on General Anaesthesia (On inhalation of Ether). 
• When chloroform was discovered, he investigated it and also made an inhaler for it. He said that an inhaler should be used to deliver an inhaled agent to control its dose. His second book, ‘On Chloroform and other anaesthetics’ was published posthumously.
• He personally administered Chloroform to Queen Victoria when she gave birth to the last two of her nine children (Leopold and Beatrice) leading to a wider acceptance of Obstetric Anaesthesia.

Later life: He became a member of the Temperance Movement and lived for around a decade as a vegetarian and a Teetotaller. But later when his health deteriorated he returned to meat eating and drinking wine. He continued drinking boiling throughout his adult life.