In 1854 most people believed cholera spread through bad air. Dr. John Snow held the unpopular view that it spread through water. When cholera broke out again in London at the end of August 1854, Snow suspected the Broad Street pump. He did not just guess. He went through the death records and talked with the families of the dead, and he found that most of the victims had lived near that pump and drunk its water. He took his findings to the community leaders, and on September 8, 1854, the pump handle was removed. The new deaths stopped. Snow was willing to go door to door and to stand by an unpopular truth. Truth spoken with care and courage can save lives.
