Western Civilization II / Unit 12 WC2 1104 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Sewers, Anesthesia, and the Cult of Cleanliness
Captions available
The idea
Disease was the century's greatest killer. Urban growth forced sewers and water pipes, which cut cholera and typhoid; anesthesia came in the eighteen forties. Cleanliness became a class badge: caustic soaps for those with servants, nothing for the slums.
In practice
London's great sewers, the eighteen fifties and sixties.
Where people slip
The anchor says eighteen forty-eight; the works followed the cholera years.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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