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See also The Lancet's updating of their original 1858 obituary of John Snow: > Dr John Snow: This well-known physician died at noon, on the 16th instant, at hi

See also The Lancet's updating of their original 1858 obituary of John Snow: > Dr John Snow: This well-known physician died at noon, on the 16th instant, at his house in Sackville Street, from an attack of apoplexy. His researches on chloroform and other anaesthetics were appreciated by the profession. versus the 2013 one: > The journal accepts that some readers may wrongly have inferred that The Lancet failed to recognise Dr Snow's remarkable achievements in the field of epidemiology and, in particular, his visionary work in deducing the mode of transmission of epidemic cholera. * https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)60830-2/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... * https://www.newsweek.com/lancet-corrects-john-snows-1858-obituary-63035 https://www.newsweek.com/lancet-corrects-john-snows-1858-obi... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow Better late than never I guess.

geenew 4y ago
It's pedantic to say, but, based on what they said, their original was not incorrect, simply less exhaustive than it could have been. It could (and, seems to) be that the fellow's work on anaesthetics was seen as more important than his work on cholera. Given the (often overlooked) importance of modern anaesthetics, I can easily believe this.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  Yet they were precise enough to mention that he died at 12:16 PM.
  - thaumasiotes 4y ago
    Being minute-level precise about quantities that can't be known to the minute isn't exactly something to point to to suggest that their other coverage was uncharacteristically sloppy.
  - joewalker_ 4y ago
    I believe in this case that the reference to "noon, on the 16th instant" is referring to the 16th day of the month, not the minute after 12:00 - so, he died at noon on June 16. Encyclopaedia Britannica lists his date of death as 16/06/1858 (https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Snow-British-physician https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Snow-British-physi...) "Instant" means the current month, "ultimo" refers to the previous month and "proximo" the next (https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100005710 https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority...).
- arp242 4y ago
  "Barrack Obama passed away on Jan 20th; Obama was a senator from Illinois and the author of several best-selling books" is also correct. At some point an omission is so glaring that it becomes egregious. That said, I believe the significance of Snow's 1854 findings were not yet widely appreciated in 1858, and in this case the omission in the original obituary seems understandable and reasonable.
- throw0101c 4y ago
  > It could (and, seems to) be that the fellow's work on anaesthetics was seen as more important than his work on cholera. His work on cholera was completely ignored for years and he gave up on trying to convince people about Germ Theory and went back to anaesthetics.
azangru 4y ago
> The journal accepts that some readers may wrongly have inferred I am confused. What is the Lancet blaming its readers for? Why was this inference wrong?
- FeepingCreature 4y ago
  The Lancet isn't saying that the inference was wrong but that the conclusion of the inference is wrong. There's not really a better way to say that; "some readers may have inferred, wrongly" is synonymous, and "may have inferred that the Lancet, wrongly" implies that the Lancet failed to recognize these achievements, which it did not (it merely failed to mention them).
  - lukas099 4y ago
    Leave the whole part about readers out of it. "The Lancet failed to recognise..."
    - FeepingCreature 4y ago
      Well, that's specifically what they're saying they didn't do.
perihelions 4y ago
- "Dr John Snow: This well-known physician died at noon, on the 16th instant, at his house in Sackville Street, from an attack of apoplexy. His researches on chloroform and other anaesthetics were appreciated by the profession." Interesting to contrast this with the modern version, on Wikipedia: - "Snow suffered a stroke while working in his London office on 10 June 1858. He was 45 years old at the time.[38] [...] It has been speculated that his premature death may have been related to his frequent exposure and experimentation with anesthetic gases, which is now known to have numerous adverse health effects. Snow administered and experimented with ether, chloroform, ethyl nitrate, carbon disulfide, benzene, bromoform, ethyl bromide and dichloroethane during his lifetime.[40]"

geenew 4y ago

It's pedantic to say, but, based on what they said, their original was not incorrect, simply less exhaustive than it could have been. It could (and, seems to) be that the fellow's work on anaesthetics was seen as more important than his work on cholera. Given the (often overlooked) importance of modern anaesthetics, I can easily believe this.

TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
Yet they were precise enough to mention that he died at 12:16 PM.
- thaumasiotes 4y ago
  Being minute-level precise about quantities that can't be known to the minute isn't exactly something to point to to suggest that their other coverage was uncharacteristically sloppy.
- joewalker_ 4y ago
  I believe in this case that the reference to "noon, on the 16th instant" is referring to the 16th day of the month, not the minute after 12:00 - so, he died at noon on June 16. Encyclopaedia Britannica lists his date of death as 16/06/1858 (https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Snow-British-physician https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Snow-British-physi...) "Instant" means the current month, "ultimo" refers to the previous month and "proximo" the next (https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100005710 https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority...).
arp242 4y ago
"Barrack Obama passed away on Jan 20th; Obama was a senator from Illinois and the author of several best-selling books" is also correct. At some point an omission is so glaring that it becomes egregious. That said, I believe the significance of Snow's 1854 findings were not yet widely appreciated in 1858, and in this case the omission in the original obituary seems understandable and reasonable.
throw0101c 4y ago
> It could (and, seems to) be that the fellow's work on anaesthetics was seen as more important than his work on cholera. His work on cholera was completely ignored for years and he gave up on trying to convince people about Germ Theory and went back to anaesthetics.

azangru 4y ago

> The journal accepts that some readers may wrongly have inferred I am confused. What is the Lancet blaming its readers for? Why was this inference wrong?

FeepingCreature 4y ago
The Lancet isn't saying that the inference was wrong but that the conclusion of the inference is wrong. There's not really a better way to say that; "some readers may have inferred, wrongly" is synonymous, and "may have inferred that the Lancet, wrongly" implies that the Lancet failed to recognize these achievements, which it did not (it merely failed to mention them).
- lukas099 4y ago
  Leave the whole part about readers out of it. "The Lancet failed to recognise..."
  - FeepingCreature 4y ago
    Well, that's specifically what they're saying they didn't do.

perihelions 4y ago

- "Dr John Snow: This well-known physician died at noon, on the 16th instant, at his house in Sackville Street, from an attack of apoplexy. His researches on chloroform and other anaesthetics were appreciated by the profession." Interesting to contrast this with the modern version, on Wikipedia: - "Snow suffered a stroke while working in his London office on 10 June 1858. He was 45 years old at the time.[38] [...] It has been speculated that his premature death may have been related to his frequent exposure and experimentation with anesthetic gases, which is now known to have numerous adverse health effects. Snow administered and experimented with ether, chloroform, ethyl nitrate, carbon disulfide, benzene, bromoform, ethyl bromide and dichloroethane during his lifetime.[40]"