To swill or to smell: How John Snow determined the cause of cholera

Daniel and Kelly dive into the history of medicine, and discuss the data John Snow collected to argue that cholera is transmitted through contaminated water and not foul-smelling air. These data bolstered the emerging germ theory of disease.

You can listen to To swill or to smell: How John Snow determined the cause of cholera online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

To swill or to smell: How John Snow determined the cause of cholera is an episode from Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe by iHeartPodcasts.

This episode is 58:35 long.

This episode was published on Mar 24, 2026.

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