Andrew Keir
Community Member
This lazy panda forgot to write something about itself.
Andrew Keir · commented on 10 posts
3 days ago
I hope he didn't - it would go all over the place ...
Andrew Keir · commented on 30 posts
3 days ago
I think this idea sank without trace, and I'm not keen on going down to look at it.
In fairness, there is a thin streak of logic involved here. Since most nations took until the 18th or 19th century to realise that leaving your cess-pits right beside the well you got your water from was a bad idea, and most upland villages were content to dump their refuse into the streams that flowed downhill from them, many water supplies were foul and poisonous. So the custom began of drinking 'small ale', with just enough alcohol in it to preserve it from bacteria. Even in 1854 in London, John Snow was taking a real risk in removing the pump handle from the Broad Street water pump, which he had realised was the source of the cholera outbreak locally. He could have been sued ...