Why Single Out One? A Scientist on Typhoid MaryW. P. Mason, “Typhoid Mary,” Science (July 23, 1909)Hearth Interactive
Hearth Library
W. P. Mason, “Typhoid Mary,” letter to the editor, Science, new series, vol. 30, no. 760 (July 23, 1909), pp. 117–118. Digital text: Internet Archive item jstor-1635174 (JSTOR Early Journal Content), OCR text, extracted by code. Not yet read against the page images.
English
Mary Mallon (“Typhoid Mary”)A cook and healthy carrier of typhoid, whom New York City held on North Brother Island from 1907.William Pitt MasonProfessor of chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an expert on water supply, who argued in 1909 that it was unjust to single out Mary Mallon.
the New York City Board of HealthThe board in charge of public health in New York City. Under the city charter it could remove anyone sick with a contagious disease to a place it chose, and from 1907 it held Mary Mallon on North Brother Island.
North Brother Island, New York40.8007 -73.8981
- quarantine and public health measures Keeping the sick, travelers or goods out of a city or away from the healthy, and cleaning the streets, by order of officials: from Florence in 1348 to the cholera posts of 1830 and the plague searches of 1897.
- typhoid fever A fever that spreads through food or water tainted by an infected person's wastes; some who recover carry the germs for years without being sick.
- germs Microscopic organisms that cause disease. They were widely accepted as the cause of diseases such as cholera only after Robert Koch's work of the 1880s, and in 1918 many doctors wrongly blamed influenza on Pfeiffer's bacillus.
“Typhoid Mary”
Much has appeared in the press of late concerning the unfortunate woman who for two years past has been held a prisoner upon North Brothers Island by order of the board of health. On June 29 she appeared before Supreme Court Justice Giegerich on a writ of habeas corpus, sued out by her attorney to obtain her release. Judging from the evidence, we all know that Mary is a “typhoid carrier,” and a dangerous one by reason of her occupation as a cook; but she is only one among many such “carriers” and it is scarcely justice to place upon her alone the burden that should be shared by her entire class.
Of all those who recover from typhoid fever something like four per cent. carry about with them the germs of the disease for long periods of time. They are “carriers” in fact, and can, like Mary, become centers for secondary infection. There are at the present moment probably 560 such persons in the state of New York, representing four per cent. of the 14,000 cases of typhoid fever occurring during the past year. How many must be added to that number to allow for the “hold-overs” coming down from previous years it would be hard to guess. Others will be added during the year to come.
We can not keep in detention all these people, then why single out and imprison one.
Typhoid carriers are dangerous when they are possessed of uncleanly personal habits, and they become more so when their occupations have to do with the preparation of food.
It would be eminently wise to instruct a “carrier” as to the danger lurking in human dejecta and to insist upon the necessity for great personal cleanliness. It might be also well for the authorities to direct that such a person should not be engaged in the preparation of food ; but beyond “education” and an order for “change of occupation” it is scarcely practical or fair to go.
W. P. Mason
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
July 1, 1909
“Typhoid Mary”
Much has appeared in the press of late concerning the unfortunate woman who for two years past has been held a prisoner upon North Brothers Island by order of the board of health. On June 29 she appeared before Supreme Court Justice Giegerich on a writ of habeas corpus, sued out by her attorney to obtain her release. Judging from the evidence, we all know that Mary is a “typhoid carrier,” and a dangerous one by reason of her occupation as a cook; but she is only one among many such “carriers,” and it is scarcely justice to place upon her alone the burden that should be shared by her entire class.
Of all those who recover from typhoid fever something like four percent carry about with them the germs of the disease for long periods of time. They are “carriers” in fact, and can, like Mary, become centers for secondary infection. There are at the present moment probably 560 such persons in the state of New York, representing four percent of the 14,000 cases of typhoid fever occurring during the past year. How many must be added to that number to allow for the “hold-overs” coming down from previous years it would be hard to guess. Others will be added during the year to come.
We cannot keep in detention all these people; then why single out and imprison one?
Typhoid carriers are dangerous when they are possessed of uncleanly personal habits, and they become more so when their occupations have to do with the preparation of food.
It would be eminently wise to instruct a “carrier” as to the danger lurking in human dejecta and to insist upon the necessity for great personal cleanliness. It might be also well for the authorities to direct that such a person should not be engaged in the preparation of food; but beyond “education” and an order for “change of occupation” it is scarcely practical or fair to go.
W. P. Mason Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, July 1, 1909