Once in a Lifetime, part 6
Why Single Out One? A Scientist on Typhoid Mary
Draft: this translation has not yet been checked against the original by a separate review.
- Written
- July 1909 (written July 1; printed July 23)
- Place
- North Brother Island, New York
- Language
- English
- Kind of source
- letter
- Reading time
- 2 minutes
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Intensity
- Low
Doctors and medical ideasRulers and courts
Once in a Lifetime themes: Blame
In June 1909 a cook who had been held for two years on an island in New York’s East River went to court to win her freedom. The newspapers called her “Typhoid Mary.”
Mary Mallon was a healthy carrier: she was not sick herself, but health officials found that she carried typhoid germs and linked her to outbreaks in households where she had cooked. From 1907 the city held her at its hospital on North Brother Island. Her lawyer asked a judge to release her on a writ of habeas corpus. This letter, signed by W. P. Mason of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and dated July 1, 1909, appeared in the scientific weekly Science on July 23. The court denied her petition. She was released in 1910, then held on the island again from 1915 until her death in 1938.
Mason wrote from what he read in the press, before the court decided. He did not know Mallon. He knew that some people who recover from typhoid go on carrying its germs, but his count of carriers in New York State is an estimate, as he says.
This is one scientist’s opinion, written for other scientists. Watch how he can call Mallon both “unfortunate” and “dangerous.” Notice the question he asks about holding one person when many others go free, and what he thinks the authorities may fairly require of a carrier without her consent.
The edited translation, in simplified modern English. Bracketed words were added for clarity; [...] marks a cut. Tap a note number to read the note.
“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 Island1 by order of the board of health.2 On June 29 she appeared before Supreme Court3 Justice Giegerich on a writ of habeas corpus,4 sued out by her attorney to obtain her release. Judging from the evidence, we all know that Mary is a “typhoid carrier,”5 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 dejecta6 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
Notes
- North Brother Island, in the East River, where New York City kept a hospital for contagious diseases. back
- New York City’s Board of Health. back
- In New York State the Supreme Court is the main trial court, not the highest court. back
- Latin, “you shall have the body”: a court order requiring whoever holds a prisoner to bring the prisoner before a judge and show a lawful reason for holding them. back
- A person who carries and passes on the germs of a disease without being sick. Typhoid fever spreads through food or water tainted by an infected person’s wastes. It is a different disease from typhus. back
- Body wastes. back
“Typhoid Mary”
“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.
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.
- North Brother Island, in the East River, where New York City kept a hospital for contagious diseases.
- New York City’s Board of Health.
- In New York State the Supreme Court is the main trial court, not the highest court.
- Latin, “you shall have the body”: a court order requiring whoever holds a prisoner to bring the prisoner before a judge and show a lawful reason for holding them.
- A person who carries and passes on the germs of a disease without being sick. Typhoid fever spreads through food or water tainted by an infected person’s wastes. It is a different disease from typhus.
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.
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 can not keep in detention all these people, then why single out and imprison one.
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.
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.
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.
- Body wastes.
W. P. Mason
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
July 1, 1909
W. P. Mason Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, July 1, 1909
Page images of the original object or of the printed edition, from the libraries and archives that hold them. The pages shown are copied here where the holder marks them public domain; titles link to the holder's own viewer. Click a page to see it full size.
Science, new series, vol. 30, no. 760, July 23, 1909, pp. 117–118
Internet Archive (JSTOR Early Journal Content). pp. 117–118. Public domain (published 1909).
The printed letter our text follows.
New text from the English of the letter as printed in Science (1909). The whole letter is included. Spelling and punctuation are modernized (for example “per cent.” to “percent,” “can not” to “cannot”); the words and their order are Mason’s.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: 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.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Specialist review
- Not yet. Readings a specialist should confirm are listed for later review.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: public domain.
Sources for the notes
- Mason, W. P. “Typhoid Mary.” Science, n.s., 30, no. 760 (July 23, 1909): 117–118.
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Institute Archives and Special Collections. “Mason, William Pitt, 1853–1937.” Agent record and finding aid for the William Pitt Mason papers. guides.archives.rpi.edu.