For my chapter I\u2019ve chosen to read \u201cExtraordinary and Even Arbitrary Powers,\u201d which discusses Mary Mallon\u2019s place in the history and role in evolution of public health policy. I was especially motivated to examine this chapter because it seemed to be somewhat of a departure from the more culturally grounded historical approach I\u2019ve been taking in my project.<\/p>\n

Ironically, I found the chapter to be especially interesting due to its cultural implications. It informs an understanding of Gilded Age culture\u2019s conduciveness to disaster. More specifically, the isolation of Mary Mallon, if considered a disaster, demonstrates the pitfalls of the Gilded Age belief in the infallibility of science, or scientific method, to solve any <\/i>problem. If I remember correctly, this concept been discussed in quite a few class discussions and likely some blog posts.<\/p>\n

This way that this belief in the infallibility of science contributed to Gilded Age disasters is seen in the Galveston Hurricane and the city planners\u2019 refusal to appreciate the environmental dangers of the city\u2019s location, the \u201cunsinkable\u201d Titanic, and faith in the damn overlooking Johnstown.<\/p>\n

As argued in \u201cExtraordinary and Even Arbitrary Powers,\u201d Mary Mallons capture and subsequent isolation can be viewed as a manifestation of the belief that it was possible for humankind to conquer disease. This was due to the confidence brought about by rapid scientific advancement, particularly in the field of bacteriological studies. By choosing to ignore Mallon\u2019s constitutional rights and freedoms for exclusively scientific reasons, the New York City Board of Health and, insomuch as it tolerated this injustice, society on the whole, allowed a belief in the exclusive ability of science to better society to supersede the constitutional rights on which this very same society was founded. In the sense that dismissal of these constitutional rights was, or at the very least had potential to be, disastrous, Mary Mallon\u2019s incarceration was representative of a Gilded Age disaster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For my chapter I\u2019ve chosen to read \u201cExtraordinary and Even Arbitrary Powers,\u201d which discusses Mary Mallon\u2019s place in the history and role in evolution of public health policy. I was especially motivated to examine this chapter because it seemed to be somewhat of a departure from the more culturally grounded historical approach I\u2019ve been taking … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Mary Mallon’s Forced Isolation as a Typical Gilded Age Disaster”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[180,263,300,364],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gilded-age","tag-mary-mallon","tag-new-york-city-board-of-health","tag-scientific-preeminence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":842,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions\/842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.shroutdocs.org\/his254-spring2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}