Wentworth Street, Whitechapel from London: A Pilgrimage (1872) Paul-Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold.
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Sunday, August 29, 2010
ACROSTIC, Puzzle by Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon, edited by Will Shortz
This Sunday’s acrostic draws a quotation from The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How it Changed Science, Cities and the Modern World, a book by Steven Berlin Johnson in which he describes the most intense outbreak of cholera in Victorian London, the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak, and what it means to us today, from the way we understand cities, science, disease, and the modern world. The Ghost Map takes place in the summer of 1854. A devastating cholera outbreak seizes London. Dr. John Snow—whose ideas about contagion had been dismissed by the scientific community—is spurred to intense action when the people in his neighborhood begin dying. He creates the map that traces the pattern of outbreak back to its source, establishing a precedent for the way modern city-dwellers, city planners, physicians, and public officials think about the spread of disease and the development of the modern urban environment.
The quotation: AN ITINERANT UNDERCLASS MANAGED TO CONJURE UP AN ENTIRE SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING THE WASTE GENERATED BY TWO MILLION PEOPLE THE SCAVENGERS OF VICTORIAN LONDON WEREN’T JUST GETTING RID OF THAT REFUSE THEY WERE RECYCLING IT
The author’s name and the title of the work: STEVEN JOHNSON THE GHOST MAP
The defined words:
A. Gavel-to-gavel period, SESSION
B. Raze, pan (2 wds.), TEAR DOWN
C. Production of the ovary, ESTROGEN
D. Convert into glass, VITRIFY
E. Momentous, historic, EVENTFUL
F. Elementary particle that can pass through matter almost undisturbed, NEUTRINO
G. Gin-flavoring berry source, JUNIPER
H. Heading in the right direction, accurate (2 wds.), ON TARGET
I. Einstein or Erasmus, philosophically, HUMANIST
J. Pay no attention to, disregard, NEGLECT
K. Preservative for dried fruit, often, SULFITE
L. Contents of some magazines, ORDNANCE
M. State ranked first in population density (2 wds.), NEW JERSEY
N. Stuff commonly sold by Yankee peddlers, TINWARE
O. Staged undertaking?, HYPNOTISM
P. Acts of vandalism by environmentalists, ECOTAGE
Q. Support for a drop leaf (2 wds.), GATE LEG
R. Property divider that needs tending, HEDGEROW
S. Locale for some underwater treasure hunters (2 wds.), OYSTER BED
T. City where “The Office” is set, SCRANTON
U. Belonging to the nobility, TITLED
V. Oscar-winning role for Robert Donat (2 wds.), MR CHIPS
W. Kind of marigold native to Mexico, oddly, AFRICAN
X. Stinker of the species Mustela putorius, POLECAT
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The full quotation — We’re naturally inclined to consider these scavengers tragic figures, and to fulminate against a system that allowed so many thousands to eke out a living by foraging through human waste. In many ways, this is the correct response. (It was, to be sure, the response of the great crusaders of the age, among them Dickens and Mayhew.) But such social outrage should be accompanied by a measure of wonder and respect: without any central planner coordinating their actions, without any education at all, this itinerant underclass managed to conjure up an entire system for processing and sorting the waste generated by two million people. The great contribution usually ascribed to Mayhew’s London Labour is simply his willingness to see and record the details of these impoverished lives. But just as valuable was the insight that came out of that bookkeeping, once he had run the numbers: far from being unproductive vagabonds, Mayhew discovered, these people were actually performing an essential function for their community. “The removal of the refuse of a large town,” he wrote. “is, perhaps one of the most important of social operations.” And the scavengers of Victorian London weren’t just getting rid of that refuse — they were recycling it. — more from Google Books, HERE.
Félix-Hilaire Buhot, The Spirits of Dead Cities, 1885, National Gallery of Art
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Puzzle available on the internet at
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