The Great Influenza

Paul Lewis, a lieutenant commander in the navy and a scientist, examined bodies in a Philadelphia naval shipyard in September 1918. He did not like having to guess at a diagnosis, but he guessed the men had influenza, albeit a deadlier one than he had seen before.

He was correct, and the influenza in question was the most devastating pandemic in world history in terms of total deaths. The story of the flu is one of ingenuity and the birth of science as a whole. The book, thus, starts with the development of medicine as a science and ends with science’s future.

In September 1876 the most important medical event in American history happened with the foundation of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The speech dedicating the school made clear its goal to make a scientific institution that would rival those of Germany and the rest of Europe. The speech did not mention God, though science is similar to religion in that science is largely about asking two questions: “What can I know?” and “How can I know it?” (14).

The history of medicine up to that point was one of error and a lack of finessed procedure.