The population had no idea that the mental and material impoverishment to which it had been allowed to sink, were largely the cause of its hunger and disease, and that the adverse climatic conditions which contributed to the failure of its crops and to the sickness of its bodies, would have not caused such terrible ravages, if it had been free, educated and well-to-do. For there can now no longer be any doubt that such an epidemic dissemination of typhus had only been possible under the wretched conditions of life that poverty and lack of culture had created in Upper Silesia. If these conditions were removed, I am sure that epidemic typhus would not recur. Whosoever wishes to learn from history will find many examples. 4 To prevent typhus from recurring, Virchow announced a radical prescription: medicine must concern itself with the social condition of the population, and characterize efforts short of that as palliative. Although daunting, these words inspired the creation of social medicine, and the veracity of Virchow's observations are reflected in modern epidemics.