Morley: City chaos, contagion, Chadwick, and social justice 67 talent for killing quickly, and agonizingly, cholera prompting municipalities to form Boards of Health — later shown to be inept and corrupt (Figure 5). Nonetheless, cholera also inspired the medical community to further venture into the slums to comprehend its na- ture, e.g., Dr. Thomas Shapter who mapped cholera deaths in Exeter, in so doing position- ing contagionists against miasmatists as of conjecture on its causes and diffusion [25]. Manufacturing unimaginable terror in Britain after its appearance in 1831 in Sunder- land [26], cholera, like many other illnesses, paid scant respect to social class boundaries (Figure 6). When coupled with its ability to defy conventional medicine, it engineered un- paralleled fear. The disease, a frightening silent spectacle, was unlike anything known before it. It was a psychological sledgeham- mer to material progress [27] and all the per- ceived benefits of modernity. With its air of mystery, defiance, and with such minimal ex- planation as to its cause, cholera recalled the memory of the Middle Ages’ plagues. It shocked society like no other illness had done in recent times and generated everything from general unease to riots. In light of the rise of statistical analysis and contemporary ways of thinking about the social nature of disease, cholera became a compelling propagandist for urban betterment, and warranted both political stability and social justice. THE POOR LAW, EDWIN CHADWICK, SOCIAL MEDICINE, AND THE CITY Prior to the 1840s, the decade within which British public health as a profession Figure 6. A sketch from the early 1830s of a vic- tim of cholera in Sunder- land (source: Wellcome Library, London). and municipal endeavor emerged, a small number of characters were central in helping to identify the factors that affected the health and illness of urban populations, expanding the theoretical framework of disease causa- tion, and engaging medicine with the politi- cal economy of capitalist Britain. Some of these individuals, like William Farr, have been mentioned already in this paper, but a key player in the meshing of medicine with the moral and political economy of Britain was Edwin Chadwick. While it is not neces- sary to discuss in detail every aspect of Chadwick’s life or all principles that shaped his thinking, some facets of his character must nonetheless be considered. Chadwick’s entry into discussions on the related “Condition of England Ques- tion,” namely the expansive dialogue on problems such as poor housing and a lack of urban hygiene, stemmed from his work with the Poor Law Board. Even though at face value, the Poor Law, with its brutal work- house regime and the issue of epidemiology, may appear to be two opposing faces of so- cial welfare, it was through Chadwick’s ap- preciation of the need to promote economic growth and maintain social order that his ideology on health and well-being devel- oped. For that reason, some pertinent re- marks are necessary with regard to Chadwick’s position within the 1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws, a body putting forth Benthamite rec- ommendations that led to the passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834. The constraints constructed into the Poor Law system, deterrents to stop all but