'Death Germs Through the Post': Postal Pathology and Workplace Experiences of Disease in Britain, c.1895–1935. (5th July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Newman, Laura
• Is Part Of: Social history of medicine. Volume 33:Number 4(2020:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1211
• Page End: 1232
• Publication Date: 2019-07-05
• Subjects: history of bacteriology -- history of communications -- post office history -- labour history -- the history of the laboratory; Medicine -- History -- Periodicals; Social medicine -- History -- Periodicals; Medicine; Social medicine; History; Periodicals; Periodicals; 362.109
• DOI: 10.1093/shm/hkz054
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-631X

Abstract

Summary: This article examines the emergence of postal pathology in Britain from around 1895 onwards. It focuses on the impact of laboratory-centred diagnostic practices on the working experiences and practices of medical and laboratory practitioners, Post Office (PO) management and PO workers as they operated within the medical marketplace. It demonstrates the critical role the PO played in facilitating the growth of remote laboratory diagnosis. Whilst primarily focussing on the idea of postal pathology as denoting a set of material practices and exchanges that took place between the PO, clinicians and laboratories for the purposes of diagnosing disease, it also hints at the ways in which the PO has at various points in its history itself been pathologised and made subject to new prophylactic regimens to protect against disease transmission. Through studying the issues that arose with the circulation of pathological specimens, this work touches upon several themes that help us to better understand the challenges historical actors encountered when working with such potentially dangerous material on a regular basis. Previously underutilised sources such as laboratory manuals, medical diaries and PO archival records will help to reconstruct the working experiences of medical practitioners, laboratory workers and PO workers. By doing so, we can begin to gain a better understanding of how diverging epidemiologies of infectious diseases emerged as historical actors worked to successfully navigate the demands of their respective workplaces at a time when pathological specimens became increasingly ubiquitous, mobile commodities.