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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Great Influenza, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Leadership and Crisis
Truth, Free Press, and Propaganda
Science vs. Nature
Education, Research, and Institutions
Summary
Analysis
Even Cole’s first experiments with his serum for pneumonia showed promise on patients. Though he and his colleagues didn’t have a cure, they were able to cut the death rate for pneumonia caused by Type I pneumococci, the most common kind.
Progress in science is often slow, but Cole’s early experiments proved that for an investigator who proceeded methodically, it was possible to put theory into practice and see real-world results.
Themes
Gorgas wrote to army hospital commanders in 1917 to inform them that pneumonia would likely be one of the most important diseases among troops. Meanwhile, Cole began looking into the logistics of producing a pneumonia vaccine effective against certain strains, which would be difficult to do on the mass scale needed. An early test in March 1918 among 12,000 troops camped on Long Island suggested good results for the vaccine but wasn’t conclusive.
The day-to-day work of lab scientists like Cole and public health officials like Gorgas was very different, but their goals were intertwined. Though Cole didn’t necessarily produce his vaccine for use in war, its vital importance for soldiers in close encampments meant that his research would inevitably have applications in war. As a result, this helped him get test subjects and other resources.
Themes
Gorgas asked Welch to chair a board specifically dedicated to pneumonia. Welch called Flexner, and the two of them agreed that Cole was actually the best man for the job. The pneumonia team ended up being very effective and was later recognized with awards and accolades for many of the members.
Because scientists like Welch and Flexner were dedicated to the common good, they could recognize situations when someone else was best suited to do a job. This spirit of cooperation defined many of the best scientists of the World War I era.
Themes
Gorgas, Welch, and Cole weren’t worried at first about influenza, although they were tracking outbreaks (which were typically mild). They quickly identified overcrowding as one of the biggest risk factors for an epidemic. By 1918, it seemed that humankind was finally “modern” enough to put up a fight against nature, at least when it came to disease.
Modernity can be defined in a lot of different ways, not all of them positive. World War I is sometimes considered the first modern war because of its brutal efficiency, not because it represented any sort of progress. Still, in medical science, modernity does generally represent progress, and the time around World War I saw many people’s quality of life improving due to new medical innovations.
Themes
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