Book Review: Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues

This is a wonderfully researched book. The eight plagues of the title aren’t all of the ‘Black Death’ variety but are diseases that have run amok through populations at various times in human history.

Disease has played a significant role in shaping our world. For example, some eminent sociologists believe that Christianity might not have become so dominant a faith if it weren’t for the Antonine and Cyprianic plagues. The reason given was that all most people could do to deflect the wrath of the pagan gods was to offer them a sacrifice, whereas Jesus’ message, that hardship in this life on Earth brought redemption in the next, was more reassuring and gave hope and meaning to people’s lives.

In 1698, 1,200 people set sail from Scotland to set up a ‘New Edinburgh’ in Panama, but three-quarters of them died in the next eight months and the rest of them returned home, but not before 1,300 more had set out for Panama. Within nine months, only one hundred were left.

At this time England was keen that Scotland and England should unite and become one country. The Scots were not so keen. The failure of New Edinburgh didn’t just kill 2,000 people it wiped out all the investments made. Cannily, England promised to compensate the investors if they agreed to closer ties between England and Scotland. Even committed Scottish nationalists supported the 1707 Act of Union when faced with the possibility of financial ruin. Thus, Great Britain was born with the assistance of Panamanian fevers and diseases.