"Clever Microbes": bacteriology and sanitary technology in Manchester and Chicago during the progressive age.

ABSTRACT

A neglected aspect of the history of germ theories is its use in the purification of sewage. In the 1890s, progressive reformers rapidly developed bacteriological methods of wastewater treatment. A comparison of the United Kingdom's Manchester and the United States' Chicago shows, however, that science and technology were mediated by political culture and institutions. In Manchester, a politics of deference and strong extralocal government gave the authority of scientific expertise a decisive role in policy formation. In Chicago, devolution of power to the ward bosses meant a quarter-century of defiance against the national authority and its effort to get the city to install a modern sanitation system.