and henry parsons showed us the right way to think about things. let's get data if it's person to person contact. what he did was he looked at the illness rates on the british railway system and he compared the rates of the engineers who were feeding the steam engines and the coal, who worked outside, but far away from people. and he compared those influenza rates, how many people reported sick from that group of workers, he compared those to the rates of influenza among the clerks inside selling the tickets. of course they're inside not exposed to the outside, but in constant contact with people. and he simply compared the two and he found that of course, it was the clerks who had an increased rate of influenza illness because they were in contact with people and the railway engineers driving the train, standing outside and feeding coal into the big steam engine, their rates of flu were lower than the clerk, even though they were outside exposed to the effluvia from the volcanos and really it's nothing to do with the atmosphere, but more to do wit

this was in 1889 by henry parsons and he was a very smart person. we'll see why. he spoke about various theories that may have caused this epidemic. one of the theories of the time, i'm not making this up, painted russian oats. a suggestion was that the russians were bringing the disease from the east through europe these painted oats. every society blamed the outsider for this. but strike me as weird that today, when we are blaming the russians for pretty much everything back in great flu and earlier, perhaps the russians were behind it as well parsons was not a thing that and he dug a little deeper. he suggested, he said it could be the weather, perhaps something floating around in the air and that is of course partially true, there is something in the air. he suggested that maybe it's a particular matter, which is actually a remarkably accurate description, isn't it? a part of virus turned out to be, non- living particular matter. it was describing a possible course of the flu. could be rushing painted oats, it could be a poison. then he suggested affect a pers

contact, it's not spread by oats or volcanoes but one person gives into another in here i think henry parsons really showed the right way for us to think about things, he said let's get some data, if its person-to-person, he looked at thess illness rates on the british railway system and he compared the rates of the engineers who were feeding the steam engines in the coals who worked outside before we from people any compared those real s and how many people reported sick and he compared those to the rates ofheat influenza among those inside selling the tickets, there inside but there in constant contact with people. andy said he compared the two. he said he found it was the clerks who had an increased rate of influenza illness because they were in contact with people in the railway engineers driving the train standing outside feeding the coal into the steam engine, their rates were much lower than the clerks even though they were outside exposed to who knows what from volcanoes pre-here he suggested it's really probably nothing to do with the atmosphere but more to do with person-to-person c

so, back in the 1889, henry parsons was really onto something when he discussed the possibility that birds were involved. that birds were involved. there's an example, i think of people trying to think this through in a fairly logical way and almost coming to the right conclusi conclusion. today we know what what causes influenza-- >> we will leave this portion of c-span2's book tv. you can watch all of our programs on-line at book tv.org. the u.s. senate is about to gavel in for a pro forma session part of c-span2's commitment to bring you live gavel to gavel coverage of the senate. senator majority leader mcconnell said he hopes to approve funding for a small business loan program. live coverage here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the clerk will read the communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., april 9, 2020. i hereby appoint the honorable roy blunt a senator from the state of missouri, to perform the duties of the chair. signed chuck grassley, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask

1889 a small epidemic so severe in great britain that parliament commissioned a report in 1889 by henry parsons who was a very smart professor. because one of the theories at the time was tainted russian oats. suggesting that the russian was bringing the disease from the east because every society blame the outside of this. but it strikes me kind of weird as we still blame the russians for everything through the epidemic perhaps the russians were behind it as well. and then he dug a little deeper and said it could be the weathe weather. something floating around in the air and that is partially true. and he suggested it is a nonliving particulate matter that is a remarkably accurate description of what of my wrist turned out to be. on particulate matter. so a little question to describ describe. it could be russian tainted oats. it is a spread by oats or volcanoes but from one person to another. and then say let's get some data. and looking at the illness rates of the railway system and compare the rates of the engineer and then outside but far away from people and with those influenza rates an

henry parsons. people haven't read the book. what do you want the audience to know about him?s about him. >> well, actually, gayle, henry parsons, i borrowed the name from a little-known epidemiologist in the 19th century who is the man who demonstrated that influenza was caused by contagion and not by environmental gases, my aand he the epidemiologist. i tip my hat to him. he's a man who's been touched by disease himself. he represents the world that i set this novel in, the world of medical science and these intellectual adventurers who, the epidemiologists who charge into places where novel diseases arise. they have no idea what they're dealing with. their mission is to find out and to stop the spread. and that's the world that revenue he comes from -- that henry comes from. >> yeah. the difference in the book is humanity is showing itself here in what we're going through. there's a lack -- a lot of humanity in "the end of october." i won't give it away, but bravo, bravo, very well done. thank you. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> "the end of october" -- my pleasure. "