Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Power, Medical Knowledge, and the Rhetorical Invention of “Typhoid Mary”

  • Published:
Journal of Medical Humanities Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This essay examines the interrelationship between legal, medical, and public knowledge in the case of Mary Mallon. The author argues that although Mallon was never convicted of any crime, she was under the constant surveillance of medical authorities because of her characterization as a recalcitrant “typhoid carrier.” Mallon's physical body became a contested site of controversy as various medical and legal communities fought for the legitimization of their own bodies of knowledge. Modern health care theorists and practitioners still use a plethora of “Typhoid Mary” narratives in their discussions of the relationship between jurisprudence, ethics, and medicine.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, S. H. (1905). Typhoid: An unnecessary evil. McClure's 25, 145–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altman, D. (1987). AIDS in the mind of Americ. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • The average individual as a carrier of typhoid. (1909). Current Literature, 47, 569.

  • Benedict, M. L. (1970). Contagion and the constitution: Quarantine agitation from 1859 to 1866. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 25, 177–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boycott, J. A. (1971). Natural history of infectious disease. London: Edward Arnold.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burris, S. (1998). Law and the social risks of health care: Lessons from HIV testing. Albany Law Review, 61 831–893.

    Google Scholar 

  • California's war on typhoid carriers. (1917). The World's Work, 34, 250–51.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carrier State. (1999). The medical and public health law site. Available at http://plague.law.umkc.edu/ default.htm.

  • Fallone, E. A. (1988). Preserving the public health: A proposal to quarantine recalcitrant AIDS carriers. Boston University Law Review, 68, 441–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkbeiner, A. K. (1996). Quite contrary. The Sciences, 36, 38–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1973). The order of things. New York: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garrett, L. (1996, July 27). Prisoner of New York City. New Scientist, 52.

  • Gibbins, L. N. (1998). Mary Mallon: Disease, denial, and detention. Journal of Biological Education, 32, 127–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilman, S. L. (1988). Disease and representation: Images of illness from madness to AIDS. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleason, J. A. (1986). Quarantine: An unreasonable solution to the AIDS dilemma. University of Cincinnati Law Review, 55, 217–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, J. S. (1994). The passion of Typhoid Mary. American Heritage, 45, 119–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graf, M. (1998). The story of Typhoid Mary. New York: Vantage Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasian, M., Jr. (1996). The rhetoric of eugenics in Anglo-American thought. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Health disease spreaders. (1909, July 1). The New York Times, p. 8.

  • Hospital epidemic from Typhoid Mary. (1915, March 28). The New York Times, pp. II–11.

  • Huber, J. B. (1911). Fighting American typhoid. American Review of Reviews, 43, 344–349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johns, K. A., & Varkoutas, C. (1998). The tuberculosis crisis: The deadly consequence of immigration policies and welfare. Journal of Contemporary Health Law & Policy, 15, 101–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, K. R. (1998). Race, the immigration laws, and domestic race relations: A “magic mirror” into the heart of darkness. Indiana Law Journal, 1111–1159.

  • King, M. F. (1960). Typhoid Mary's secret. American Mercury, 91, 124–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraut, A. M. (1994). Silent travelers: Germs, genes, and the “immigrant menace.” New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leavitt, J. W. (1992). “Typhoid Mary” strikes back. Bacteriological theory and practice in early twentieth-century public health. Isis, 83, 608–629.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leavitt, J. W. (1996). Typhoid Mary: Captive to the public's health. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • London, J. (1914, June 6). Stalking the pestilence. Colliers, 53, 11–12, 28–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, M. C. (1907, May 31). The biological society of Washington. Science, 25, 862–865.

    Google Scholar 

  • McClain, C. (1988). Of medicine, race, and American law: The bubonic plague outbreak of 1900. Law mand Social Inquiry, 13, 447–513.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaughlin, M. C. (1979). Mary Mallon: Alias Typhoid Mary. The Recorder, 40, 44–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendelson, J. A. (1995).“Typhoid Mary” strikes again. The social and the scientific in the making of modern public health. Isis, 86, 268–277.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, M., Wofsy, C. B., & Mills, J. (1986). The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: Infection control and public health law. The New England Journal of Medicine, 314, 931–936.

    Google Scholar 

  • New Thought Student. (1909, July 2). Proposes a medical monarchy. The New York Times, p. 6.

  • Now you know. (1981, June 4). Domestic News, United Press International. Available at http://web. lexis-nexis.com/universe/docum... 5a3& md5D1c87bbd4f0f64975e17c9cefe4d

  • Overlander, C. L. (1913, July 10). The typhoid carrier problem. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, m169, 37–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Park, W. (1909, June 20). Typhoid Mary: The extraordinary predicament of Mary Mallon. The New mYork American, p. V6.

  • Parmet, W. E. (1985). AIDS and quarantine: The revival of an archaic doctrine. Hofstra Law Review, m14, 53–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parmet, W. E., & Jackson, D. J. (1997). No longer disabled: The legal impact of the new social construction of HIV. American Journal of Law & Medicine, 23, 7–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, R. (1996, October 31). Book Review: Typhoid Mary. Nature, 383, 781–782.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper, G. A. (1907). The work of a chronic typhoid germ distributor. Journal of the American Medical mAssociation, 48, 2019–2022.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper, G. A. (1909, June 20). The extraordinary trail of death and disease left by Mary Mallon. The mNew York American, p. V6.

  • Soper, G. A. (1919). Typhoid Mary. Military Surgeon, 45, 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soper, G.A. (1939). The curious career ofTyphoid Mary. Bulletin of the NewYork Academy of Medicine, m15, 698–712.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sufrin, M. (1970). The case of the disappearing cook. American Heritage, 21, 37–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trauner, J. B. (1978, Spring). The Chinese as medical scapegoats in San Francisco, 1870–1905. California History, 57(1), 70–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Typhoid fever. (1915, May 8). Scientific American, 428.

  • Typhoid Mary. (1915, April 7). The Outlook, 803–804.

  • “Typhoid Mary” asks $50,000 from city. (1911, December 3). The New York Times, p. 9.

  • “Typhoid Mary” at large." (1910, March 3). The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 162, 294.

  • “Typhoid Mary” dies. (1938, November 12). The New York Times, p. 17.

  • “Typhoid Mary” freed. (1910, February 21). The New York Times, p.18.

  • “Typhoid Mary” has reappeared. (1915, April 4). The New York Times, p. V3–V4.

  • “Typhoid Mary” must stay. (1909, July 17). The New York Times, p. 3.

  • “Typhoid Mary” never ill, begs freedom. (1909, June 30). The New York American, p. I3.

  • Wald, P. (1997, Fall/Winter). Culture and carriers: “Typhoid Mary” and the science of social control. Social Text, 52/53(3/4), 181–214.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, S. (1935). Profiles: Typhoid carrier No. 36. The New Yorker, 10, 21–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Welter, B. (1966). The cult of true womanhood: 1820–1860. American Quarterly, 18, 151–174.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication, University of Utah, 2421 LNCO, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112

    Marouf A. Hasian

Authors
  1. Marouf A. Hasian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hasian, M.A. Power, Medical Knowledge, and the Rhetorical Invention of “Typhoid Mary”. Journal of Medical Humanities 21, 123–139 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009074619421

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009074619421

Keywords

Search

Navigation