Evidence-Based Mistakes

In the late eighteenth century, a hot new craze was sweeping across Western Civilization: attempting to save drowning victims. Previously, if you appeared to be drowned, usually you were left “stretched naked on the shore.” But beginning with Amsterdam’s Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned in 1767, this started to change. After the successes reported by the Dutch, “humane societies” with similar appellations began to pop up across the major cities of Europe and the United States–most of which were port, river or canal-based cities, full of opportunities for drowning. These societies published pamphlets on how to resuscitate a presumably-drowned person, and offered financial rewards to those who…