The custom of saying Good Health when we are about to drink alcohol comes from 19th-century England and a deadly outbreak of cholera between 1848 and 1849. In summer 1849 the cholera had reached epidemic proportions in the Broadwick Street area of Soho in London. It resulted in 344 deaths in just four days in this area, though there were almost none in any neighbouring areas. The local physician Dr John Snow came up with the idea that cholera was linked to drinking polluted water and he proved it when he found that 87 victims out of the 89 he examined were known to have drunk from the Broadwick Street well. Snow asked the authorities to take the handle off the pump. Almost straight away the outbreak was halted. For a long while afterwards local people would avoid water and drink only ales and wines and when drinking they would toast each other with "to your good health," knowing it meant they were safe from the disease. There is still a pub called the John Snow on Broadwick Street today.