Dr. Sartorius The Waterworks

The nineteenth century post-Civil War America is often associated with technological advancements, industrial expansions, end of slavery and an overall economic prosperity. However, the obsession with scientific advancements and knowledge led to corruption. In The Waterworks by E.L. Doctorow, preconceived notions about technological innovation and urban capitalism is exposed through the notorious kidnappings in New York City, Augustus Pemberton’s monopolizing position in society, and Dr. Sartorius’ experimental human trials. Historians and primary accounts confirm the unethical human experiments, numerous kidnappings and the corrupted economic system in the late 19th century. Therefore, infatuation with medical advances and scientific innovations

Sartorius embodies scientists’ unethical obsession with medical advances. A civil war surgeon and a medical genius, Dr. Sartorius partners with wealthy old men to provide blood transfusions in exchange for research funds. He operates outside the law and discovers medical breakthroughs by using the bodies of kidnapped orphans to practice his experiments. Dr. Sartorius “lengthens that lives of corrupt rich by preying upon the city’s thousands of poor orphans (Wilhelmus 148). The reader is naturally led to question what extreme measures Dr. Sartorius would have taken to further expand his medical practices if he was not stopped. Wilhelmus supports that Dr. Sartorius allowed his scientific investigations to “transgress the barriers of decency” (148-149). In 1895, a New York newspaper article describes the unethical human experiments conducted by Dr. Henry Heiman, who injected gonorrhea to a 4-year old boy he calls “an idiot with chronic epilepsy” (lines 2-5). In addition, in 1896, Dr. Wentworth uses 29 children as “human guinea pigs to perform spinal taps on them” (American Academy of Pediatrics). A similar novel written in 1818, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley shares the theme related to the dangers in pursuit of knowledge. Shelley uses Victor Frankenstein to illustrate how science can lead a man into madness. She states that “nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change” (146). This change can be referred to the rapid transformations that took place in 19th century New York