De Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Saltar a navegación Saltar a búsqueda
El "aire nocturno" vuelve a dirigir aquí. Para la canción de Jamie Woon, vea Night Air .
Una litografía en color de 1831 de Robert Seymour representa el cólera como una criatura esquelética con túnica que emana una nube negra mortal.

La teoría del miasma (también llamada teoría miasmática ) es una teoría médica obsoleta que sostenía que las enfermedades , como el cólera , la clamidia o la peste negra, eran causadas por un miasma (μίασμα, griego antiguo para "contaminación"), una forma nociva de "aire malo", también conocido como aire nocturno . La teoría sostenía que las epidemias eran causadas por miasmas, que emanaban de materia orgánica en descomposición. [1] Aunque la teoría del miasma se asocia típicamente con la propagación de enfermedades contagiosas, algunos académicos de principios del siglo XIX sugirieron que la teoría se extendía también a otras afecciones, por ejemplo, uno podría volverse obeso al inhalar el olor de la comida. [2]

La teoría del miasma fue propuesta por Hipócrates en el siglo IV a. C. [3] y aceptada desde la antigüedad en Europa y China. La teoría fue finalmente abandonada por científicos y médicos después de 1880, reemplazada por la teoría de los gérmenes de la enfermedad : gérmenes específicos, no miasmas, causaron enfermedades específicas. Sin embargo, las creencias culturales sobre la eliminación de los olores hicieron de la limpieza de residuos una alta prioridad para las ciudades. [4] [5]

Etimología [ editar ]

La palabra miasma proviene del griego antiguo y significa "contaminación". [6] La idea también dio lugar al nombre de malaria (literalmente "mal aire") a través del italiano medieval.

Reproducciones en todo el mundo [ editar ]

Libro de Sebastian Petrycy publicado en Cracovia en 1613 sobre la prevención del "mal aire".

Se consideraba que el miasma era un vapor venenoso o niebla llena de partículas de materia descompuesta (miasmata) que causaba enfermedades. La posición miasmática era que las enfermedades eran producto de factores ambientales como agua contaminada, aire viciado y malas condiciones higiénicas. Dicha infección no se transmite entre individuos, sino que afectaría a los individuos dentro del lugar que dio lugar a tales vapores. Era identificable por su olor nauseabundo. También se creyó inicialmente que los miasmas se propagaban a través de gusanos de úlceras dentro de los afectados por una plaga. [7]

En el siglo I a.C., el escritor arquitectónico romano Vitruvio describió los efectos potenciales del miasma ( nebulosa latina ) de los fétidos pantanos al visitar una ciudad:

Porque cuando las brisas de la mañana soplen hacia la ciudad al amanecer, si traen consigo la niebla de los pantanos y, mezclada con la niebla, el aliento venenoso de las criaturas de los pantanos para ser arrastrados a los cuerpos de los habitantes, harán que el sitio insalubre. [8]

La teoría miasmática de la enfermedad siguió siendo popular en la Edad Media y una sensación de efluvios contribuyó a las sospechas de Robert Boyle sobre las realidades ocultas del aire .

En la década de 1850, el miasma se utilizó para explicar la propagación del cólera en Londres y París , justificando en parte la posterior renovación de Haussmann de la capital francesa . Se decía que la enfermedad se podía prevenir limpiando y frotando el cuerpo y los artículos. El Dr. William Farr , comisionado asistente del censo de Londres de 1851, fue un importante partidario de la teoría del miasma. Creía que el cólera se transmitía por vía aérea y que había una concentración letal de miasmas cerca de las orillas del río Támesis . Tal creencia fue aceptada en parte debido a la falta general de calidad del aire en las áreas urbanizadas. [2]La amplia aceptación de la teoría del miasma durante los brotes de cólera eclipsó la teoría parcialmente correcta presentada por John Snow de que el cólera se propaga a través del agua. Esto ralentizó la respuesta a los principales brotes en el distrito de Soho de Londres y otras áreas. La enfermera de la guerra de Crimea Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) [9] [10] [11] fue una defensora de la teoría y trabajó para hacer que los hospitales fueran sanitarios y con un olor fresco. En "Notas sobre enfermería para las clases trabajadoras" (1860) se afirmó que Nightingale "mantendría el aire [del paciente] respirando tan puro como el aire exterior". [ Esta cita necesita una cita ]

El miedo al miasma se registró en muchas advertencias de principios del siglo XIX sobre lo que se denominó "niebla malsana". La presencia de niebla indicó fuertemente la presencia de miasma. Los miasmas se comportaban como humo o niebla, arrastrados por corrientes de aire, arrastrados por los vientos. No viajó simplemente en el aire, cambió el aire a través del cual se propagó. La atmósfera estaba infectada por miasmas, al igual que las personas enfermas. [12] Muchos creían que el miasma era mágico y podía cambiar las propiedades del aire y la atmósfera por completo. [ cita requerida ]

China [ editar ]

En China, miasma ( chino :瘴氣; pinyin : Zhàngqì ; nombres alternativos 瘴 毒, 瘴 癘) es un antiguo concepto de enfermedad, ampliamente utilizado por las antiguas crónicas y obras literarias locales chinas. Miasma tiene diferentes nombres en la cultura china. La mayoría de las explicaciones del miasma se refieren a él como una especie de enfermedad o gas venenoso.

Los antiguos chinos pensaban que el miasma estaba relacionado con el medio ambiente de partes del sur de China. Se pensaba que el miasma era causado por el calor, la humedad y el aire muerto en las montañas del sur de China. Pensaron que los desechos de los insectos contaminan el aire, la niebla y el agua, y que el bosque virgen alberga un gran ambiente para que ocurra el miasma.

En las descripciones de los viajeros antiguos, los soldados o los funcionarios locales (la mayoría de ellos son hombres de letras) del fenómeno del miasma, siempre se mencionaba la niebla, la bruma, el polvo, el gas o el gaseamiento geológico venenoso. Se pensaba que el miasma había causado muchas enfermedades como el resfriado, la influenza, los golpes de calor, la malaria o la disentería. En la historia médica de China, el paludismo ha recibido diferentes nombres en diferentes períodos de dinastía. El envenenamiento y la psitacosis también se llamaban miasma en la antigua China porque no entendían con precisión la causa de la enfermedad.

En la dinastía Sui , el doctor Tsao Yuan-fung mencionó el miasma en su libro Sobre patógenos y síndromes (諸 病源 候 論). Pensó que el miasma en el sur de China era similar a la fiebre tifoidea en el norte de China. Sin embargo, en su opinión, el miasma era diferente de la malaria y la disentería . En su libro, habló de la disentería en otro capítulo y la malaria en un solo capítulo. También afirmó que el miasma causaba diversas enfermedades, por lo que sugirió que se deberían encontrar formas adecuadas y específicas de resolver los problemas. [13]

El concepto de miasma se desarrolló en varias etapas. Primero, antes de la Dinastía Jin Occidental , el concepto de miasma se fue formando gradualmente; al menos, en la dinastía Han del Este , no hubo descripción de miasma. Durante el Jin del Este, un gran número de personas del norte se trasladaron al sur, y los hombres de letras y nobleza reconocieron el miasma. Después de la dinastía Sui y Tang , los académicos-burócratas enviados a ser los funcionarios locales registraron e investigaron el miasma. Como resultado, el gobierno se preocupó por los casos graves y las causas del miasma al enviar médicos a las áreas de epidemia para investigar la enfermedad y curar a los pacientes. En la dinastía Ming y la dinastía Qing, versiones de crónicas locales registran diferentes miasmas en diferentes lugares. [14]

Sin embargo, el sur de China estaba muy desarrollado en las dinastías Ming y Qing. El entorno cambió rápidamente y, después del siglo XIX, la ciencia y el conocimiento médico occidentales se introdujeron en China, y la gente sabía cómo distinguir y tratar la enfermedad. Por lo tanto, el concepto de miasma se desvaneció debido al progreso de la medicina en China. [15]

Influencia en el sur de China [ editar ]

Las aterradoras enfermedades de miasma en las regiones del sur de China lo convirtieron en el lugar principal para relegar a los funcionarios y enviar a los criminales al exilio desde la dinastía Qin-Han. El poeta Han Yu (韓愈) de la dinastía Tang , por ejemplo, le escribió a su sobrino que fue a despedirlo después de su destierro a la prefectura de Chao en su poema En Route [16] (左 遷至 藍 關 示 姪 孫 湘) :

Al amanecer envié una única advertencia al trono de los Nueve Pasos;
Por la tarde fui desterrado a Chao Yang, ocho mil leguas.
Luchando en nombre de una noble dinastía para expulsar a un gobierno innoble,
¿cómo debería yo, marchito y desgastado, deplorar mi suerte futura?
Las nubes se acumulan en las montañas Ch'in, no puedo ver mi hogar;
La nieve bloquea los pasos de Lan, mi caballo no puede avanzar.
Pero sé que vendrás de lejos, para cumplir tu propósito,

Y con amor recoja mis huesos, a orillas de ese río plagado.

La creencia predominante y el temor predominante de la región sur con su "aire y gases venenosos" es evidente en documentos históricos.

Temas y sentimientos similares hacia el sur infectado por el miasma a menudo se reflejan en los primeros registros y poesía chinos. La mayoría de los estudiosos de la época coincidieron en que los entornos geológicos del sur tenían un impacto directo en la composición y el crecimiento de la población. Muchos registros históricos reflejan que las mujeres eran menos propensas a la infección por miasma y las tasas de mortalidad eran mucho más altas en el sur, especialmente para los hombres. Esto influyó directamente en el cultivo agrícola y la economía del sur, ya que los hombres eran el motor de la producción agrícola. Zhou Qufei (周 去 非), un magistrado local de la dinastía Song del Sur, describió en su tratado, Respuestas representativas del sur : "... Los hombres son bajos y bronceados, mientras que las mujeres eran regordetas y rara vez enfermaban, " [17] and exclaimed at the populous female population in the Guangxi region.

This inherent environmental threat also prevented immigration from other regions. Hence, development in the damp and sultry south was much slower than in the north, where the dynasties' political power resided for much of early Chinese history.[18]

India[edit]

In India, there was also a miasma theory and the Indians take credit for being the first to put this miasma theory into clinical practice. The Indians invented paan, a gambir paste, that was believed to help prevent miasma; it was considered as the first antimiasmatic application. This gambir tree is found in Southern India and Sri Lanka.[19]

Developments from 19th century onwards[edit]

Zymotic theory[edit]

Based on “zymotic” theory, people believed vapors called “miasmata” (singular: "miasma") rose from the soil and spread diseases. Miasmata were believed to come from rotting vegetation and foul water—especially in swamps and urban ghettos.

Many people, especially the weak or infirm, avoided breathing night air by going indoors and keeping windows and doors shut. In addition to ideas associated with zymotic theory, there was also a general fear that cold or cool air spread disease. The fear of night air gradually disappeared as understanding about disease increased as well as with improvements in home heating and ventilation. Particularly important was the understanding that the agent spreading malaria was the mosquito (active at night) rather than miasmata.[20][21]

Contagionism versus miasmatism[edit]

Prior to the late 19th century, night air was considered dangerous in most Western cultures. Throughout the 19th century, the medical community was divided on the explanation for disease proliferation. On one side were the contagionists, believing disease was passed through physical contact, while others believed disease was present in the air in the form of miasma, and thus could proliferate without physical contact. Two members of the latter group were Dr. Thomas S. Smith and Florence Nightingale.

Thomas Southwood Smith spent many years comparing the miasmatic theory to contagionism.

Asumir el método de propagación por contacto, ya sea por la persona o por artículos infectados, y pasarlo por alto por la corrupción del aire, es a la vez aumentar el peligro real de la exposición a efluvios nocivos y desviar la atención de los verdaderos medios de remedio y prevención.

Florence Nightingale :

The idea of "contagion", as explaining the spread of disease, appears to have been adopted at a time when, from the neglect of sanitary arrangements, epidemics attacked whole masses of people, and when men had ceased to consider that nature had any laws for her guidance. Beginning with the poets and historians, the word finally made its way into scientific nomenclature, where it has remained ever since [...] a satisfactory explanation for pestilence and an adequate excuse for non-exertion to prevent its recurrence.

The current germ theory accounts for disease proliferation by both direct and indirect physical contact.[citation needed]

Influence on sanitary engineering reforms[edit]

In the early 19th century, the living conditions in industrialized cities in Britain were increasingly unsanitary. The population was growing at a much faster rate than the infrastructure could support. For example, the population of Manchester doubled within a single decade, leading to overcrowding and a significant increase in waste accumulation.[22] The miasma theory of disease made sense to the sanitary reformers of the mid-19th century. Miasmas explained why cholera and other diseases were epidemic in places where the water was stagnant and foul-smelling. A leading sanitary reformer, London's Edwin Chadwick, asserted that "all smell is disease", and maintained that a fundamental change in the structure of sanitation systems was needed to combat increasing urban mortality rates.

Chadwick saw the problem of cholera and typhoid epidemics as being directly related to urbanization, and he proposed that new, independent sewerage systems should be connected to homes. Chadwick supported his proposal with reports from the London Statistical Society which showed dramatic increases in both morbidity and mortality rates since the beginning of urbanization in the early 19th century.[22] Though Chadwick proposed reform on the basis of the miasma theory, his proposals did contribute to improvements in sanitation, such as preventing the reflux of noxious air from sewers back into houses by using separate drainage systems in the design of sanitation. That led, incidentally, to decreased outbreaks of cholera and thus helped to support the theory.[23]

The miasma theory was consistent with the observation that disease was associated with poor sanitation, and hence foul odours, and that sanitary improvements reduced disease. However, it was inconsistent with the findings arising from microbiology and bacteriology in the later 19th century, which eventually led to the adoption of the germ theory of disease, although consensus was not reached immediately. Concerns over sewer gas, which was a major component of the miasma theory developed by Galen, and brought to prominence by the "Great Stink" in London in the summer of 1858, led proponents of the theory to observe that sewers enclosed the refuse of the human bowel, which medical science had discovered could teem with typhoid, cholera, and other microbes.

In 1846, the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act[24] was passed to identify whether the transmission of cholera was by air or by water. The act was used to encourage owners to clean their dwellings and connect them to sewers.[citation needed]

Even though eventually disproved by the understanding of bacteria and the discovery of viruses, the miasma theory helped establish the connection between poor sanitation and disease. That encouraged cleanliness and spurred public health reforms which, in Britain, led to the Public Health Acts[24] of 1848 and 1858, and the Local Government Act of 1858. The latter of those enabled the instituting of investigations into the health and sanitary regulations of any town or place, upon the petition of residents or as a result of death rates exceeding the norm. Early medical and sanitary engineering reformers included Henry Austin, Joseph Bazalgette, Edwin Chadwick, Frank Forster, Thomas Hawksley, William Haywood, Henry Letheby, Robert Rawlinson, Sir John Simon, John Snow and Thomas Wicksteed.[25] Their efforts, and associated British regulatory improvements, were reported in the United States as early as 1865.[26]

Particularly notable in 19th century sanitation reform is the work of Joseph Bazalgette, chief engineer to London's Metropolitan Board of Works. Encouraged by the Great Stink, Parliament sanctioned Bazalgette to design and construct a comprehensive system of sewers, which intercepted London's sewage and diverted it away from its water supply. The system helped purify London's water and saved the city from epidemics. In 1866, the last of the three great British cholera epidemics took hold in a small area of Whitechapel. However, the area was not yet connected to Bazalgette's system, and the confined area of the epidemic acted as testament to the efficiency of the system's design.[2]

Years later, the influence of those sanitary reforms on Britain was described by Sir Richard Rogers:[25]

London was the first city to create a complex civic administration which could coordinate modern urban services, from public transport to housing, clean water to education. London's County Council was acknowledged as the most progressive metropolitan government in the world. Fifty years earlier, London had been the worst slum city of the industrialized world: over-crowded, congested, polluted and ridden with disease...

The miasma theory did contribute to containing disease in urban settlements, but did not allow the adoption of a suitable approach to the reuse of excreta in agriculture.[27] It was a major factor in the practice of collecting human excreta from urban settlements and reusing them in the surrounding farmland. That type of resource recovery scheme was common in major cities in the 19th century before the introduction of sewer-based sanitation systems.[28] Nowadays, the reuse of excreta, when done in an hygienic manner, is known as ecological sanitation, and is promoted as a way of "closing the loop".

Throughout the 19th century, concern about public health and sanitation, along with the influence of the miasma theory, were reasons for the advocacy of the then-controversial practice of cremation. If infectious diseases were spread by noxious gases emitted from decaying organic matter, that included decaying corpses. The public health argument for cremation faded with the eclipsing of the miasma theory of disease.[29]

Replacement by germ theory[edit]

Although the connection between germ and disease was proposed quite early, it was not until the late-1800s that the germ theory was generally accepted. The miasmatic theory was challenged by John Snow, suggesting that there was some means by which the disease was spread via a poison or morbid material (orig: materies morbi) in the water.[30] He suggested this before and in response to a cholera epidemic on Broad Street in central London in 1854.[31] Because of the miasmatic theory's predominance among Italian scientists, the discovery in the same year by Filippo Pacini of the bacillus that caused the disease was completely ignored. It was not until 1876 that Robert Koch proved that the bacterium Bacillus anthracis caused anthrax,[32] which brought a definitive end to miasma theory.

1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak[edit]

Main article: 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak

The work of John Snow is notable for helping to make the connection between cholera and typhoid epidemics and contaminated water sources, which contributed to the eventual demise of miasma theory. During the cholera epidemic of 1854, Snow traced high mortality rates among the citizens of Soho to a water pump in Broad Street. Snow convinced the local government to remove the pump handle, which resulted in a marked decrease in cases of cholera in the area. In 1857, Snow submitted a paper to the British Medical Journal which attributed high numbers of cholera cases to water sources that were contaminated with human waste. Snow used statistical data to show that citizens who received their water from upstream sources were considerably less likely to develop cholera than those who received their water from downstream sources. Though his research supported his hypothesis that contaminated water, not foul air, was the source of cholera epidemics, a review committee concluded that Snow's findings were not significant enough to warrant change, and they were summarily dismissed. Additionally, other interests intervened in the process of reform. Many water companies and civic authorities pumped water directly from contaminated sources such as the Thames to public wells, and the idea of changing sources or implementing filtration techniques was an unattractive economic prospect. In the face of such economic interests, reform was slow to be adopted.[22]

In 1855, John Snow made a testimony against the Amendment to the "Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act" that regularized air pollution of some industries. He claimed that:

That is possible; but I believe that the poison of the cholera is either swallowed in water, or got directly from some other person in the family, or in the room; I believe it is quite an exception for it to be conveyed in the air; though if the matter gets dry it may be wafted a short distance.[33]

In the same year, William Farr, who was then the major supporter of the miasma theory, issued a report to criticize the germ theory. Farr and the Committee wrote that:

After careful inquiry, we see no reason to adopt this belief. We do not feel it established that the water was contaminated in the manner alleged; nor is there before us any sufficient evidence to show whether inhabitants of that district, drinking from that well, suffered in proportion more than other inhabitants of the district who drank from other sources.[34][35]

Experiments by Louis Pasteur[edit]

The more formal experiments on the relationship between germ and disease were conducted by Louis Pasteur between 1860 and 1864. He discovered the pathology of the puerperal fever[36] and the pyogenic vibrio in the blood, and suggested using boric acid to kill these microorganisms before and after confinement.

By 1866, eight years after the death of John Snow, William Farr publicly acknowledged that the miasma theory on the transmission of cholera was wrong, by his statistical justification on the death rate.[34]

See also[edit]

  • Germ theory of disease
  • Airborne disease

References[edit]

  1. ^ John M. Last, ed. (2007). "miasma theory". A Dictionary of Public Health. Westminster College, Pennsylvania: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ a b c Halliday, Stephen (2001). "Death and Miasma in Victorian London: An Obstinate Belief". British Medical Journal. 323 (7327): 1469–1471. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7327.1469. PMC 1121911. PMID 11751359.
  3. ^ van der Eijk, P.J. (2005). Hippocrates in Context: Papers Read at the XIth International Hippocrates Colloquium (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 27-31 August 2002). BRILL. p. 17. ISBN 9789004377271. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  4. ^ Linda Nash, Inescapable Ecologies: A History of Environment, Disease, and Knowledge (2007)
  5. ^ Suellen Hoy, Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness (1996) pp. 104–13
  6. ^ "Definition of MIASMA". www.merriam-webster.com. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  7. ^ Malouin, Paul-Jacques (1765). "Miasma". Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library. hdl:2027/spo.did2222.0000.369. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Vitruvius, De architectura I.4.1, Latin text at LacusCurtius.
  9. ^ "Brief History During the Snow Era". John Snow Site. UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology. Archived from the original on 17 January 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Who was William Farr?" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Development of the Germ Theory of Disease" (PDF). AS Science for Public Understanding. Teacher Notes. Nuffield Foundation. 25 March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  12. ^ Valenčius, Conevery B. The Health of the Country: How American Settlers Understood Themselves and Their Land. New York: Basic Books, 2002. pp. 115–17. Print.
  13. ^ (隋)巢元方撰，曹赤電炳章圈點，《巢氏諸病源候論》，(台北：國立中國醫藥研究所，1996)，頁30、47–51。
  14. ^ 牟重行，王彩萍，〈中國歷史上的「瘴氣」考釋〉，《國立臺灣師範大學地理研究報告》，(第38期，台北：國立臺灣師範大學地理學系，2003)，頁25。 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2011-06-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ 牟重行，王彩萍，〈中國歷史上的「瘴氣」考釋〉，《國立臺灣師範大學地理研究報告》，(第38期，台北：國立臺灣師範大學地理學系，2003)，頁25–26。 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2011-06-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ [1], Translated by Arthur Waley in Chinese Poems.
  17. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2011-06-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), 宋周去非, 嶺外代答, 卷十, 276.
  18. ^ 龔勝生，〈2000年來中國瘴病分布變遷的初步研究〉，《地理學報》，第48卷第4期，(西安：陜西師範大學中國歷史地理研究所，1993)，頁305–312。
  19. ^ "Miasma Analysis" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 June 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  20. ^ Baldwin, Peter C. (2003). "How Night Air Became Good Air, 1776-1930". Environmental History. 8 (3): 412–429. doi:10.2307/3986202. JSTOR 3986202.
  21. ^ Cipolla, Carlo M. Miasmas and disease: Public health and environment in the pre-industrial age. Yale University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-300-04806-8.
  22. ^ a b c Gill, Geoff (Summer 2000). "Cholera and the fight for public health reform in mid-Victorian England". Historian. London (66): 10. ProQuest 274942422.
  23. ^ Whorton, James (2001). "'The insidious foe'—sewer gas". West. J. Med. 175 (6): 427–428. doi:10.1136/ewjm.175.6.427. PMC 1275984. PMID 11733443.
  24. ^ a b "Sanitary Legislation. No. VII. Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Acts Consolidation and Amendment Bill". Association Medical Journal. 3 (131): 619–621. 6 July 1855. JSTOR 25496511.
  25. ^ a b "Stanford Libraries". Stanford Libraries. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  26. ^ "European Sanitary Reform; The British Sanitary Legislation". The New York Times. 31 July 1865. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  27. ^ Bracken, P.; Wachtler, A.; Panesar, A.R.; Lange, J. (March 2007). "The road not taken: how traditional excreta and greywater management may point the way to a sustainable future". Water Science and Technology: Water Supply. 7 (1): 219–227. doi:10.2166/ws.2007.025.
  28. ^ "Market Gardeners Tram Plateway". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Council of Victoria. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  29. ^ "USA." Encyclopedia of Cremation. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2005. Credo Reference. Web. 17 September 2012.
  30. ^ "On Continuous Molecular Changes, More Particularly in Their Relation to Epidemic Diseases". March 1853. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018 – via The John Snow Archive and Research Companion.
  31. ^ "John Snow's Cholera Map Maps". www.york.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  32. ^ "Robert Koch (1843–1910)". www.sciencemuseum.org.uk. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  33. ^ Frerichs, Ralph R. "Snow's Testimony". www.ph.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  34. ^ a b Frerichs, Ralph R. "Competing Theories of Cholera". www.ph.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  35. ^ "Report of the Committee for Scientific Inquiries in Relation to the Cholera-Epidemic of 1854". 14 July 1855. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018 – via The John Snow Archive and Research Companion.
  36. ^ "On the extension of the germ theory to the etiology of certain common diseases". ebooks.adelaide.edu.au. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.

Further reading[edit]

  • Beasley, Brett (2015-09-30). "Bad Air: Pollution, Sin, and Science Fiction in William Delisle Hay's The Doom of the Great City (1880)". The Public Domain Review. 5 (18).
  • Sterner, Carl S. (2007). "A Brief History of Miasmic Theory" (PDF). Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 22 (1948): 747.
  • Thorsheim, Peter (2006). Inventing Pollution: Coal, Smoke, and Culture in Britain since 1800. Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-8214-1681-5.

External links[edit]

  • Prevailing theories before the germ theory
  • Cholera theories
  • Term definition