The miasma theory (also called the miasmatic theory) held that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia or the Black Death were caused by a miasma (Μίασμα, ancient Greek: "pollution"), a noxious form of "bad air". The theory explained the origin of these epidemic diseases was miasma, an emanation from rotting organic matter.
The miasma theory was accepted from ancient times in Europe, India and China. The theory was eventually displaced in the 19th century by the discovery of germs and the germ theory of disease.
Read more about Miasma Theory: Etymology, Miasma in The West, Contagionism Versus Miasmatism, Miasma in China, The Influence of Miasma: Sanitary Engineering Reforms in The West, The Influence of Miasma: in Southern China, From Miasma To Germ Theory: The Debates On Cholera, A Modern Miasma
Famous quotes containing the words miasma and/or theory:
“You have been here only a short time, Mr. Barnard. You cannot know what it is to live here month upon month, year after year, breathing this infernal air, absorbing the miasma of barbarity that permeates these walls, especially this chamber.”
—Richard Matheson (b. 1926)
“A theory of the middle class: that it is not to be determined by its financial situation but rather by its relation to government. That is, one could shade down from an actual ruling or governing class to a class hopelessly out of relation to government, thinking of gov’t as beyond its control, of itself as wholly controlled by gov’t. Somewhere in between and in gradations is the group that has the sense that gov’t exists for it, and shapes its consciousness accordingly.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)