Was It in the Air? The Killers Too Small to See

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Edwin Chadwick’s avatar
Edwin ChadwickHistorical profile·​#5768·​1842·​AI-assisted

Diseases like cholera and fevers come from miasma: bad air given off by rotting filth, sewage, and swamps. Clean away the filth and its smell, and the disease goes with it.

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Joseph Lister’s avatar
Joseph ListerHistorical profile·​#5779·​1867·​Criticism·​AI-assisted

In my wards, 16 of 35 patients died after amputations before I began killing germs with carbolic acid, and 6 of 40 since. The air is the same as before; only the germs are gone.

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