Obsolete medical theory about the transmission of disease through bad air
"Night air" redirects here. For the song by Jamie Woon, see Night Air.
An 1831 color lithograph by Robert Seymour depicts cholera as a robed, skeletal creature emanating a deadly black cloud.
The miasma theory (also called the miasmic theory) is an abandoned medical theory that held that diseases—such as cholera, chlamydia, or the Black Death—were caused by a miasma (μίασμα, Ancient Greek for 'pollution'), a noxious form of "bad air", also known as night air. The theory held that epidemics were caused by miasma, emanating from rotting organic matter.[1] Though miasma theory is typically associated with the spread of contagious diseases, some academics in the early nineteenth century suggested that the theory extended to other conditions as well, e.g. one could become obese by inhaling the odor of food.[2]
The miasma theory was advanced by Hippocrates in the fourth century B.C.[3] and accepted from ancient times in Europe and China. The theory was eventually abandoned by scientists and physicians after 1880, replaced by the germ theory of disease: specific germs, not miasma, caused specific diseases. However, cultural beliefs about getting rid of odor made the clean-up of waste a high priority for cities.[4][5] It also encouraged the construction of well-ventilated hospital facilities, schools and other buildings.[6]
^John M. Last, ed. (2007). "A Dictionary of Public Health". miasma theory. Westminster College, Pennsylvania: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516090-1.
^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.
^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. Archived from the original on June 25, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
^Linda Nash, Inescapable Ecologies: A History of Environment, Disease, and Knowledge (2007)
^Suellen Hoy, Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness (1996) pp. 104–13
^Anthes, Emily (June 17, 2023). "The New War on Bad Air". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 17, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
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