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> medical texts maintained that odors could directly affect those who inhaled them That didn't just cause people to be fussy about smells. It caused them, for
by tlb 8y ago
> medical texts maintained that odors could directly affect those who inhaled them
That didn't just cause people to be fussy about smells. It caused them, for hundreds of years, to ignore evidence for the actual mechanism of disease transmission. The well-known story about the Broad St cholera outbreak, where someone figured out (in 1854) that cholera was caused by tainted drinking water, didn't have a happy ending as the "miasma" (odors) theory prevailed with public health officials and millions more died.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outbreak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1854_Broad_Street_cholera_outb...
- tenpies 8y agoAlso quite tellingly, many of the early medical textbooks had areas devoted to cosmetics, perfume, incense, and scented aromatics. The 10th century Al-Tasrif, one of the most important medical textbooks ever written and in use until the 1700s, had an entire chapter devoted to this topic.