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> the form [of their science] is perfect. The reason the British Houses of Parliament feature so many exterior and interior chimneys was to funnel so-called 'b
by Daub 3y ago
> the form [of their science] is perfect.
The reason the British Houses of Parliament feature so many exterior and interior chimneys was to funnel so-called 'bad air' of the Thames away from the people who work inside the building. This was based on the newly acquired knowledge that some diseases are passed on via microbes. They wrongly assumed that most malicious microbes were airborne and that bad smells were an indication of their presence.
The history of science is littered with such examples of 'good science/wrong conclusion'. We would be foolish to assume that this is not as true today as 100 years ago.
- nemo44x 3y agoI wonder if it had to do with tuberculosis, which is airborne? Tenements were designed with that in mind and in the USA houses built in the early 20th century often feature “sleeper porches”. Outside areas to sleep to get fresh air. This too was in part to avoid TB.
- Daub 3y agoMaybe. Certainly TB was a major killer at that time: https://nonprofitupdate.info/2010/10/21/10-leading-causes-of-death-in-1850-and-2000-2/ https://nonprofitupdate.info/2010/10/21/10-leading-causes-of... But the idea of 'bad air' (miasmic theory)' though Informed by microbe theory, had its roots in Hippocratic thinking which was derived from the observation that swampy areas were generally unhealthy to live. This was attributed to their bad smell and not the preponderance of mosquitoes (malaria). Fyi... The same miasmic theory gave rise to toilets that were designed to flush away bad smalls with water.
- hliyan 3y agoIf I remember correctly, malaria literally means "bad air".
- Sharlin 3y agoYeah, cf. Latin malus "unpleasant", "bad", "evil", "ill" and aer "air".
- raincom 3y agoMiasma theory ruled from 4 BC until 1800s. Miasmata (airborne vapors, noxious, polluted air) caused most diseases. This encouraged cleanliness. Germ theory of disease replaced it. "Malaria was prevalent in the Roman Empire, and the Roman scholars associated the disease with the marshy or swampy lands where the disease was particularly rampant.[13][14] It was from those Romans the name "malaria" originated. They called it malaria (literally meaning "bad air") as they believed that the disease was a kind of miasma that was spread in the air, as originally conceived by Ancient Greeks. Since then, it was a medical consensus for centuries that malaria was spread due to miasma, the bad air." [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito-malaria_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito-malaria_theory