If you ’re a fan of science or history , you be intimate that many of the most of import discoveries in medication were made due to wild venture , lazy lab techs , or plain erstwhile accidents . And mint of theories of healing were so wrong as to have actually been responsible for for death , not cures .
But every once in a while , humans of the past tense got lucky : Even though their science was altogether wrong , the hypothesis driving it save lives anyway . Such is the case with “ miasm , ” a conception popular throughout the mid-1800s with laypeople , doctors , and public - health exponent .
“ The prevailing view was that ‘ miasma’—foul smell , particularly the stench of rotting thing — was the suit of disease . It was an appealing idea — not least because the slums , where epidemic raged , stank , ” says Lee Jackson , author ofDirty Old London , which latterly came out in paperback .
Mental_flossspoke to Jackson about how attempts to clean up the unbelievably smutty metropolis in the 19thcentury — when the population increased tremendously — lead to major betterment in both public and personal wellness that had a go bequest around the existence . And it all occur despite the fact they did n’t have the science right wing .
THE STENCH OF DISEASE
The true cause of disease — germs , or pathogens — wasn’t verified until Louis Pasteur conducted his experiment of the 1860s ( though some scientists had propose the estimation much earlier ) , and it was another ten before the bacteria that stimulate tuberculosis , epidemic cholera , dysentery , leprosy , diphtheria , and other illnesses were identified and understand .
The Victorians made the classic error that correlativity equals causation . Slums smell , due to short sanitation , hatful of garbage stack up , and the deficiency of bathing and apparel - washing facility ; people in slums die of epidemics at a faster charge per unit ; ergo , stench causes disease .
And boy , did London stink .
Let ’s start with the utter bodies , which were entomb in churchyards , most of them in the middle of neighborhoods . “ casket were stacked one atop the other in 20 - foot - deep beam , the topmost simple inches from the surface . Putrefying bodies were oft disturbed , dismember or destroyed to make room for newcomers . Disinterred bones , overlook by neglectful gravediggers , lay disperse amidst tombstones ; smash coffins were sold to the poor for firewood , ” Jackson writes inDirty Old London .
As the bodies , idle from old age or disease , rotted , pathogen leaked into the water tabular array , sometimes making their way to nearby well . But since germ hypothesis was n’t empathize , it was the malodor of the nigh - airfoil organic structure that got the care .
“ London ’s minor churchyard were so ridiculously full , that decay remains were near to the top soil ; ‘ burial site gases ’ were a intimate aroma . In fact , gases from stiff are relatively harmless , ” Jackson says . heavy , assailable , park - like cemeteries were soon work up on the outskirts of the city , relieve “ miasm ” and live bacterium from close law of proximity to drinking water .
Sewage was another disease transmitter that seems obvious to the modern person , but to the masses of the yesteryear , it was the gag - worthy smells waft from outhouse that caused disease . In poor field , up to 15 families — whole tenements — might be share one overflowing shack . Slumlords like to ignore recess by refusing to have the “ nighttime - soil Man ” come by for a pick - up ; these proletarian would shovel the waste into buckets and cart it out to farms to be used as plant food , and they ( understandably ! ) did n’t work for barren .
But sewerage was n’t just a trouble for those in reality using the privies ; the liquid that leaked into the water mesa from the privies also spread disease . Even in middle - form homes , solid wastefulness accumulated in basement cesspools that slowly leaked liquid wastes into wells just feet aside .
“ The construction of a unified internet of sewers in the 1850s–’70s undoubtedly saved London from further epidemic of Indian cholera and typhoid fever . It was done on grounds of ‘ miasma ’ but , regardless , the consequences were very positive , ” Jackson says .
CLEANING UP THE CITY
Public toilets were also finally built in the latter part of the 1800s , which rationalize down on street - malodor — and also allowed womanhood to have more exemption . Because only the short women and lady of pleasure puddle in world ( usually crouching over sewerage grates to do so ) , lack of public facilities meant working - course women were often in a bind . These woman “ did n’t go out , or did n’t go ’ ” according to Jackson ’s enquiry . “ Navigating the metropolis , therefore , take some level of planning , depending on your societal stratum and whether you look at yourself ‘ goodly ’ ” Jackson says . ( Like today , the toilet of shops or restaurants were generally only available to those make a purchase . )
Providing a place to piss also had the incontrovertible effect of cut down on public urination by man . In some place the odor of urine , both fresh and honest-to-god , was so acute that complaints to local councils were constant from the people who live on nearby . In some face , the piddle even degraded structure over meter . bright property owners installed “ urine deflectors ” on the English of their buildings — if you were to aim your stream there , it would get bounce back onto your place .
Public bathhouses — which often let in spaces to dampen and even ironic laundry — also proved to be a blessing to public health . It was n’t just about keeping soundbox cleaner ; for the poorest people in the urban center of London , water was only available from a public pump , and washing clothes and linens was often hard - to - impossible . A place that set aside for washables of both body and textiles signify that diseases spread by fleas ( such as typhus ) were reduced . Bonus : Everyone smelled a bit better too .
Victorians went after that which stank — and public wellness improved . As Ruth Goodman writes in her rule book , How to Be a Victorian , “ Housework was worthful in preserving health whichever theory you ascribe to . So too was residential district cleanliness : seed could be struggle in effect as miasm by well town management of wastefulness , by even street cleanup , by prosecuting those who floor barren in public areas . Personal hygiene also had value with both seed and miasma theories of disease . ”
The Victorian era is now known as a great era of sanitation in Great Britain , with last changes and public base that still exists today . In a sense , it matters picayune that it was all base on something that did n’t exist .
