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Josip Franjo (ili Josephus Franciscus) Domin (1754. – 1819.) bio je hrvatski fizičar koji je predavao na sveučilištima u Győru i Pešti. Poznat je po knjizi Dissertatio physica de aeris factitii genesi, natura, et utilitatibus (Fizikalna rasprava o postanku, naravi i koristi umjetnog zraka), Győr, 1784. U Raspravi je opisao više vrsta “umjetnog zraka”, što ih je većinom otkrio Joseph Priestly, a usto postupke i uređaje za njihovo dobivanje te – u drugom dijelu knjige – njihovu upotrebu. U ovom radu raspravlja se o Dominovom opisu eudiometra, uređaja za mjerenje sadržaja kisika (“deflogistoniranog zraka”) u plinskim smjesama njegovom reakcijom s “nitroznim zrakom”, dušikovim(I) oksidom (NO), što ga je izumio Priestley a usavršio Felice Fontana. Naročito je istražena veza “dobrote zraka” s flogistonskom teorijom i teorijom mijazama u Dominovoj Raspravi. Ovo djelo je dano na korištenje pod licencom Creative Commons Imenovanje 4.0 međunarodna., Josip Franjo (or: Josephus Franciscus) Domin (1754–1819) was a Croatian physicist, affiliated at the Universities of Győr and Pest, Hungary. He is noted for his book Physical Treatise on the Genesis, Nature and Utility of Factitious Air, written in Latin (Dissertatio physica de aeris factitii genesi, natura, et utilitatibus) and published in Győr in 1784. In his Treatise he described various kinds of “artificial air”, discovered mostly by Joseph Priestly, as well as methods and devices for their preparation, and – in the second part of the book – their usage. This paper discusses his description of the eudiometer, an apparatus for measurement of oxygen (“dephlogisticated air”) content of gas mixtures by its reaction with “nitrous air” (nitrogen oxide, NO), invented by Priestley and improved by Felice Fontana. Especially discussed was the need for measuring the “goodness of air” in relation to the phlogiston and miasma theories, as presented in the Treatise. Ovo djelo je dano na korištenje pod licencom Creative Commons Imenovanje 4.0 međunarodna.

When the history of the COVID-19 pandemic is written, it is likely to show that the mental models held by scientists sometimes facilitated their thinking, thereby leading to lives saved, and at other times constrained their thinking, thereby leading to lives lost. This paper explores some competing mental models of how infectious diseases spread and shows how these models influenced the scientific process and the kinds of facts that were generated, legitimized and used to support policy. A central theme in the paper is the relative weight given by dominant scientific voices to probabilistic arguments based on experimental measurements versus mechanistic arguments based on theory. Two examples are explored: the cholera epidemic in nineteenth century London—in which the story of John Snow and the Broad Street pump is retold—and the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and early 2021—in which the evidence-based medicine movement and its hierarchy of evidence features prominently. In each case, it is shown that prevailing mental models—which were assumed by some to transcend theory but were actually heavily theory-laden—powerfully shaped both science and policy, with fatal consequences for some.

The recent suggestion that the late medieval Eurasian plague pandemic, the Black Death, had its origins in the thirteenth century rather than the fourteenth century has brought new scrutiny to texts reporting ‘epidemics’ in the earlier period. Evidence both from Song China and Iran suggests that plague was involved in major sieges laid by the Mongols between the 1210s and the 1250s, including the siege of Baghdad in 1258 which resulted in the fall of the Abbasid caliphate. In fact, re-examination of multiple historical accounts in the two centuries after the siege of Baghdad shows that the role of epidemic disease in the Mongol attacks was commonly known among chroniclers in Syria and Egypt, raising the question why these outbreaks have been overlooked in modern historiography of plague. The present study looks in detail at the evidence in Arabic sources for disease outbreaks after the siege of Baghdad in Iraq and its surrounding regions. We find subtle factors in the documentary record to explain why, even though plague received new scrutiny from physicians in the period, it remained a minor feature in stories about the Mongol invasion of western Asia. In contemporary understandings of the genesis of epidemics, the Mongols were not seen to have brought plague to Baghdad; they caused plague to arise by their rampant destruction. When an even bigger wave of plague struck the Islamic world in the fourteenth century, no association was made with the thirteenth-century episode. Rather, plague was now associated with the Mongol world as a whole.

In comparison with other European nations, 19th-century burial reform in England is often related as a history of difference and failure. England lacked centralising legislation to enforce the establishment of new, sanitary cemeteries. Rather, permissive regulation encouraged the creation of new cemeteries, largely reliant on local initiative. This paper presents a re-evaluation of that history by focussing on archival documents from the General Board of Health and local burial board minutes. The paper discusses the way in which key individuals and agencies developed a refined understanding of the sanitary dangers presented by decomposing bodies. This understanding rested on deep familiarity with Continental European research and practices. Despite the lack of centralising legislation, the General Board of Health and the Burial Office administered an effective system of sanitary burial governance which combined inspection, advice and bureaucratic processes that worked with local communities to develop a national network of cemeteries that were managed according to scientific practices. En comparaison avec d’autres nations européennes, la réforme funéraire du xixe siècle en Angleterre est souvent décrite comme une histoire de différences et d’échecs. L’Angleterre n’avait pas de législation centralisatrice pour imposer la création de nouveaux cimetières sanitaires. Au contraire, une réglementation permissive a encouragé la création de nouveaux cimetières, en s’appuyant largement sur l’initiative locale. Cet article présente une réévaluation de cette histoire en se concentrant sur les documents d’archives du General Board of Health et sur les procès-verbaux des conseils funéraires locaux. Le texte examine la manière dont les personnes et les organismes ont développé une compréhension plus fine des dangers sanitaires présentés par les corps en décomposition. Cette compréhension repose sur une connaissance approfondie de la recherche et des pratiques en Europe continentale. Malgré l’absence de législation centralisatrice, le General Board of Health et l’Office des sépultures ont administré un système efficace de gouvernance sanitaire des sépultures qui combinait l’inspection, les conseils et les processus bureaucratiques. Ils ont travaillé avec les communautés locales pour développer un réseau national de cimetières gérés selon des pratiques scientifiques. En comparación con otras naciones europeas, la reforma funeraria del siglo XIX en Inglaterra se relaciona a menudo como una historia de diferencias y fracasos. Inglaterra carecía de una legislación centralizada para hacer cumplir el establecimiento de nuevos cementerios sanitariamente adecuados. Antes bien, una reglamentación permisiva alentaba la creación de nuevos cementerios, sustentadas en gran medida en iniciativas locales. Este artículo presenta una reevaluación de esa historia, centrándose en los documentos de archivo de la General Board of Health y en las actas de las juntas funerarias locales. El artículo examina la forma en que personas y organismos clave desarrollaron una comprensión más precisa de los peligros sanitarios que presentaban los cuerpos en descomposición. Esta comprensión se basó en un profundo conocimiento de las investigaciones y prácticas de Europa continental. A pesar de la falta de una legislación centralizadora, la General Board of Health y la Burial Office administraron un sistema eficaz de gobernanza sanitaria de las inhumaciones, que combinaba la inspección, el asesoramiento y los procesos burocráticos, trabajando con las comunidades locales para desarrollar una red nacional de cementerios que se gestionaban de acuerdo con prácticas científicas.

This paper examined whether the preventive measures taken by the Hong Kong's colonial authorities were legitimate during the 1894 Hong Kong plague epidemic, and illuminated the correlation between the plague epidemic and hospital space in Hong Kong in the late 19th century. The quarantine measures taken by the colonial authorities were neither a clear-cut victory for Western medicine nor for a rational quarantine based on scientific medical knowledge. Hong Kong's medical officials based on the miasma theory, and focused only on house-to-house inspections and forced quarantine or isolation, without encouraging people to wear masks and without conducting disinfection. Even after Hong Kong plague spread, the Hong Kong's colonial authorities were not interested in what plague bacilli were, but in where they were to be found and how to prevent and control an outbreak of the disease. The germ theory brought significant changes to the disease classification system. Until the 1890s, Hong Kong's colonial authority had classified cause of death mainly on the basis of symptoms, infectious diseases, parts of the body and diseases of systems. Microbiological analysis of the cause of death in Hong Kong was started by Hunter, a bacteriologist, in 1902. He used bacteriological tests with a microscope to analyze the cause of death. New disease recognition and medical recognition brought large changes to hospital space as well. In particular, from the 1880s to the early 1900s, Western medical circles witnessed shifts from miasma theory to the germ theory, thereby influencing Hong Kong's hospital spaces. As the germ theory took ground in Hong Kong in 1894, the bacteriological laboratory and isolation ward became inevitable facilities, and hospital space were reorganized accordingly. However, the colonial authorities and local elites' strategy was different. As a government bacteriologist, Hunter established a central facility to unify several laboratories and to manage urban space from ouside the hospital. On the contrary, the Tungwah Hospital tried to transform hospital space with isolation ward and Receiving Ward System as the eclectic form of Chinese and Western medicine. The 1894 Hong Kong plague promoted the introduction of germ theory and the reorganization of hospital space.

Hungarian obstetrician Ignac Semmelweis (1818-1865) was one of the earliest clinical investigators of modern medical science. In nineteenth century Europe, puerperal fever (childbed fever) was a major clinical and public health problem with very high maternal mortality. It was thought to be caused by miasma, epidemicity, or the Will of Providence. Apart from bloodletting, there was no cure for it. Semmelweis cared for the childbed fever women during their illness, and when they died, he did autopsies on them. Astute clinical observations and logical reasoning goaded Semmelweis to suspect the role of "unholy" hands of "holy" physicians in the transmission of puerperal fever. He enforced a hand-washing policy for physicians. Those with unwashed hands were disallowed into labor room. The hand-washing practice for 1 year led to unprecedented decrease in maternal mortality. It enabled Semmelweis to establish a strong, specific, temporal causal association between unclean hands and puerperal fever. Although not accepted during his lifetime, this causal hypothesis contributed significantly to the understanding of etiopathophysiology of not only puerperal fever but also many other communicable diseases. Clinical hand washing, since then, has prevented millions of deaths of humankind. In the present times too, his idea of hand hygiene plays a central role in COVID-19 pandemic management. Authors present a brief account of life and work of this maverick genius, who was born "too early in the darkness." He is also called the "Father of infection control" and "Savior of mothers."

Can the pessimism regarding the possibility to support statebuilding in a diverse world be reversed? In this chapter we argue that the current miasma of despair regarding international interventions is the result of three successive errors: silencing, problematizing and stigmatising cultural difference. After examining these three errors, we suggest three new starting points: approaching difference as multidimensional, refusing to essentialise difference, and focusing on the power relations that make difference exist in the first place. By putting ‘difference’ centre stage, our ambition is to reveal new analytical strategies that go beyond the impasse in which the field of statebuilding finds itself.

Whereas practitioners and mainstream approaches to intervention are concerned about the inability to manage difference in a way that is conducive to peace, critical scholars worry about the inability to write difference without essentializing ‘it’ or reproducing and legitimizing power structures. Can we revert the pessimism regarding the possibility to engage with others sensitively and build peace in a diverse world? In this article, we argue that the current miasma of despair regarding international interventions is the result of three successive errors in the process of seeking to build a peace sensitive to the other: silencing, problematizing and stigmatizing difference. After examining these three errors, we outline three analytical starting points that offer a better understanding of difference: multidimensionality, anti-essentialism, and a focus on power struggles. This discussion opens the Special Issue and hopes to stimulate further conversations on the role of difference in peacebuilding by focusing on its conditions of emergence.

No final do século XIX ocorreram epidemias de febre amarela em Campinas. Considerada doença litorânea, a febre assustou leigos e médicos. O debate científico sobre a etiologia da doença deixou revistas e correspondências médicas para orientar ações políticas e sanitárias. Visando combater a enfermidade, a cidade ganhou contornos de laboratório e vivenciou sua "era do saneamento e das demolições", com vitórias sobre o achaque e transtornos à população. A Comissão Sanitária Estadual comandada por Emílio Ribas, ciente da teoria culicidiana de Finlay, ensaiou em Campinas o que ocorreria no Rio de Janeiro de Oswaldo Cruz e Pereira Passos. A novidade do combate aos mosquitos conviveu com antigas práticas caras à teoria miasmática, como as desinfecções. In the late nineteenth century, there were yellow fever epidemics in Campinas. Considered a seaside disease, the fever startled lay people and physicians. The scientific debate about the etiology of the disease left the domain of magazines and medical correspondence to orient political and sanitary actions. In order to combat the disease, the city began to resemble a laboratory and experienced its "era of sanitation and demolition," with victories over the ailment and inconvenience to the public. The State Sanitary Commission led by Emilio Ribas, aware of Finlay's Culicidae theory, rehearsed in Campinas what would happen with Oswaldo Cruz and Pereira Passos in Rio de Janeiro. The novelty of combating mosquitoes coexisted with age-old practices dear to miasmatic theory, such as disinfection.

Mountford Joseph Bramley was one of the educationists whose sincere efforts are undeniable in the making of modern India. After achieving the Member of the Royal College of Surgeons diploma, he joined the Malta Garrison as a Hospital Assistant and was soon promoted to the rank of Assistant Surgeon of the Rifle Brigade. Following his arrival in India in 1826, he held several important medical posts in the British service. He was one of the early researchers to investigate the role of iodine in the causation of goitre. He was appointed as the first Principal of the Medical College of Bengal, the oldest medical college in Asia, in 1835. Bramley was an educationist from the very core of his heart, and he always wished for the betterment of his students. He died early at the age of 34 years. His legacy as a pioneer in the fields of medical education and endocrinology, specifically thyroidology, has largely been shrouded in a miasma of time.

If any sense modality represents, vision does, but argument is needed to show that smell does. This paper rebuts two reasons for doubting that smell represents, and offers several arguments that it does. The paper then considers several recent proposals as to exactly what a smell represents, and defends a version of the author’s original proposal—that a smell represents a miasma in the air—against its competitors.

El emperador Calígula exige la vida del plebeyo Publio Afranio Potito corno cumplimiento de una promesa que éste formulara rogando el restablecimiento del princeps. La muerte de Afranio se realiza por medio de un ritual, cuando menos, extraño. A pesar de la poca atención que los estudiosos han prestado a la narración de este ceremonial, que en su planteamiento inicial se asemeja a una devotio, un examen exhaustivo del mismo nos permite dar una nueva luz a aspectos de la religión romana tan controvertidos como la concepción de la culpa como miasma, los rituales de expulsión y los sacrificios humanos.Emperor Caligula claims plebeian Publius Afranius Potitus' life as fulfilment of the promise the latter made when praying for the recovering of the princeps. Afranius' death is carried out with a ritual which is, to say the least, unusual. Although specialists have paid little attention to the narrative of such ceremonial, the inicial arrangements of which resembles a devotio, an exhaustive study of it throws a new light upon some controversial features of Roman religion such as the conception of guilt as miasma, the rituals of expulsion and human sacrifices.

At the time of writing this book review, cholera had broken out at an unprecedented level in the capital city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. More than 1,000 patients a day were being admitted to the treatment center of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) with severe dehydration due to cholera. In The blue death: disease, disaster, and the water we drink, physician and environmental epidemiologist Robert Morris discusses the history over the last 2 centuries of the impact on society of waterborne pathogens and how human waste has been separated from drinking water since the publication of John Snow’s classic studies on cholera in the mid-19th century in London. Morris has served as an advisor to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the NIH, and the President’s Cancer Panel. In the first section of The blue death, titled “Waterborne killers,” Morris brings to life the personal tale of John Snow (1813–1858), one of the fathers of epidemiology, who over a short life span was able to unravel both the way in which cholera spreads and how it kills. Snow experienced the 1831 cholera epidemic in London, with its catastrophic death rates, when no cause or cure for this disease was known. Persistent in his studies of cholera, despite his primary role as anesthesiologist to Queen Victoria, Snow determined that the disease was spread by water contaminated by the waste of other cholera sufferers. He accomplished this feat in the face of intense opposition from Sir Edwin Chadwick, a champion of the Sanitarian movement and a strong proponent of the notion that cholera spread by foul odors and miasma (from the Greek for “pollution”). Sanitarians arranged for the piping of sewage into the Thames to be rid of foul odors, but in unfortunate proximity to the intake of the London water supply. Morris has transformed reams of statistical material by Snow and his contemporaries into a highly personal account of Snow’s efforts, which makes for an exciting detective story. His descriptions of conditions in London and of individuals experiencing cholera are personal and graphic and relate directly to the theme of the book, which emphasizes the fragility of access to fresh, clean water, even here in the United States. The section “Thirsty cities and dirty water” brings us to the 20th century. Morris was personally involved in and describes what was probably the largest outbreak of waterborne disease ever reported — an outbreak of the diarrheal illness cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee in the spring of 1993. He takes the reader step by step through the events as they unfolded when the Milwaukee water supply, imbibing sewage, spread the disease-causing pathogen Cryptosporidium to 400,000 people, illustrating how even a water supply that is considered safe and modern can spread disease. He details how the majority of water supplies in the United States are drawn from sources into which sewage flows freely and that the current purification systems may not be sufficient and are prone to breakdowns. Later, in “At war with the invisible,” Morris writes of the present and future dependence of humans on safe, fresh water. He points out that “for every gallon of water on our planet less than half a cup is fresh and all but one tablespoon of that is locked away in glaciers and the polar ice caps.” At present, nearly half of the more than six billion people on earth lack access to improved sanitation and clean drinking water. He tells a compelling story of how New Orleans lost both its water supply and sewage disposal infrastructure overnight during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, with catastrophic results for the inhabitants of New Orleans. This story underlines how vulnerable are the systems that separate our wastes from what we drink. Morris also describes potential harmful effects of chlorination and more briefly discusses the threat of bioterrorism to water supplies. Neither of these subjects, however, looms large in the context of the crumbling infrastructure, where water contaminated by sewage flows through our 100-year-old leaky pipes and conduits. Morris writes authoritatively, as someone with direct field experience of cholera during the Rwanda catastrophe, in which more than 30,000 people died in several weeks, and as someone involved in investigating the Milwaukee Cryptosporidium outbreak. He may be forgiven for minor inaccuracies and small oversights that ultimately do not detract from the book. The blue death is a book I would strongly recommend to all readers. The story is told well and is important. Morris’s writing is accessible to all audiences as he tells compelling personal stories to illustrate his points. The author hopes to arouse us from a pervasive complacency about one of the most vital underpinnings of organized society, a source of safe water and a way to dispose of disease-bearing waste.

Malaria as a disease entity caused by plasmodium species only became recognized towards the end of the 19th Century. Prior to that time, Mal'aria or ‘bad air' was believed to be the cause of fevers or paludal. This article traces the history of ‘Miasma' theory which had been accepted for Centuries before the ‘Germ' theory became established. Comparing the ‘Miasma' theory with current understanding of Africans about disease causation, it was concluded that there are great similarities. It is therefore recommended that concurrent application of both the ‘Germ' theory and the ‘Miasma' theory could lead to a more effective control or even global eradication of malaria. Key words: Miamsa, malaria, eradication Afr. J. Clin. Exper. Microbiol. 2005; 6(2): 153-158

The past decade witnessed a series of high-profile inquiries that cast a noxious miasma over the medical profession and provoked demands for strict regulation. Somehow, a balance must be struck whereby the public can be confident that doctors practise competently, with due regard to ethical and technical standards, yet the regulations are not so overwhelming as to represent a sword of Damocles permanently hanging over doctors' heads. This article explores the current regulatory framework, exclusion from the workplace, serious professional misconduct and seriously deficient performance. The General Medical Council deals with a large number of regulatory cases each year, of which a small proportion are appealed. As well as providing valuable insight into judicial thought, case law in this area is helpful in understanding the balance between social policy and medical regulation.