I talk about being a dad here Dads and dpads podcast- click the link fool

If you have questions, suggestions or just want to talk email me at my new email address historyu.pod@gmail.com or send me a dm on twitter. If you want me to cover a specific topic let me know and I could do a listener suggested episode.

Thanks as always for listening to me talk about stuff

History’s dirty shorts

Caution this episode is about to get gross.

You’re welcome

How you got sick in the old days and what they did about it.

Random concerned citizen: “man I don’t feel soo good”

Priestly dude: oh man you got some demons in your blood, we should probably let it out.

Concerned citizen: that sounds kind of dangerous, is it safe?

Priestly guy: So you think it’s safe to have demons in your blood?

Concerned Citizen: You’re probably right, get that blood out I’m hot as a prostitutes ass in hell.

Priestly guy: how did you know about vi.. I need some leech demon vessels, a knife and a hand drill.

R.C: hand drill?

Priestly D: you don’t look great they might already be in your head.

Throughout centuries philosophers and scientists tried to explain the way of infectious diseases transmission. Witchcraft, demons, gods, comets, earthquakes were the first unproved theories, followed by tangible scientific ones such as miasma’s theory, contagious theory, spontaneous generation theory and germ theory till the evolution of microbiology in mid 19th century.

Primitive ideas about contagiousness dealt with the general notion of transmission through contact. Epidemics were probably rare in small primitive tribes but they became terrifying events once population density increased enough to produce and sustain them. At that time people’s ignorance led to magical or religious explanations of disease, sent by the gods as punishment for their sins.

Characteristically, in Ancient Persia we see an emphasis on demonology. The disease is caused by evil spirits and must be controlled by exorcism. The cult of Nergal, a demon portrayed in hymns and myths as a god of war, fever and pestilence.

In 6th century BC, the pre-Socratic philosophers Pythagoras, Alcmaeon, and Empedocles inaugurated the period in science where the environment was understood to play a vital role in health and disease. A century later, Airs, waters and places of the Hippocratic texts, correlated a variety of symptoms and diseases with geographical and meteorological conditions, for example malaria, catarrh and diarrhea were believed to be due to the effect of seasonal changes on stagnant water or marshy places [6]. Such concepts survived and in time consolidated in the belief that a pathological state of the atmosphere is associated with infectious diseases and this line of thinking developed further into the miasma theory of contagion [7]. Air became contaminated with “miasmas”, poisonous vapors produced by putrefying organic matter and a person could become infected when miasmas invaded the body and disturbed its vital functions. In his manuscript.

The real reason I’m here who needs demons when you have miasmas?

Also, do you know how many self-published books are named miasma? Probably not why would you that would be stupid. I can tell you there are many.

--- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/seth-michels66/support

Support us!

Get the future of podcasts.