Night air

This article is about the actual air at night. For the song by Teddy Geiger, see Underage Thinking. For the ABC Radio National program, see The Night Air (radio program). For the Jamie Woon song, see Night Air.

Before the adoption of the germ theory of disease, many people believed that diseases were caught by being outdoors at night and breathing the air.

More specifically, a vapor called “miasma” was believed to rise from soil, rotting vegetation, and foul water. However, this was thought to happen only at night, and to be worse in swamps and ghettos. As a result, people, especially the weak and infirm, avoided breathing the night air by staying indoors and keeping their windows and doors shut.

This belief was reinforced by the fact that diseases such as malaria ("bad air") are spread by mosquitoes, which are active at night.

See also

• Miasma theory
• Fermentation theory

References

• Baldwin, Peter C. "How Night Air Became Good Air, 1776-1930" in Environmental History, July 2003
• Cipolla, Carlo M. Miasmas and disease: Public health and environment in the pre-industrial age. Yale University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-300-04806-8.

External links

• Early theories of diseases (includes miasma theory)