A couple of hundred years ago the idea that people get sick because of little creatures so tiny no one could see them living inside sounded like the craziest conspiracy theory
The miasma theory (also called the miasmatic theory) is an abandoned medical theory that held that diseases—such as cholera, chlamydia, or the Black Death—were caused by a miasma (μίασμα, Ancient Greek for ‘pollution’), a noxious form of “bad air”, also known as night air. The theory held that epidemics were caused by miasma, emanating from rotting organic matter. Though miasma theory is typically associated with the spread of contagious diseases, some academics in the early nineteenth century suggested that the theory extended to other conditions as well, e.g. one could become obese by inhaling the odor of food.
I think I remember reading that Germ theory took awhile to get traction, most likely because of momentum from the previous theory having been “established” for hundreds of years. Just getting doctors to wash their hands was apparently a herculean task, “Wash my hands after dissecting cadavers? What poppycock! Now stand aside, I’ve got to deliver a baby!”
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