The Roman Warning About Invisible Disease-Causing Creatures

In 37 BC, Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro warned that invisible tiny creatures from swamps could enter through the air and cause serious disease, centuries before microbes were observed.

Medicine

Details

More than two thousand years ago, Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro wrote advice about where people should build and live on farms. His warning about marshy ground sounds strikingly modern: he described tiny creatures that could not be seen, moving through the air and entering the body through the mouth and nose, where they could cause serious illness. The passage is associated with his agricultural work from around 37 BC. Modern readers often connect the idea with microorganisms and the later development of germ theory, although Varro did not have microscopes, modern microbiology, or a demonstrated understanding of specific pathogens. The important historical point is that the basic idea of an unseen living cause of disease appeared in written thought long before scientists could actually observe microorganisms. Microscopic life became directly observable much later, after the development of suitable microscopes in the seventeenth century. Varro was therefore not practicing modern microbiology, but his description is an unusually early example of reasoning about disease in terms of invisible biological agents. His practical advice also shows that ancient writers could notice useful links between particular environments and illness even without knowing the underlying mechanism.

More videos

Up nextFemale Turkeys Can Produce Male Offspring Without Sperm