Background – The Situation by 1800

• At the start of the 1700s, microscopes

  had been improved enough for scientists

  to see tiny particles which were

  invisible to the human eye. These

  particles were termed ‘microbes’.
• However, although they could see the microbes, nothing morewas known about the different types of microbes that existed.
• In the 18th Century, scientists adapted the ideas around Miasma and developed a new theory called Spontaneous Generation.
• This was the belief that tiny living things (microbes) could be produced by non-living things decaying.
• For example, that rotting food would produce maggots, or human faeces producing flies.
• This fitted the idea that living ‘microbes’ could be caused by decay, dirt and rot.