Qwiss! wrote:
I always assume these things come from some old disease spreading situation and then get turned into whatever religious mumbo jumbo suits later on.
I suppose they come down from a time when the mumbo-jumbo and what counted for the rational received wisdom of public hygiene were all one and the same lore.
To paraphrase Latour's writing on the 19th century experimental verifications of the germ theory of disease: after 1860, the microbes had always been there.
An ancient Egyptian priest might have said: after the gods' commandments were given, the daily rites of cleansing would always already have staved off pestilence.
Speaking of not-so ancient Egyptians (smooth segue 8))
