Ep. 257, Chapter 3: Early Germ Theory Insights From Unlikely Sources With Thomas Levenson

25:09 – 30:31

Several lesser-acknowledged individuals contributed significantly to understanding of germ theory, including Cotton Mather, often remembered as a Puritan "hellfire and brimstone" figure. Mather compiled an extensive, though unpublished in his lifetime, encyclopedia of medical knowledge called “The Angel of Bethesda,” and became a pioneer in smallpox inoculation, learning the practice from his enslaved servant, who had been inoculated in Africa. In his “Angel of Bethesda” manuscript, Mather speculated that the "animicules" (microbes) observed by Leeuwenhoek could be the cause of specific diseases — a groundbreaking idea that predated the formal establishment of germ theory by 150 years. Mather's insight shows that the primary challenge to germ theory wasn't solely scientific capability, but rather finding the right questions and possessing the discipline to investigate them.