Toward the Germ Theory: Edgar Allan Poe and Disease.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, when Edgar Allan Poe repeatedly wrote about disease, the theory that disease was caused by "miasma," i.e. some poisonous, foul-smelling vapor, was overwhelmingly influential, while the germ theory, which held that disease was the result of infection by pathogens, though largely ignored, underwent a drastic transformation from a mere hypothesis to evidence-based science. This essay considers how Poe's authorial handling of disease connects with these conflicting pathological doctrines at his time. It clarifies how Poe questions miasma theory and approaches germ theory in "King Pest," "Shadow—A Parable," "The Masque of the Red Death," "The Sphinx," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." Furthermore, the essay shows that even though Poe, like the proponents of germ theory, suggested that microorganisms were the cause of disease, this did not erase his fear of disease, but rather intensified it, leading him to hold a dark vision—that we are destined to coexist with other species that threaten our lives—a vision that has frightened people since the late nineteenth century, when the existence of disease germs became widely recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]