ABSTRACT
Rapid advances in science and technology accompanied the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Science was increasingly viewed as a means of improving the quality of everyday life. In medicine, new hope for controlling the transmission of diseases came from increased understandings of microorganisms like bacteria and viruses. Collectively, these microorganisms came to be known by the public as “germs,” and medical practice in the home turned toward an increased vigilance in combating these invaders of the domestic realm. “Germ theory,” or the notion that contact with germs leads to illness, became quickly entrenched in much of American society after its introduction in 1870 (Tomes 1997:37).
