Von den Miasmen und Contagien und von den miasmatisch-contagiösen Krankheiten

In his 1840 work, "Von den Miasmen und Contagien und von den miasmatisch-contagiösen Krankheiten," Friedrich Gustav Jacob Henle proposed the then-unpopular theory that diseases were caused by living microorganisms. This challenged the prevailing miasma theory, which attributed illness to harmful vapors from decaying matter. Henle's work embraced the idea of contagion being a "living" entity, a parasitic organism. This groundbreaking concept influenced later scientists, including Robert Koch, who became a founder of bacteriology and established the germ theory of disease. Henle's contributions significantly advanced the understanding of histology and laid the groundwork for modern pathology.123