Pasteur vs Nightingale: germs or the whole environment?

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LOUIS PASTEUR vs NIGHTINGALE go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.

LOUIS PASTEUR

Madame, I have seen the enemy through my lens: invisible microbes, breeding, invading. Sterilize, and you starve them out.

NIGHTINGALE

Monsieur, I buried thousands at Scutari, and it was filth, foul air, and crowding that slew them faster than any battle. Clean the room and the man mends.

LOUIS PASTEUR

But your clean air worked precisely because it swept away my microbes! You cured the symptom of a cause you could not yet see.

NIGHTINGALE

And your microbe dies in vain if the nurse never opens a window, so I shall keep saving lives while you keep naming the culprits.

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