[Ads-l] Antedating of "Microbe"

[Shapiro, Fred]

microbe (OED 1880)

1878 _N.Y. Times_ 19 Apr. 2 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  On the shores of the Red Sea, the natives insist on exposing a wound to the atmosphere, when they desire it should heal quickly. ... This Red Sea practice is considered to owe its success to the absence in the air of the microbes which are so mischievous elsewhere.

Fred Shapiro

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