This book explores the social origins of the Western preoccupation with health and environmental hazards. It looks at the rise of the dichotomy between the vulnerable "in" and the threatening "out" by examining the pathologies associated with weather, domestic space, ventilation, clothing, and travel in Britain at the turn of the 19th century.

This book explores the social origins of the Western preoccupation with health and environmental hazards. It looks at the rise of the dichotomy between the vulnerable 'in' and the threatening 'out' by examining the pathologies associated with weather, domestic space, ventilation, clothing, and travel in Britain at the turn of the 19th century.