And we lived in a flu-terror all winter keeping close to our apartments when not at school. The Conservatory never closed, and private lessons continued. We took the prescribed linseed oil in warm salt-water as prescribed by our Medico, and unknown potions created by Bianca she insisted we drink at morning and night. Mother might have refused, but had come to trust Bianca to such a degree that anything she insisted on was done. And she did not like Italian doctors. Many in the community still wore the long black plague masks to avoid the air, but not for the reasons we now know to be true. Many in Italy, including our good doctor, believed in miasma theory. The theory held that epidemics were caused by miasma, emanating from rotting organic matter. All disease then was caused by a noxious form of bad air, also known as night air. The theory was eventually abandoned by most scientists and physicians after 1890, replaced by germ theory.
     As winter moved on and a warming spring arrived at the end of March, we also found an improved outlook and grew less fearful. The newspapers reported on isolated outbreaks but also predicted that the warming season would improve the flu outlook for most cities, and that the worst bad air was past. This turned out to be highly optimistic and had no basis in fact. 
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