Farts in a Jar — How to Cure the Plague in the 17th CenturyWhen the Bubonic Plague wiped out a

Farts in a Jar — How to Cure the Plague in the 17th CenturyWhen the Bubonic Plague wiped out almost half the population of Europe in the 14th century, several strange and bizarre cures were concocted to combat disease.  By the 17th century plague doctors had not really progressed much in their knowledge of health and disease.  Many physicians of the age subscribed to the miasma theory, the idea that fowl smells and vapors, caused by rotting material and uncleanliness, was the root cause.  While they were certainly close to the mark with the idea that filth causes disease, today we know from modern germ theory that disease is caused by harmful micro-organisms.When the plague struck London in 1665, plague doctors used the miasma theory to create a very unusual cure; the fart jar.  To combat the plague people would literally pass gas into a jar, then take a whiff.  Yes, that’s right, people were whiffing their own flatulence to cure the plague.  The idea was that if bad smells caused the plague, then the bad air from a fart jar should surely fight off the bad air that caused the plague.  Makes sense, right?  While this may seem bizarre and disgusting, it was far from the worst 17th century medicine had to offer, which often relied upon bloodletting as a cure-all.  Unfortunately for 17th century Londoner’s, the fart jar was not an effective cure at all.  In one year the Great Plague of London killed over 100,000 people, around 15% of the city’s population. Source: Why You Should Store Your Farts in a Jar and Other Oddball or Gross Maladies, Afflictions, Remedies, and “Cures” By David Haviland. -- source link

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