Wireless Flash: THE LONG AND LOUD HISTORY OF FLATULENCE

Mon 02-01-99 08:12 am

THE LONG AND LOUD HISTORY OF FLATULENCE

HOLLYWOOD (Wireless Flash) – A Los Angeles author is sniffing out new research about a topic many historians turn their noses up at: the history of flatulence.

Researcher Jim Dawson has just completed the first comprehensive guide to “fartlore” in a new book called Who Cut the Cheese: A Cultural History of the Fart (Ten Speed Press).

Here’s some of the trivia sniffed out by Dawson...

Flatulence was blamed for the deaths of thousands of people in Jerusalem in the first century after a Roman soldier let one fly to express his disgust at the Jews. The noxious odor triggered a riot that left 10,000 dead.

One of the biggest French stage stars of the 1890s was a man named Le Petomane who used his rear end to imitate bird chirps, smoke cigarettes and blow out candles.

And, finally, Adolph Hitler once attempted to cure his chronic flatulence by drinking machine gun oil.