“Is that what you want, Mary? A farter?” Tucker/Norman, “There’s Something About Mary”

To the Royal Academy of Farting, Benjamin Franklin, c. 1781.

That the permitting this Air to escape and mix with the Atmosphere, is usually offensive to the Company, from the fetid Smell that accompanies it.

That all well-bred People therefore, to avoid giving such Offence, forcibly restrain the Efforts of Nature to discharge that Wind.

That so retain’d contrary to Nature, it not only gives frequently great present Pain, but occasions future Diseases, such as habitual Cholics, Ruptures, Tympanies, &c. often destructive of the Constitution, & sometimes of Life itself.

I wonder what the impact would have been on social norms if certain gases weren’t invisible.

Update: Another, erm, voice heard from. Science World toots up on the matter.