A Letter to a Royal Academy
Revealing his "bawdy, scurrilous side,"[1] Franklin responded with an essay suggesting that research and practical reasoning be undertaken into methods of improving the odor of human flatulence.That all well-bred people therefore, to avoid giving such offence, forcibly restrain the efforts of nature to discharge that wind.The essay goes on to discuss the way different foods affect the odor of flatulence and to propose scientific testing of farting.Franklin also suggests that scientists work to develop a drug, "wholesome and not disagreeable", which can be mixed with "common Food or Sauces" with the effect of rendering flatulence "not only inoffensive, but agreeable as Perfumes".[4] Since 1929, the essay has sometimes been printed alongside a note from "the publisher to the reader,"[10][11] which claims that the original letter "has been owned by the United States nation since 1881," before going on to further flatulence-related puns: "Dark hints by Franklin's biographers have tainted the air behind its back, but the maiden modesty of even the most contemporary of them has blushed and halted on the brink of its release."The forward also ironically thanks engraver Thomas Bewick (d. 1838), who, being long dead, "has graciously made no objection" to the use of his illustrations to accompany the piece.
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