"Take two aspirin and store your farts in a jar."

Back in 1665, doctors in England advised their patients to store their farts in a jar.



Really! 

See there was a great plague going around that was so scary, they named it the Great Plague. And the idea was that to defend yourself from this horrible disease, you’d open the jar and smell your old farts. (Because doesn’t smelling your farts always make you feel good?)

David Haviland —author of the book Why You Should Store Your Farts in a Jar— says (in this fine article by Monica Garske): 

“It was believed that the plague was caused by deadly vapors in the air so many doctors thought it could, in turn, be cured by bodily vapors. They figured an equally foul vapor, like a fart, could combat the disease, so they suggested patients store their farts in a jar. This way, when the plague appeared in their neighborhood, they could open the jar and inhale the fumes to ward off the bad vapors that came with the disease. It made sense to them.”

How silly! I guess that’s why people NEVER store their own farts in jars anymore. Today, we use Tupperware. That's civilization for you!

AOL article here, 

photo by Sira Hanchana.