Fumifugium

Last updated August 27, 2023

Fumifugium, or, The inconveniencie of the aer and smoak of London dissipated together with some remedies humbly proposed by J.E. esq. to His Sacred Majestie, and to the Parliament now assembled is a pamphlet published in London, 1661 (see 1661 in literature), by John Evelyn. It is one of the earliest known works on air pollution and is still considered a significant contribution to the literature on the subject over three and half centuries after its publication.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The letter was specifically addressed to King Charles II of England and discussed problems with the capital's air pollution dating back to medieval times.^[5] Evelyn refers to Greek philosophers, who once believed that air was the principle of the earth and primary substance of the soul up until the time that air pollution began to cause ill health.^[5]

Background

Evelyn was appointed to the newly formed Royal Society, and both Society and pamphlet are celebrated in the 1663 "Ballad of Gresham College". Stanza 23 (given here in modern English) describes how Evelyn

[...] shows that 'tis the sea-coal smoke
That always London does environ,
Which does our lungs and spirits choke,
Our hanging spoil, and rust our iron.
Let none at Fumifuge be scoffing
Who heard at Church our Sunday's coughing.^[6]

The sea-coal to which Evelyn referred was appropriately named because it came by sea from Newcastle. When burned, it gave off a terrible smell because of high amounts of sulfur in its composition.^[5] When burned the sea coal released sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, soot, and particulates of organic matter into the atmosphere.^[7] The pamphlet suggests that burning wood, particularly aromatic woods, will be less harmful to the lungs and recommends relocating some of London's more polluting industries outside the capital, in particular lime-burning and brewing.

Structure and contents

Fumifugium is broken down into three parts which explain the problem, a proposed solution, and a way of improvement upon the air in London.

Part One

The first part of Evelyn's letter describes the details of the problem with the air pollution in London and its effect on human health.^[5] He explains that many philosophers believed that air was the most important for the soul and the Earth for we benefit it and therefore it is necessary for survival by the respiration of clean air through the lungs:

It is not without some considerable Analogy, that sundry of the Philosophers have named the Aer the Vehicle of the Soul, as well as of the Earth, and this frail Vessell of ours which contains it; since we all of us finde the benefit which we derive from it. Not onely for the necessity of common Respiration and functions of the Organs; but likewise for the use of Spirits and Primigene Humors, which doe most neerly approach that Divine particle.^[5]^[6]

Part Two

The second part of the letter proposes a solution to the current air pollution problem by recommending a removal of all pollution trades from the capital.^[5]

Part Three

In the third part of Evelyn's letter, he describes ways of improving the air quality of London by way of plantations, sweet-smelling flowers and vegetation placed near the city.^[5]

Significance

Fumifugium is considered a milestone in the development of air pollution science. In The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times, Peter Brimblecombe comments that "Fumifugium... is an outstanding work and cannot fail to remind the reader that [Evelyn] was a man with extraordinary powers of perception".^[1] William M. Cavert, a historian of early British environmental history, considers it "... the most extensive, sophisticated, and ambitious analysis of urban air pollution produced anywhere during the early modern period".^[3] Todd Andrew Borlik, a specialist in Renaissance literature, argues that Fumifugium is "one of the first sustained polemics against air pollution, and not only diagnoses the crisis but also formulates a sophisticated urban planning scheme to combat it".^[8]

On the other hand, Mark Jenner, a specialist in early modern history, has argued that it is "too simple" to consider Fumifugium "as a precocious example of environmental concern"; in his view: "Evelyn's celebrated account of London smoke pollution in the 1660s, has consistently been misinterpreted... it was a highly political text centrally concerned with Charles II's recent Restoration". According to Jenner, Fumifugium is not only "suffused with politicized symbolism" and "closely related to the panegyric literature of the early 1660s", but also part of a growing scientific interest in the study of air, including the work of Robert Boyle and Nathaniel Henshaw.^[9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pollution</span> Introduction of contaminants that cause adverse change

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance or energy. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants.

Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words smoke and fog to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odor. The word was then intended to refer to what was sometimes known as pea soup fog, a familiar and serious problem in London from the 19th century to the mid-20th century. This kind of visible air pollution is composed of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxide, ozone, smoke and other particulates. Man-made smog is derived from coal combustion emissions, vehicular emissions, industrial emissions, forest and agricultural fires and photochemical reactions of these emissions.

Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires, but may also be used for pest control (fumigation), communication, defensive and offensive capabilities in the military, cooking, or smoking. It is used in rituals where incense, sage, or resin is burned to produce a smell for spiritual or magical purposes. It can also be a flavoring agent and preservative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Evelyn</span> English writer, gardener and diarist (1620–1706)

John Evelyn was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.

The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952, then dispersed quickly when the weather changed.

The year 1661 in science and technology involved some significant events.

A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.

The Clean Air Act 1956 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted principally in response to London's Great Smog of 1952. It was sponsored by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in England and the Department of Health for Scotland, and was in effect until 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmentalism</span> Philosophy about Earth protection

Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologism combines the ideology of social ecology and environmentalism. Ecologism is more commonly used in continental European languages, while environmentalism is more commonly used in English but the words have slightly different connotations.

Events from the year 1661 in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air pollution</span> Presence of dangerous substances in the atmosphere

Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. It is also the contamination of indoor or outdoor surrounding either by chemical activities, physical or biological agents that alters the natural features of the atmosphere. There are many different types of air pollutants, such as gases, particulates, and biological molecules. Air pollution can cause diseases, allergies, and even death to humans; it can also cause harm to other living organisms such as animals and crops, and may damage the natural environment or built environment. Air pollution can be caused by both human activities and natural phenomena.

Pea soup fog is a very thick and often yellowish, greenish or blackish fog caused by air pollution that contains soot particulates and the poisonous gas sulphur dioxide. This very thick smog occurs in cities and is derived from the smoke given off by the burning of soft coal for home heating and in industrial processes. Smog of this intensity is often lethal to vulnerable people such as the elderly, the very young (infants) and those with respiratory problems. The result of these phenomena was commonly known as a London particular or London fog; in a reversal of the idiom, "London particular" became the name for a thick pea and ham soup.

Air pollution in the United Kingdom has long been considered a significant health issue, and it causes numerous other environmental problems such as damage to buildings, forests, and crops. Many areas, including major cities like London, are found to be significantly and regularly above legal and recommended pollution levels. Air pollution in the UK is a major cause of diseases such as asthma, lung disease, stroke, cancer, and heart disease, and is estimated to cause forty thousand premature deaths each year, which is about 8.3% of deaths, while costing around £40 billion each year.

United Kingdom environmental law concerns the protection of the environment in the United Kingdom. Environmental law is increasingly a European and an international issue, due to the cross border issues of air and water pollution, and man-made climate change.

Air pollution measurement is the process of collecting and measuring the components of air pollution, notably gases and particulates. The earliest devices used to measure pollution include rain gauges, Ringelmann charts for measuring smoke, and simple soot and dust collectors known as deposit gauges. Modern air pollution measurement is largely automated and carried out using many different devices and techniques. These range from simple absorbent test tubes known as diffusion tubes through to highly sophisticated chemical and physical sensors that give almost real-time pollution measurements, which are used to generate air quality indexes.

Nathaniel Henshaw M.D. was an English physician and original Fellow of the Royal Society.

John Leigh,, was a British 19th-century chemist and surgeon in Manchester, becoming its first appointed Medical Officer of Health, having responsibility for Public Health.

John Switzer Owens was an Irish physician and environmental engineer. He invented some of the first scientific instruments for collecting and measuring air pollution and helped to establish the first large-scale pollution monitoring network in the United Kingdom.

A deposit gauge is a large, funnel-like scientific instrument used for capturing and measuring atmospheric particulates, notably soot, carried in air pollution and "deposited" back down to ground.

Peter Brimblecombe is an Australian-born, British atmospheric chemist, currently emeritus professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of East Anglia and National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan. In a five-decade research career, he has written or co-authored seven books and around 350 peer-reviewed papers on air pollution and its effects on human health and the environment, but is probably best known as the author of The Big Smoke, which has been described as a definitive history of air pollution.

References

1 2 Brimblecombe, Peter (1987). The Big Smoke: A History of Air Pollution in London Since Medieval Times. Routledge. pp. 40, 47. ISBN 9781136703294. Fumifugium... is an outstanding work and cannot fail to remind the reader that [Evelyn] was a man with extraordinary powers of perception.
↑ Woodford, Chris (2021). Breathless: Why Air Pollution Matters and How it Affects You. London: Icon. p. 68. ISBN 9781785787102. The world's first book on air pollution, it makes fascinating reading to this day.
1 2 Cavert, William M. (2016). "11: Evelyn's place: Fumifugium and the royal retreat from urban smoke". The Smoke of London Energy and Environment in the Early Modern City. Cambridge University Press. p. 174. ISBN 9781107073005 . Retrieved 3 December 2021. ... the most extensive, sophisticated, and ambitious analysis of urban air pollution produced anywhere during the early modern period.
↑ Fuller, Gary (2019). The Rising Global Threat of Air Pollution – and How We Can Fight Back. London: Melville House. pp. 7–11. ISBN 9781911545514. In a way akin to modern epidemiologists, Evelyn looked at death records to see the impact of London's air on the health of its population.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sarah, Staniforth (2013). Historical Perspectives on Preventive Conservation. Getty Conservation Institute. p. 262. ISBN 9781606061428.
1 2 Evelyn, John (1661). Fumifugium. London, England: His Majesties' Command. ISBN 9780904617061.
↑ Jacobson, Mark (2012). Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 74. ISBN 9781107691155.
↑ Borlik, Todd Andrew (2019). Literature and Nature in the English Renaissance: An Ecocritical Anthology. Cambridge University Press. p. 488. ISBN 9781108247009 . Retrieved 3 December 2021.
↑ Jenner, Mark (1995). "The politics of London air : John Evelyn's 'Fumifugium' and the Restoration" (PDF). The Historical Journal. 38 (3): 535–551. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00019968. ISSN 1469-5103. S2CID 154439587.