The art of farting

Hello!

The title of my article is my translation of an 18th century book I have found: L'art de péter of Pierre-Nicolas-Thomas Hurtaut, first edition in 1751, second in 1776. Those titles are available in Gallica.

18th century is the century where people wanted to explain everything. Many books were made to explain how things were made like the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D'Alembert which is the emblem of that mind state. Reenactors often rely on such books like the Art du Tailleur (art of the tailor) ,  Art de la Lingère (art of the linen maker), Art du Perruquier (art of the wig maker), those three books were written by M. de Garsault. For the foodies there is also  the Cuisinier François (French cook). That book were often re-edited during 17th and 18th century.

Even for 18th century people, that desire to explain resonnably everything was laughable. That is probably the state of mind that author made the book I am talking about today.

''L'art de péter'' (art of farting) is a pseudo-medical book, and is not meant to be taken seriously. The advice to the reader is a warning in that way:

''Il est honteux, lecteur, que depuis le temps que vous pétez, vous ne sachiez pas encore comment vous le faite, & comment vous devez le faire''

Translated:

''It is a shame, reader, that since you are farting, you do not know yet how you do it & how you have to do it.'' 

 That books have wisdom sentences:

'' un pet à temps lâché pourrait vous sauver la vie ''

'' un gros pet vaut un talent ''

'' pour vivre longuement, il faut donner à son cul vent ''  

'' pisser sans péter, c'est aller à Dieppe sans voir la mer ''.

Translated:

'' one fart evacuated in time could save your life''

'' one big fart worth a talent ''

'' to live long, one must give his ass wind ''

'' piss without fart, it is like going to Dieppe and not see the sea '' 

  

 M. Hurtaut is dividing farts into two families: the mute fart and the vocal farts. The big petard is fully vocal and the small petard is half vocal. Also he names the diphthong farts, the simple farts, the damsel's farts, the farts of the masters of arms, the farts of the bakers, the farts of the married women, the farts of the tailors, the farts of the potters, the farts of the bourgeois women, the sucked farts, the dry farts, the unwitting fart...  And it is not all the farts described into the book...


Into the book, there is also some anecdotes that tells how farts can be use to make evils characters run away like witches or the Devil himself. Apparently, one big and smelly fart can make the Devil run away. Practical to know if you have bad frequentations.


The book also have some health tips. One is to not contain a fart for too long: it may causes vapes to the brain that will affect it and will taint imagination. It also contains remedies to provoke farts.




My favorite section of the ''art de péter'' is the story about the prince '' Pet-en-l'air'' (Fart-into-the-air) and the queen of the Amazons.

Illustration of the story of the Prince ''Pet-en-l'Air'' and the queen of the Amazons
Art de Péter, 1776
In latin at the bottom: Such is taken who taught to take
The picture could be renamed as:
How a conflict has been resolved by the farts of the emissaries ennemies

Here a short resume: the amazon emmisaries is refused the entry to the city of the Prince and is welcomed by farting asses in place of the cannons. She was supposed to confront the Prince emissary into a dual. She then proposed a fart dual (because her opponent dare to present himself without a weapon). The two emissaries agreed and so their judge. First the Prince emissary produced a big, loud and bad smelling fart. So bad that the judge had to hide behind the amazone and his apprentice tempted to close the smelling hole with his foil. Then the amazon emissary did a small, cute and no smelling damsel's fart. The judge claimed her as a champion. When I first wrote that article, I thought that it was the first mention of the pet-en-l'air, the half-dress for woman described by M. de Garsault. So I thought that the half-dress name was coming from that very story, since Garsault work is in 1761 and the first edition of that book was into 1751. I am making an article on why I was wrong. Stay tuned to discover why this fall...

At the end of the description of the making of a ''robe à la française'' M. de Garsault wrote that sentence about the ''pet-en-l'air''
Art du Tailleur 1769

The edition of 1776 was augmented with an extension about the society of '' Franc-Péteurs'' for thos who will want to be initiated. I have not read it yet but it is promising. They say ''Liberty is our devise'' ...


In conclusion, it appears that two hundreds years did not change humanity... They were too laughing about farts!

Mlle Canadienne