Benjamin Franklin's Famous Fart Essay
Benjamin Franklin was a Founding Father of the United States, diplomat, and inventor of the lightning rod — and the author of one of the best-known satirical essays about farting in world literature. In 1781 he wrote a letter to the Royal Academy of Brussels that is known today as 'Fart Proudly': an equally amusing and sharp-witted document of the Enlightenment.
The Letter: Content and Tone
In 1781, Franklin was serving as American ambassador in Paris when he received a circular from the Royal Academy of Sciences in Brussels inviting scholars to submit essays on useful topics. Franklin responded with a letter full of feigned seriousness — he proposed that the Academy should investigate how intestinal gases could be made pleasantly fragrant through dietary adjustment. His core argument: the Academy is wasting its time on abstract, useless questions — if it instead addressed a problem that literally affects every person every day, that would be real scientific progress. The letter is written in English, contains precise chemical hypotheses, moral considerations, and is permeated throughout with ironic dignity.
The Argument: Science for the People
Franklin argued that a science that deals exclusively with abstract, elite problems is of no use to the common person. Researching how farts could be made odourless or pleasantly scented through targeted diet, on the other hand, would be a breakthrough that would benefit everyone — regardless of status, education, or wealth. In his essay he specifically proposed developing medications or special foods that would give intestinal gas a pleasant smell. He mentioned musk and roses as possible fragrances. The scientific approach carried Franklin's usual precision — only the subject matter was deliberately absurd.
Historical Context: Enlightenment and Satire
The essay was written at a time when the Enlightenment glorified scientific institutions, while many academies were actually occupied with scholastic, impractical topics. France and England were competing for scientific supremacy. Franklin — himself a brilliant natural scientist (lightning rod, theory of electricity) — knew the academy world from the inside and used his letter as a vehicle for social satire. The text circulated as a private letter but was never published by Franklin himself. Copies only surfaced after his death in 1790. The full title is: 'To the Royal Academy of Farting' — a title Franklin presumably chose with great relish.
Legacy and Popular Culture
Today the letter is regarded as a masterpiece of scientific satire. It is used in rhetoric courses to analyse argumentation structure and irony. Physicist Richard Feynman liked to cite it to criticise science's tendency toward self-absorption. The phrase 'Fart Proudly' became a catchword in the United States for unvarnished directness — a call to meet social taboos with humour. In 2003 an illustrated edition of the essay was published and became a bestseller. Franklin, who among other things was a brewer and was familiar with the chemistry of fermentation, would likely have very much enjoyed the scientific curiosity of his readers.
Did you know?
- Franklin's essay was a private letter — it was never published during his lifetime, only becoming known after his death.
- The full title is: 'To the Royal Academy of Farting'.
- Franklin argued scientifically: he proposed concrete chemical solutions to make intestinal gases smell pleasant.
- The essay is considered a model of Enlightenment satire — serious in tone, absurd in subject.
Fun Fact
Benjamin Franklin was not the only Founding Father with an interest in unusual biological topics. John Adams wrote extensive diary entries about his own digestion, and Thomas Jefferson kept meticulous records of his diet and physical wellbeing. The Founding Fathers were — among everything else — remarkably body-aware individuals.
Sources
- Franklin, B. (1781). To the Royal Academy of Farting. Unpublished letter, Library of Congress.
- Isaacson, W. (2003). Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Simon & Schuster.
- Brands, H.W. (2000). The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Doubleday.
- Lemay, J.A.L. (2006). The Life of Benjamin Franklin. University of Pennsylvania Press.