Fumifugium

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]

Original title page of John Evelyn's Fumifugium
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b Sarah, Staniforth (2013). Historical Perspectives on Preventive Conservation. Getty Conservation Institute. p. 262. ISBN 9781606061428.