# Fart Lighting: How Far Back Does It Go? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802 "2006-07-17T02:44:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/1 "2006-07-17T02:44:04Z")
Wiki has a short article on [Fart Lighting](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fart_lighting), but doesn’t credit anyone with discovering the technique. Cecil, Snopes and the [Durham University Fart Lighting Society](http://members.tripod.com/~DUFLS/main.htm) also appear silent on _when_ the flammable nature of farts was discovered; although the farting society does jokingly mention Rene Descartes. So when did someone discover that farts are flammable? I vaguely recall some stories about medieval French jesters, and it seems like something [Roger Bacon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon) might have tried, but how far back does it really go? Were there roman fart lighters? Greek? Does some fragment of the [epic of Gilgamesh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh_epic) tell of Sumerian fart lighters, or is fart lighting actually a recently discovered trick? ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/2 "2006-07-17T03:02:12Z")
Given the nature of humanity (at least as it’s represented in my skull anyways), I gotta believe that fart lighting followed **very** quickly after the discovery of fire… probably the same night, if they had Mexican food back then! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/3 "2006-07-17T04:18:33Z")
When you ask \*“How Far Back Does it Go?” \* , are you referring to temporal or spatial displacement? ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/4 "2006-07-17T11:39:19Z")
Probably the first time a caveman backed up to a fire to warm his back side and let loose. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/5 "2006-07-17T11:48:47Z")
In Chadwick Hansen’s book **Witchcraft in Salem** he writes about a cure that was attempted on a “bewtiched” horse. He describes it as a common cure used for horses, where the stem of a tobacco pipe was stuck into the horse’s anus and lit. This was called “Burning the mare’s fart”. I don’t know what his source was, but he’s pretty well footnoted and respectable (even if you may disagree with his interpretations). I don’t have the book with me now, so I can’t give you the cite. But this would be 1692. I cited this once before on the SDMB when someone turned up a woodcut showing this procedure and asked what it was. IIRC, that woodcut showed flames (and, for all I know, was earlier). So that’s the earliest refeence I know to it. Again, IIRC, the reference Hansen gave talked about flames coming out and covering the ghorse’s haunches. Remember, folks, these people were _professionals_. Don’t try this at home. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/6 "2006-07-17T14:39:25Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] In Chadwick Hansen’s book Witchcraft in Salem he writes about a cure that was attempted on a “bewtiched” horse. He describes it as a common cure used for horses, where the stem of a tobacco pipe was stuck into the horse’s anus and lit. This was called “Burning the mare’s fart”. [/QUOTE] :eek: Either that, or a 17th-C. anti-smoking technique! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/7 "2006-07-17T14:46:31Z")
I have a firsthand account of _human_ fart-lighting dating from the early 1950s via **Papa Doug** and his adolescent cronies. My hypothesis is that FL arose as a mass cultural phenomenon during WWII, with the massing of young men from various walks of life in military service. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/8 "2006-07-17T14:49:56Z")
The woodcut was credited as being from an unidentified vetrinary manual, and I just love the expression on the face of the horse: [http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/print/exhibits/drydrunk/captions/horse.htm](http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/print/exhibits/drydrunk/captions/horse.htm) Notes on the linking page: > [@](#): > > This rather astounding print is a graphic illustration of one of the medicinal uses of tobacco, and testimony to the long-lasting conviction that it was a useful health remedy. The herb was generally described as a purgative, whether through smoking or other forms of ingestion or external use, making its application as an enema natural. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/9 "2006-07-17T16:16:17Z")
I understand that bloated cows have too much methane in their stomach(s); when the vet makes an incision to release the pressure, you can light the ensuing jet. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/10 "2006-07-17T16:33:02Z")
At first glance, the title looked like “Fart Light **n** ing.” :eek: [QUOTE=glee] I understand that bloated cows have too much methane in their stomach(s); when the vet makes an incision to release the pressure, you can light the ensuing jet. :eek: [/QUOTE] I don’t have a cite, but these incisions were sometimes done by cowboys on cattle drives, earning them the name “cowpunchers.” ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fart-lighting-how-far-back-does-it-go/364802/11 "2006-07-17T21:44:18Z")
[QUOTE=Plynck] When you ask \*“How Far Back Does it Go?” \* , are you referring to temporal or spatial displacement? [/QUOTE] Yeah, that thread title sure leaves itself open to some _Newlywed Game_ misconstruals, doesn’t it? 😃