As the story goes, Old Tom Parr was relatively healthy for being 152 until a visit to noxious, polluted London in 1635 cut his long life short. Katherine Harvey investigates the early modern claims surrounding this supercentarian and the fraudulent longevity business that became his namesake in the 19th century.
  • Elle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    20 days ago

    There’s an extra treat buried in this article…

    The diarist John Evelyn, whose 1661 treatise Fumifugium focused on London’s growing pollution problem, had no doubt that Parr’s death was caused by “the Aer, which plainly wither’d him”

    Fumifugium is such a great title!

    Honestly this article gets better as you go…We could use a modern medical series like the old “Anatomy of Quackery” to debunk the insidious nonsense still being spread today!