A man holding his nose to avoid breathing in a miasma. Drawing after Michiel Sweerts „Plague in an Ancient City“ (17th c.).

Smelling the Metropolis: Emission, Infection and Olfaction in Early Modern London

By Dr. Birgit Näther

Funded by DFG, Project No. 450128971

Ambient air was an important subject of scientific, social, legal and political discourses in early modern London: What constituted air as an element, what could influence, pollute or purify it and how it affected human bodies and urban life were questions that were intensely observed and debated by contemporaries. In this context the sense of smell served as an instrument to analyse and monitor air. The project investigates these topics based on three case studies: the early modern plague outbreaks associated with air in London, urban air pollution, and the first wave of cholera in the 1830s.

Project Website (DFG)


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
nemos (May 7, 2024). Smelling the Metropolis: Emission, Infection and Olfaction in Early Modern London. NEMoS. Retrieved January 22, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/12rln


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.