Re:What Did the Past Smell Like?
by plasticchris on Monday December 14, 2020 @11:17PM
(#25426948)
But those are rural. I knew an old gentleman who lived in St Louis around 1930-1940 and he told me he loved leaving the city to live in the country during the summer to get away from the smell.
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Well, you could go to shantytowns in e.g. West Africa, South Asia, or South America if you want an idea of what crowded fast-growing cities are like.
They aren’t precisely “less developed” than 18th century Europe, but they are more crowded and often have comparable hygiene, medical care, etc. Again they often lack basic amenities like running water, sewers, and grid electricity. The biggest difference is probably that many of these have much worse air pollution than anywhere in the 18th century.
Yes, there are many places which smell potent if you are used to living in a wealthy suburb, but the smells are not really like the description above, especially after a week or two of acclimation, except maybe for extraordinarily dainty hypersensitive people. Patrick Süskind is exaggerating for effect.
Re:What Did the Past Smell Like?
by plasticchris on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @11:25AM
(#25431732)
I'm not sure, air quality was extremely poor in 18th century Europe. The term smog was coined in 1905 (after more than 100 years of deadly smog) in London. https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2016/dec/09/p...
Re:What Did the Past Smell Like?
by crazygringo on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @11:33AM
(#25431832)
Exactly. Modern shantytowns are a great comparison, and in terms of smells they're... fine. It's a total non-issue, unless indeed you're "extraordinarily dainty hypersensitive" I suppose maybe.
I'm not sure what air pollution you're referring to though?