According to several sustainable development theorists, the search for increased profitability has often enticed industrialists to « externalize » rather than reduce their polluting emissions. Numerous books and essays published between the middle of the nineteenth century and the birth of the modern environmental movement suggest to the contrary that the combined effects of the price system, the profit motive and property rights resulted in the development of valuable by-products out of polluting emissions, in the process reducing environmental harm from industrial activities. This essay provides a brief overview of the main European and North American compendiums on the topic in order to illustrate the universal character of this process. A few hypotheses as to the origins of now prevalent contrary beliefs are finally suggested.