As the sanitation is well-developed nowadays, do you want to go back to the old days, experiencing the ancient toilets? Let me bring you to the beginning first.
Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Around 4500 years ago, communities in Scotland, the Indus Valley, and Mesopotamia used pipes to carry waste from inside of buildings to outdoors.
[illustration: Chester Holme]
Toilets in Egypt used a keyhole shape to increase comfort, whilst the Romans built sewer systems to carry waste into streams and rivers.
[Photo: fiveminutehistory]
Fortifying Defenses
By the Middle Ages, flushing went out of fashion. In came “garderobes”, which were closets with seats overhanging the castle moat. The waste would slide down the castle walls and hopefully be washed away … eventually.
[Photo: fiveminutehistory]
Garderobe is French for “wardrobe” and also served as a place to temporarily store the coats and other possessions of visitors. According to a description of a garderobe at Donegal Castle, people believed that the smell of ammonia would help keep fleas away.
Watch Out Below!
[Photo: fiveminutehistory]
The British word loo is from the French Guardez l'eau, meaning “watch out for the water”. In medieval Europe, people often threw the contents of their chamber pots out the window onto the streets. But being considerate folk, they would warn passersby by yelling “Guardez l’eau!” … at least to those they liked.
Fit For The Queen
Sir John Harington (1561 – 1612) invented Britain’s first flushing toilet. Called the Ajax, he installed one at his manor in Kelston.
[Photo: fiveminutehistory]
Harington’s design had a flush valve to release water from a tank to empty the bowl. He also gave one to Queen Elizabeth I at Richmond Palace, but it is thought she refused to use it because it was too noisy.
[illustration: Chester Holme]
First Public Flush Toilet
George Jennings (1810 – 1882), an English sanitation engineer, invented the first public flush toilets.
He installed the “Retiring Rooms” at The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London.
[Photo: fiveminutehistory]
Jenning’s Pedestal Vase won the Gold Medal award at the International Health Exhibition in London, 1884 for its flushing capacity.
After that, toilet becomes more familiar with what we know - clean, convenient, widespread...
After knowing the history of toilet,
what do you think
will the future toilet be like?
[illustration: Chester Holme]
Article Source∣fiveminutehistory.com
