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Old 07-25-2002, 12:48 PM   #1
Arvon
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Join Date: October 4, 2001
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by the way I didn't get this from the web....

DIRTY SECRETS IN THE
HISTORY OF HYGIENE
(Part I): MAN ON THE CAN
Over the centuries, man has experimented with different solutions to one of
life's stickiest problems-the sanitary elimination of human waste. We've
unearthed a few facts you won't find in most history books.
While excavating an early Egyptian house, archaeologists found a toilet seat that conformed perfectly to a pair of buttocks. The seat was made of limestone, providing cooling relief in the hot Egyptian climate. It sounded comfy-we wanted to know more.
"WHAT'S NEW, MAXIMUS?"
To the Romans, going to the bathroom was a social occasion. And they brought their customs to the far corners of their Empire. In North Africa, for example, a large privy dating from ancient Rome had 25 seats arranged around three sides of a room. There was no privacy: only a carved dolphin separated each seat.
MEANWHILE, BACK HOME
After using the public latrines, the citizen of Rome looked for the bucket, which held salt water and a long stick with a sponge attached to one end. The user rubbed his posterior with the sponge and then returned it to the water bucket for the next patron's use. Careless use of this device has been said to be the origin of the expression "getting the wrong end of the stick." (True!)
RENDER UNTO CAESAR...
Public urinals were a source of income for Emperor Vespasian, who had the the urine collected; the ammonia in it was used to make fabric dyes.
TAKE ME TO THE RIVER
Romans developed the art of plumbing and built their sewer system to last. The Cloaca Maxima ("big sewer"), which connected the Forum to the Tiber River, is still in use today, 2,500 years later.

AFTER THE FALL
For a thousand years after the decline and fall of Rome, Europe was a sanitation disaster. The only indoor plumbing consisted of chamber pots, portable containers that were kept under beds or at least, hopefully, in the corner. Human waste was thrown from chamber pots directly onto the streets or into rivers. Diseases borne by fecal matter flourished.
GET THAT S--- OUT OF HERE!
Things have got to be bad when even kings notice. England's Richard II issued a proclamation in 1388 that prohibited the throwing of waste matter into ditches, rivers, or waters of any kind. The perpetrator was either to remove the offending material or pay a fine of 20 English pounds. The practice continued, so by the 1500s, King Henry VIII, describing a trip to Cambridge, wrote that both the main roads and the lanes were lined with large mounds of filth. In London, the public latrines were built over the Thames, the same river that provided drinking water.
"HEADS UP," IN FRENCH
The British slang word for toilet, the "loo," comes from a French custom of the Middle Ages. When tossing the contents of their chamber pots into the streets, the French very considerately shouted a warning to any luckless passersby, "Gardez 1'eau" (pronounced LOO) which meant "Watch out for the water!"
WHY NO ONE SWAM THE CASTLE MOAT
Castles had bathrooms, privies really, built into bays that jutted out from the castle walls. The more sophisticated kind drained into stone channels or underground pits. The primitive ones simply had holes in the bottoms of the bay, so the waste fell directly into the moat or river below. The more deluxe town houses also had privy bays that hung over the streets.
THEY LAUGHED WHEN I SAT DOWN
Sir John Harington invented the first flush toilet in 1596. Haring-ton was a godson of Queen Elizabeth I and presented the queen with his invention for Her Majesty's personal use. The device was mocked and never caught on. The first patent for a flush toilet was taken out in 1755 by Alexander Cummings of London. But most people continued to use chamber pots.

CHAMBER POTS OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
Henry VIII's privy chamber housed a "close stool," that is, a chair that enclosed the royal chamber pot. It was padded in black velvet trimmed with ribbons, fringes, and quilting, all tacked on with 2,000 gilt nails. His daughter, Elizabeth I, preferred red velvet, and even had a portable loo that she took with her on trips.
THOSE ZANY VICTORIANS!
Some Victorian chamber pots played a tune when a hidden drawer in the commode was opened. Others had portraits of political figures such as Napoleon or Benjamin Franklin painted in the center, so you could show them what you thought of them. One popular model had a large eye with the words, "Use me well and keep me clean and I'll not tell what I have seen."
THE AMERICAN SCENE
One of Thomas Jefferson's many inventions was an indoor privy. Using a system of pulleys, servants hauled away President Jefferson's chamber pots from an "earth closet," a seat with a hole over a wooden box that was lined with a pan of wood ashes.
The poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, may have been the first American to have a flush toilet. He had it installed in 1840, and proudly showed it off to his guests.
ENTER THOMAS CRAPPER
Forever altering the family name, in 1872 Thomas Crapper developed a new type of flushing toilet. For his achievement, Crapper became the royal plumber to Queen Victoria's son Edward, Prince of Wales.
HAND ME THAT SEARS CATALOG!
By the way, that other modern essential, toilet paper, wasn't invented until 1857.
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Old 07-25-2002, 01:16 PM   #2
johnny
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Interresting, smelly but interresting !
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Old 07-25-2002, 01:18 PM   #3
SomeGuy
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Join Date: May 14, 2002
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Hmmmm Intersting.I never knew that.How come it did'nt cover the part of why we sometimes call the toilet the John?
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Old 07-25-2002, 01:32 PM   #4
Sir Goulum
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Join Date: February 7, 2002
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I don't like this story. But....why did they have to call it Chamber Pots?
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Old 07-25-2002, 02:32 PM   #5
Arvon
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Join Date: October 4, 2001
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Didn't anyone notice that this is part 1? Maybe I'll run across part 2 and answer these questions.
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