The History of Toilets

Summary

This video explores the evolution of toilets from ancient times to modern-day conveniences. It delves into the first known toilet and sewer system in the Indus Valley, Egyptian water conservation methods, and the Han Dynasty's pig waste recycling. The script also covers Roman communal bathrooms, medieval castle garderobes, and the rise of indoor plumbing. It highlights key figures like Sir John Harington, who invented a flush toilet, and Thomas Crapper, known for marketing toilets. The video concludes with the impact of public toilets and the significance of sanitation in preventing diseases.

Takeaways

• 🚽 The first known toilets with a sewer system appeared in 2500 BC in Northern India and Pakistan, featuring drain pipes and a central sewage system.
• 🏺 Ancient Egyptians used water conservation in their toilet design, with limestone seats for the wealthy and sand pits for the commoners.
• 🐷 During China's Han Dynasty, toilets were connected to pig pens, where waste was used as pig feed and later as fertilizer.
• 🛂 Roman bathrooms were social spaces with communal toilets and no privacy, using running water from aqueducts for flushing.
• 🏰 Medieval castles utilized 'garderobes' with chutes that led waste to moats or cesspits, harnessing gravity for waste disposal.
• 🏺 Chamber pots were used before indoor flushing toilets, often kept as decorative items in homes until the mid-20th century.
• 👑 Sir John Harington invented a flush toilet in the late 16th century, but his political writings overshadowed his sanitary invention.
• 🚹 The flushable toilet gained popularity in the mid-18th century with innovations by Alexander Cumming and John Braham, leading to widespread use.
• 👨‍💼 Thomas Crapper, despite the humorous association, did not invent the toilet but was instrumental in its marketing and improvement.
• 👨‍🔧 George Jennings introduced public flush toilets in London, initially met with skepticism but eventually becoming a public necessity.
• 🏫 The dry toilet was invented by Henry Moule in 1873 as a waterless alternative, but it did not gain widespread acceptance, preserving the dominance of wet toilets.

Q & A

What was the first known toilet and sewer system like?

The first known toilet and sewer system appeared in 2500 BC in Northern India and Pakistan. Houses in the Indus Valley had rooms dedicated to defecation with drain pipes leading to a central sewage system that could be flushed by dumping water into the toilet.

How did the ancient Egyptians conserve water in their toilets?

Ancient Egyptians used toilets designed with water conservation in mind. They reused water for agriculture and gardening, and the wealthy used limestone seats with sand-filled containers to collect waste, which was later cleaned by servants.

How did the Han Dynasty in China utilize human waste?

During the Han Dynasty, farmers constructed toilets that were directly fed back into pig pens. The waste was consumed by pigs and then used as fertilizer, eliminating the need for a separate sanitation system.

What was the social aspect of Roman toilets?

Roman toilets were social scenes with long stone or wooden benches and no dividers between the holes. They were built to hover above the ground for easier flushing and were flushed using the sewage system that ran throughout the city.

How did medieval castles handle waste disposal?

Medieval castles used garderobes, rooms with chutes that led to a moat or communal cesspit, to dispose of waste. This relied on gravity to move waste away from the castle.

What were chamber pots and why were they used?

Chamber pots were small metal or ceramic containers used to hold waste before indoor plumbing was common. They were used at night or when outdoor facilities were inconvenient, and were later emptied into pools or sometimes thrown out windows.

Who invented the flush toilet in the late 16th century?

Sir John Harington, a controversial writer, invented a flush toilet in the late 16th century. His design included an elevated cistern that dumped water into the toilet bowl and removed waste via a chain pull.

What was the S-trap and who invented it?

The S-trap was invented by Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming. It allowed water to sit in the bowl, acting as a barrier against foul smells from sewage and gas.

Why is Thomas Crapper often falsely credited as the inventor of the modern toilet?

Thomas Crapper is often falsely credited as the inventor of the modern toilet due to the humorous and ironic nature of his last name and his significant role in marketing and popularizing toilet designs, despite not being the actual inventor.

Who was George Jennings and what was his contribution to public sanitation?

George Jennings was a sanitation engineer who first proposed the idea of installing public flush toilets throughout London. He designed a series of toilets for an art exhibit in 1851 that cost a penny per use and were very popular.

What was the dry toilet and why was it invented?

The dry toilet was invented by Henry Moule in 1873 as a way to use the bathroom without water as the flushing mechanism. It diverted waste or used covering material like peat to absorb liquid, aiming to reduce maintenance costs and eliminate odors associated with sewage systems.

Outlines

00:00

🚽 The Evolution of Toilets: From Ancient to Modern

This paragraph delves into the historical development of toilets, starting with the earliest known toilet and sewer system in the Indus Valley Civilization around 2500 BC. It highlights the advanced nature of these early systems, which included dedicated rooms for defecation and sophisticated drainage with flush mechanisms. The script then contrasts this with the sanitation practices of Ancient Egypt, where toilets were water conservation-oriented, and the Roman Empire, known for its social bathroom culture. It also touches upon the Han Dynasty's practice of feeding human waste directly to pigs, and the medieval castles' use of gravity for waste disposal. The paragraph concludes with the introduction of the flush toilet in the 20th century, marking a significant shift from the earlier, often unsanitary methods.

05:01

🌟 The Invention and Popularization of Flush Toilets

This section focuses on the invention and subsequent popularization of the flush toilet. It begins with Sir John Harington's 16th-century invention, which was overshadowed by his controversial writings. The narrative then shifts to the 18th century, where Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming and English inventor John Brahma made significant contributions to the modern flushing toilet with the S-trap and the hinged flap valve, respectively. The paragraph also discusses the role of Thomas Crapper in marketing toilets, despite the common misconception that he invented them. It details how Crapper's U-bend plumbing trap and his showrooms helped to popularize indoor plumbing. Lastly, it mentions George Jennings, who first proposed and implemented public flush toilets in London, despite initial resistance from the government.

10:01

🏛️ The Advent of Public Toilets and the Impact on Sanitation

The final paragraph discusses the introduction of public toilets and their impact on public health and sanitation. It begins with the story of George Jennings, who, after the success of his pay-per-use toilets at an art exhibit, proposed the idea of public toilets in London. Despite initial setbacks and the government's reluctance, public toilets eventually became a reality. The paragraph also addresses the invention of the dry toilet by Henry Moule in response to the unsanitary conditions that contributed to the spread of diseases like cholera. The dry toilet, which used peat as a covering material, was an innovative solution to the problem of maintaining hygiene without water. The paragraph concludes with a humorous question about the viewer's current location, suggesting they might be watching from a toilet, and encourages handwashing and further exploration of Weird History's content.

Keywords

💡Toilet

A toilet is a fixture in sanitation that is used for the disposal of human waste. In the context of the video, it is the central theme around which the history of sanitation practices evolves. The script discusses the development from basic to advanced toilets, illustrating how they transitioned from group activities to private, indoor conveniences.

💡Sewer System

A sewer system is an underground infrastructure designed to carry off wastewater and sewage. The video script mentions the first known toilet and sewer system in Northern India and Pakistan around 2500 BC, which had drain pipes leading to a central sewage system, emphasizing the early beginnings of modern sanitation.

💡Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization refers to one of the world's earliest urban cultures, known for its advanced city planning and sanitation systems. The script describes how houses in this civilization had dedicated rooms for toilets with drain pipes, showcasing their progressive nature in urban development.

💡Egyptian Toilets

Egyptian Toilets were designed with water conservation in mind, reflecting the ancient Egyptian culture's resourcefulness. The script explains how they used limestone seats and sand-filled containers for waste disposal, highlighting the differences in sanitation practices across civilizations.

💡Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty in China is noted for its innovative approach to agriculture and sanitation, as depicted in the video. The script describes how farmers constructed toilets that fed directly into pig pens, turning human waste into a resource for both feeding pigs and fertilizing crops.

💡Roman Bathrooms

Roman Bathrooms were social spaces where people would congregate for bathing and waste disposal. The script mentions long stone or wooden benches with holes for communal use, illustrating the communal aspect of sanitation in Roman culture and the contrast with modern private bathroom practices.

💡Medieval Castle Toilets

Medieval Castle Toilets, or 'garderobes', were small rooms with chutes that led waste away from the castle. The video script uses this term to illustrate how gravity was utilized for waste disposal in the absence of modern plumbing, reflecting the ingenuity of medieval sanitation solutions.

💡Chamber Pots

Chamber Pots were containers used for collecting human waste in homes before the普及 of indoor plumbing. The script describes them as a common household item that was either emptied into cesspools or disposed of by being thrown out of windows, indicating a less refined approach to sanitation.

💡Flush Toilet

A flush toilet is a toilet that uses water to flush waste into a sewer system or septic tank. The video script discusses the invention of the flush toilet by Sir John Harington and its development by others like Alexander Cumming, marking a significant advancement in sanitation technology.

💡Thomas Crapper

Thomas Crapper is often mistakenly credited as the inventor of the modern toilet due to his name and his role in popularizing it. The script clarifies that while he did not invent the toilet, he was instrumental in marketing and improving toilet designs, contributing to the modernization of sanitation.

💡Public Flush Toilets

Public Flush Toilets were an innovation proposed by George Jennings to provide sanitation facilities for the general public. The video script highlights how these toilets were initially met with skepticism but eventually became an accepted part of urban infrastructure, reflecting societal changes in public health and sanitation.

Highlights

The first known toilet and sewer system appeared in 2500 BC in Northern India and Pakistan.

Indus Valley houses had rooms dedicated to defecation with drain pipes leading to a central sewage system.

Ancient Egyptian toilets were water conservation-focused, using sand instead of water.

During the Han Dynasty in China, toilets were connected to pig pens for waste to be eaten by pigs.

Roman bathrooms were social scenes with long benches and no dividers for privacy.

Medieval castles used 'garderobes' with chutes leading to a moat or cesspit for waste disposal.

Before indoor flushing toilets, people used chamber pots, which were later emptied into cesspools or thrown out windows.

Sir John Harington invented a flush toilet in the late 16th century, but it was not widely adopted.

The flushable toilet gained popularity in the mid-18th century with advancements by Alexander Cumming and John Brahma.

Thomas Crapper is often mistakenly credited as the inventor of the modern toilet, but he was a prominent marketer of toilet designs.

George Jennings was the first to propose public flush toilets in London, which were initially met with skepticism.

The dry toilet was invented by Henry Moule in 1873 as a waterless alternative to traditional toilets.

The history of toilets reflects a transition from unsanitary conditions to modern, hygienic facilities.

Public toilets became more accepted and widespread as urban populations grew and sanitation became a public health concern.

The evolution of toilets shows how cultural practices and technological innovations have shaped modern conveniences.

Transcripts

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Everybody poops and almost always in a toilet.

But it wasn't always the glamorous, solo activity

it is today.

It used to be a weird group thing

in some places and very disturbingly,

pig food in others.

So how did we go from wildly defecating in the streets

to sitting comfortably on a piece of art?

Today, we're going to look at the history of toilets.

But before we plop down, be sure to subscribe to Weird History

and let us know about what modern-day conveniences

you would like to hear more about.

Now let's go see a man about a horse.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The first known toilet and sewer system

showed up on the scene in 2500 BC in Northern India

and Pakistan.

Way, way ahead of their time, houses in the Indus Valley

could, in theory, list a bathroom in the home listing

with rooms dedicated solely for numbers one and two, sometimes

three.

These rooms contained drain pipes

that led to a central sewage system, which

could be flushed by simply dumping water into the toilet.

Sounds like a very familiar process so far.

Nothing weird yet.

Sewage was carried through a simple grid

system in pipes made of brick and terracotta or all

the necessary components to build a house in Florida.

This allowed the waste to be carried

from multiple floors of the home and dumped

into the nearest body of water or what we today call Florida.

These pipes were relatively sophisticated

with accessible utility holes that led from the street

to the main drainage line and wooden screens built

into the end of the drainage lines to block solid waste.

Both of these were crafted to make

maintaining the sewers as easy and less gross as possible.

While many of the elements of this ancient infrastructure

do strongly resemble what we use today,

it would take thousands of very messy years

before Western societies would catch up

with this sanitation system.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

For a society that worshipped cats,

it's only appropriate the Egyptians also

used a bathroom like one.

Ancient Egyptian toilets were designed specifically

with water conservation in mind.

They, in general, went hard on saving,

believing in only using H2O with the intent to reuse it.

With no running water in Egyptian homes,

even with dedicated rooms in which to bathe,

Egyptians would pour water onto themselves

at bath time, which was collected in jars

and reused for agriculture and gardening.

The Egyptian 1% would perch their rich behinds

onto limestone seats to relieve themselves

into containers filled with sand, which

would be cleaned out by the servants

or what today is called owning a cat.

The lower plebeian class would also relieve themselves

in pits of sand.

But their poor garbage butts had to settle

for a dumb wooden stool with a hole cut

in the middle, instead of a more glorious,

non-splintery limestone.

What a dump for a dump.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

If you weren't hungry before watching this video,

you're about to be starving, particularly for a bacon treat.

During the Han Dynasty in China, farmers

constructed toilets that were directly

fed back into their pig pens.

Though these toilets looked similar

to a traditional outhouse, there was one small difference.

Rather than the waste feeding into a hole in the ground,

it fed into the hole of a pig's face.

The waste was routed into the pig pen,

which the pigs, being pigs, would then

consume as a light snack.

Once this was digested, the waste

from this human waste turned into pig waste,

would be used as fertilizer, thus eliminating the need

for a sanitation system.

Include that in a verse of the circle of life, cowards.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Roman bathrooms sounded like quite the social scene.

Their bathrooms consisted of long stone or wooden benches

with holes scattered about for users

to take care of their business, while in a comfortable sitting

position.

These elevated bench toilets were purposely

built to hover 1 to 2 feet above the ground

to make it easier to flush the water through,

using the sewage system that ran throughout the city.

And, no, there were no dividers between bench holes,

making going to the bathroom more of a group

social activity than a private moment to oneself.

Running water directed from Rome's aqueducts

flushed out the troughs beneath the toilets.

While a great way to flush away waste,

it was a bad way to prevent rat attacks

from open sewer lines and occasional fires

from built-up methane.

But when it comes to ancient toilet systems, you win some

and you lose some.

A bunch of potential rats on fire,

however, can probably go in the losing column.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Medieval castle toilets relied on the magical power of gravity

to do most of the heavy lifting of taking waste

to a more desirable place away from the castle.

Castles were equipped with rooms dedicated for answering

the call of nature.

But they were called garderobes, not bathrooms.

Garderobes were nothing to write home about, with very few bells

or whistles.

The humble garderobe was a small room

with chutes that led to a moat or communal cesspit

for the dung to float away or around the castle.

If the point of the moat is to keep enemies out of the castle,

a good addition to one would be floating poo

as a deterrent for crossing.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Before the indoor flushing toilets

were popularized in the 20th century,

most people had to wander down to local cesspools

in order to relieve themselves, a pretty nifty inconvenience

for something where a convenience is paramount.

This could also be a potentially hazardous trip

to take at night.

So rather than march down to a lovely sounding,

local cesspool, people would have chamber pots in the room.

Chamber pots were small metal or ceramic containers

designed to hold waste that were later emptied into pools

or just sort of casually thrown out the window, a fun thing

to be on the lookout for when walking

underneath a window, surely.

They remained a popular way to go to the bathroom

until World War II and are even used today

in some parts of the world where indoor plumbing is still

not a thing.

Since chamber pots were a regular fixture

in people's homes, they weren't afraid to jazz them up a bit,

turning them into less of a pot to piss in and more

of a fun little home decoration to whiz in.

Some were ornate and made of ceramic or fine china.

And others were encased in decorative boxes.

Some were designed with verses like, use me well and keep

me clean and I'll not tell what I've

seen, which now, of course, has been reduced to simply,

live, laugh, love.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Sir John Harington was a controversial writer known

for his risqué poetry and political writings.

He also invented a flush toilet in the late 16th century

as one typically does while writing poetry.

In The Metamorphosis of Ajax, Harington described the device

as an elevated cistern that dumped water into the toilet

bowl and removed waste via the pulling of a chain

or what sounds remarkably like a current day toilet.

Unfortunately, The Metamorphosis of Ajax

was also a thinly veiled criticism

of the English government.

So the invention of a toilet somehow sandwiched

between critiques of the monarchy

presumably got thrown out with the bathwater,

as they say, for nearly two centuries.

Queen Elizabeth I, however, did have

one built for herself, which is probably

not the takeaway Harington was aiming

for when it came to a queen reading

his anti-government pamphlet.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It wasn't until the mid-18th century

when the flushable toilet was beginning

to truly have a moment.

Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming and English inventor

John Brahma both developed the advanced plumbing devices

that assisted in the creation of the modern-day flushing toilet.

Cumming created the S-trap, which allowed the water

to sit in the bowl and act as a barrier against the foul smell

of sewage and gas and also, a popular source of drinking

water for bad dogs.

Though Harington technically was the first to invent the toilet,

it was Cumming who held the patent.

It was during the installation process of Cumming's design

when Braham developed a valve with a hinged flap that

sealed the water in the bowl.

Thanks to these two advances in the design of the toilet,

these babies began selling like hot cakes

with water closets growing in popularity

throughout the mid-18th and 19th centuries.

After World War I, all new buildings built in the UK

were required to include an indoor toilet.

We've come a long way from throwing our dung

out the window.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Given his last name and how hilarious and ironic

it would be, Thomas Crapper is often

falsely credited as the inventor of the modern toilet.

In reality, Crapper was more like the band, Kiss,

of toilets.

He didn't invent the toilet, but he sure

knew how to market the crap out of it.

An early sanitation pioneer, Crapper

is credited for inventing the oddly beautiful U-bend plumbing

trap that is still used in toilets and sinks today.

Crapper displayed his toilet products in showrooms

and tried to sell his sanitation designs to the wealthy.

And, yes, Crapper was not the inventor

of the flushing toilet.

But when people would draw the conclusion,

he didn't go out of his way to correct them.

Why ruin it?

It was better this way.

Edward VII hired him to install dozens of indoor bathrooms

in several royal palaces, which contributed to his fame.

But mostly, of course, it was that his last name was Crapper,

and his whole life was toilets.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

George Jennings, a sanitation engineer and autour toilet

inventor, was the first to propose the idea of installing

public flush toilets throughout London.

Jennings designed a series of toilets for use

at an art exhibit in 1851 that cost a penny per use.

Jennings' art toilets that cost money for use

were a big hit, especially with poorer folk who couldn't afford

a flush toilet of their own, but could

afford a penny to use one.

With these toilets being a bona fide hit,

Jennings proposed to build public facilities

at the Royal Exchange, a major commerce and business

sector in London.

The government ignored this idea at first with a strange belief

that nobody would want a public bathroom,

claiming the results of several trial public bathrooms

proved they were bunk.

The Royal Society of Arts, the money

behind Jennings' public toilets at the art show,

installed a handful of test pay toilets

around London, soon after to see if it was a thing people

wanted.

The move ended up being a financial catastrophe,

even if its heart was in the right place.

In 1885, London officials finally

came around on Jennings' idea several years

after the plumber passed away.

The first facilities were built at the Royal Exchange,

but not by Jennings' company, which

seems like kind of a real jerk move by the Royal Exchange.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

As the population began to boom, so did

contagious diseases that spread like

wildfire, due to widespread unsanitary conditions.

Cholera, in particular, was the contagious disease du jour

whose spreading was aided greatly

by poor sanitation systems.

Because of this, the dry toilet was invented as a way

to use the bathroom without water as the flushing

mechanism.

But rather, it would divert waste

or use covering material such as peat to absorb the liquid.

First invented by an English priest named

Henry Moule with a patent in 1873,

he was able to get the design in schools and public hospitals

in England and India.

But despite cutting maintenance costs

and eliminating odors famously associated with sewage systems,

his design did not catch on.

We can thank this failure today for all of our wet toilets.

So what do you think?

Are you watching this video from a toilet?

We bet you are.

Be sure to wash your hands and check out

some of these other fine videos from our Weird History.