The Porcelain God: A Social History of the ToiletElvis died on one, and Charles V, ruler of Germany and Spain, was born on one. Although we use them every day, most of us know very little about toilets. This unique history contends that civilization began not with the written word, but with the toilet. Through advertisements, diaries, museum catalogs, and anecdotes, The Porcelain God explores the history of the toilet and the customs and manners that surround it. The result is a fascinating study of both ancient and contemporary cultures. The earliest toilets, found in the Indus Valley in the third millennium B.C., evolved over five thousand years into the high-tech twentieth-century toilets of the Japanese. In the past, disposing of human waste consisted of collecting the offense in a pot and throwing the contents out the window. It was said in medieval times that London Bridge was built "for wise men to go over and fools to go under". London Bridge originally contained public latrines serving the thirty-eight houses built on it. The waste from the latrines dropped directly into the Thames River ... and onto anyone passing along the path under the bridge. Related topics include unique hygiene habits around the world, the evolution of toilet paper, space toilets, euphemistic sayings, and more. |
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Contents
Sir Lancelots Toilet | 21 |
Raunchy Reveille 15001700 | 43 |
Common Commodes | 64 |
Copyright | |
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accommodate Ajax American ancient bathroom became believed bidet body bowels Brahmin Britain British bucket building built called camp castle cesspit chair chamber pot China Chinese clean Cleanliness Cloaca Maxima Cloacina close-stool collected common contents death defecating described designed device diarrhea disease disposal door drains dumped dung eighteenth emptied England excrement facilities famous feces fertilizer flush French garderobe gongfermor Harington hole human waste hygiene invention inventors Japan Japanese Joseph Bramah king Knossos latrines living located London Louis Louis XIV medieval Metamorphosis of Ajax modern toilet monks Muslim night nineteenth century odor offend offered outhouse palace Paris person pipe piss placed porcelain prevent privy pit problems public latrines Queen river Roman sanitary sanitation sewage sewer system sitting smell soldiers squat stool streets Thomas Crapper toilet bowl toilet paper toilet seat traveling urine Victorian Viking wall water closet wiping woman women York