What's That Floating in the Moat?

The disposal of human waste has been a messy problem throughout history. Food being the joy that it is also causes a heap of trouble after the human body transforms it from a savory, delicious commodity into stinky, bacteria-laden goo. As a result, a great deal of ingenuity has been devoted to finding ways to make the emergence of it more pleasant, as well as to its collection and disposal.

Of course, primitive peoples used nature itself, but as they came together into people groups, they began to designate certain places within their living areas for toilet purposes. The first indication of plumbing dates back to 8000 B.C. in Scotland in the form of pipes or troughs that carried water and wastes to a nearby creek. Around 4000 years later in Iraq, evidence was found that appears to be cesspits under homes. Another discovery indicated that from 3000 to 2000 B.C., peoples in the area of modern-day Pakistan began reserving separate latrine rooms in their houses. Also during that time, flush toilets started to be used on the Isle of Crete. These were overhead reservoirs filled and flushed by servants or slaves.

According to Webster's, the word "toilet" comes from the French "toilette," meaning "a cloth covering used in shaving or hairdressing." Somewhere in the course of history, the name of this dressing room item became a modest word referring to relieving oneself.

The building of special infrastructures came to a halt following the fall of Rome, but the search continued to provide some means of indoor waste collection. Inventors came up with the chamber pot, close stool, and necessary chairs, which solved the problem of having to go outdoors but created another of how the waste was to be carried away. Then the tossing of wastes out of doors or overhead windows came into practice. The courtesy of a man walking nearest the street when accompanying a lady on a sidewalk came about so that he could take the hit instead of her from any wastes being thrown out. The street was also cleaner nearest the buildings. Shouting "Gardez L'eau" ("watch out for the water") became the polite thing to do when tossing waste. This remains in British vocabulary today with "loo" being slang for the toilet. One could also legally collect damages from being hit by wastes.

During the course of history, people became accustomed to the stench, although at one point, the Thames River was so full of sewage that it became a dead river. In 1857, the stench from it was such that the English parliament could not meet. Even heavy curtains soaked in lime and hung over the windows could not keep the odor out.

During Roman times, urinal pots were placed on street corners, which periodically were emptied by fullers who used the urine for laundering and bleaching togas and tunics. Roman public toilets might seat as many as 100 people on benches with holes. Romans were not squeamish about defecating in public and sat on the public toilets with their long robes draped around them. Sponge sticks were used instead of toilet paper. These communal sticks were rinsed off in a water trough between uses. In time, the sticks evolved into the shape of a hockey stick. This practice gave rise to the saying, "getting hold of the wrong end of the stick." Read more about Roman customs at Roman Sanitation.

In 1526, the scholar Erasmus published a book on manners entitled "De Civilitate." In it, he established that it was rude to observe people as they relieved themselves, indicating how common a practice public elimination was at that time.

The castle moat was another means of disposing wastes, and this might even have contributed to securing the castle. The sloping sides of the moat combined with an accumulation of waste might not have afforded much of a foothold for an enemy. According to David Macaulay in his book, "Castle," castle toilets were called garderobes. Garderobes on the outside wall were suspended over the moat on corbels. The seat was a stone slab with a round hole cut into it and allowed wastes to go directly into the moat. Garderobes within the castle were built over vertical shafts leading to cesspits which had to be cleaned out periodically. The ebb and flow of rivers were the only flushing mechanism for moats, the lack of which would cause their waters to become a thick, soup-like consistency. A brave soldier indeed was he who had the courage to swim a moat and traverse the wall by climbing up the shaft of a garderobe!

The garderobe began as a toilet room but became the forerunner of the wardrobe, a storage place for clothing. People began to hang their clothes in the garderobe as a means of pest control. They used the garderobe's noxious fumes much like we do moth balls.

The perfection of our modern-day toilet began in 1596 when Sir John Harrington of England invented what he called a "water closet" for Queen Elizabeth I. He only made one, however, and it took 200 years for Alexander Cummings, a London watchmaker, to come along and create the "S" trap for the water closet. This trap holds a bit of water in it and prevents odors from coming back into the house. Joseph Bramah and Thomas Twyford go down in the Toilet Hall of Fame for patenting elements for the flushing system and inventing the first one-piece toilet, respectively. Thomas Crapper, a plumber in England, gave us a more efficient system to flush toilets. Up until that time, water would continuously flow through a toilet, depleting the water supply. His invention allowed for water to go through only when the toilet was flushed, It is not clear how his name became slang words for the toilet as in "crapper" or "crap." One theory is that soldiers during World War I saw his name on toilet tanks and started calling them "crappers." For an excellent article about the contribution of Thomas Crapper, visit Flushed With Success.

In the mid-1800's, Parisian ladies and gentlemen took Sunday afternoon cruises in boats through their sewer pipes. The boats helped to scrape the sides of the pipes clean. These tours continued for 100 years until 1970. You can still visit the Paris Sewer Museum, however. The entrance is near the Eiffel Tower. You can find information about this tour as well as tours of other European Sewers at European Sewer Safari.

One familiar icon of Americana is the old-fashioned outhouse. Many are familiar with its spider webs, reeking atmosphere and old Sears Robuck catalog serving as toilet paper. Do you know why an outhouse is almost always depicted with a half moon on the door? An excellent explanation can be found at The Straight Dope. The contents of old outhouses can also be a historian's dream. Read about that at Musings of a Privy Digger.

We have come a long way in the development of convenient, sanitary toilets, collection pipelines, and wastewater treatment plants. Space age technology has entered the world of waste control on the Space Shuttle and Space Station. Indeed, kings and queens would envy us.



Some historical facts for this article were obtained from "Evidence of Indoor Plumbing Dates as Far Back as 8000 B.C." by Joyce Everhart Jungelaus which appeared in the November, 1998, issue of the APWA Reporter.