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David K. Israel
Evolution of a toilet
by David K. Israel - April 4, 2007 - 9:40 AM

Here’s a first: I was doing the weekly Turnip yesterday and came across a bunch of dates so fascinating, I thought they deserved their own post. Via plumbingworld.com, we have highlights of the evolution of the toilet from 2500 BC to 1990 AD. (The dates come from a paper presented by Dr. Bindeswar Pathak, Ph.D., D.Litt. at the International Symposium on Public Toilets held in Hong Kong, in case you’re wondering about the Indian-slant, as well as the grammar. Still, you’ll be able to impress everyone around the water cooler, me thinks… especially if you click through to the paper and quote the first line: UNLIKE body functions like dance, drama and songs, defecation is considered very lowly.”)
toilethistory4.gif

  • BC 2500: In Mohenjo – daro, there existed highly developed drainage system where waste water from each house flowed into the main drain.
  • BC 1000: In the Bahrein Island in the Persian Gulf, flush type toilet was discovered.
  • AD 69: Vespasianus (Roman Empire) for the first time levied Tax on Toilets.
  • 1214 AD: Construction for the first time of public toilets manned by scavengers in Europe.
  • 1596 AD: JD Harrington invents W.C.
  • 1668 AD: Edict issued by Police Commissioner Paris, construction of Toilets in all houses.
  • 1728 AD: Architect J.F. Brondel argues that attached toilet is ideal.
  • 1739 AD: First separate toilet for men and women appear at a ball in Paris.
  • 1824 AD: First Public Toilet in Paris.
  • 1859 AD: Toilet of Queen Victoria is decorated with gold.
  • 1883 AD: First Ceramic Toilet by Thomas Turiferd for Queen Victoria.
  • 1889 AD: Sewage Treatment for the first time in the world.
  • 1959 AD: All surface Toilets abandoned (Paris).
  • 1970 AD: Sulabh International is established by Bindeshwar Pathak, as a non-profit NGO in Bihar.
  • 1980 AD: Installation of Auto – control Public Toilet.
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Comments (6)

  1. Vespasian was a Roman Emperor.

    posted by Pendantic on 4-4-2007 at 1:18 pm

  2. OK, what does the AD 1959 entry, “All surface Toilets abandoned (Paris)”, mean?

    Are these “all-surface toilets” (whatever that means)? OR

    Are they “all ’surface toilets’ “?

    And, what is either an all-surface toilet or a surface toilet?

    Sid

    posted by Sid on 4-4-2007 at 3:26 pm

  3. BC 1000: In the Bahrein Island in the Persian Gulf, flush type toilet was discovered.
    …
    1596 AD: JD Harrington invents W.C.

    So the people of Bahrain “discovered” them (growing on trees? in caves?), while Europeans “invented” them?

    posted by scriveyn on 4-5-2007 at 1:03 am

  4. No Ottoman Empire in 69 CE.

    Imperator Titus Flavius Vespasianus Caesar was Roman Emperor born Nov. 09 CE and died in June, 79 CE. Imperator Titus Caesar Vespasianus Augustus born Dec. 39 CE, died Sept. 81 CE.

    Check your facts folks – just ‘cuz it’s on the web doesn’t make it true.

    ThunderPud say “OOOOOOG!”

    posted by Doc Stuart on 4-5-2007 at 8:03 am

  5. scriveyn, I think it means that a flush type toilet was discovered there (like in an archeological dig or something) and then it was re-invented many, many years later. It’s just bad grammar.

    And I second the “what’s a surface toilet?” question. (I’m French and I don’t know…)

    posted by greenstrawberries on 4-6-2007 at 3:06 am

  6. the french word “toilet”doesn’t mean a “commode” — so much of the historical dates are referencing BATHS — the Romans had extensive public baths throughout the Empire — so too did the Turks (in the later Ottoman Empire) — for that matter, the Japanese have hundreds of public baths even today.

    The Romans had some public commodes as well and these were hooked up to extensive and complex sewer systems. Most private folks used a chamber pot and few households would want to flush away the contents as waste material was used for household purposes (e.g., urea from urine was used in making soap).

    As the populations of cities became denser and there was no place to “deal” with the chamber pots, folks would simply pour them out the window and into the streets (which we typically unpaved). Later sewers were added to the sides of streets (basically an open trench) and soon enough, household waste was hooked up to drain into the sewers.

    and there’s no way that all Paris households had commodes in the 17th century — even at some hotels, my visit in the 1960s meant squatting over a hole in the bathroom floor. Surely the reference is about the need for all households to have a BATHROOM — not even with pluming but at least a lavatory of some sort.

    posted by anonymous on 4-9-2007 at 11:59 pm

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