A Brief History of the Toilet [Slide Show]
Forget about skyscrapers, protected harbors or capital markets. The lowly toilet is key to what makes modern cities possible
![A Brief History of the Toilet [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/D65C4F3B-E4EF-47BD-AAFB76DE11B2EB4D.jpg?w=590&h=393)
A Brief History of the Toilet [Slide Show]
- HIGH-FLYING TOILET If ever people build cities in space, they will have to deal with the human waste problem. The biggest challenge is weightlessness; without gravity a conventional toilet would allow human waste to escape into the air. This toilet, designed for use on the now retired U.S. space shuttle, relied on fans to pull urine and feces into secure containers. NASA
- HI-TECH TOILET Toilets are still evolving. The Japanese company Toto introduced the Washlet in 1980, which uses a bidetlike warm water spray to automatically clean the anal/urethral area instead of relying on toilet paper, the latter of which can result in hand and finger contamination by disease-causing germs. TOTO Global Group
- VICTORIAN CONVENIENCE As cities grew much larger in the late 19th century, precursors of the modern flush toilet became more popular. Innovations such as the water trap (which kept sewer odors from rising into the home) and the U-bend (which decreased the number of blockages) helped to increase the flush toilet's appeal. National Library of Medicine
- WATCH OUT BELOW By the Middle Ages, sanitary engineering in Europe was still relatively primitive. These garderobes funneled human waste outside the walls of Hadleigh Castle in England. William/www.geograph.org.uk
