Introduction

Many of us have experienced the sudden nostalgia for toilets that results from uncomfortable, bathroom-in-the-bushes breaks during camping trips. Most of us have also likely engaged in epic toilet-unclogging wars, plunger in hand, fighting alongside the toilet against stubborn blockages. Yet, most of the time, the day-to-day smooth functioning of toilets goes unnoticed and unacknowledged. Despite their widespread use, flush toilets remain one of the least-recognized engineering contributions to modern society. As the founder of the Restroom Association of Singapore pointed out, people "pay homage to the toilet by making 2,000 trips to visit it a year [and yet they] refuse to talk about it" (Hoh). Perhaps people shy away from in-depth discussions about the flush toilet's tremendous impact on society because of its association with sensitive, private matters. Surely the Romans' common misfortune from before the time of toilets of being showered with the "contents of [a] urine ja'' from an overhead window has faded into the forgotten past (Horan 15). Whatever the case may be, the porcelain toilet stands faithfully at its post in private and public bathrooms around the world, a tribute to its ingenious creators who have shaped our quality of life for generations.

A Look at the History of Toilets

Regardless of the apparent simplicity of the concept of toilets, the origins of the modern flush toilet were entangled in a convoluted web of social, cultural, and technological trends. For example, urbanization in the 1800s resulted in high concentrations of human waste, giving rise to urgent concerns regarding public health and sanitation (Quitzau 355). The pace of toilet development changed accordingly, accelerating during periods of European and North American "small pox, cholera, and typhoid epidemics" in the mid-nineteenth century (Horan 78). While the engineering aspect of toilet technology is fascinating in its own right, it is imperative to acknowledge this interplay between engineering progress and social trends.

The Mesopotamian civilization pioneered the management of human waste, creating some of the earliest toilet seats. These primitive structures were shaped like horseshoes and were designed to maximize comfort for the users' buttocks. In Egypt's Tel-el-Amarna, a toilet room dating back to 1350 BC was equipped with a toilet seat made of limestone, which featured a keyhole-shaped opening at the center (similar to the horseshoe-shaped seats of the Mesopotamian civilization). The Egyptians' limestone toilet design did not utilize any semblance of water-flushing. Instead, the waste fell into a vessel in a hole below the seat and in turn could be used as fertilizer by the gardeners (Wright 11). Between 3000 BC and 1100 BC, the Minoan civilization of Crete prospered and built magnificent structures like King Minos' Palace of Knossos (Horan 5; "Minoan"). This remarkable palace enjoyed the luxury of a resourceful "water-supply through [tapered] terra-cotta pipes," whose shape propelled water with a "shooting motion" and thus inhibited the accumulation of undesirable residue. The toilets at the Palace of Knossos were eerily modern for their time (c. 2000 BC), featuring a "wooden seat...as well as a reservoir for flushing water" (Wright 6-7). The unique-shapely water pipes "flushed" away the waste in the toilet, closely resembling the waste-carrying water methods of modern toilets.

Figure 1: An example of ancient Roman latrines
Photo by Fubar_Obfusco

Contrary to common belief, Thomas Crapper did not invent the first modern flush toilet; instead, his name gained its long-lasting fame from his success as an entrepreneur in the toilet industry during the Victorian age (Horan 85). The man historically credited with the invention of the modern flush toilet is Sir John Harington of 16th century England. Among the first to use Harington's toilet was Queen Elizabeth (also Harington's godmother), for whom he installed a flush toilet in one of the royal palaces. During 1596, Harington authored A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, called The Metamorphosis of Aiax, in which he described his technological creation with witty Elizabethan humor ("Harington"; Horan 50). Although the book was not granted a license for printing because of its offensive subject matter, it still achieved substantial success and was published on three different occasions (Horan 50-51).