h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A583382

As the title says, this entry is a historical review of toilets - one of the cardinal inventions of mankind. It's not focussed on behaviour and on the more modern environmental problems, it's just the history of the development, and it gives some reasons why it took so long to be invented...

I'll be glad to hear comments,

HELL

Hi! Fancy meeting you here!

I like the article, though I don't know that much info, I think there's a type of flush toilet that came before the one with a chain to pull. I saw it in a museum - there was a kind of bucket at the back (on a pivot) which constantly filled with water and then when it was full enough the weight of the water made it swing over and pour down the toilet. (I don't know if you really should include this but anyway...!)

Hey Hello Liz... Now it's your turn to shred an entry apart.

The bucket-toilet you mentioned is probably 'just' a curiosum that came before the chain-pulling-type toilet. The problem was to automate the disposal of water of the valve-type toilet... And obviously many people got creative. I am sure there are many other toilet-like paraphernalia from that time that just didn't make it to our times. I just wanted to concentrate on the major cornerstones of toilet invention, for that reason not all toilet-like gizmos have been included...

Glad you liked the entry,

HELL

Very impressive entry, and really not a heap of s***, err, sorry

'realise' etc.: AFAIK we're using british english around here


Just a few ideas (and I promise I did *not* study that!) :

The Romans collected urine and used it for washing their clothes (they had realised that some acid/base therein makes a good cleaning agent). Of course they rinsed with fresh water afterwards.

Medieval castles had projecting alcoves and the rest can be summed up with the word "plummeting".

In medieval cities kissing late at night in the entry of a house was dangerous, as you ran the danger of being showered with feces. Some cities issued laws which prescribed a cry of warning before emptying the pot into the street.

The palace of Versailles was equipped with chairs with a hole and a pot in them. Before that, even the King would use a remote corner of a floor which would eventually be mucked out when the stench got too heavy.

In Italy and other places you can find the 'Ritirata', a hole in the ground with water flushing on command. More hygienic than anything found in roadhouses along motorways and Autobahns today (I just received the latest issue of the ADAC motorist club, with test results... )

Just another useless fact: these days, every modern WC is put to the factory test, with ... sausages!




Bossel (Scout)

Hey - you guys - I'm trying to eat my lunch!
(I'll study the entry later.)

Excellent!
Just a couple errors though:
"milleniums" should be "millennia"
"few is known" should be "little is knowm"
and
"...and dirty was not regarded to as being..." should be "...and dirty was not regarded as being..."

Good job!

OK sorry again for my non-native english I'll be correcting all that tomorrow.

Glad you all liked it so far

Bossel - there's some very useful s*** in your post. May I incorporate some of your input?

Thanks,

*you'll never s*** the same after reading this entry*

See y'all tomorrow

HELL

Hi Hell, good entry as usual!

Am I the only person disturbed by the information that the flush toilet was invented in 1830 and toilet paper was invented in 1857...?

Keep your antennas up. I'm planning an entry on ablution techniques - You wouldn't believe what people used...

Bye,

HELL

PS: Hey Hoovooloo, at least there's no fundamental force involved in here this time

Yes, take as much of the **** as you like

Why on Earth do I get the feeling that this thread is going to attract lots of puns?

Have a ... beer!

Bossel

On a serious note - or at least as serious as this is likely to get - I think some mention of a man (I think erroneously) credited with inventing the flush toilet is needed, if only because his name was Thomas Crapper.

Hiya!

Yep, the guy was indeed called T. Crapper; I think he developed the u-bend as well too - I could be wrong....

Lovely entry; I like this

You're definitely a person who knows your s**t

Stay ,
WD (knows that she is one letter away from being something else completely)

err, what's a VD then please?

VD where did you get that from? Sometimes in english it's the abbreviation for venereal disease - but you probably know that.

Maybe you meant WD, which is - i assume - the signature of Witty Ditty (from the initials)

Or maybe you were joking and I didn't get it... Anyways.

I'll have some look at the Crapper thing. When do you say he invented the flush-type toilet?

Here I go, down the drain....

HELL

Flushed away some typos
Added a paragraph w/ Bossel's medieval Stuff
Added Thomas Crapper myth

*flushshshsh*

HELL

better now?

Hell, if I wrote any of my non-native languages as well as you write english, I would be quite happy.

Well, WD said she was one letter away from something, and I guessed it was the 'W' which was to be changed...

Err... how about this quote (it's *safe* by the BBC copyright laws!)

Moses Book 5 (Deuteronomy), chapter 23, verse 11+12 ...

which reads:

11: Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad /
12: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and
shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee /

BOSSEL!

OH NO!!! Bossel I am an ignoramus...

WD meant she's one letter away from WC!!!!!

The Groschen falls slowly.

(For the Mods: Groschen - Currecny unit used in Austria)

*Goof - pat myself on the forehead*

Byah,

HELL