Toilets are one of the hallmarks of a truly advanced and civilized world. The evolution of our current throne toilet makes it look like a work of art. Why the reluctance to make it our own? We spend a portion of everyday on this seat. One would think our plumber would be our best friend offering comfort and good solutions. Toilets began with ancient society. Without water pressure, they bowed to gravity and used the flush it downstream method. Good for those upstream who were also on the lofty places that caught the breezes. No mess no smell. For those on the receiving end...not so nice. The Romans developed a series of ducts that separated the water and waste systems becoming the first plumbers. They improved the situation from strictly primitive and became the most sanitary society of the time. A plumbing supply might be slaves and a lot of clay earth pipes. A penchant for clean added to good sense saved them from much disease. In the middle ages, the toilet was referred to as the middens because it was in the mid wall of a stone building and because they were located centrally for convenience. Holes were placed in the structure to allow human refuse to find its way into the nearest stream. As did the Romans, the upper classes made sure it dropped wide and far from their noses. If a castle had a moat that was a bonus. Draining into a typical castle moat, human waste made the moat that more unappealing to an enemy (also fragrant in summer). Pollution was not an issue except next door to a concentration of population and only because of the smell. Disease was not an issue. Water was plentiful and washed the waste by virtue of mother nature. Disease was not associated with the effluvium of the upstream.
