1. History of the Toilet By Jackson Haack

2. Going inside 2500 BC The toilets empty into a brick- lined sewer system This plumbing technology was lost around 1500 BC

3. Royal Flush 1500 BC Plumbers on Crete installed the world's first flush toilet. When flushed, a tankful of water releases into the bowl and washes waste down pipes

4. Really public Bathrooms 800 BC In Rome Cloaca Maxima, is an enormous sewer system 11,000 seats are lined up in rectangular rooms No privacy

5. The job is the Pits 1300 AD Europeans used outhouses Richard the Raker was cleaning out his outhouse Unexpectedly, he fell through the floor and drown in his own excrement

6. Heads Up 1500’s Europeans relieved themselves indoors in a chamber pot. When full, they just tossed the contents out the window, shouting "Gardy-loo” to warn anybody walking below.

7. Bathroom Reading 1672 Devoted readers could buy a fancy chamber pot disguised as a stack of books The most popular model in France. →

8. Stop Making Scents 1775 Alexander Cummings patents the S-trap The S-trap is a valve that keeps the bowl filled with water, without letting smells come up.

9. A Chaiman’ Ideas 1857 Joseph Gayetty introduced toilet paper Each sheet had Gayetty's signature. Before this, people used whatever they could find: dried corncobs catalog pages

10. Sculptured Seats 1885 Englishman Thomas Twyford introduces the Unitas All-ceramic toilet The new john eliminates the leaky joints that made earlier models smelly. These ceramic toilets caught on quickly

11. Minding Your Business 1999 The Matsushita Company of Japan previews a toilet that's smarter than you are. The high-tech bowl: measures your weight body-fat content chemical sensors analyze your health.

12. Fun Facts 0 The average person spends 3 months of their lifetime sitting on the toilet, so eat that taco on the toilet