"And you shall have an implement [and] you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse."
Deuteronomy 23:1 on camp sanitation
Without the toilet system, disease would be widespread and water undrinkable. It is an invention that is taken for granted in the modern world, but where would we be without it? Even though they began only as holes in the ground, toilets in various forms have been used since Babylonian times.
A defining step in the long and complex history of the toilet was the S-trap system developed by Alexander Cummings, a watchmaker by trade. (Thomas Crapper is often given credit for the invention of the modern toilet; although he was involved in toilet production, it was Cummings who held the patent.) Cummings's design incorporated an S-shaped bend in the drainage pipe that created a water seal between flushes. This meant that foul odors were trapped below the water and could not escape into the air.
Life improved immeasurably with the combined benefits of the flushing toilet and the closed sewer system. By blocking the odors of the sewer, Cummings made it possible to bring the toilet inside the house, and so he made the toilet desirable. Soon everyone who could afford one was happily flushing away.
The S-trap design is still used in toilets as an effective way to deal with odor. However, toilet design has since addressed other aspects of use—in Japan, standard toilets are fitted with seat warmers, jets of cleansing water, and fully automated flushers.
