MadSci Network: Science History
Query:

Re: What was used before toilet paper?

Date: Tue Dec 12 14:33:14 2000
Posted By: Dan Berger, MadSci Administrator
Area of science: Science History
ID: 976029855.Sh
Message:

I would guess that toilet paper and using used newsprint and other papers is only about 125 years old. Before that paper would have been too expensive. Continuing regressively, I would guess that cloth would be too valuable at about 300 years ago. So what was the preferred cleansing methods of our ancestors? Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Dark Ages, Etc.
Toilet paper as we know it wasn't invented until 1880. Before then...

According to Roto-Rooter's History of Plumbing (no, I could not keep a straight face as I typed that) the preferred tool in the West was a scraper of some sort, like a mussel shell (ouch!). But for most of human history the preferred tool for cleaning up after a B.M. was the left hand -- not the right! Prejudices against left-handed people and doing things with the left hand almost certainly stem from this practice, since just because the hand was the preferred tool doesn't mean people weren't grossed out.

In the Near East (that is, North Africa and the Middle East) and in the Balkans there are still strong taboos against eating with the left hand. It's possible that the tradition in the Far East of eating with chopsticks, which keep the hands well away from the food, also have this source.

On the other hand, in the Indian subcontinent it's traditionally considered filthy to eat with anything except the (thoroughly washed!) hands. Go figure.

Dan Berger
MadSci Administrator



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