What people used before the invention of toilet paper

Our ancestors didn't know the word "comfort", however, they sought. Throughout history, humankind has improved my life and continues to do so today. A seemingly familiar and banal things people of the past were unavailable. Among them is the simple toilet paper. However, its absence does not mean that the ancestors did not adhere to the rules of hygiene. Just because they were their own.

Thousands of years of people depending on climate, culture and social status are used for hygienic purposes in different subjects. The Greeks used smooth pebbles, the Scandinavians – wool, the Polynesians of the shells of mollusks or shell of a coconut.

The Indians of Central and South America used the leaves and ears of corn, Egyptian papyrus, and the Japanese metal flat chopsticks. In Islamic and Hindu culture sewage was flushed left "dirty" hand and water.

In the Roman Empire there were the first public toilets – latrines. They was a room, along the walls, which were located seats. I can handle a natural need, the Romans were sitting opposite each other, discussing the latest news and rumors.

Roman public toilet

Instead of toilet paper, use a stick with a sponge on the end. After the procedure she was inserted into the vessel filled with salt water or vinegar.

Antique analogue of toilet paper

Toilets the Romans borrowed from the ancient Greeks. Among the Greeks, his visit was considered a privilege of the noble and commoners were not available. On the island of Crete, archaeologists found a toilet with a type of sewer, which is 4 thousand years. It consisted of a clay barrel with a wooden seat. The contents of the toilet fell into a stone trough, filled with water, leaking into the sea.

Historians know that toilet paper was invented in 105 ad, a dignitary of the Emperor of China by Cai LUN. First massive use of paper for hygiene purposes began in 589 BC. Chinese thinker Yan Jitai in 589 year urged the countrymen not to be used for toilet sheets with the text of the sages and their names.

Again about the means of hygiene is only remembered in 1391. The supply service of the Imperial family Min calculated that for the needs of the rulers will need 15 thousand flavoured leaves the size of 70x90 cm. In those days, the paper cost a lot of money, but the courtiers of the Emperor, and ordered a 720 thousand sheets.

Modern toilet paper, the kind we know, invented three centuries later, the toilet equipped with a sink. In 1857 an American entrepreneur Joseph Gayetty began to sell "medical paper", impregnated with aloe juice. It was positioned as a tool for people suffering from hemorrhoids. Prior to that, Europeans and Americans used Newspapers, advertising leaflets, moss, mugs, lumps of wool, paper towels reusable.

Business idea Joseph Gayetty failed, but many years later it was implemented in Britain, where it opened "Paper mill of St. Andrew", which is considered the first mass producer of hygienic paper rolls.