A recent trip to the Powerhouse Museum uncovered some interesting facts about the flushing toilet and how its introduction increased a person’s average live span of 20 to 30 years!
Sanitation
Before sanitation improved public health in the late 1800s, working people didn’t expect to live much beyond the age of 30. Crowded towns were considered death traps because human waste was dumped into pits where it could pollute water supplies. Diseases like cholera flourished, killing thousands at a time.
Flushing toilets had a profound effect on the average person’s outlook because we could plan for an extra 20 or 30 years of life. This toilet was made by Johnson Bros in England between 1880 and 1910.