In 1775 Alexander Cummings did England a massive favour when he came up with a device that would make life sweeter for centuries to come and it's all to do with loos.
His modification of an already existing commodity enhanced the lives of the rich, the very rich and the ultra well-heeled. The rest of humanity could suffer.
Had it not been for Alexander's contribution to sewage disposal most of the British human race would have been wiped out courtesy of cholera. It was thought at the time that the almighty pong that contaminated the airwaves was the cause of the sickness. Small wonder then that the littlest room was sited down the garden and round the corner or in a disused wing of the mansion. Out of sight, but not out of the nostrils.
It is not the flushing toilet that is being extolled here, which, contrary to popular belief was not invented by Thomas Crapper. T.C invented the floating ball cock.
The first fully functioning flusher first saw the light of day in 1596 and is reputed to have been used by Queen Elizabeth I. It never caught on because there were so many levers and pulleys to contend with you needed a pilot's licence to operate it. Rocket science to them.
Thunder boxes of the 18th Century had a thing called D bend. This contraption had the unpleasant habit of hanging on to the effluent and keeping it prisoner until some poor cretin, whom the gods had ceased to smile on, drew the short straw and the job of cleaning it out. Nice, eh?
Alexander Cummings, an engineer, saw that something needed to be done. He studied the subject, put the little grey cells into action and came up with the solution.
There are 39 euphemisms for lavatory in the Oxford English Dictionary but no matter which one you choose to dub your commodity with, not matter how ultra mod your smallest room is, it will certainly have one of these.
You won't notice it but it's there, insignificant, continually ignored, until something goes wrong. It's there all right and be thankful for it. It's Mr Cummings' S bend.
