LATRINES OF THE EAST. 
BY 
EDW. S. MORSE. 
Reprinted 
from THE 
American Architect, 
March 18,1893. Please substitute this corrected copy of Latrines for one 
sent to you some time ago. 
LATRINES OF THE EAST. 
BY 
EDWARD S. MORSE. 
Reprinted from the American Architect of March 18,1893. 
THE proper disposal of human excreta is a subject of vital im- 
portance and is to-day occupying the attention of munici- 
palities the world over. The subject has its economic and sanitary 
side. The question of waste and consequent impoverishment of 
the land, with the masses reduced to paupers, gave little concern 
to the rulers, but when a connection was established between this 
material and infectious diseases which invaded the homes of the 
people, then the matter aroused interest and questions of public 
health enlisted the attention of thoughtful men. 
Sanitation is a science of recent development. The terms sani- 
tary-laws, sanitary-engineers, health-officers, etc., were hardly 
known a generation ago. The pages of advertisements, with their 
accompanying illustrations of porcelain bowls, syphon-traps, flush- 
ing-tanks, ventilating pipes, call our attention to devices of recent 
origin. Plumbing has become a new profession-a science, in 
fact, since the enlightenment of the public on sanitary matters. 
The latrines of a hotel, once so cold, dark and noisome, are now 
white marble halls, warmed and well lighted : in fact this region, 
once the most offensive feature of a public house, is now, in all 
well-appointed hotels, not only the cleanest part of the building, 
but the air is purer there than in any other part of the structure. 
It is the only region where one does not detect the characteristic 
"hotel odor." 
As a nation we pride ourselves on being far ahead of the world 
in the appointments of the latrine. This superiority, however, is 
confined to city populations possessing modern forms of water- 
(D 2 
supply and drainage. The common houses of the people, however, 
in our northern cities, at least, are usually better provided in these 
respects than is many a fine house abroad. 
Realizing the enlightened opinion concerning these matters in 
this country, it may be a matter of curious interest to inquire into 
the ways of Eastern people. While some of the Eastern nations 
are far in advance in the personal cleanliness associated with the 
disposition and utilization of sewage, using this term in its most 
restricted sense, other nations are offensive to the last degree. In- 
deed one is not compelled to leave Europe to find noisome con- 
ditions, and if one reverts to the habits of Europeans hardly more 
than a century ago, he finds revealed a depravity only paralleled in 
China and certain parts of Russia to-day. 
Aside from the curious interest that may attach to this subject 
there is a far more vital interest in the bearing the subject has upon 
public health. The question of a wholesome water-supply, whether 
pumped from the domestic well or distributed from larger sources 
by the commune, affects at once the life and health of the citizen. 
The fact that these supplies can be infected by germs of-enteric 
disease is one that is established beyond refutation. The manner 
of the disposal of house-sewage is, therefore, one of vital impor- 
tance, and if it can be shown that those nations whose methods are 
vicious in these respects are the ones that suffer from such diseases 
as a vitiated water-supply might induce, it will strengthen com- 
munities in their efforts to insure an uncontaminated source. 
The nations of Europe stand in periodical dread of cholera from 
the regions lying east of them. The Orient stands as a continual 
menace to the nations of Europe, and the time may not be far 
distant when a propaganda in the interests of sanitary science shall 
invade these countries with their missionaries of hygiene to teach 
the people the gospel of cleanliness. That the masses might be 
ready to receive such teaching is shown by the success accom- 
panying the efforts of medical missionaries beyond that of those 
who teach dogma alone. 
With the threatened invasion of cholera and the undeniable fact 
that the dread disease comes from the East, an added reason is 
given for a glance at the methods in vogue for the disposal of 
egesta in these far-off countries. 3 
China, from its enormous area and dense population, offers one of 
the most interesting fields for those interested in sanitary science. 
In no other part of the world, unless it be in Russia, can such depths 
of filthiness be found as in the cities of China. Mr. Arthur H. 
Smith, in his interesting work entitled " Chinese Characteristics" 
says that, "no matter how long one has lived in China, he remains 
in a condition of mental suspense, unable to decide that most in- 
teresting question, so often raised, Which is the filthiest city in the 
Empire ? . . . The traveller thinks he has found the worst Chinese 
city when he has inspected Foochow, he is certain of it when he 
visits Ningpo, and doubly sure on arriving at Tiensin, yet after all 
it will not be strange if he heartily recants when he reviews with 
candor and impartiality the claims of Pekin 1" 
Dr. Robert Coltman, in his valuable book, 11 The Chinese" calls 
attention to the existence of various forms of enteric disease, and, 
with other observers, notes that the Chinese are utterly ignorant of 
the germ-theory of disease, and, consequently, the persistent viola- 
tion of all sanitary laws follows as a matter of course. The experi- 
ence of centuries has taught them that water can be drunk in safety 
only after it has been boiled, an experience similar to that which 
has taught them that an emersion in the same fluid for several 
minutes would be equally disastrous to life. Doctor Coltman says, 
"they would look with horror at a foreigner drinking a glass of cold 
water," and he admits that after several severe sicknesses in his 
own family from drinking what he considered ordinarily pure water, 
he was forced, ever after, to drink only boiled water, tea or coffee. 
Despite these precautions, however, on the part of the natives, 
"cholera occurs as an epidemic every few years and is frightfully 
fatal. The ports seem to be affected the most, but in the summer 
of 1888 a wide-spread epidemic swept through Shantung and 
Chihli, from east to west, sweeping away thousands of lives." 
In the American Architect, No. 859, an interesting extract is 
published from the report of Ernest Norfleet, past-assistant sur- 
geon, U. S. A., entitled "Conservation of Filth in Chinese Cities." 
Speaking of Canton, he says : "The drainage is naturally bad, and 
what there is consists of several large canals that penetrate the 
city from the river and receive the filth from smaller canals and 
street-gutters emptying into them; but all these become greatly 4 
choked, and, notwithstanding the daily rise and fall of the tide, 
the city everywhere reeks with odors of the vilest sort, i. <?., to Chris- 
tian noses. The natives do not seem to notice them at all. Their 
water-supply is taken from the river and from wells and a few 
springs on the north side. The wells must be saturated with the 
filth that seeps into them from the adjoining soil, for they are fed 
from the rainfall for the most part; but it is always boiled, and 
drunk in the form of tea or consumed in soups." 
The comparative freedom of from enteric diseases 
is believed to be due to the rise and fall of the tide twice a day, 
the heavy rainfalls which wash out the rottenness from the porous 
soil, the universal outdoor work of the people, the open shops and 
houses, and, above all, the universal habit of boiling water before 
drinking. Doctor Norfleet calls attention to the scrupulous way 
in which ordure is saved, and, as a consequence, pollutes the soil 
but little. As a matter of fact, this material is put upon the rice- 
fields in a fluid condition and every rainfall must wash the stuff 
into the neighboring canals and rivers. And here we may refer 
to the strenuous protest made by Dr. Letheby, of England, some 
years ago, against sewage irrigation, showing the grave dangers 
which would result. 
Among the teeming millions in China, there is every reason to 
believe that a struggle for existence has gone on for centuries, kill- 
ing off those who could not stand the microbes and bacilli of cer- 
tain kinds, and, as a result, the survivors are proof against condi- 
tions that would instantly depopulate one of our cities. 
Enough has been said to show the extreme filth of Chinese 
cities, yet I must add my own brief experience, as that will enable 
me to present some further details. At Shanghai, as one enters 
the native town he encounters men bearing uncovered buckets 
upon the ends of a carrying-stick; these are the removers of night- 
soil, and they have their regular routes through the city. If one 
follows these scavengers he sees them going to the banks of a 
canal near by and emptying the buckets with a splash into a long 
scow, or other kind of boat, which, after being filled, is towed away 
to the rice-fields in the country. The stuff is often spilled in the 
water by careless emptying. The canal has no current, at least 
not enough to disturb the green ooze and sickly yellow condition 5 
of the water, which is thick with foulness ; yet beside this boat peo- 
ple are dipping up the water for drinking and culinary purposes. 
Small-pox, at the time of my visit, was epidemic in the town, and 
I brushed past men in the narrow alleys who were covered with 
eruptions; everywhere the ground was slimy with filth, and the 
state of the town was indescribable. 
I spent a few days within the city, in the care of a Chinese stu- 
dent, and was permitted to make many sketches of Chinese apart- 
ments. It would seem that in the better class of houses each room 
is provided with a large wooden bucket with close-fitting cover. 
Fig. 1. 
These buckets are emptied every day by a man who makes the 
rounds for the purpose. They are scrubbed by the aid of small 
shells (Areagranosa') which have upon them numerous ribs and 
nodules. A small basketful is emptied into the bucket and a stiff 
bundle of bamboo switches is used to stir them about. Rows of 
these buckets may be seen airing in the back-yard - a suggestion 
of cleanliness that should be recognized, in spite of the revolting 
idea of ever having such receptacles in the house over night 
(Fig. i). The men who remove this material are often encoun- 
tered in the narrow streets, and it requires some alertness and skill 
to avoid being brushed by them, as they move by you in the rough- 6 
est way with buckets swinging. In the back-yard of a number of 
houses I saw large earthen jars embedded in the ground. Against 
the sides of these jars was a low framework of wood (Fig. 2), and, 
barring a shelter above, the whole affair had all the primitive sim- 
plicity of similar conveniences all over this country. Near these 
Fig. 2. 
places were piles of ashes from the stoves, and these were scattered 
over the material at times. The open character of this arrange- 
ment while offensive to the eye, was better, in a sanitary sense, 
than the ordinary privy in this country, which, having its recept- 
acle sunk in the loose soil, soon 
leads to the pollution of the ground 
and finally of the water supply it- 
self. Square urinals made of stone- 
ware are occasionally seen. These 
are used by old people, and I was 
told that they also served as pillows 
or head-rests (Fig. 3). 
In Canton the latrines are public, comparatively few houses 
having private ones. Wooden buckets are used in the house by 
women, as is the custom farther north, but the men go to the pub- 
lic places. As one walks through the streets of Canton the exis- 
tence of these latrines is always evident to the nostrils. Occasionally 
he gets glimpses of these places through an open door which leads 
into a narrow court, and here on each side, in the filthiest possi- 
ble condition imaginable, is a long row of low stalls closed by 
doors. A deep, stone gutter runs the length of the place, close 
to the wall. Across this, in each stall, are secured two narrow 
planks, and just in front a narrow gutter runs to carry away the 
urine (Fig. 4). The whole structure was solid, durable and well- 
built, and with the faintest notions of cleanliness among the people, 
would have been much better than similar public arrangements at 
Fig. 3. 7 
home. With a supply of running water in each gutter, the plan 
might be adopted for public latrines in this country without the 
slightest modification. 
Widely distributed in the city were large earthen jars bedded in 
the ground, and these were the public urinals. 
Fig. 4. 
Our public latrines and those connected with railroad stations, 
while vastly better than formerly, are in many cases far from what 
they ought to be. A plan of a public latrine such as the one just 
described, or such as one may find in Constantinople, consisting of 
the simplest possible arrangements and devoid of all seats, is the 8 
only true sanitary device for decent people so long as one indecent 
person has the privilege of access to it. 
From what I have been able to learn from Korean friends, the 
conditions in Korea are similar to those in China. Carles, in his 
"Life in Korea," says that near Soul he saw women washing clothes 
in a stream, and, "though the stream was low and its bed served 
as a dung heap, water was also being carried away from it for 
household uses, and there was evidence on every side that, ac- 
cording to all rules of sanitation, the population should by right 
have ceased to exist." 
Japan forms a most striking contrast to China and Korea in 
these matters; not only does every house have its privy, but there 
are public latrines as well. In every house, except among the 
poorest classes, one finds in the immediate vicinity of a privy a 
receptacle for water and a towel, which is always used for hand- 
washing. In the country, one often sees in the neighborhood of 
the poorer class of houses a covered place closed by a low door. 
A clever drawing of Hokusai shows that it is not beneath the dig- 
nity of a lord to avail himself of this humble convenience. Re- 
ceptacles in the form of large jars or buckets are found near the 
rice-fields. The scrupulous care shown in the preservation of this 
important fertilizer is in striking contrast to the way in which we 
wastefully discharge it, thus polluting air and water. Frederick 
Charles Krepp, in his exhaustive treatise entitled "The Sewage 
Question," shows the calamities which have overtaken communi- 
ties and nations who have permitted this material to go to waste. 
Lowell and Lawrence with their typhoid fever, and Chicago with 
its overwhelming problem before it, show how far we are yet from 
dealing properly with this great and perplexing question. 
The Japanese, while utilizing this material, nevertheless contami- 
nate their water-supply, for the irrigating material soon finds its 
way to the rivers, and though the danger of drinking water seems 
less in Japan than in China, experience has taught the Japanese 
to drink the water boiled or in the form of tea. 
The floor of the privy has simply a rectangular opening as shown 
in Figures 5 and 6, which have been taken from my book on Jap- 
anese Llomes." The receptacle below consists of a large earthern 
jar or the half of an oil barrel. This is sunk in the ground and 
emptied every few days from the outside by means of a long- 9 
handled bucket. The men who are engaged in this work have their 
regular routes and pay for the privilege. It seems incredible that 
a large city like Tokio, with its million of inhabitants, has this 
service performed in the most thorough manner. Indeed, so val- 
uable is this substance that, in Hiroshima, I was informed, in the 
renting of the poorer houses, if three persons occupied a room 
together, the value of this product paid for the rent of one, and if 
five occupied the room no rent was charged. 
The result of the transference of this material into the country 
leaves the shores of a city absolutely pure. No malarious flats 
nor noisome odors, arising from littoral areas, curse the inhabitants, 
as with us. 
Fig. 5. 
In crowded inns much discomfort arises from the odors of the 
latrine, and even in the better class of houses the privy, being at 
the end of the veranda, is often perceptible ; on the other hand, 
many of these places might properly be called cabinets, so exqui- 
sitely clean and beautiful is the woodwork inside and out. Figure 
7, also from "Japanese Homes," represents the door of a privy in 
Tokio. This was inlaid in designs of different-colored woods, and 
the whole affair was a dainty bit of cabinet-work. 
The urinal is usually of wood, though porcelain ones are often 
seen. The wooden ones are in the form of a tapering box secured 
2 10 
against the wall of the closet. Sometimes sprays of a sweet-scented 
shrub are placed in these and often replaced. The refinement of 
the Japanese in these matters is shown by the various names applied 
by them to the privy, such as-Setsu-in, snow-hide, Chbdzu-ba, 
place to wash hands, Benjo and Ybba, place for business, Koka, 
back frame, etc. 
There are certain superstitions associated with the latrine in 
Japan : one is in regard to the position it must be in relation to the 
house, the question of prevailing winds never entering into the 
Fig. 6. 
matter. I was told that a tree called nanten, which bears a red 
berry, is often planted near the privy. Formerly it was believed 
that an imaginary animal called Baku came to eat this fruit, and 
also had the power of absorbing bad dreams, hence those using 
the closet would have their bad dreams dispelled. 
On the Malay Peninsula a few closed privies are seen among 
the natives. By those living over the water a definite shelter sup- 
ported on poles is built. This is somewhat removed from the 11 
house, a little bridge running to it, as shown in Figure 8. The 
floor of the convenience is constructed of a few boards with wide 
interspaces between. On dry land a hole is excavated and some- 
times an earthen jar is bedded in the ground over which a few 
boards are placed. 
Fig. 7. 
In Siam, among the poorer classes, the privy is erected on a 
frame-work over running water, usually without covering, being a 
mere staging. The custom of erecting a staging over running 
water seems to be common among the people from Bankok to 
Singapore. 12 
In this connection it is interesting to consider the ancient form 
of latrine in Japan. Prof. Basil Hall Chamberlin, in his translation 
of ll or Records of Ancient Matters," which runs back twelve 
hundred years or more, shows that in this record the latrine is men- 
tioned several times as being away from the house, and as having 
been placed over running water, "whence, doubtless, the name 
kaha-ya; that is River-house." I may add to this the suggestion 
that formerly the Japanese privy was uncovered, like the Siamese 
type before mentioned, as the curious board that stands up at one 
end of the usual rectangular opening has a name in Japanese which 
implies this. 
Fig. 8. 
It would seem that in Siam and adjacent regions suffering from 
periodic scourges of cholera, every condition for the wide dissem- 
ination of this disease was embraced. Thus, at Bankok, not only 
are the latrines scattered along the river, but the bodies of those 
dying of cholera are denied the usual cremation, and are thrown 
into the river or are given to the vultures, because it is supposed 
that the devil has been the immediate cause of their death. 
Gross negligence in disposing of egesta in these hot regions is 
not followed by the dire evils that would result from similar methods 
in colder climates. In Egypt, for example, the native resorts to 13 
the desert, where the hot sun, aided by swarms of insects, soon 
obliterates all traces of the substance. 
The natives of Sumatra and Java resort to running water, the 
same water being used for drinking and all domestic purposes. 
The banks of these streams in Java will be occupied by women 
washing clothes as well. When latrines are built near the inns or 
larger houses in Java, a bottle of water takes the place of toilet- 
paper, and the act of ablution is always performed by the left hand ; 
consequently, the proffering of the left hand in salutation, or other 
act, is considered a gross insult. 
In certain parts of India, I was informed that gardens and open 
lots formed the only conveniences for latrines, pigs acting as scav- 
engers. In Ceylon, the wealthier classes have latrines near the 
house, but the poorer classes resort to the garden or retreat to the 
underbrush near by. In many of our Southern and Western states, 
outside the larger towns, and in Central and South America, the 
same custom prevails. 
In Northern Russia, as I was informed by an intelligent Russian, 
alien nationalities are usually very filthy in their ways, having no 
conveniences whatever. In Southern Russia, on the contrary, 
little houses are constructed in basket-work fashion and of basket 
material-door, roof and all. Within is a circular opening, or a 
wide interspace between the planks forming the floor. 
If anything would warrant a rigid quarantine against the Russian 
emigrant, the following extract from an article entitled ''Cholera 
and Cleanliness in Russia" (Mr. E. B. Lanin in the Fortnightly 
Review, Vol. LII, n. s., p. 212) would certainly justify such an 
attitude. In speaking of inns and public-houses, the writer quotes 
as follows : " 'The interior of these establishments,' says the semi- 
official journal, 'displays an inexhaustible store of disgusting foul- 
ness, eloquent signs and specimens of which cover the walls, the 
windows, the tables, the floors and the kitchen. The whole place 
is permeated with abominable smells and venomous exhalations 
ruinous to health. At first the atmosphere stupefies the visitor, 
then produces giddiness and sickness. The unpaved yards of these 
establishments are mere cloacas abounding in miasms, in the thick 
of which wagon-loads of fish, game and vessels containing fresh 14 
milk are left standing for considerable periods. The provisions 
thus conveyed in filthy vehicles and impregnated with this mephitic 
atmosphere cannot but sow disease-germs broadcast among the 
population. If to all this we add the utter absence of those ele- 
mentary sanitary conveniences with which all human habitations 
ought to be supplied, or, what is much worse than their absence, 
the existence of substitutes into which it is impossible to enter, 
and in the vicinity of which it is dangerous to pass, we shall be 
better qualified to form an idea of what these nurseries of disease 
termed inns and public places are like.' " The writer then goes 
on to say: "The hygienic condition of yards, streets and public 
places is on a level with that of private dwellings, and the excreted 
refuse of houses, which, in European towns, is made to disappear 
as rapidly, opportunely and mysteriously as a suspected subject 
of the Tsar's, is left as inviolate as if it were a sacrifice to the un- 
clean gods. 'Even in our two capitals, the method of removing 
refuse and impurities is so antediluvian that it would be an abuse 
of terms to allude to it as sanitation. In the most favorable cases, 
the ''system" consists in digging a big hole in the yard of every 
house and throwing into it all the garbage, offal, etc., and leaving 
it undisturbed for months, and for longer terms than months, until 
at last it is carted off in boxes and barrels, to some place outside 
the city. It is easy to imagine to what extent the soil is permeated 
with filth and the atmosphere vitiated with miasms, and in what 
an Eldorado the microbes of infectious diseases revel. And it 
must be noted that even this "system," defective as it is, is fol- 
lowed only in favorable cases, i. e., when private houses are pro- 
vided with closets. As to the "system" pursued when there are 
no water-pipes and water is dear, it is better not to speak of it. It 
is a horror.' 
"In Staraia Russa, Kiriloff, Tsherepovets, etc., 'cesspools are 
constructed under the floors of the houses;' in Samara, 'the river- 
banks consist of solid filth sprinkled over on the top with sand 
'the streets of Irkhutsk are made pestilential by the putrid carcasses 
of dogs and cats lying half-buried in mounds of ordure ;' 'the city 
of Veronesh is saturated with filth, the excreted impurities of the 
barracks oozing out into the river, on the surface of which dead 15 
dogs are occasionally seen floating aboutin Elizabethpol, 'the 
carcasses of dogs and cats lie undisturbed on the streets in consid- 
erable numbers.' In the most widely-circulated newspaper of 
Kharkoff, a city of over 200,000 inhabitants, we read among the 
advertisements : 'House for sale : exclusively owing to the circum- 
stance that nearly all the neighboring house-proprietors continually 
throw foul water and every species of filth into the streets. Ad- 
dress : Pesski, Ivanovsky Street, No. 25.' " 
From all that I can learn, the Greeks are equally vile in these 
respects, though the hot climate tempers their offences somewhat. 
In an extraordinary work entitled " Scatologic Rites of all Nations," 
by Capt. John G. Burke, U. S. A., a work overflowing with curious 
ethnological material, I find a number of allusions as to the means 
of disposing of excreta in different parts of the world, and these 
are here subjoined : "Tartars do not abide long in one place. New 
camps are established from time to time, to avoid the accumula- 
tions that have taken place." The Tungouses of Siberia told a 
traveller that "they knew no greater curse than to live in one place, 
like a Russian or a Yakut, where filth accumulates and fills the 
inhabitants with stench and disease." 
According to Hawkesworth's voyages, no privies existed in Mad- 
rid till 1760, and the determination of the king to introduce these 
conveniences, as well as sewers, and to prevent the throwing of 
human ordure out of windows after nightfall, as had been the cus- 
tom, nearly precipitated a revolution. Edinburgh, among other 
cities, was long notorious for this disgusting practice. Privies were 
ordered for each house in Paris in 1513. In England, privies 
connected with houses of the gentry appeared in the latter part of 
the sixteenth century. In ancient Rome there were public latrines, 
but no conveniences attached to the dwellings. 
In reprinting this paper an opportunity is given me to correct 
an error, to which my attention has been called by Edward Fal- 
coner, Esq. He refers me to Sir William Gell's "Pompeiana and 
in the earlier work on Pompeii by Gell and Gandy, I find the fol- 
lowing interesting description of the house latrine. On page 173 
it is stated, "On the right of the way upstairs is the hearth for 
cooking. . , . , On the other side is an arched recess 16 
about three feet deep; a convenience, according to modern, at 
least, English ideas, most inconveniently situated. The wood-work 
of the seat is gone ; the marks for the hinges, and fastening to the 
door may be observed. It would appear, that in ancient, as in 
modern Italy and Greece, a proximity between the ultimate re- 
ceptacle of the aliments and their place of preparation was con- 
sidered desirable." The statement is also made that in ancient 
Rome were one hundred and forty-four cloacinse. 
Portable vessels began to be used in England in 1590, and in 
this connection I may add that the use of these vessels excites a good 
deal of astonishment and disgust among the Japanese. An intelli- 
gent Japanese told me that when he first saw them he was much 
perplexed, and in reflecting on the reason which led to their use 
by a people who seemed so sensitive and were so easily shocked 
by certain customs in Japan, came to the conclusion that it was 
owing to the coldness of the climate that led to so filthy a custom. 
I have wondered what his conclusions were when he saw for the 
first time the typical rural device in our country, a fair description 
of which is here quoted from the "Massachusetts State Board of 
Health Report" (1874, p. 235): 
"As to country privies, one of our correspondents has well said 
that they are 'a disgrace to civilization.' A philosophical friend of 
the State Board says that the march of civilization is in no way 
more correctly marked than by perfection in water-closets. If to 
this rule a universal application were given, it would place our 
farmers, as well as the vast majority of our rural population, well 
back in the ranks of barbarism. We prefer to believe that this is 
the only respect in which they are behindhand ; but that they are 
so in this is very certain. The common country privy, unventilated, 
except by the door, standing over a reeking mass of corruption, 
either contained in a vault or lying upon the surface of the ground, 
a place foul and pestilential beyond description,-this must be the 
daily resort of every member of the farmer's family. If it adjoins 
the house, its poisonous odors penetrate to the living rooms; if 
standing severals rods away, as it frequently does, an exposure to 
the weather is involved in reaching it. In either case, in winter it 
is frightfully cold, and its use involves a chill, which, to women and 17 
children especially, coming from the warm rooms, is a potent cause 
of disease. Undoubtedly, the constipation which is so general 
among country-women is in great part due to the dread of going 
to this abominable place." 
Captain Burke, in speaking of the introduction of latrines, is of 
the opinion that their origin cannot be ascribed to purely hygienic 
considerations, since many nations of comparatively high develop- 
ment manage to get along without them ; while, on the other hand, 
tribes in low stages of culture have resorted to them. He quotes 
Captain Cook as recording the fact that the New Zealanders had 
privies to every three or four houses, while the natives of Marquesas 
bury their egesta. 
Reference is often made to the laws of hygiene recognized by 
the Jews as recorded in the Mosaic scriptures, such as matters 
connected with food, isolation of the sick, removal from camp of 
effete matters, etc. The burial of faecal matter outside the camp 
limits is enjoined in Deuteronomy xxiii, 12, 13. This ordinance, 
though often quoted, does not seem to have been based on hy- 
gienic grounds, judging by the context, but solely that the Lord 
in walking through the camp should not have his eye offended by 
unclean things. The custom once established, for whatever rea- 
son, would naturally commend itself and survive, though, in the 
regions inhabited by the Jews at that time, the hot sun, dry air and 
swarms of insects would rapidly dissipate all matter of the kind. 
A review of mankind throughout the world shows that only a 
small proportion have used even the simplest device for a latrine ; 
an artificial device most probably arose from an agricultural and 
not from an hygienic necessity. The act of ingestion even among 
savages has been accompanied by a certain rude etiquette and 
with the aid of simple dishes often decorative, while the action of 
egestion still places the larger portion of the human race on a level 
with his simian relatives. In many civilized communities customs 
have prevailed which have resulted in grave diseases and frightful 
epidemics. We find at the top of another twig of mammalian 
descent a group of animals which has surpassed man in these mat- 
ters. The cat buries its egesta. Even among nesting-birds, as 
the robin, the most scrupulous cleanliness prevails. 
3 18 
The tendency of civilization has been in the direction of better 
and cleaner methods. Sensitiveness to offensive conditions, like 
refinement in other ways, is a matter of evolution, and it can be 
said that the intellectual status of a community may be gauged by 
the advance it makes in disposing of waste matters in a clean, 
wholesome and economical way. 
NOTE.-The author is indebted to Harper & Brothers for the privilege of using 
Figures 5, 6 and 7 from Morse's "Japanese Homes,'' and to Ticknor <& Co. for per- 
mission to reprint this paper.