Sear SilkMuse: There was indeed a Brit plumber named Crapper, but he did not invent the flush toilet. We had a source for that information. For the hell of it, I'll look for it and add it to this.

Here's the URL, and also a lot of stuff worth browsing. Six articles about plumbing in antiquity!

I learned something I did not know before, from the article on plumbing in Babylon. It is a very fine, very informative article. I had always thought that when straw was used for making unfired bricks, it was used as long stems. Instead, the article says it was finely chopped. I am not sure why this was the preferred method. Maybe it somehow kept bricks from developing cracks as they dried.

http://www.theplumber.com/crapper.html Thanks, SilkMuse!