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Eggstraordinary claim
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THE LAST WORD Inside or out
Diseases we rarely hear about today such as typhoid and cholera were rampant before sanitation. So please, do your business inside and flush it away for treatment. Secondly, urine can be valuable or harmful depending on how it is handled. It is loaded with nitrogen and phosphate, which fertilise plants. If it can be collected
separately from other waste, which is why it is so off-putting it can easily be treated and even though everyone does it. farmers can spread it on crops. Some microbes do get wafted into But urine is difficult to the air we breathe, but too few to remove from wastewater, make us sick. and it is harmful if discharged No matter how carefully we into waterways, where it fertilises wipe ourselves, some microbes algae. Decomposing algae will get onto our hands and consume a lot of oxygen, creating hence onto any surface we then dead zones in the waterways. “Defecating outside You can spread your urine prevents our dung’s thinly in your garden and watch your plants grow. However, disagreeable odour from tainting the air inside” if it is concentrated, it can burn the plants. Peter Jacobson touch. They can also be splashed Davis, California, US from the lavatory bowl when we flush it, and from the bidet or n When I was growing up in the basin when we wash ourselves. 1950s, I often visited a cottage that If we or other people then touch had an earth closet. This consisted these surfaces and pick up the of a bucket under a wooden seat, microbes, they could get with a container full of soil from transferred to kitchen surfaces the garden beside it. Having used and so on to food. the bucket, you shovelled some But a big hole in the ground soil on top. The contents of the contains no water that can splash. full buckets were later buried in The outdoor air disperses the the garden, which produced smell more quickly. The dung wonderful, very large vegetables. can be covered with soil to trap In past centuries, this “night soil” the smell and prevent accidental was collected from toilets in contact. If the home has an towns, and was used to provide outside tap, then this and the fertiliser for market gardens. spade handle will be the only Greg Nuttgens thing our dirty hands might Bridgend, Mid-Glamorgan, UK touch, and any splashes we make while washing them will be away n Your granny is right. At the from indoor surfaces. very least, defecating outside Before flushing toilets were prevents our dung’s disagreeable invented, folk would do their odour from tainting the air inside. business in chamber pots, which Indeed the word “poo” comes they would empty onto the streets from the French verb “puer”, below. They were clearly hygiene which means to stink. conscious back then, for it is said We instinctively connect this that the English word “loo” comes bad smell to the risk of disease, from their warning cries of
We pay £25 for every answer published in New Scientist. To answer a question or ask a new one please email [email protected]. Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and both questions and answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a postal address, daytime telephone number and email address. You can also send questions and
answers to The Last Word, New Scientist, 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES. New Scientist Ltd retains total editorial control over the published content and reserves all rights to reuse question and answer material that has been submitted by readers in any medium or in any format and at any time in the future. All unanswered questions and previous questions and answers are at newscientist.com/lastword/
My French granny says it is more hygienic to poo in a big hole in the garden, like she did when she was growing up, than it is to go inside. Is this true? She also said that in olden days, people collected pee and used it to make plants grow better. Could we do this now?
There’s a dispute over whether the practice is healthy or harmful, but there’s certainly a lot of information out there – Ed n We need to remember just how bad it was before modern sanitation. London experienced The Great Stink in 1858 – hot weather that exacerbated the smell of untreated excrement in and around the Thames – which led to plans for the treatment of human and industrial wastes. So maybe it is best to avoid using the garden outside an isolated dwelling, and certainly not in towns, let alone cities.
“London experienced The Great Stink in 1858 – hot weather that exacerbated the smell of excrement”
“l’eau!” – French for “Water!” – as they tipped it out, so as not to surprise passers-by. Defecating into the ground is also better for our insides. The usual sitting position on a toilet can put a strain on our bowels as we open them, and lead to health problems. But going in a hole requires us to squat, which allows our bowels to open more easily. We certainly could water our gardens with urine. It is rich in salts and minerals that plants find useful. It is also especially rich in urea, a more complex waste substance that soil microbes start breaking down. Plants can then take up these nutrients through their roots, and use them to grow and thrive. Len Winokur Leeds, UK n Excrement was collected in barrels at the end of streets in 18th-century London and shipped up the coast for the alum industry around Whitby. Derek Morris Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK
This week’s question EGGSTRAORDINARY CLAIM
I’ve just read that eggs should not be stored in a rack on the back of a fridge door, the exact place where most fridge manufacturers put the egg rack. Before I revamp my fridge, is there any truth to this? And if so, what could it be? Peter Francisco London, UK
THE LAST WORD Inside or out
Diseases we rarely hear about today such as typhoid and cholera were rampant before sanitation. So please, do your business inside and flush it away for treatment. Secondly, urine can be valuable or harmful depending on how it is handled. It is loaded with nitrogen and phosphate, which fertilise plants. If it can be collected
separately from other waste, which is why it is so off-putting it can easily be treated and even though everyone does it. farmers can spread it on crops. Some microbes do get wafted into But urine is difficult to the air we breathe, but too few to remove from wastewater, make us sick. and it is harmful if discharged No matter how carefully we into waterways, where it fertilises wipe ourselves, some microbes algae. Decomposing algae will get onto our hands and consume a lot of oxygen, creating hence onto any surface we then dead zones in the waterways. “Defecating outside You can spread your urine prevents our dung’s thinly in your garden and watch your plants grow. However, disagreeable odour from tainting the air inside” if it is concentrated, it can burn the plants. Peter Jacobson touch. They can also be splashed Davis, California, US from the lavatory bowl when we flush it, and from the bidet or n When I was growing up in the basin when we wash ourselves. 1950s, I often visited a cottage that If we or other people then touch had an earth closet. This consisted these surfaces and pick up the of a bucket under a wooden seat, microbes, they could get with a container full of soil from transferred to kitchen surfaces the garden beside it. Having used and so on to food. the bucket, you shovelled some But a big hole in the ground soil on top. The contents of the contains no water that can splash. full buckets were later buried in The outdoor air disperses the the garden, which produced smell more quickly. The dung wonderful, very large vegetables. can be covered with soil to trap In past centuries, this “night soil” the smell and prevent accidental was collected from toilets in contact. If the home has an towns, and was used to provide outside tap, then this and the fertiliser for market gardens. spade handle will be the only Greg Nuttgens thing our dirty hands might Bridgend, Mid-Glamorgan, UK touch, and any splashes we make while washing them will be away n Your granny is right. At the from indoor surfaces. very least, defecating outside Before flushing toilets were prevents our dung’s disagreeable invented, folk would do their odour from tainting the air inside. business in chamber pots, which Indeed the word “poo” comes they would empty onto the streets from the French verb “puer”, below. They were clearly hygiene which means to stink. conscious back then, for it is said We instinctively connect this that the English word “loo” comes bad smell to the risk of disease, from their warning cries of
We pay £25 for every answer published in New Scientist. To answer a question or ask a new one please email [email protected]. Questions should be scientific enquiries about everyday phenomena, and both questions and answers should be concise. We reserve the right to edit items for clarity and style. Please include a postal address, daytime telephone number and email address. You can also send questions and
answers to The Last Word, New Scientist, 25 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9ES. New Scientist Ltd retains total editorial control over the published content and reserves all rights to reuse question and answer material that has been submitted by readers in any medium or in any format and at any time in the future. All unanswered questions and previous questions and answers are at newscientist.com/lastword/
My French granny says it is more hygienic to poo in a big hole in the garden, like she did when she was growing up, than it is to go inside. Is this true? She also said that in olden days, people collected pee and used it to make plants grow better. Could we do this now?
There’s a dispute over whether the practice is healthy or harmful, but there’s certainly a lot of information out there – Ed n We need to remember just how bad it was before modern sanitation. London experienced The Great Stink in 1858 – hot weather that exacerbated the smell of untreated excrement in and around the Thames – which led to plans for the treatment of human and industrial wastes. So maybe it is best to avoid using the garden outside an isolated dwelling, and certainly not in towns, let alone cities.
“London experienced The Great Stink in 1858 – hot weather that exacerbated the smell of excrement”
“l’eau!” – French for “Water!” – as they tipped it out, so as not to surprise passers-by. Defecating into the ground is also better for our insides. The usual sitting position on a toilet can put a strain on our bowels as we open them, and lead to health problems. But going in a hole requires us to squat, which allows our bowels to open more easily. We certainly could water our gardens with urine. It is rich in salts and minerals that plants find useful. It is also especially rich in urea, a more complex waste substance that soil microbes start breaking down. Plants can then take up these nutrients through their roots, and use them to grow and thrive. Len Winokur Leeds, UK n Excrement was collected in barrels at the end of streets in 18th-century London and shipped up the coast for the alum industry around Whitby. Derek Morris Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK
This week’s question EGGSTRAORDINARY CLAIM
I’ve just read that eggs should not be stored in a rack on the back of a fridge door, the exact place where most fridge manufacturers put the egg rack. Before I revamp my fridge, is there any truth to this? And if so, what could it be? Peter Francisco London, UK