![]() We hope you're not too pooped after reading today's Wonder of the Day! Be sure to check out the following activities with a friend or family member: For such a widely-used, necessary invention, it still tends not to get much thought…until it runs out! Today, a trip down the paper aisle in your local supermarket will yield a wide variety of different versions of toilet paper. Some manufacturers began combining multiple layers of paper together to create "two-ply" and other, softer variations. Larger rolls with softer paper became more popular. Other advancements in toilet paper happened over the course of the 20 th century. It wasn't until 1935 that Northern Tissue advertised a "splinter- free" toilet paper. Paper production techniques would often leave splinters in toilet paper (ouch!). It wasn't necessarily soft like we're now used to, though. The rolled, perforated toilet paper we're familiar with today came about a couple decades later in the 1880s. #Word of the day toilet paper for freeIt didn't become popular immediately, however, since the public was accustomed to using materials they got for free rather than paying for them. ![]() ![]() His "Gayetty's Medicated Paper" came in pre-moistened flat sheets medicated with aloe. For many people, that might have been preferable to the method used by ancient Romans: a sponge on a stick kept in salt water…and shared by everyone using communal bathrooms.įortunately for us, Joseph Gayetty created the first commercial toilet paper in 1857 in the United States. They might use a cloth or their hands to clean themselves afterward. Of course, it wasn't uncommon for poor people to go to the bathroom in a small creek, stream, or river. Some items known to have been used included: grass, fur, wool, lace, leaves, rocks, sand, moss, sea weed, hay, corncobs, snow, and pages from old books or catalogs. What you used probably depended upon where you lived, how wealthy you were, and what your personal preferences were. In ancient times, a wide variety of materials were used in lieu of toilet paper. Although paper itself existed long before that time, it's unclear exactly when it might have transferred uses from writing to wiping. Toilet paper in its ancient form has been traced back to at least the 6 th century in China. After all, the need to clean up after using the bathroom has been around as long as humans have existed. Given the length of human history, it's only natural to be curious about what was used before modern toilet paper. Toilet paper as we know it today is a relatively- modern invention that's only been around for about 150 years. You're stuck in an empty bathroom with nothing but time to WONDER about everyday things, such as when toilet paper was invented! You call out to the stall next to you to see if a friend might have a square to spare, but only your own voice echoes back to you. As you stare at the empty cardboard tube next to you, you can't believe there's no toilet paper in your stall! ![]() Unfortunately, your relief turns to panic as you realize you sat down without first checking the supply of a critical resource. When the bell finally rings, you make a break for the bathroom to seek relief. Have you ever heard the old saying, "When you've got to go, you've got to go"? If you've ever been stuck in class with an urgent need to use the bathroom, then you know the meaning of that saying very well. ![]()
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