I just took a moment from my chores to check the referrer statistics, and ran across this query from a recent visitor. Please turn your volume down because it was delivered in a shoutey voice: WHAT NATION IS CREDITED WITH THE DISCOVERY OF TOILET PAPER.
Thankfully, there is Possumblog to answer such tough questions.
According to my research, it appears toilet paper was discovered NOT by the Vikings as has been promoted in years past (refer especially to Giardia's 1925 work, Scoperte di carta nei giorni antichi), but actually appears to have been a discovery by Dutch spice traders who found found it growing wild in the South Pacific.
The first live specimens were brought to Amsterdam in 1667, and the population was highly impressed with the curiosity, although no one knew quite what the rolls could be used for. Sensing a use for the product, a clever Dutchman named Keirn Duhuipp stole some seeds and began growing his own rolls in a fallow tulip patch, and upon their maturity, demonstrated their sanitary and cleansing properties to astonished Dutchmen (his wife was tasked with demonstrating for Dutchwomen). Soon, all of Holland erupted into a frenzy of speculative buying of toilet paper plants. Various hybrid types were soon on the market with varying degrees of softness and decorative designs, further fueling the furious bidding, and Duhuipp profited handsomely in the early years.
However, when the inevitable market crash occurred, Dehuipp found himself overextended and creditors confiscated all he owned, including his chamber pot.
Today, toilet paper is grown all over the world, and in many of the same varieties that were popular in Dehuipp's time. Toilet paper is the 3rd most profitable cash crop in Idaho, and 4th in South Dakota, where the rich soil is especially favorable for growing toilet paper.
We hope you have enjoyed this trip through world history! As always, Possumblog's researchers stand ready to answer questions of any sort in our quest to further man's knowledge.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at September 28, 2005 12:51 PMSee
www.unf.edu/classes/freshmancore/halsall/rabelais-goose.htm
for an earlier French solution to the problem.
A warning to those who might click on Tom's link--it is tastelessly ribald in the extreme. But, you know, it's French literature, so it's, well, art.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at September 28, 2005 01:36 PMBut it is universally regarded as a great work of French literature...
That's great literature?? Good grief. I'll stick to Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Dickens for great literature, thanks.
Posted by: Grouchy Old Yorkie Lady at September 28, 2005 04:03 PMWhen Lenny comes searching for this information and gets to Possumblog, I suppose the comment will run along the lines of, "U R full of cr@p!!!!!"
Posted by: Jordana at September 28, 2005 04:06 PMOh, dear. Lenny will blow a gasket.
Posted by: Janis Gore at September 28, 2005 04:10 PMInside, maybe, but the outside is sparkly clean.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at September 28, 2005 04:11 PM