1 00:00:02,127 --> 00:00:04,421 [upbeat music] [electrical buzzing] 2 00:00:04,421 --> 00:00:06,215 - [Henry] Did you know that there was a time 3 00:00:06,215 --> 00:00:07,633 when you went to the barber 4 00:00:07,633 --> 00:00:10,886 and your hair wasn't the only thing getting cut? 5 00:00:10,886 --> 00:00:14,598 - They could lop off a limb in three minutes. 6 00:00:14,598 --> 00:00:15,766 - At the time you're getting your hair cut, 7 00:00:15,766 --> 00:00:17,351 also have your leeches applied. 8 00:00:17,351 --> 00:00:19,311 It's a one-stop shop. 9 00:00:19,311 --> 00:00:21,396 - Or if you wanted fresh breath, 10 00:00:21,396 --> 00:00:23,941 all you had to do was light up. 11 00:00:23,941 --> 00:00:25,567 - So the solution for all the problems 12 00:00:25,567 --> 00:00:28,904 that cigarettes caused was more cigarettes. 13 00:00:28,904 --> 00:00:30,572 What a ballsy move! 14 00:00:30,572 --> 00:00:32,741 You have to admire it in a way. 15 00:00:32,741 --> 00:00:36,537 - Or when the sting you felt from mom's antiseptic 16 00:00:36,537 --> 00:00:38,539 was the least of your problems? 17 00:00:38,539 --> 00:00:40,582 - We're basically just dosing children 18 00:00:40,582 --> 00:00:43,752 for average everyday cuts with mercury. 19 00:00:43,752 --> 00:00:46,547 Over and over again, here's some poison to treat that wound. 20 00:00:46,547 --> 00:00:49,424 - Little did I know that I would be carrying this mercury 21 00:00:49,424 --> 00:00:51,718 in my body, but it didn't sting, 22 00:00:51,718 --> 00:00:53,303 and that's the important part. 23 00:00:53,303 --> 00:00:57,015 - These are the things we used to do for fun, 24 00:00:57,015 --> 00:00:58,267 for money, 25 00:00:58,267 --> 00:01:00,185 or maybe out of boredom, 26 00:01:00,185 --> 00:01:02,813 that we'll never see again. 27 00:01:02,813 --> 00:01:04,313 Were they dangerous? 28 00:01:04,313 --> 00:01:05,566 Certainly. 29 00:01:05,566 --> 00:01:06,525 Deadly? 30 00:01:06,525 --> 00:01:07,609 Occasionally. 31 00:01:07,609 --> 00:01:09,945 But boy, wasn't it exciting? 32 00:01:20,581 --> 00:01:24,293 Today, there are not many things people find as unhygienic 33 00:01:24,293 --> 00:01:25,419 as a public restroom. 34 00:01:25,419 --> 00:01:27,504 But if you think those are unpleasant, 35 00:01:27,504 --> 00:01:30,966 the ones in the 1800s would make you wish you'd never 36 00:01:30,966 --> 00:01:32,217 stop wearing diapers. 37 00:01:33,552 --> 00:01:37,139 - In 1900 in Manhattan, there are not enough bathrooms. 38 00:01:37,139 --> 00:01:41,018 In tenements, there's only one required per every 20 people. 39 00:01:41,018 --> 00:01:43,895 It's a huge challenge for people that just have places 40 00:01:43,895 --> 00:01:46,356 to do their business and to get rid of it. 41 00:01:46,356 --> 00:01:48,191 - [Henry] Few New Yorkers have access 42 00:01:48,191 --> 00:01:51,028 to private indoor plumbing to flush it all away. 43 00:01:51,028 --> 00:01:55,949 So many turn to the classic solution, chamber pots. 44 00:01:55,949 --> 00:01:57,576 - A chamber pot is a ceramic 45 00:01:57,576 --> 00:02:00,704 or metal vessel that you kept in a room where you slept, 46 00:02:00,704 --> 00:02:02,789 and it is where you went potty in. 47 00:02:02,789 --> 00:02:04,708 - They've existed since antiquity, 48 00:02:04,708 --> 00:02:07,002 and for millennia, they've been the quickest 49 00:02:07,002 --> 00:02:09,463 and easiest way to do your business. 50 00:02:09,463 --> 00:02:10,714 And they still exist, 51 00:02:10,714 --> 00:02:13,717 especially for city dwellers at this time. 52 00:02:13,717 --> 00:02:15,385 - [Natalia] If it's cold or there's a blizzard 53 00:02:15,385 --> 00:02:16,887 or you're just tired, 54 00:02:16,887 --> 00:02:18,889 you can just go to the bathroom right there in your room. 55 00:02:18,889 --> 00:02:22,225 - [Henry] Some sellers market upgraded models with chairs 56 00:02:22,225 --> 00:02:26,480 and seats, making these chamber pots a luxury item. 57 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,023 - [Hakeem] Even today, 58 00:02:28,023 --> 00:02:30,067 a lot of people don't have a bathroom in their bedroom. 59 00:02:30,067 --> 00:02:32,527 Imagine you can just roll out of bed, use a chamber pot, 60 00:02:32,527 --> 00:02:33,862 roll right back into bed. 61 00:02:33,862 --> 00:02:35,739 - [Austin] Chamber pots are such a necessity. 62 00:02:35,739 --> 00:02:37,741 We have an expression about it. 63 00:02:37,741 --> 00:02:41,328 You don't have a pot to piss in means you're so poor, 64 00:02:41,328 --> 00:02:43,664 you can't afford a chamber pot. 65 00:02:43,664 --> 00:02:45,624 - [Henry] But even if you have one, 66 00:02:45,624 --> 00:02:47,918 what happens after you've gone? 67 00:02:47,918 --> 00:02:50,712 - [Austin] This thing's been sitting in your room all night 68 00:02:50,712 --> 00:02:52,506 filling up with you and your partners 69 00:02:52,506 --> 00:02:55,384 and maybe a couple children's detritus. 70 00:02:55,384 --> 00:02:57,177 So it's going to be festering. 71 00:02:57,177 --> 00:02:58,679 The smell's not going to be nice. 72 00:02:58,679 --> 00:03:00,681 - And how do you even do that when you're married? 73 00:03:00,681 --> 00:03:03,141 You're going to watch your wife tinkle in a pot 74 00:03:03,141 --> 00:03:04,935 in the corner and then leave it there all night. 75 00:03:04,935 --> 00:03:07,354 Everything about it sounds horrible. 76 00:03:07,354 --> 00:03:09,272 - And so the result is that if you wake up in the middle 77 00:03:09,272 --> 00:03:11,900 of the night, you better walk carefully 78 00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:13,944 because there's a chamber pot out there full 79 00:03:13,944 --> 00:03:16,321 of something that you don't want to put a foot in. 80 00:03:16,321 --> 00:03:18,407 - [Austin] If you don't have servants 81 00:03:18,407 --> 00:03:20,742 and live up high, congratulations, 82 00:03:20,742 --> 00:03:22,994 you're your own department of sanitation. 83 00:03:22,994 --> 00:03:25,497 When it's time to do a cleanup, open the window, 84 00:03:25,497 --> 00:03:26,873 toss the contents out. 85 00:03:26,873 --> 00:03:28,834 - If you were out in the street, you could look up 86 00:03:28,834 --> 00:03:30,043 and someone could like throw a bucket 87 00:03:30,043 --> 00:03:31,878 of urine over your head. 88 00:03:31,878 --> 00:03:33,755 - [Martin] Or if you had like a breezeway, 89 00:03:33,755 --> 00:03:35,215 dump it in the breezeway rather 90 00:03:35,215 --> 00:03:37,175 than out the front of the building. 91 00:03:37,175 --> 00:03:41,847 - These dumping places become festering open cesspools. 92 00:03:41,847 --> 00:03:44,850 Attracting vermin, spreading disease. 93 00:03:44,850 --> 00:03:49,688 Anywhere that has a frequency of dumping is just gross. 94 00:03:49,688 --> 00:03:51,940 - [Henry] And this isn't just a few naughty neighbors 95 00:03:51,940 --> 00:03:54,693 tossing their waste into the street. 96 00:03:54,693 --> 00:03:56,111 It's everyone. 97 00:03:56,111 --> 00:03:57,779 - [Natalia] In the early 1900s, 98 00:03:57,779 --> 00:04:00,240 there are more people living in Manhattan than ever before. 99 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:01,658 In fact, more than today. 100 00:04:01,658 --> 00:04:05,287 There are 100,000 people living per square mile, 101 00:04:05,287 --> 00:04:07,914 and in some places, a thousand per acre. 102 00:04:07,914 --> 00:04:10,500 - [Martin] A simple walk down the street caused you to come 103 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:13,837 into contact with human excrement everywhere. 104 00:04:13,837 --> 00:04:16,714 That was something that everyone had to live with. 105 00:04:16,714 --> 00:04:19,134 Today, it's adorable to hear people complain 106 00:04:19,134 --> 00:04:20,886 about how the city is dirty and it smells. 107 00:04:20,886 --> 00:04:22,345 And I'm like, 108 00:04:22,345 --> 00:04:24,473 "You have no idea what this place used to be like." 109 00:04:24,473 --> 00:04:27,017 - [Natalia] I mean, all those period pieces with the gorgeous 110 00:04:27,017 --> 00:04:29,186 dresses and the manners and the propriety, 111 00:04:29,186 --> 00:04:31,938 and yet they were all pooping in chamber pots. 112 00:04:31,938 --> 00:04:35,442 - [Henry] Chamber pots lead to waste covering the streets, 113 00:04:35,442 --> 00:04:37,944 but they're only an option when you're home. 114 00:04:37,944 --> 00:04:42,240 So what do you do when nature calls away from home? 115 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,993 - [Hakeem] Today, we have public restrooms everywhere. 116 00:04:44,993 --> 00:04:46,453 But in the early 1900s, 117 00:04:46,453 --> 00:04:49,498 all they have is the dreaded public outhouse. 118 00:04:50,832 --> 00:04:52,417 - [Natalia] Basically, these public outhouses have 119 00:04:52,417 --> 00:04:53,502 zero privacy. 120 00:04:53,502 --> 00:04:55,045 A public outhouse would basically be a 121 00:04:55,045 --> 00:04:57,464 shack with a big pit inside 122 00:04:57,464 --> 00:04:59,466 and then a wood bench with holes in it, 123 00:04:59,466 --> 00:05:01,092 sometimes up to 12 holes. 124 00:05:01,092 --> 00:05:03,470 So just picture that, you're going to go to the bathroom 125 00:05:03,470 --> 00:05:06,598 and you're maybe sitting with 11 of your friends, 126 00:05:06,598 --> 00:05:09,518 colleagues, partners, who knows? 127 00:05:09,518 --> 00:05:10,977 I actually don't even know which one 128 00:05:10,977 --> 00:05:14,189 of those people would be worse to be doing this with. 129 00:05:14,189 --> 00:05:15,982 - [Brian] I don't think that people really understand 130 00:05:15,982 --> 00:05:18,902 how many spiders like to live in outhouses 131 00:05:18,902 --> 00:05:21,112 because the flies are attracted to it. 132 00:05:21,112 --> 00:05:23,365 And the spiders are attracted to the flies. 133 00:05:23,365 --> 00:05:25,575 So it's the creepiest thing of all time. 134 00:05:25,575 --> 00:05:29,788 I would rather go in my pants than go in an outhouse. 135 00:05:29,788 --> 00:05:31,665 - [Hakeem] And the thing about these public outhouses is 136 00:05:31,665 --> 00:05:33,124 that they didn't invest a lot 137 00:05:33,124 --> 00:05:36,044 of money into the construction quality. 138 00:05:36,044 --> 00:05:39,548 - [Natalia] Liquid waste will seep in, the boards rot. 139 00:05:39,548 --> 00:05:43,677 They smell terrible. They are really pretty rickety. 140 00:05:43,677 --> 00:05:46,346 - Things can go bad, you probably heard the expression 141 00:05:46,346 --> 00:05:48,223 when someone stays in the bathroom a long time, 142 00:05:48,223 --> 00:05:50,725 someone will yell, "What did you do, fall in?" 143 00:05:50,725 --> 00:05:52,936 Well, that actually happened. 144 00:05:52,936 --> 00:05:56,231 - [Natalia] In 1904 in Cincinnati, during school 145 00:05:56,231 --> 00:05:58,900 recess, there's a big storm and 30 school girls run 146 00:05:58,900 --> 00:06:01,194 into the public outhouse to take cover. 147 00:06:01,194 --> 00:06:03,530 - [Hakeem] And the floor gives way. 148 00:06:03,530 --> 00:06:06,950 All the girls fall right into the pit of human waste. 149 00:06:06,950 --> 00:06:11,037 And of the 30, nine of them end up drowning. 150 00:06:11,037 --> 00:06:12,873 The incident becomes national news 151 00:06:12,873 --> 00:06:16,459 and it becomes known as the Cincinnati Privy Disaster. 152 00:06:16,459 --> 00:06:18,169 - [Henry] And falling in is far 153 00:06:18,169 --> 00:06:21,256 from the only outhouse hazard. 154 00:06:21,256 --> 00:06:23,466 - At this time in the South, it's extremely hot. 155 00:06:23,466 --> 00:06:24,718 It's extremely muggy. 156 00:06:24,718 --> 00:06:26,428 People either don't have shoes 157 00:06:26,428 --> 00:06:28,305 or they don't want to wear them, 158 00:06:28,305 --> 00:06:30,599 and so they end up walking to the outhouse barefoot. 159 00:06:30,599 --> 00:06:32,684 - [Hakeem] Going into the outhouse barefoot is gross 160 00:06:32,684 --> 00:06:34,185 for many reasons, 161 00:06:34,185 --> 00:06:37,022 but one you probably aren't aware of is hookworms. 162 00:06:38,607 --> 00:06:41,943 Hookworms are these tiny parasitic worms that enter 163 00:06:41,943 --> 00:06:43,278 through the skin of your foot. 164 00:06:43,278 --> 00:06:46,072 Having hookworms can lead to anemia, fatigue, 165 00:06:46,072 --> 00:06:47,407 or stunted growth. 166 00:06:47,407 --> 00:06:48,909 - [Henry] Luckily, 167 00:06:48,909 --> 00:06:51,786 modern plumbing eventually arrives to save the day. 168 00:06:52,704 --> 00:06:55,081 - [Martin] Indoor plumbing is civilization. 169 00:06:55,081 --> 00:06:56,708 It's just that simple. 170 00:06:56,708 --> 00:07:00,128 We mark a profound difference in the lived experience 171 00:07:00,128 --> 00:07:03,673 from even a hundred years ago by our use of plumbing. 172 00:07:03,673 --> 00:07:07,218 It makes our lives vastly more sanitary 173 00:07:07,218 --> 00:07:08,970 and therefore vastly more healthy. 174 00:07:09,971 --> 00:07:12,515 - For Americans back in the day, 175 00:07:12,515 --> 00:07:15,977 surviving the outhouse was only step one. 176 00:07:15,977 --> 00:07:17,896 Step two was finding a way 177 00:07:17,896 --> 00:07:21,566 to clean up afterwards without serious bodily injury. 178 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:24,653 - The quest to find something 179 00:07:24,653 --> 00:07:27,906 to wipe your behind with is as old as civilization itself. 180 00:07:27,906 --> 00:07:30,950 The ancient Greeks, for example, would use shards of pottery 181 00:07:30,950 --> 00:07:33,703 or even small stones. 182 00:07:33,703 --> 00:07:36,873 - By the 1700s, the printing press has made newspapers 183 00:07:36,873 --> 00:07:38,416 and political pamphlets cheap 184 00:07:38,416 --> 00:07:40,752 and easy to make all through the colonies. 185 00:07:40,752 --> 00:07:42,128 So that means there's a lot of paper. 186 00:07:42,128 --> 00:07:44,714 And guess what all those colonists are using that paper 187 00:07:44,714 --> 00:07:46,925 for after they've finished reading with it? 188 00:07:48,343 --> 00:07:51,304 - Using paper for this purpose became so common 189 00:07:51,304 --> 00:07:53,556 that people started referring to these kind of pages 190 00:07:53,556 --> 00:07:57,477 as bumfodder, which is pretty hilarious 191 00:07:57,477 --> 00:07:59,312 because if you're trying to tell someone what you think 192 00:07:59,312 --> 00:08:02,691 about their politics, just wipe your keister with it, 193 00:08:02,691 --> 00:08:05,276 you know, let them have it. 194 00:08:05,276 --> 00:08:07,779 - [Henry] Fortunately, it's only a matter of time 195 00:08:07,779 --> 00:08:11,116 until American innovation strikes again. 196 00:08:11,116 --> 00:08:14,494 - In 1891, the first perforated toilet paper is patented. 197 00:08:14,494 --> 00:08:17,372 And then what starts to appear in households looks a lot 198 00:08:17,372 --> 00:08:19,582 closer to what we know as toilet paper today. 199 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:24,087 - [Henry] Close, but with one very noticeable difference. 200 00:08:25,171 --> 00:08:26,715 - [Rutledge] Toilet paper is made from wood pulp, 201 00:08:26,715 --> 00:08:29,634 but back then, if that wood pulp wasn't really, 202 00:08:29,634 --> 00:08:33,221 really refined, you would find some larger little pieces 203 00:08:33,221 --> 00:08:35,432 of wood in there, which we would probably refer 204 00:08:35,432 --> 00:08:37,350 to as a splinter. 205 00:08:37,350 --> 00:08:39,977 And I can't think of a more unpleasant place 206 00:08:39,977 --> 00:08:41,354 to get a splinter. 207 00:08:42,647 --> 00:08:45,316 - Splinters in your butt, not something you want. 208 00:08:45,316 --> 00:08:48,153 But this is such a common problem that one manufacturer, 209 00:08:48,153 --> 00:08:49,738 when they've sort of solved it, 210 00:08:49,738 --> 00:08:52,490 one of their big marketing things is they put it right 211 00:08:52,490 --> 00:08:54,743 on the package, splinter-free. 212 00:08:54,743 --> 00:08:57,412 - [Rutledge] Which that really feels like the just lowest, 213 00:08:57,412 --> 00:09:00,749 the bottom of the promises. 214 00:09:00,749 --> 00:09:03,752 Everyone's toilet paper should be splinter-free. 215 00:09:03,752 --> 00:09:06,546 - [Jason] This is equivalent to like, "Hey, buy our bath towels. 216 00:09:06,546 --> 00:09:08,423 They don't have glass shards in them." 217 00:09:08,423 --> 00:09:11,134 - [Rutledge] And some people are having to warn that certain 218 00:09:11,134 --> 00:09:14,012 kinds of toilet paper can basically send you to surgery. 219 00:09:14,012 --> 00:09:17,015 Like that's how harsh this world really is. 220 00:09:17,015 --> 00:09:19,809 - [Kavitha] Think about how resilient you had to be back 221 00:09:19,809 --> 00:09:22,103 then if you were using like splintered toilet paper 222 00:09:22,103 --> 00:09:23,980 and then just going about your day. 223 00:09:23,980 --> 00:09:26,107 I think we are soft compared to that. 224 00:09:26,107 --> 00:09:27,400 As is our toilet paper. 225 00:09:28,777 --> 00:09:31,237 - Toilet paper continued to get refined, 226 00:09:31,237 --> 00:09:33,907 literally over the next few years. 227 00:09:33,907 --> 00:09:35,366 By the 1930s, 228 00:09:35,366 --> 00:09:39,037 you had the soft splinter-free version we all know 229 00:09:39,037 --> 00:09:40,205 and love today. 230 00:09:44,334 --> 00:09:45,877 - In the 20th century, we made huge progress 231 00:09:45,877 --> 00:09:48,880 on some of the biggest hygiene problems in history, 232 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:53,760 but we had plenty of trouble dealing with one tiny, elusive, 233 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:56,304 rather disgusting creature. 234 00:09:59,140 --> 00:10:02,102 - Lice, skeeves you out, right, lice? 235 00:10:04,479 --> 00:10:05,814 Well, they've been hitching a ride 236 00:10:05,814 --> 00:10:09,275 in hair for more than 25 million years. 237 00:10:10,318 --> 00:10:11,861 - [Austin] Here's a little refresher on lice. 238 00:10:11,861 --> 00:10:14,906 Lice are tiny parasitic insects. 239 00:10:14,906 --> 00:10:17,742 They're about the size of a sesame seed, 240 00:10:17,742 --> 00:10:19,911 and they nest in hair. 241 00:10:19,911 --> 00:10:21,663 They feed on our blood, 242 00:10:21,663 --> 00:10:23,206 and they transmit from person 243 00:10:23,206 --> 00:10:26,417 to person via personal objects, combs, clothing, 244 00:10:26,417 --> 00:10:28,086 or interpersonal contact. 245 00:10:29,838 --> 00:10:32,715 - [Dan] And unlike a lot of other creepy crawlies 246 00:10:32,715 --> 00:10:34,259 that we've had to deal with over the course 247 00:10:34,259 --> 00:10:35,593 of human history, 248 00:10:35,593 --> 00:10:39,973 we've just never quite managed to get rid of lice. 249 00:10:39,973 --> 00:10:42,851 - [Martin] We were being brought into the school nurse's office 250 00:10:42,851 --> 00:10:46,271 every month, and she would inspect all of us for lice. 251 00:10:46,271 --> 00:10:48,314 She would simply sort of root around on your scalp, 252 00:10:48,314 --> 00:10:50,650 have a look at your scalp, and then send you on your way. 253 00:10:50,650 --> 00:10:52,944 It was just one of the many indignities that we were exposed 254 00:10:52,944 --> 00:10:54,946 to in the school nurse's office. 255 00:10:54,946 --> 00:10:59,159 - But God forbid you got sick the day after lice day. 256 00:10:59,951 --> 00:11:02,120 Undeniable why you were sick. 257 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,289 You were the one with the lice. 258 00:11:04,289 --> 00:11:06,916 - [Brian] There was a lice epidemic in my school 259 00:11:06,916 --> 00:11:08,459 and the whole school had it. 260 00:11:08,459 --> 00:11:10,003 It was miserable, 261 00:11:10,003 --> 00:11:13,381 and then the dead ones you had to comb out, it's horrible. 262 00:11:13,381 --> 00:11:14,549 Even talking about it now, 263 00:11:14,549 --> 00:11:17,093 I'm getting the heebie-jeebies. 264 00:11:17,093 --> 00:11:19,470 - [Henry] Back in the early 20th century, 265 00:11:19,470 --> 00:11:21,222 people are so desperate 266 00:11:21,222 --> 00:11:23,183 for an effective lice treatment that they turn 267 00:11:23,183 --> 00:11:26,019 to a brand new miracle substance. 268 00:11:26,019 --> 00:11:26,936 Kerosene. 269 00:11:28,188 --> 00:11:31,399 - [Kavitha] Kerosene is a pretty revolutionary product. 270 00:11:31,399 --> 00:11:33,276 By the turn of the century, it's being used 271 00:11:33,276 --> 00:11:36,487 for everything from heating homes to industrial cleaning, 272 00:11:36,487 --> 00:11:39,282 and even killing lice off of farm animals. 273 00:11:39,282 --> 00:11:42,243 - [Martin] And it doesn't take long before someone realizes, 274 00:11:42,243 --> 00:11:44,495 well, if this works on the livestock, 275 00:11:44,495 --> 00:11:46,831 maybe I should put it on the kids. 276 00:11:46,831 --> 00:11:50,001 - Medical journals of the day think it's a great idea. 277 00:11:50,001 --> 00:11:53,087 They even provide detailed instructions. 278 00:11:53,087 --> 00:11:56,633 Wash the scalp thoroughly, then clip the hair, 279 00:11:56,633 --> 00:12:00,595 then apply equal parts kerosene and olive oil. 280 00:12:01,638 --> 00:12:03,264 - [Kavitha] The instructions go 281 00:12:03,264 --> 00:12:04,974 on to say that after you wash the hair, you're supposed 282 00:12:04,974 --> 00:12:08,394 to pop on a bathing cap, wait 12 to 24 hours, 283 00:12:08,394 --> 00:12:10,521 and then wash and comb it out. 284 00:12:10,521 --> 00:12:14,067 - [Martin] And parents find that it's an extremely effective 285 00:12:14,067 --> 00:12:15,985 course of treatment, but you also have the reality 286 00:12:15,985 --> 00:12:20,657 of a child walking around for 24 hours with a kerosene head. 287 00:12:21,908 --> 00:12:23,451 - [Dan] I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, 288 00:12:23,451 --> 00:12:25,286 but let me be clear. 289 00:12:25,286 --> 00:12:28,957 You shouldn't put kerosene on your kid's head, 290 00:12:28,957 --> 00:12:31,334 even if they have lice. 291 00:12:31,334 --> 00:12:32,835 - [Brian] It worked in killing the lice, 292 00:12:32,835 --> 00:12:36,589 but this might also kill the people with the lice because, 293 00:12:36,589 --> 00:12:37,757 I mean, you're a matchstick. 294 00:12:37,757 --> 00:12:38,800 You're walking matchstick all day 295 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:41,135 in a day where everybody smokes. 296 00:12:41,135 --> 00:12:43,137 - Any spark around you has the potential 297 00:12:43,137 --> 00:12:47,809 of setting off the kerosene that is now dousing your head, 298 00:12:47,809 --> 00:12:49,936 - And the kerosene is on your head and you went up 299 00:12:49,936 --> 00:12:50,979 like a bonfire. 300 00:12:51,980 --> 00:12:53,523 - [Dan] Over the years, 301 00:12:53,523 --> 00:12:55,984 there are numerous stories of terrible accidents resulting 302 00:12:55,984 --> 00:12:58,069 from kerosene lice treatments. 303 00:12:58,069 --> 00:12:59,737 Kids get first, second, 304 00:12:59,737 --> 00:13:03,116 and third degree burns on their faces, on their scalps, 305 00:13:03,116 --> 00:13:05,159 on their necks, and on their shoulders. 306 00:13:05,159 --> 00:13:07,620 - [Martin] Yeah, there are risks associated with using kerosene 307 00:13:07,620 --> 00:13:09,330 as a treatment, but we're going 308 00:13:09,330 --> 00:13:12,417 to have to do it because there wasn't another useful course 309 00:13:12,417 --> 00:13:14,377 of treatment at the time. 310 00:13:14,377 --> 00:13:18,631 - [Henry] By the 1950s, kerosene loses its luster. 311 00:13:18,631 --> 00:13:23,011 And a new innovation hits the market, lice shampoos. 312 00:13:23,011 --> 00:13:28,057 - [Austin] For lice shampoo, one common active ingredient 313 00:13:28,057 --> 00:13:29,475 is lindane. 314 00:13:29,475 --> 00:13:31,519 Lindane works a little bit differently than kerosene. 315 00:13:31,519 --> 00:13:34,814 It overstimulates the louse's nervous system, 316 00:13:34,814 --> 00:13:37,150 causing eventual death. 317 00:13:37,150 --> 00:13:40,653 - [Henry] Death to lice. Exactly what the doctor ordered. 318 00:13:40,653 --> 00:13:44,991 But this shampoo is doing more than de-lousing your kid. 319 00:13:44,991 --> 00:13:46,617 - [Kavitha] Overuse, misuse, 320 00:13:46,617 --> 00:13:50,580 or swallowing the shampoo can be toxic for your kid's brain. 321 00:13:50,580 --> 00:13:53,666 And one shampoo company even includes a warning label 322 00:13:53,666 --> 00:13:57,378 to be careful when using on infants, toddlers, and children. 323 00:13:57,378 --> 00:13:59,505 But that's who it's meant for. 324 00:13:59,505 --> 00:14:01,049 - [Dan] It's great. 325 00:14:01,049 --> 00:14:03,384 It's killing the lice, but it's a neurotoxin 326 00:14:03,384 --> 00:14:04,677 and a child's head is full 327 00:14:04,677 --> 00:14:07,013 of neurons that you don't want to hurt. 328 00:14:07,013 --> 00:14:10,683 So by the 1990s, they only allow lindane to be on the market 329 00:14:10,683 --> 00:14:15,396 as an absolute last resort treatment for lice. 330 00:14:15,396 --> 00:14:17,523 - [Kavitha] It's actually banned in the state of California 331 00:14:17,523 --> 00:14:20,818 and in agricultural use throughout the entire US. 332 00:14:20,818 --> 00:14:23,821 And this is something that we used on our kids for decades. 333 00:14:25,573 --> 00:14:28,201 - When it came to hair, in the old days, 334 00:14:28,201 --> 00:14:31,037 having lice was just the beginning. 335 00:14:31,913 --> 00:14:33,581 - In 17th century America, 336 00:14:33,581 --> 00:14:36,501 the medical profession is very different than it is today. 337 00:14:36,501 --> 00:14:38,711 There's really a divide between two different types. 338 00:14:38,711 --> 00:14:42,090 There's physicians and there's surgeons. 339 00:14:42,090 --> 00:14:43,424 The physician is going 340 00:14:43,424 --> 00:14:45,134 to be someone who's university educated. 341 00:14:45,134 --> 00:14:47,011 They mostly deal with wealthy people. 342 00:14:47,011 --> 00:14:49,263 They mostly deal with internal medicine. 343 00:14:49,263 --> 00:14:53,101 - But when it comes time to actually do some cutting 344 00:14:53,101 --> 00:14:57,480 and sewing or pull out a tooth, well, 345 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:02,610 the physician jobs that out to someone else, a surgeon. 346 00:15:03,903 --> 00:15:04,862 - [Rutledge] And who are the workers in the neighborhood 347 00:15:04,862 --> 00:15:07,156 with the steadiest hands? 348 00:15:07,156 --> 00:15:11,327 Your barber, barbers don't just handle grooming needs, 349 00:15:11,327 --> 00:15:13,371 cutting hair, shaving beards, no, no. 350 00:15:13,371 --> 00:15:15,081 They also can do a lot of other stuff. 351 00:15:15,081 --> 00:15:16,666 They can lance a boil. 352 00:15:16,666 --> 00:15:18,543 They can cut you for bloodletting. 353 00:15:18,543 --> 00:15:19,752 - [Lance] It's pretty convenient. 354 00:15:19,752 --> 00:15:21,212 At the time you're getting your hair cut. 355 00:15:21,212 --> 00:15:24,048 Also have your leeches applied, it's a one-stop shop. 356 00:15:24,924 --> 00:15:26,509 - [Hakeem] Believe it or not, 357 00:15:26,509 --> 00:15:30,304 the person that cuts your hair will also amputate your leg. 358 00:15:30,304 --> 00:15:31,806 Especially in times of war, 359 00:15:31,806 --> 00:15:34,809 amputations are a big part of the barber's job. 360 00:15:34,809 --> 00:15:36,102 This isn't Medieval Europe. 361 00:15:36,102 --> 00:15:38,688 We're not talking about the Roman Coliseum. 362 00:15:38,688 --> 00:15:40,064 This is America, 363 00:15:40,064 --> 00:15:43,067 and this is still happening in the early 1800s. 364 00:15:43,067 --> 00:15:46,654 - [Rutledge] They could lop off a limb in three minutes. 365 00:15:46,654 --> 00:15:50,491 Nowadays, that's like a three-hour surgery at least. 366 00:15:50,491 --> 00:15:51,701 I mean, I want to be clear. 367 00:15:51,701 --> 00:15:53,327 If I need to have something amputated, 368 00:15:53,327 --> 00:15:57,874 I would prefer the three-hour surgery by real surgeons. 369 00:15:57,874 --> 00:16:00,168 - [Henry] And barbers aren't hard to find. 370 00:16:00,168 --> 00:16:04,088 They hang some very peculiar signage out front. 371 00:16:04,088 --> 00:16:05,631 - [Lance] They reuse bandages. 372 00:16:05,631 --> 00:16:08,092 So they just rinse them out and they hang them up to dry. 373 00:16:08,092 --> 00:16:09,802 And that becomes a form of advertising. 374 00:16:09,802 --> 00:16:11,304 People start 375 00:16:11,304 --> 00:16:12,805 to recognize that if you see bloody bandages out front, 376 00:16:12,805 --> 00:16:14,223 that's a barber surgeon. 377 00:16:15,683 --> 00:16:19,187 - [Adam] Fittingly, that amount of gore as advertising is seen 378 00:16:19,187 --> 00:16:20,938 as off-putting. 379 00:16:20,938 --> 00:16:25,318 So ultimately, they create the now iconic pole that is white 380 00:16:25,943 --> 00:16:27,695 with a swirl of red 381 00:16:27,695 --> 00:16:31,991 as a little bit of an homage to the blood soaked bandages. 382 00:16:31,991 --> 00:16:34,702 - [Henry] While barbers may act like surgeons, 383 00:16:34,702 --> 00:16:37,580 their practices are far from sterile. 384 00:16:37,580 --> 00:16:40,374 - [Hakeem] If you have ever gone to a barbershop in the last 50 385 00:16:40,374 --> 00:16:41,209 years or so? 386 00:16:41,209 --> 00:16:42,501 You see that there's that thing 387 00:16:42,501 --> 00:16:45,213 of blue liquid where they put tools in there. 388 00:16:45,213 --> 00:16:47,381 That liquid is known as barbicide, 389 00:16:47,381 --> 00:16:48,591 and it's a disinfectant. 390 00:16:48,591 --> 00:16:51,469 And it's not invented until 1947. 391 00:16:51,469 --> 00:16:54,639 So barbers don't sterilize anything. 392 00:16:54,639 --> 00:16:58,100 - [Adam] The knives, the saws, the scissors, 393 00:16:58,100 --> 00:17:00,561 they were just used from one patient 394 00:17:00,561 --> 00:17:04,522 after the other, which means if a saw was used on you, 395 00:17:04,522 --> 00:17:07,359 it's still dripping with the blood from the patient 396 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,028 before you. 397 00:17:09,028 --> 00:17:10,570 - [Lance] Eventually, 398 00:17:10,570 --> 00:17:12,031 we're starting to get more medical schools in America, 399 00:17:12,031 --> 00:17:14,325 and the field becomes more professionalized, 400 00:17:14,325 --> 00:17:15,952 and people realize that surgery requires 401 00:17:15,952 --> 00:17:18,704 more sophisticated training than shaving. 402 00:17:19,664 --> 00:17:21,290 - [Rutledge] The last vestiges 403 00:17:21,290 --> 00:17:26,378 of the barbershop surgeon were really gone by the 1800s. 404 00:17:26,671 --> 00:17:29,340 After that, barbershops started looking a lot more like 405 00:17:29,340 --> 00:17:31,259 what we know them to be today. 406 00:17:32,718 --> 00:17:36,847 - [Adam] That pole seems like a very sweet candy cane-ish 407 00:17:36,847 --> 00:17:38,933 reminder of times gone by. 408 00:17:38,933 --> 00:17:42,228 When you look at it, what you should see are bloody bandages 409 00:17:42,228 --> 00:17:46,899 all in a wild swirl around a bloodletting, tooth pulling, 410 00:17:46,899 --> 00:17:49,151 haircutting, shaving barbershop. 411 00:17:51,195 --> 00:17:53,739 - Imagine what those barbershops were like. 412 00:17:53,739 --> 00:17:56,784 We don't even like to nick ourselves shaving today. 413 00:17:56,784 --> 00:17:58,869 But back then, they were drawing blood on purpose. 414 00:18:02,957 --> 00:18:04,500 - We all want fresh breath, 415 00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:05,751 but back in the day, 416 00:18:05,876 --> 00:18:07,837 some people had a very different way to get it. 417 00:18:07,837 --> 00:18:10,923 And it's probably the last thing you'd expect to find 418 00:18:10,923 --> 00:18:12,592 in a dentist's office. 419 00:18:14,093 --> 00:18:17,763 - In the 1920s, a guy named Lloyd Spud Hughes is working 420 00:18:17,763 --> 00:18:21,517 as a cashier in his family's restaurant in Mingo Junction, 421 00:18:21,517 --> 00:18:22,393 Ohio. 422 00:18:22,393 --> 00:18:23,811 Spud has asthma, 423 00:18:23,811 --> 00:18:26,063 and one day to help him with his symptoms, 424 00:18:26,063 --> 00:18:29,150 his mom gives him some menthol crystals. 425 00:18:29,150 --> 00:18:32,111 - [Natalia] Menthol crystals come from peppermint oil. 426 00:18:32,111 --> 00:18:33,279 If you dissolve one 427 00:18:33,279 --> 00:18:34,739 or two in hot water, 428 00:18:34,739 --> 00:18:38,367 it releases a vapor that really relieves congestion. 429 00:18:38,367 --> 00:18:40,661 - [Don] It's a similar principle to that vapor goop 430 00:18:40,661 --> 00:18:42,288 that your mom used to slather on your chest 431 00:18:42,288 --> 00:18:43,664 whenever you got a cold. 432 00:18:43,664 --> 00:18:45,875 This is just the steam form. 433 00:18:45,875 --> 00:18:48,961 And to make sure he doesn't lose track of these crystals, 434 00:18:48,961 --> 00:18:50,880 Spud stores them in the same container 435 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,465 where he keeps his cigarettes. 436 00:18:52,465 --> 00:18:54,800 Yeah. Spud the asthmatic is a smoker. 437 00:18:56,010 --> 00:18:58,137 - [Brian] So good old Spud keeps his menthol crystals 438 00:18:58,137 --> 00:18:59,221 in with his cigarettes. 439 00:18:59,221 --> 00:19:01,307 That bleeds over into the cigarettes. 440 00:19:01,307 --> 00:19:04,185 He smokes it, gets a fresh minty taste. 441 00:19:04,185 --> 00:19:06,187 Menthol cigarettes are born. 442 00:19:06,187 --> 00:19:07,480 - [Lance] Spud patents the idea 443 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:09,482 and he sells it to a tobacco manufacturer. 444 00:19:09,482 --> 00:19:12,485 They start to see that maybe there's value beyond the taste 445 00:19:12,485 --> 00:19:14,070 because of the menthol. 446 00:19:14,070 --> 00:19:16,322 They tell you it's actually going to give you good breath. 447 00:19:16,322 --> 00:19:19,075 - [Jason] So they start marketing spud menthol 448 00:19:19,075 --> 00:19:21,410 cigarettes, they give you a fresh, cool mouth. 449 00:19:21,410 --> 00:19:24,413 They make your mouth feel as fresh as a May morning. 450 00:19:25,247 --> 00:19:26,666 - [Brian] There was something 451 00:19:26,666 --> 00:19:28,751 about the menthol cigarette that took a cigarette 452 00:19:28,751 --> 00:19:33,381 and elevated it to a fancy, almost candy-like arena. 453 00:19:33,381 --> 00:19:35,132 - [Jason] Those other cigarettes, oh, they 454 00:19:35,132 --> 00:19:35,966 might be enjoyable. 455 00:19:35,966 --> 00:19:37,677 But do they freshen your breath? 456 00:19:37,677 --> 00:19:40,513 So it's like back up your cigarette with another cigarette 457 00:19:40,513 --> 00:19:43,474 to take care of the smell that the first cigarette gave you. 458 00:19:43,474 --> 00:19:46,018 I mean, this is genius. 459 00:19:46,018 --> 00:19:47,561 - [Henry] The advertising works. 460 00:19:47,561 --> 00:19:49,480 And by 1932, 461 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,983 Spud Cigarettes are the fifth most popular brand 462 00:19:52,983 --> 00:19:54,318 in the country. 463 00:19:54,318 --> 00:19:55,736 - A whole bunch of other people actually jump 464 00:19:55,736 --> 00:19:57,238 on the bandwagon too, 465 00:19:57,238 --> 00:19:59,824 and you've got a few competing menthol cigarette brands. 466 00:19:59,824 --> 00:20:02,159 - [Henry] And these new cigarettes push their menthol 467 00:20:02,159 --> 00:20:04,578 marketing even further. 468 00:20:04,578 --> 00:20:07,289 - To the snowfresh coolness of cool. 469 00:20:07,289 --> 00:20:08,666 - What's so interesting, 470 00:20:08,666 --> 00:20:10,710 one of these ads actually says, "Got a cold. 471 00:20:10,710 --> 00:20:12,002 Smoke a Kool." 472 00:20:12,002 --> 00:20:16,298 So the idea that smoking menthols will help you 473 00:20:16,298 --> 00:20:18,968 with a respiratory issue is actually 474 00:20:18,968 --> 00:20:21,303 something being marketed with a straight face. 475 00:20:21,303 --> 00:20:23,097 - So you're kind of killing two birds 476 00:20:23,973 --> 00:20:26,600 and your lungs with one stone. 477 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:28,227 - [Brian] By the 1960s, 478 00:20:28,227 --> 00:20:30,146 people start catching on that smoking is not good for you. 479 00:20:30,146 --> 00:20:33,315 And what do the menthol cigarette companies do? 480 00:20:33,315 --> 00:20:36,861 They start telling you, "Hey, not our cigarettes." 481 00:20:36,861 --> 00:20:40,239 - [Narrator] Switch from hot to snow fresh filter. 482 00:20:40,239 --> 00:20:42,491 - Not only are cigarettes not bad for you, 483 00:20:42,491 --> 00:20:45,244 they will help deal with the problems 484 00:20:45,244 --> 00:20:46,954 that smoking caused for you. 485 00:20:46,954 --> 00:20:49,749 So the solution for all the problems that cigarettes caused 486 00:20:49,749 --> 00:20:51,625 was more cigarettes. 487 00:20:51,625 --> 00:20:55,921 What a ballsy move. You have to admire it in a way. 488 00:20:55,921 --> 00:20:58,466 - [Henry] It's true marketing magic, 489 00:20:58,466 --> 00:21:00,134 at least while it lasts. 490 00:21:00,134 --> 00:21:03,971 - In 1964, the Surgeon General releases a landmark report 491 00:21:03,971 --> 00:21:07,057 that leads to a safety label that we've all seen. 492 00:21:07,057 --> 00:21:08,434 Caution. 493 00:21:08,434 --> 00:21:10,603 Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health. 494 00:21:10,603 --> 00:21:12,354 - And we can add to that now. 495 00:21:12,354 --> 00:21:14,899 It's probably not good for your bad breath either. 496 00:21:16,609 --> 00:21:18,903 - So lighting up couldn't fix bad breath. 497 00:21:18,903 --> 00:21:21,739 That doesn't mean we stop using small fires 498 00:21:21,739 --> 00:21:23,824 to solve hygiene problems. 499 00:21:23,824 --> 00:21:25,701 In the fight against earwax, 500 00:21:25,701 --> 00:21:28,579 people in the 1990s turn their heads 501 00:21:28,579 --> 00:21:30,623 into full-on candle opreras. 502 00:21:31,749 --> 00:21:33,292 - For thousands of years, 503 00:21:33,292 --> 00:21:35,961 we've had a complicated relationship with earwax. 504 00:21:35,961 --> 00:21:38,339 Is it good? Is it bad? 505 00:21:38,339 --> 00:21:40,424 Why is it called wax? 506 00:21:40,424 --> 00:21:45,471 - [Adam] Earwax is actually made in our bodies by special glands 507 00:21:46,222 --> 00:21:48,057 in and around the ear canal. 508 00:21:48,057 --> 00:21:50,726 And if there's too much buildup, 509 00:21:50,726 --> 00:21:53,854 it could actually cause hearing loss. 510 00:21:53,854 --> 00:21:55,189 - [Jason] We've used everything imaginable 511 00:21:55,189 --> 00:21:57,316 to get ear wax out of our ears. 512 00:21:57,316 --> 00:22:00,027 Look, the rougher way, we use our fingers. 513 00:22:00,027 --> 00:22:01,821 You just can get our fingers in there. 514 00:22:01,821 --> 00:22:04,532 But we use cotton swabs and we use suction cups. 515 00:22:04,532 --> 00:22:05,699 There's all sorts of things. 516 00:22:05,699 --> 00:22:06,951 - [Negin] I just need to know that like 517 00:22:06,951 --> 00:22:09,745 when I pull an AirPod out of my ears, 518 00:22:09,745 --> 00:22:14,583 it's not disgusting for anyone who may happen to notice. 519 00:22:14,583 --> 00:22:16,252 - [Henry] In the 1990s, 520 00:22:16,252 --> 00:22:20,422 there's a resurgence of a natural method for wax removal. 521 00:22:20,422 --> 00:22:24,093 It's known as ear candling. 522 00:22:24,093 --> 00:22:25,886 - [Dan] Ear candling, as a practice, 523 00:22:25,886 --> 00:22:28,556 is documented to go back at least to the early 1900s, 524 00:22:28,556 --> 00:22:29,974 but people who are fans 525 00:22:29,974 --> 00:22:31,809 of it say that it goes back to ancient times. 526 00:22:31,809 --> 00:22:33,894 - How ear candling works is you've got 527 00:22:33,894 --> 00:22:36,522 a 10-inch hollow candle tube, 528 00:22:36,522 --> 00:22:38,649 and that's inserted into your ear 529 00:22:38,649 --> 00:22:40,359 and lit from the other side. 530 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:42,736 And that's supposed to burn for 15 minutes, 531 00:22:42,736 --> 00:22:47,575 which supposedly creates a vacuum that draws your ear wax 532 00:22:47,575 --> 00:22:49,577 out into the candle. 533 00:22:49,577 --> 00:22:51,704 - [Dan] It's enormous in spa culture. Practitioners 534 00:22:51,704 --> 00:22:53,205 swear by this, 535 00:22:53,205 --> 00:22:55,457 You just lie down, they stick some candles in your ears 536 00:22:55,457 --> 00:22:57,877 and light them on fire, maybe burn some incense. 537 00:22:57,877 --> 00:22:59,253 It feels amazing. 538 00:22:59,253 --> 00:23:01,839 - [Negin] So then after you do the candling, 539 00:23:01,839 --> 00:23:04,174 they like supple it open the candle 540 00:23:04,174 --> 00:23:06,677 and then you can see all this wax that's come out 541 00:23:06,677 --> 00:23:08,596 of your ears and you're like, "Oh my God." 542 00:23:08,596 --> 00:23:11,640 So there's this little like dopamine hit 543 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,393 at the end of like how much wax you were able 544 00:23:14,393 --> 00:23:17,146 to retrieve through this process. 545 00:23:17,146 --> 00:23:19,982 - [Dan] One Seattle candle distributor reportedly sells 546 00:23:19,982 --> 00:23:22,067 over a thousand dollars of candles 547 00:23:22,067 --> 00:23:25,029 every week just for this. 548 00:23:25,029 --> 00:23:29,658 But it turns out sticking a flaming candle in your ear isn't 549 00:23:29,658 --> 00:23:32,411 as good an idea as you might think. 550 00:23:32,411 --> 00:23:34,830 - [Jason] There are issues like punctured eardrums, 551 00:23:34,830 --> 00:23:35,706 or how about this? 552 00:23:35,706 --> 00:23:37,917 Hot wax dripping into your ear. 553 00:23:37,917 --> 00:23:40,920 So that hot wax can now harden inside your ear. 554 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:42,504 You're trying to get stuff out of your ear, 555 00:23:42,504 --> 00:23:43,672 and in some cases, 556 00:23:43,672 --> 00:23:46,091 you're putting even worse stuff into it. 557 00:23:46,091 --> 00:23:48,928 - [Adam] That's a dangerous scenario to begin with, 558 00:23:48,928 --> 00:23:50,429 and many problems arise. 559 00:23:50,429 --> 00:23:53,974 People have burns to their face, to their neck, 560 00:23:53,974 --> 00:23:55,601 to their upper back. 561 00:23:55,601 --> 00:23:58,687 Hair catches fire, and homes catch fire. 562 00:23:58,687 --> 00:24:02,983 - [Jason] In 1996, there are 21 serious injuries reported 563 00:24:02,983 --> 00:24:04,276 connected to ear candling. 564 00:24:04,276 --> 00:24:06,946 In 2005, a woman's house catches on fire 565 00:24:06,946 --> 00:24:09,490 and she dies because of this. 566 00:24:09,490 --> 00:24:11,617 - [Dan] Which brings us to the ultimate irony. 567 00:24:11,617 --> 00:24:14,119 When you open it up and you find that wax inside, 568 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:15,955 you're looking at candle wax. 569 00:24:15,955 --> 00:24:19,583 It's just melted candle. Nothing came out of you. 570 00:24:19,583 --> 00:24:21,460 Health experts, including the FDA, 571 00:24:21,460 --> 00:24:24,630 issue all kinds of warnings saying, "Don't do ear candling." 572 00:24:24,630 --> 00:24:27,633 And there are enough injuries and liability suits 573 00:24:27,633 --> 00:24:30,094 that the practice just kind of falls off a cliff. 574 00:24:31,428 --> 00:24:34,181 - We'll just have to keep searching for the perfect way 575 00:24:34,181 --> 00:24:35,766 to remove earwax. 576 00:24:35,766 --> 00:24:37,393 You know, 577 00:24:37,393 --> 00:24:39,228 some problems aren't meant to be solved with an open flame. 578 00:24:43,399 --> 00:24:45,818 - Cowboys, baseball players, and camels all do it. 579 00:24:45,818 --> 00:24:49,071 And back in the day, everyone and their mother was doing it. 580 00:24:49,071 --> 00:24:50,864 And it could end up killing you. 581 00:24:52,783 --> 00:24:55,661 - [Lance] By the mid 1800s, there's a habit that is very 582 00:24:55,661 --> 00:24:59,498 common for everybody in America and that is spitting in public. 583 00:25:00,499 --> 00:25:01,792 If you have a respiratory issue, 584 00:25:01,792 --> 00:25:03,210 if you have phlegm in your lungs, 585 00:25:03,210 --> 00:25:05,546 then people are actually encouraged to expectorate. 586 00:25:05,546 --> 00:25:07,965 And so they're really telling people hock a loogie 587 00:25:07,965 --> 00:25:09,383 and spit it on the ground. 588 00:25:10,759 --> 00:25:12,594 - [Martin] At the same time, chewing tobacco is 589 00:25:12,594 --> 00:25:14,221 incredibly popular. 590 00:25:14,221 --> 00:25:17,474 It achieved a popularity far greater than cigarette smoking. 591 00:25:17,474 --> 00:25:18,517 It came first. 592 00:25:20,144 --> 00:25:22,479 - [Don] Of course, this has a really specific side effect, 593 00:25:22,479 --> 00:25:27,026 a steady stream of brown bitter saliva. 594 00:25:27,026 --> 00:25:29,987 People don't think twice about just spitting anywhere 595 00:25:29,987 --> 00:25:32,448 in streets, saloons, wherever. 596 00:25:32,448 --> 00:25:35,159 It's even seen as a kind of manly gesture. 597 00:25:36,410 --> 00:25:37,953 - Some people, and I've witnessed this myself, 598 00:25:37,953 --> 00:25:39,705 got that technique when they do the two fingers. 599 00:25:39,705 --> 00:25:44,543 They go in the stream, just like a laser jet coming out. 600 00:25:44,543 --> 00:25:46,545 - [Don] Foreign travelers come to these shores 601 00:25:46,545 --> 00:25:49,131 and they remark about how disgusting Americans are 602 00:25:49,131 --> 00:25:51,300 with their constant spitting. 603 00:25:51,300 --> 00:25:52,843 - People are more and more asking like, 604 00:25:52,843 --> 00:25:55,637 "What can we do to cut down on this epidemic 605 00:25:55,637 --> 00:25:59,141 of tobacco spits staining absolutely everything?" 606 00:25:59,141 --> 00:26:01,351 - The solution to this is the spittoon. 607 00:26:02,561 --> 00:26:05,731 A spittoon is a receptacle with a wide mouth, 608 00:26:05,731 --> 00:26:06,940 usually made out of brass 609 00:26:06,940 --> 00:26:09,568 or ceramics to make spitting easier. 610 00:26:09,568 --> 00:26:11,028 - [Lance] By the 1870s in America, 611 00:26:11,028 --> 00:26:13,072 spittoons are pretty much everywhere. 612 00:26:13,072 --> 00:26:15,407 They're basically considered to be a sanitary solution 613 00:26:15,407 --> 00:26:16,867 to the spitting habit. 614 00:26:16,867 --> 00:26:18,577 - [Natalia] In a way though, these spittoons 615 00:26:18,577 --> 00:26:19,995 also cause their own problem 616 00:26:19,995 --> 00:26:22,581 because they legitimize the act of spitting 617 00:26:22,581 --> 00:26:25,459 and they're almost an invitation to spit. 618 00:26:25,459 --> 00:26:26,668 - [Hakeem] You know how dudes are when it comes to a 619 00:26:26,668 --> 00:26:28,087 waste basket? 620 00:26:28,087 --> 00:26:30,672 You got to see how far away you can make that shot. 621 00:26:30,672 --> 00:26:32,424 Imagine doing that with a spittoon. 622 00:26:32,424 --> 00:26:36,345 So this just becomes a nasty spittoon area. 623 00:26:36,345 --> 00:26:38,097 - Cleaning and disposing of the spit 624 00:26:38,097 --> 00:26:41,016 in the spittoons every day also causes its own problem. 625 00:26:41,016 --> 00:26:43,644 The janitor, whoever is going to pick it up is likely going 626 00:26:43,644 --> 00:26:45,354 to spill it everywhere as it goes. 627 00:26:45,354 --> 00:26:47,356 And then what are they doing with it? 628 00:26:47,356 --> 00:26:49,817 Just dumping it into the street or to the river? 629 00:26:50,901 --> 00:26:52,402 - [Lance] Congress had them, and apparently 630 00:26:52,402 --> 00:26:55,447 congressmen were particularly bad at spitting. 631 00:26:55,447 --> 00:26:57,116 So there was actually an official report 632 00:26:57,116 --> 00:26:58,784 in 1898 that said, 633 00:26:58,784 --> 00:27:00,452 "Please improve your behavior. 634 00:27:00,452 --> 00:27:03,413 You're making a grotesque mess that wouldn't be allowed 635 00:27:03,413 --> 00:27:05,624 in a barroom or a mining camp." 636 00:27:05,624 --> 00:27:07,793 And that's the floor of the US Congress. 637 00:27:07,793 --> 00:27:09,378 - [Henry] By the late 1800s, 638 00:27:09,378 --> 00:27:12,714 some realize America's spitting habit is more 639 00:27:12,714 --> 00:27:14,049 than just messy. 640 00:27:15,592 --> 00:27:18,095 - [Hakeem] Around the same time, doctors start warning people 641 00:27:18,095 --> 00:27:20,222 about these things called germs. 642 00:27:20,222 --> 00:27:23,141 And they let them know that it's present in spit. 643 00:27:23,141 --> 00:27:25,477 And horrible diseases like tuberculosis 644 00:27:25,477 --> 00:27:28,647 in particular can be spread this way. 645 00:27:28,647 --> 00:27:29,773 This is the first time a lot 646 00:27:29,773 --> 00:27:31,817 of Americans have heard about germs, 647 00:27:31,817 --> 00:27:33,318 and it's making an impression. 648 00:27:34,695 --> 00:27:37,990 - [Natalia] In 1896, New York City becomes the first major 649 00:27:37,990 --> 00:27:41,952 city to outlaw spitting in public spaces like on sidewalks. 650 00:27:41,952 --> 00:27:45,455 - [Martin] They have ad campaigns that encourage people 651 00:27:45,455 --> 00:27:47,332 not to spit, and one of them features a baby 652 00:27:47,332 --> 00:27:49,877 and it says, "For my sake, don't spit." 653 00:27:49,877 --> 00:27:51,503 Like how you monster? 654 00:27:51,503 --> 00:27:52,796 How could you spit? 655 00:27:52,796 --> 00:27:55,257 Think of the babies you disgusting animal. 656 00:27:55,257 --> 00:27:57,801 - [Henry] What gets Americans to finally leave 657 00:27:57,801 --> 00:28:01,346 this unsanitary but fun practice behind? 658 00:28:02,347 --> 00:28:04,641 Another more tasty chewing product. 659 00:28:04,641 --> 00:28:07,227 - [Don] It's around this time just before the 1920s 660 00:28:07,227 --> 00:28:11,023 that Wrigley's double mint gum becomes wildly popular 661 00:28:11,023 --> 00:28:13,817 alongside their juicy fruit and spirit flavors. 662 00:28:13,817 --> 00:28:16,153 There's a whole host of others. 663 00:28:16,153 --> 00:28:17,905 - [Lance] This is the golden age of chewing gum, 664 00:28:17,905 --> 00:28:20,157 and it replaces tobacco 665 00:28:20,157 --> 00:28:23,911 as a favorite chewing habit for younger generations. 666 00:28:23,911 --> 00:28:26,788 - [Don] And for those who still want that nicotine fix, 667 00:28:26,788 --> 00:28:29,041 the more gentile cigarettes step in. 668 00:28:31,335 --> 00:28:35,839 - Spittoons were gross saliva-filled basins. 669 00:28:35,839 --> 00:28:37,591 But in the mid 1800s, 670 00:28:37,591 --> 00:28:40,052 it was hard to tell your spittoon 671 00:28:40,052 --> 00:28:43,138 from your drinking water. 672 00:28:44,306 --> 00:28:45,515 - In the mid 19th century, 673 00:28:45,515 --> 00:28:47,601 American cities are incredibly filthy. 674 00:28:47,601 --> 00:28:50,187 You have hundreds of thousands of horses dropping manure. 675 00:28:50,187 --> 00:28:52,773 You got people emptying chamber pots. 676 00:28:52,773 --> 00:28:54,942 - [Kavitha] All that waste gets into the groundwater, 677 00:28:54,942 --> 00:28:57,653 which obviously then gets consumed by humans. 678 00:28:57,653 --> 00:29:00,822 So while water is life, bad water can be death. 679 00:29:02,282 --> 00:29:04,701 - [Edward] And there are frequent outbreaks of cholera, 680 00:29:04,701 --> 00:29:06,286 diphtheria, 681 00:29:06,286 --> 00:29:09,247 typhoid, diseases that kill thousands of people in a summer. 682 00:29:09,247 --> 00:29:10,999 - [Henry] At first, people begin turning 683 00:29:10,999 --> 00:29:14,211 to a different kind of liquid to quench their thirst. 684 00:29:14,211 --> 00:29:15,170 Alcohol. 685 00:29:16,505 --> 00:29:19,257 - [Dan] It sounds crazy, but back then, drinking alcohol 686 00:29:19,257 --> 00:29:22,803 was better for you than drinking publicly available water. 687 00:29:24,054 --> 00:29:26,390 - [Brian] The process to make beer sanitizes the water 688 00:29:26,390 --> 00:29:29,101 and it's kegged up and kept safe until you drink it. 689 00:29:29,101 --> 00:29:33,772 So people could go to the bar and in the interest of safety, 690 00:29:33,772 --> 00:29:37,317 drink nice, safe alcohol, 691 00:29:37,317 --> 00:29:39,528 as opposed to poison water. 692 00:29:39,528 --> 00:29:41,780 - Today, the average American drinks around two 693 00:29:41,780 --> 00:29:45,367 and a half gallons of alcohol per year. 694 00:29:45,367 --> 00:29:47,744 Back then, it was way higher. 695 00:29:47,744 --> 00:29:52,207 About four beers or beer equivalents per day. 696 00:29:53,709 --> 00:29:55,085 - [Edward] Both public health advocates 697 00:29:55,085 --> 00:29:57,462 and temperance societies begin to say, 698 00:29:57,462 --> 00:30:01,466 "We need to provide the people with clean, healthy water." 699 00:30:01,466 --> 00:30:04,636 So by the 1870s, it's quite common to see a water fountain 700 00:30:04,636 --> 00:30:05,846 or several water fountains 701 00:30:05,846 --> 00:30:07,055 throughout major cities, 702 00:30:07,055 --> 00:30:09,433 providing fresh water to the masses. 703 00:30:10,684 --> 00:30:12,561 - [Austin] The water can be used for washing your hands 704 00:30:12,561 --> 00:30:14,354 or gathering stuff for cleaning, 705 00:30:14,354 --> 00:30:16,940 and then it flows out into a trough for your pets 706 00:30:16,940 --> 00:30:18,191 and your horses. 707 00:30:18,191 --> 00:30:19,735 But the cleanest water is the one straight 708 00:30:19,735 --> 00:30:21,945 from the spigot at the top. 709 00:30:21,945 --> 00:30:23,947 - [Henry] Clean water for all, right? 710 00:30:23,947 --> 00:30:25,949 But there's just one problem. 711 00:30:25,949 --> 00:30:28,035 How do you drink from the fountain? 712 00:30:29,453 --> 00:30:32,873 - The communal cup, which is exactly what it sounds like. 713 00:30:32,873 --> 00:30:35,542 It is a metal cup attached to a thick chain 714 00:30:35,542 --> 00:30:38,754 on the fountain where you could dip in your cup, drink it, 715 00:30:38,754 --> 00:30:40,172 and then leave it for the next person. 716 00:30:40,172 --> 00:30:41,798 And people loved it. 717 00:30:44,134 --> 00:30:46,511 - [Austin] It's like a modern day water cooler, 718 00:30:46,511 --> 00:30:49,639 except instead of a paper cup that you throw out 719 00:30:49,639 --> 00:30:53,268 after you have a sip, everyone gets the same cup. 720 00:30:53,268 --> 00:30:54,478 - [Henry] But turns out, 721 00:30:54,478 --> 00:30:57,272 they're sharing more than just a cup. 722 00:30:57,272 --> 00:31:00,317 - [Dan] A physician from Kansas named Dr. Samuel Crumbine is 723 00:31:00,317 --> 00:31:02,986 on a train when he sees a child drink 724 00:31:02,986 --> 00:31:06,698 from a communal cup right after a tuberculosis patient. 725 00:31:06,698 --> 00:31:10,368 And that's when he realizes this whole sharing cups thing 726 00:31:10,368 --> 00:31:12,996 seems like a terrible idea. 727 00:31:12,996 --> 00:31:14,706 - [Kavitha] He realizes that these communal cups are 728 00:31:14,706 --> 00:31:16,958 basically ground zero for spreading disease. 729 00:31:16,958 --> 00:31:20,712 Everything from tuberculosis to typhoid to dysentery. 730 00:31:20,712 --> 00:31:23,924 - [Edward] So Crumbine launches this campaign to ban the cup. 731 00:31:23,924 --> 00:31:26,343 And they often use provocative cartooning showing, 732 00:31:26,343 --> 00:31:28,386 for example, the grim reaper at one 733 00:31:28,386 --> 00:31:30,514 of these fountains handing the cup to a child, 734 00:31:30,514 --> 00:31:32,099 you know, the kiss of death. 735 00:31:33,141 --> 00:31:34,976 - [Austin] Despite initial public perception 736 00:31:34,976 --> 00:31:39,940 and backlash, by 1915, Crumbine's campaign has worked. 737 00:31:39,940 --> 00:31:42,526 The communal cup is nearly gone. 738 00:31:42,526 --> 00:31:44,027 - [Dan] Today, it seems obvious. 739 00:31:44,027 --> 00:31:45,654 Hey, that person's coughing up blood. 740 00:31:45,654 --> 00:31:47,823 Maybe they shouldn't be sharing a drinking cup 741 00:31:47,823 --> 00:31:49,241 with the whole town. 742 00:31:49,241 --> 00:31:51,827 And it didn't take long for people to figure it out, 743 00:31:51,827 --> 00:31:53,954 but it did take longer than you would hope. 744 00:31:55,455 --> 00:31:57,666 - I guess good hygiene meant something different back then. 745 00:32:01,795 --> 00:32:03,255 - Remember going to the school nurse with a cut? 746 00:32:03,255 --> 00:32:06,091 That antiseptic stung like crazy. 747 00:32:06,091 --> 00:32:08,051 There had to be a better way. 748 00:32:08,051 --> 00:32:12,097 And actually, there was, a solution that dates back 749 00:32:12,097 --> 00:32:17,185 to the 1920s, as long as you didn't mind a touch of poison. 750 00:32:18,895 --> 00:32:21,148 - [Austin] After World War I, soldiers return home 751 00:32:21,148 --> 00:32:25,235 with firsthand accounts of this thing that helped them get 752 00:32:25,235 --> 00:32:28,071 through cuts and scrapes, iodine. 753 00:32:28,071 --> 00:32:31,449 - [Don] Iodine is great at killing germs, but civilians 754 00:32:31,449 --> 00:32:34,953 and kids especially quickly learn the stuff really burns. 755 00:32:34,953 --> 00:32:36,746 So thank you very much. 756 00:32:36,746 --> 00:32:39,332 I'll take the life-threatening infection instead. 757 00:32:39,332 --> 00:32:41,293 - [Henry] But it turns out there's actually 758 00:32:41,293 --> 00:32:45,672 a much less painful antiseptic in the works. 759 00:32:45,672 --> 00:32:46,673 - [Rutledge] Around the same time, 760 00:32:46,673 --> 00:32:49,301 a urologist named Hugh H. Young 761 00:32:49,301 --> 00:32:51,595 is trying to develop a solution 762 00:32:51,595 --> 00:32:56,892 for infections that happen in your downstairs, 763 00:32:56,892 --> 00:32:59,019 your nether regions, if you will. 764 00:32:59,019 --> 00:33:01,438 Especially people with gonorrhea. 765 00:33:01,438 --> 00:33:04,941 The clap is a big problem during World War I. 766 00:33:04,941 --> 00:33:07,611 - [Natalia] But even though Americans aren't involved in the 767 00:33:07,611 --> 00:33:09,154 fighting of World War I for that long, 768 00:33:09,154 --> 00:33:14,242 they are in the war long enough to rack up 383,000 cases 769 00:33:14,242 --> 00:33:17,829 of venereal disease, most of which are gonorrhea. 770 00:33:17,829 --> 00:33:19,122 - [Rutledge] What Young came up with, 771 00:33:19,122 --> 00:33:21,082 he called Mercurochrome 220, 772 00:33:21,082 --> 00:33:23,627 which is very effective at killing germs. 773 00:33:23,627 --> 00:33:25,712 - [Natalia] And it doesn't sting at all. 774 00:33:25,712 --> 00:33:28,506 This is very important when you're using it topically 775 00:33:28,506 --> 00:33:31,384 in the urethra, which is such a sensitive area. 776 00:33:32,510 --> 00:33:34,471 - [Don] Young partners with a pharmaceutical firm 777 00:33:34,471 --> 00:33:35,680 and they bring it to market 778 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,475 as a topical antiseptic for cuts and wounds. 779 00:33:38,475 --> 00:33:41,186 The idea is if this stuff is gentle enough 780 00:33:41,186 --> 00:33:43,605 for extremely sensitive areas, then it's going 781 00:33:43,605 --> 00:33:46,942 to be gentle enough for kids anywhere on their bodies. 782 00:33:46,942 --> 00:33:49,402 It'll be great for families. 783 00:33:49,402 --> 00:33:52,530 - [Austin] Mercurochrome ads really play this up. 784 00:33:52,530 --> 00:33:54,699 They say children will not hesitate 785 00:33:54,699 --> 00:33:56,076 to report their injuries 786 00:33:56,076 --> 00:33:59,412 when Mercurochrome is your household antiseptic 787 00:33:59,412 --> 00:34:01,665 because they know it won't hurt you. 788 00:34:02,499 --> 00:34:04,584 - [Don] When you scraped your knee 789 00:34:04,584 --> 00:34:06,628 or did anything in the backyard, 790 00:34:06,628 --> 00:34:08,088 the first thing your mom would do would paint 791 00:34:08,088 --> 00:34:10,047 that little red liquid on the booboo. 792 00:34:10,047 --> 00:34:11,507 You know, like that was the way you were going to heal. 793 00:34:11,507 --> 00:34:12,842 Of course. 794 00:34:12,842 --> 00:34:14,010 - [Martin] This was like a weekly part of my life 795 00:34:14,010 --> 00:34:15,344 as a child. 796 00:34:15,344 --> 00:34:17,889 You got a cut, spread some Mercurochrome on it, 797 00:34:17,889 --> 00:34:19,516 because that was their answer to everything. 798 00:34:19,516 --> 00:34:21,685 Oh, you cut yourself here. Splat. 799 00:34:21,685 --> 00:34:23,228 - [Don] I really remember Mercurochrome 800 00:34:23,228 --> 00:34:24,896 as it doesn't sting, 801 00:34:24,896 --> 00:34:26,690 therefore it must be good. 802 00:34:26,690 --> 00:34:28,858 It was a trusty product. 803 00:34:28,858 --> 00:34:30,568 And that little scrape that was covered 804 00:34:30,568 --> 00:34:32,362 with red was a badge of honor. 805 00:34:32,362 --> 00:34:33,487 You'd had a good time. 806 00:34:34,572 --> 00:34:36,449 - [Henry] If Mercurochrome is so effective 807 00:34:36,449 --> 00:34:39,869 and popular, why don't we still use it? 808 00:34:39,869 --> 00:34:41,036 - It turns out the mer 809 00:34:41,036 --> 00:34:44,541 in Mercurochrome stands for merbromin, 810 00:34:44,541 --> 00:34:46,710 which contains mercury. 811 00:34:48,043 --> 00:34:49,920 - [Don] Mercury is really bad stuff. 812 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:53,300 It damages the nervous system, internal organs, 813 00:34:53,300 --> 00:34:55,135 not to mention, it makes you crazy. 814 00:34:56,511 --> 00:34:59,055 - [Martin] Any contact with mercury on your bare skin 815 00:34:59,055 --> 00:35:00,140 is toxic. 816 00:35:00,140 --> 00:35:01,891 It's even worse if it's 817 00:35:01,891 --> 00:35:04,894 an exposed piece of skin from a cut. 818 00:35:04,894 --> 00:35:06,563 And then what are people doing? 819 00:35:06,563 --> 00:35:09,399 They're slathering Mercurochrome on that. 820 00:35:09,399 --> 00:35:12,986 They're introducing mercury into an open wound. 821 00:35:14,237 --> 00:35:16,823 - [J Mack] A bottle of Mercurochrome has about a half a 822 00:35:16,823 --> 00:35:19,117 gram of mercury in it, which doesn't sound like a lot. 823 00:35:19,117 --> 00:35:22,203 But if you're a child having this lathered all 824 00:35:22,203 --> 00:35:24,372 over your body, getting inside of these cuts, 825 00:35:24,372 --> 00:35:27,083 it can give you a thousand times a dose 826 00:35:27,083 --> 00:35:28,668 that a human adult can handle. 827 00:35:29,878 --> 00:35:32,297 - [Martin] We're basically just dosing children 828 00:35:32,297 --> 00:35:35,925 for average everyday cuts with mercury. 829 00:35:35,925 --> 00:35:37,594 Like you fall down, scrape your knee. Mercury. 830 00:35:37,594 --> 00:35:40,347 Oh, you cut yourself, you got a paper cut. Mercury. 831 00:35:40,347 --> 00:35:43,892 Over and over again. Here's some poison to treat that wound. 832 00:35:43,892 --> 00:35:45,268 - [Austin] In the 1970s and '80s, 833 00:35:45,268 --> 00:35:49,147 there is a lot of concern about mercury content. 834 00:35:49,147 --> 00:35:50,607 There's mercury in our fish, 835 00:35:50,607 --> 00:35:53,818 in some other chemicals that we utilize. 836 00:35:53,818 --> 00:35:57,530 So Mercurochrome's got to go. 837 00:35:57,530 --> 00:36:00,116 - [Natalia] Newer antiseptics also work just as well, 838 00:36:00,116 --> 00:36:02,118 and they're not made from mercury. 839 00:36:03,578 --> 00:36:05,997 - [Rutledge] What's wild is that it's not till the '90s when 840 00:36:05,997 --> 00:36:09,709 the FDA finally says, "You know, mercury is pretty bad for you. 841 00:36:09,709 --> 00:36:12,504 I guess we should stop letting people spread it all 842 00:36:12,504 --> 00:36:13,713 over themselves." 843 00:36:13,713 --> 00:36:15,840 And that's when they finally banned it. 844 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,344 - [Natalia] You might still see a product using the name 845 00:36:19,344 --> 00:36:22,305 Mercurochrome but unless it's from your grandfather's dusty 846 00:36:22,305 --> 00:36:24,391 old cabinet, chances are it does not contain mercury. 847 00:36:25,850 --> 00:36:28,520 - [Don] Little did I know that I would be carrying this mercury 848 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,939 in my body, but it didn't sting, 849 00:36:30,939 --> 00:36:32,482 and that's the important part. 850 00:36:34,109 --> 00:36:35,527 - For generations, 851 00:36:35,527 --> 00:36:39,197 Americans used Mercurochrome to clean up cuts. 852 00:36:39,197 --> 00:36:41,241 It just took us a little longer 853 00:36:41,241 --> 00:36:42,659 to clean up the Mercurochrome. 854 00:36:46,746 --> 00:36:48,790 - Everybody knows regular bathing is essential 855 00:36:48,790 --> 00:36:50,291 for good hygiene. 856 00:36:50,291 --> 00:36:53,002 But in the old days, a bath was often less beneficial 857 00:36:53,002 --> 00:36:54,879 and more of a biohazard. 858 00:36:56,005 --> 00:36:58,508 - [Natalia] In the mid 1800s, bathing regularly, 859 00:36:58,508 --> 00:36:59,843 much less with clean water, 860 00:36:59,843 --> 00:37:02,262 is not really a priority for most Americans. 861 00:37:02,262 --> 00:37:05,265 In rural areas, if you wanted to get clean, 862 00:37:05,265 --> 00:37:06,933 you would maybe jump in a lake 863 00:37:06,933 --> 00:37:09,310 or you would use an animal trough, 864 00:37:09,310 --> 00:37:10,895 which meant that you were bathing 865 00:37:10,895 --> 00:37:13,773 in like 90% horse saliva. 866 00:37:14,274 --> 00:37:16,109 - [Edward] To bathe in a rural environment 867 00:37:16,109 --> 00:37:17,277 meant that you had to go to 868 00:37:17,277 --> 00:37:19,738 the river or to the well and get gallon 869 00:37:19,738 --> 00:37:22,365 after gallon of ice cold water, bring it inside, 870 00:37:22,365 --> 00:37:23,992 and then spend a ton of money on wood 871 00:37:23,992 --> 00:37:25,368 to get it heated up enough 872 00:37:25,368 --> 00:37:28,163 so that someone would have at least warm water 873 00:37:28,163 --> 00:37:29,622 in order to bathe themselves. 874 00:37:29,622 --> 00:37:31,750 And then people in the family, starting with dad, 875 00:37:31,750 --> 00:37:34,085 he would go first, then mom, then the children, 876 00:37:34,085 --> 00:37:36,296 all down the line, reusing the water. 877 00:37:36,296 --> 00:37:38,214 - Spare a though for the youngest 878 00:37:38,214 --> 00:37:40,842 of the family that had to sit in that human chowder 879 00:37:40,842 --> 00:37:43,303 and think that that was taking a bath. 880 00:37:43,303 --> 00:37:44,971 - Things are worse in the cities. 881 00:37:46,306 --> 00:37:47,974 In the late 1800s, 882 00:37:47,974 --> 00:37:50,935 individual apartments don't have running water. 883 00:37:50,935 --> 00:37:52,937 And typically there's only one spout 884 00:37:52,937 --> 00:37:55,356 per floor that would have to serve something 885 00:37:55,356 --> 00:37:57,817 like 20 different apartments. 886 00:37:57,817 --> 00:38:00,779 And that spout has one temperature, cold. 887 00:38:02,113 --> 00:38:05,200 - [Adam] In tenements very often, people would have a basin 888 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:06,951 and they would use a sponge 889 00:38:06,951 --> 00:38:10,121 and it was like a cold water sponge bath. 890 00:38:10,121 --> 00:38:11,289 - This is why city dwellers 891 00:38:11,289 --> 00:38:14,125 get the nickname The Great Unwashed. 892 00:38:14,125 --> 00:38:18,880 So city living required some shame swallowing. 893 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,381 - [Henry] Due to poor sanitation, 894 00:38:20,381 --> 00:38:24,219 diseases like cholera and typhoid are on the rise. 895 00:38:24,219 --> 00:38:27,931 So in 1870, New York City officials come up 896 00:38:27,931 --> 00:38:32,727 with an innovative way to bring good hygiene to the masses. 897 00:38:32,727 --> 00:38:35,522 They call them floating baths. 898 00:38:36,898 --> 00:38:38,691 - [Adam] When you look at the photos of the floating baths, 899 00:38:38,691 --> 00:38:40,401 it's really kind of amazing. 900 00:38:40,401 --> 00:38:44,739 There are these massive 95 by 60-foot sort of wooden frames 901 00:38:44,739 --> 00:38:48,451 that are on barges or just tethered to a dock, 902 00:38:48,451 --> 00:38:52,622 and anyone could get a nice 20-minute soak. 903 00:38:54,290 --> 00:38:56,918 - [Natalia] These floating baths are really popular. 904 00:38:56,918 --> 00:39:00,588 The first one in Manhattan services 4,500 people a day. 905 00:39:00,588 --> 00:39:03,299 Soon after, Brooklyn has five floating baths, 906 00:39:03,299 --> 00:39:06,511 and they bathe one million people per summer. 907 00:39:06,511 --> 00:39:07,846 - [Edward] I think if I was alive at the time, 908 00:39:07,846 --> 00:39:09,764 I would've absolutely been in one of those pools 909 00:39:09,764 --> 00:39:12,517 because it is sweltering in New York City. 910 00:39:12,517 --> 00:39:14,185 There's no air conditioning. 911 00:39:14,185 --> 00:39:16,437 People don't have electric fans. It's so refreshing. 912 00:39:16,437 --> 00:39:18,147 It's fun. 913 00:39:18,147 --> 00:39:19,524 You're there with your family, your friends, your children. 914 00:39:19,524 --> 00:39:21,150 It's a great way to fight the heat 915 00:39:21,150 --> 00:39:23,278 and fight the filth at the same time. 916 00:39:24,445 --> 00:39:26,281 - [Hakeem] But the big problem is that the water 917 00:39:26,281 --> 00:39:28,908 in the floating bath is the river water, 918 00:39:28,908 --> 00:39:30,827 and that water was gross. 919 00:39:32,287 --> 00:39:33,872 - [Adam] The water that is going 920 00:39:33,872 --> 00:39:38,167 into these baths is not from some below ground aquifer. 921 00:39:38,167 --> 00:39:40,962 It's not being brought in from Saratoga. 922 00:39:40,962 --> 00:39:43,965 It's not going through a desalination process. 923 00:39:45,508 --> 00:39:49,470 It's the same funky fetid water from the river itself. 924 00:39:49,470 --> 00:39:52,265 Basically, the tubs have slats in them. 925 00:39:52,265 --> 00:39:57,228 So what feeds the bath? It's the same river water. 926 00:39:58,646 --> 00:39:59,939 - The Environmental Protection Agency is not established 927 00:39:59,939 --> 00:40:01,482 for like another century. 928 00:40:01,482 --> 00:40:05,486 So the waterfront industries like slaughterhouses just use 929 00:40:05,486 --> 00:40:07,030 the river as a dumping ground. 930 00:40:07,030 --> 00:40:09,532 So they're putting bones and organs 931 00:40:09,532 --> 00:40:12,285 and animal carcasses just right in there. 932 00:40:12,285 --> 00:40:17,248 - [Adam] Tanneries put animal hides into really toxic 933 00:40:17,248 --> 00:40:19,459 chemicals to dissolve any hairs 934 00:40:19,459 --> 00:40:22,420 or anything that are on the skin itself. 935 00:40:22,420 --> 00:40:24,589 We're not talking about some kind of soap. 936 00:40:24,589 --> 00:40:28,217 They're tossing in lime. They're tossing in arsenic. 937 00:40:29,302 --> 00:40:31,429 - [Hakeem] And also, you have street runoff, 938 00:40:31,429 --> 00:40:33,222 and it's the time that they're using horses. 939 00:40:33,222 --> 00:40:34,891 So it's full of manure 940 00:40:34,891 --> 00:40:37,268 and other just nasty stuff that's 941 00:40:37,268 --> 00:40:39,354 on the surface of the city. 942 00:40:39,354 --> 00:40:42,106 - [Adam] So while you're there soaking for hygiene, 943 00:40:42,106 --> 00:40:45,568 you're also in this revolting stew of lime, arsenic, 944 00:40:45,568 --> 00:40:49,572 rotting animals, poop, metal, and glass. 945 00:40:49,572 --> 00:40:51,908 Fantastic. 946 00:40:51,908 --> 00:40:53,868 - [Edward] As the health hazards associated 947 00:40:53,868 --> 00:40:55,161 with these public baths become more 948 00:40:55,161 --> 00:40:56,788 and more evident, public health officials start 949 00:40:56,788 --> 00:40:58,998 to see there's more of a downside than an upside. 950 00:40:58,998 --> 00:41:00,625 And so public health officials begin to argue 951 00:41:00,625 --> 00:41:02,752 for the closure of these baths. 952 00:41:02,752 --> 00:41:05,421 But the huddled masses in the tenement districts, 953 00:41:05,421 --> 00:41:08,383 they oppose this because they really like these things. 954 00:41:09,801 --> 00:41:14,389 - [Negin] Even though the river baths were real gross and filthy 955 00:41:14,389 --> 00:41:17,475 and full of disease, people were committed 956 00:41:17,475 --> 00:41:20,937 and they were not fully shut down until the 1940s. 957 00:41:20,937 --> 00:41:23,398 So those things really stuck around. 958 00:41:25,274 --> 00:41:28,027 - Remembering all the things we once thought were 959 00:41:28,027 --> 00:41:31,906 perfectly sanitary, from splinters in our toilet paper, 960 00:41:31,906 --> 00:41:35,910 to fire in our ears, to barbers who just took 961 00:41:35,910 --> 00:41:39,914 off a smidge on the side, and your left leg. 962 00:41:39,914 --> 00:41:43,292 Good hygiene could be dirty work, 963 00:41:43,292 --> 00:41:44,794 but that's what made our hazardous history