Vincent Van Gogh's Sink and Hydrotherapy Tub

When Vincent Van Gogh chased his roommate and friend Paul Gauguin down the street in Arles with a straight razor, and then cut off his own ear and gave it to a prostitute, the major of Arles had him involuntarily commited for a month's stay in a mental institution. The razor episode was in December 1889, the hospital stay was in March 1889.

A short time after his release, in early May 1889, Vincent realized that he needed further help and voluntarily committed himself to an asylum in Saint-Rémy de Provence, not far to the north-east of Arles, in southern France.

Here is a view out of the asylum toward the gardens.

He produced 150 paintings during his one-year stay in this hospital.

Mental health care was very primitive in those days, and featured "hydrotherapy".

The patient was physically restrained in a tub, held in place with a wooden panel around the neck, and doused with streams of cold water.

Rose George's The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters is a fascinating description of sanitation conditions around the world. "2.6 billion people don't have sanitation. [....] Four in ten people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket, or box. [....] Poor sanitation, bad hygiene, and unsafe water — usually unsafe because it has fecal particles in it — cause one in ten of the world's illnesses. [....] Diarrhea — nearly 90 percent of which is caused by fecally contaminated food or water — kills a child every fifteen seconds. The number of children who have died from diarrhea in the last decade [1998-2008] exceeds the total number of people killed by armed conflict since the Second World War.

In September 2009, Morna Gregory and Sian James published a book titled Toilets of the World. It's pretty much the same theme that you find here — photographs and commentary on other people's plumbing.

The Porcelain God: A Social History of the Toilet, by Julie Horan, contends that civilization began with the toilet.

Toilet: Public Restrooms and the Politics of Sharing, edited by Laura Noren and Harvey Molotch, has essays by anthropologists, sociologists, and architects on the importance of the toilet, especially for urban dwellers.

Latrinae Et Foricae: Toilets in the Roman World describes the toilets of the Roman Empire from Iberia to Syria, and from North Africa to Hadrian's Wall in Britannia.

Toilets, Bathtubs, Sinks, and Sewers: A History of the Bathroom, explains the history of personal cleanliness and hygiene to children in grades 5-8.

If you're not bored yet, you might be interested in (or at least tolerate):

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