Young Brunette Girl With A Fringe Posing In The Bathtub

Contrary to popular belief, bathing and sanitation were not a lost practice with the collapse of the Roman Empire. Soapmaking first became an established trade during the Early Middle Ages. Also, contrary to myth, chamberpots were not disposed of out the window and into streets in the Middle Ages - this was instead a Roman practice. Bathing in fact did not fall out of fashion until shortly after the Renaissance, replaced with the heavy use of sweat-bathing and perfume, as it was thought that water could carry disease into the body through the skin. Modern sanitation was not widely adopted until the 19th and 20th centuries.
The bathtub's modern spouse, the toilet, had problems gaining acceptance. Sir John Harington invented the first flushing toilet for himself and for his godmother, Queen Elizabeth I, in 1596. When Harington published a book describing his invention, he was roundly chided by peers, embarrassing him to the point of retirement from plumbing. His two toilets were the only ones he ever produced. The next water closet would not be seen for 200 years when it was introduced by Alexander Cummings in 1775. This event would mark the very beginnings of the modern bathroom.
It was now time for the piping to catch up with the fixtures. Until the 19th century, most water pipes in the US were made from hollow trees. In the early 19th century, cast-iron production began reducing American reliance on England for this material. Finally, in 1848, The National Public Health Act was passed in the US, creating a plumbing code for the first time.
In 1883, Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company and Kohler Company began producing cast-iron bathtubs. Far from the ornate feet and luxury most associated with clawfoot tubs, an early Kohler example was advertised as a "horse trough/hog scalder, when furnished with four legs will serve as a bathtub." The item's use as hog scalder was considered a more important marketing point than its ability to function as a bathtub. Everyone knew what a hog scalder or horse trough was, but many people at that time had never bathed in a tub. The tubs eventually caught on because of the sanitary and easy-to-clean surfaces that prevent the spread of disease.