HEINUS – BERLIN German archeologists have discovered a urinal used by World War I German ruler Kaiser Wilhelm II. According to scientists, the urinal, found in a Baltic Sea shipwreck, adds an impressive stream of data to the record on historic waste habits. Information such as the size of the urinal, its mounting height, and its “capture angle” allow researchers like Forsman Heinike, a curator at the Canal College of the Kiel Canal’s (CCKC) Museum of Historic Movements, to make educated guesses about the German Kaiser’s equipment and habits. “Wilhelm II was reputed to ‘dress to the right’”, Heinike said. “By studying the wear patterns on the porcelain we are able to confirm that the Kaiser was a severe rightist, possibly even with a twist.”
Heinike says this is not the first discovery that sheds light on historic water closet habits. CCKC’s Museum of Historic Movements has an extensive collection of WC items that includes a bidet used by Marie Antoinette, a bedpan signed by Napoleon and the relief bag worn by Charles Lindbergh during his record-setting transatlantic flight aboard Spirit of St. Louis in 1927. “We were very lucky to obtain the Lindbergh bag, yes,” Heinike said. “It had been converted to a wine carafe and was used at the Toots Shor restaurant in New York City for many years. We obtained it via a private donor and after weeks of restoration work, we were able to return it to the exact state it was in during the flight when Lindbergh made extensive use of it.”
Whenever possible, the museum likes to retain the original material deposited during the use of the device, but, according to Heinike, that is not always possible. “In the Lindbergh case, his urine was kept in the original bag in a special refrigerator in Paris for some time until a hurried chef making mayonnaise mistook it for vinegar. So we had to recreate Lindbergh’s urine using bull saliva and lemonade.”
(Spirit of St. Louis image by Ad Meskens)
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