No history of sanitation would be complete without touching upon the plumbing fixtures in buildings, and showing the marked progress along these lines within the last quarter of a century. It is only a little over a century and a quarter since the first English patent was granted for a water closet. That was in the year 1775, and was issued to Alexander Cummings, who, strange to say, was a watchmaker. This closet was the first one patented which had what is known as a trap to contain water for a seal. Three years later a patent was issued to Joseph Bramah, inventor of the hydraulic press, for a water closet with a valve at the bottom. Little progress was made in the improvement of water closets during the next half century, and when in the year 1833 the first American patent was taken out the art had not advanced very far. Indeed, it might be said that until the time of the filing of the application for the Fraim and Neff patent, for a siphon closet, that a real cleanly and sanitary type of closet was not on the market. [Illustration: A Bath Room of the Early 70's] [Illustration: One Stage in the Evolution of the Porcelain Enamel Bath] [Illustration: A Slop Sink of Long Ago] Bath tubs and lavatories have improved as much in appearance in the time that has elapsed as have water closets. The earliest bath tubs of which we have any knowledge were hewn out of marble. Later, when bath tubs came into rather extensive use in the United States, they were made of wood, lined with either sheet zinc or sheet copper, tinned on one side, and it is only within comparatively recent years that porcelain enameled tubs came into use, and that solid porcelain tubs were manufactured in this country. Open plumbing was unheard of twenty-five years ago and in its stead plumbing fixtures were concealed as much as possible by encasing them in woodwork of more or less ornate designs; at that time the lavatories were all made of marble, and of this material fully 90 per cent. of the lavatories were made up to about the year 1902. About that time, porcelain enameled and solid porcelain lavatories commenced taking the lead and worked a complete revolution in the design of these fixtures. Indeed, so sudden and complete was the change that inside of a year the marble-top lavatories were driven as completely from the market as though they never existed, and, outside of old work, they are as much a curiosity to-day as an old pan closet. [Illustration: Bath Tub Encased in Woodwork] [Illustration: An Old Marble-Top Lavatory]