ABSTRACT
During the Middle Ages and until the nineteenth century, cleanliness was neither a priority of medicine nor a priority of people in general. Communal wells provided water to the streets, but there were few facilities for removing sewage. Waste polluted the wells. The streets were dumping grounds for garbage and human wastes, and domestic animals, including pigs, roamed the streets. Uneaten food was thrown on the oor to be devoured by dogs and cats or to rot, drawing swarms of ies from the stable. The cesspool in the rear of the house would have spoiled a person’s appetite if the sight of the dining room had not.
