Welcome to the Sewers! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Urethra

The kidneys are organs which serve as filters of blood and which then divert these wastes down to the ureters. The ureters are the tubes through which the waste urine is passed to the bladder. The bladder then stores this urine until it is time to be emptied.

When that occurs, the urine passes through the tube known as the urethra, and out of the body. All together now: "The kidney's connected to the ureter, the ureter's connected to the bladder, the bladder's connected to the urethra..."

Answer: True

When it reaches the urethra, urine can develop a sometimes rather strong odour because of bacterial action on that site. The odour and content of the urine when it is eliminated from the body is similar to that of ammonia, and mankind has made use of this product throughout the ages in various and interesting ways. Well, interesting that is, if you're not eating your dinner whilst taking this quiz.

Answer: The smell of ammonia in urine deterred rats and killed fleas

Garderobe was a term that eventually came to mean a toilet or a commode chair only. Originally however, although one did go into this room for this purpose, a garderobe was used also as a storeroom. The room was built to include a toilet shaft, which was just a simple hole built out over a cesspit or a moat below - your first primitive sewer. All perishable goods liable to suffer the attack of rats or fleas, which were an ever present problems in medieval times, were placed in the same room, because the smell of the ammonia acted as a kind of very early pest control device.

The word "garderobe" means "to guard one's robes". That's so clever and inventive, don't you think? They got rid of the fleas and the pees at the same time.

Answer: Asparagus

Asparagus has an organosulfur carboxylic acid in its makeup and, when it is consumed by humans, it causes a stronger than normal odour in urine output. In "The Treatise of All Sorts of Food" written by one Louis Lemery in 1702, he remarks that asparagus "causes a filthy and disagreeable smell in the urine, as every Body knows". Oddly enough, it is believed that most people who eat asparagus produce unpleasant smelling urine, but only 22% of people have the gene that allows them to smell that odour. How peculiar is that? Other foods to produce strong odours in urine production include many spicy foods - particularly those containing saffron - and onion, coffee, turkey and alcohol.

There goes Thanksgiving.

Answer: Because the urine is abundant and sweet

A person with Diabetes mellitus has high blood sugar, hence the connection. This condition comes about because people with this condition either do not produce enough insulin, or their cells don't react to the insulin they do produce. Symptoms associated with diabetes are increased production of urine, increased hunger and increased thirst. Every time I read that, I feel thirsty immediately and scare myself witless. Amazingly so, this condition is one of the world's oldest diseases and has been identified even as far back as ancient Egypt when a manuscript described it as "passing too much urine".

Answer: By observing whether a person's urine attracted ants

How very brilliant were they to come up with this simple means of diagnosis? The ancient Indians called the condition the "sweet urine disease". It was identified by a famous Indian physician named Sushruta in the sixth century BCE. Furthermore, Sushruta noted that people who were overweight and led a far from active lifestyle tended to develop the condition.

His advise was to take up exercising to help control it. In ancient Persia, physicians identified the illness by the sweet taste and smell of the urine of those people with the condition.

Answer: True

Oh wow, that is simply amazing! Urine from pregnant and postmenopausal women is "rich in gonadotropins that can yield follicle stimulating hormone and lutenizing hormone for fertility therapy". So astonishing. These gonadotropins are extracted and purified to manufacture hCG drugs. Even the urine from pregnant horses can be utilised as well. So if you're a pregnant woman who's also a Sagittarian, you're a veritable gold mine. Furthermore, urine contains various antibodies as well and these are used for diagnosing several medical conditions. One such condition diagnosed by urine is HIV-1. Women are miracles of creation, are they not?

Answer: Cleaning aid

Because of the strong ammonia content in urine, it made an excellent cleaning aid. Before soap was acquired by the ancient Romans, they also used urine to clean grease stains off their clothing. The urine was fermented first and produced a product called lant. Such was its popularity as a cleaning device that the emperor Nero placed a tax on it. Even back then it seems, the powers that be had their hands in everyone's pockets. Nero's successor, Vespasian, continued this practice, a fact that failed to impress his son, who complained that it was a disgusting tax on a disgusting smelly product. Vespasian is said to have replied to this piece of fastidiousness that "Money doesn't smell". Urine was used for many purposes in Roman times, including as a component in toothpaste.

In fact, such was the demand for urine, that it had to be imported from several countries to keep up the supply.

Answer: It was used to make gunpowder

Straw and other organic products were moistened with urine and the pile was kept moistened while it rotted over a period of several months. When it had decomposed sufficiently, the residue was rinsed through with water and the fluid then allowed to evaporate. Crude saltpetre crystals were the result.

This was then refined further and used to manufacture gunpowder. All a bit sad really. It seems then that going to the toilet really can produce an explosion.

Answer: Gold

Alchemists spent a lot of time trying to produce gold from urine, with no success of course. However what they accidentally discovered along the way was white phosphorous. German alchemist Hennig Brand has been given the credit for this initial discovery while he was distilling fermented urine in 1669. White phosphorous was, and is, used in many incendiary and explosive devices. By 1773, French chemist Hilaire Rouelle discovered, that by boiling urine dry, he could produce urea.

This valuable product is used in fertilisers, as a raw material in the manufacture of plastics and adhesives, in explosive devices, as a pollutant reducer in diesel fuels, an ingredient in animal food, a flavour enhancer in cigarettes, an ingredient in skin creams and beauty products, and an amazing array of other products. So it seems that scientists and alchemists really did produce gold from urine after all.