I noticed yesterday that in preparation for the Thursday visit of Queen Elizabeth to Richmond the grounds staff has placed more than 75 bright blue and green portable toilets in Capital Square, where a large crowd is expected. They add a dash of color to the scene, but I am not sure that on they whole they classify as a thing of beauty and a joy forever. I wonder, though, for all the centuries before portable toilets, what corresponding preparations got made for large, protracted gatherings of people at such events as revival meetings, political rallies, and the like. Several thousand people spent the day on Jamestown Island in May 1857 celebrating the first settlement of the colony, for instance, but accounts of that event that I have seen mention speaking and eating and drinking but nothing else. I suppose that people researching such events may have encountered some references to that important subject, even though once upon a time it might have been regarded as improper to mention it. Students of social history or public health may also have knowledge of this subject, but I confess that I do not recall seeing any references at all. Perhaps somebody out there can satisfy our purely empirical curiosity about that part of the past. Brent Tarter The Library of Virginia [log in to unmask] Visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us