COLOGNE, Germany — The first sweet whiff of 4711 Eau de Cologne wafts by us as we leave the Café Reichard terrace overlooking the city’s Gothic cathedral and stroll down Hohe Strasse. At the next ...

But they weren’t carried as protection from showers of the traditional kind – the lack of flushing toilets meant commodes were simply emptied out of windows onto the street. By the end of the 1700s, ...