Yeah, I thought about that. I have a "low flow" toilet, so perhaps that is why it didn't work?
The guy definitely seems to be for real. His homepage is
here, and it lists the insane amount of scientific articles he's published. The article in question seems to be:<blockquote>Gerba, C.P., C. Wallis, and J.L. Melnick. 1975. Microbial hazards of household toilets. Droplet production and the fate of residual organisms. Appl. Microbiol. 30:229-237.</blockquote>But unfortunately, my university library account only allows me to access articles from 1998 to present (via the internet, that is).