Cancer of the Colon, sigmoid or rectum does not present any diagnostic features, which are revealed by microscopic examination. The microscopic examination of a section of the growth, the clinical history, local examination, the discharge of blood, Pusan mucus are the only safe guides to a diagnosis.

Insusceptible of the Sigmoid or complete prolapse of the rectum are diagnostician by local examination independently of the fecal discharges which are due to traumatize rather than any bacterial factor.

Syphilis, when present in the rectum, will reveal the systemic infection at some other portion of the body as well as at that point, in the majority of cases.

Amebic Dysentery is probably the most important of all the bacterial factors to be diagnostician by means of fecal examinations. This disease is pronounced when the movements are very frequent, sometimes numbering from ten to twenty each day, associated with severe pain along the intestinal tract and in the rectum. The fecal discharges are usually stained with blood and are small, frequent, fluid evacuations, containing a large amount of mucus. The reaction of the amebic stools is always alkaline, which is necessary to the life of the bacteria. The microscopic examination reveals tissue fragments, blood, mucus and the amoeba.

The Shiva and Flexible bacilli seem to be the cause of another type of specific colitis which is not understood at the present time.

Typhoid Fever, while a systemic disease outside the realm of rectal diseases, is to be considered in the differential diagnosis during its mild, or late forms, when associated with diarrhea. The general symptoms of this disease, the leucotomy-toss, and the Wilda test for the presence of the disease as manifested in the blood, is the safest manner in which to reach a diagnosis. The danger of infection to the examiner is unwarranted because of the simple methods now in vogue.

Cholera is characterized by the "rice water" in stools and the comma bacillus. The dejection of cholera are almost devoid of fecal matter and coloring material.

Diphtheria Colitis is always associated with a diarrhea when the disease has progressed for a short time. The stools are composed of necrotic tissue, blood, pus and mucus.

Tuberculosis of the intestine may not be revealed by a single microscopic examination of the feces and, in fact, it is often necessary to make a number of examinations to discover the bacilli. This is probably due to the lack of opportunity to submit a specimen of the involved tissue for examination and to the small amount present. Tubercle bacilli may be present in the stools of a person suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis, in which case the sputum swallowed is sufficient to cause their presence in the stools.

Catarrh Jaundice usually causes the stools to become firm and clay-colored. Fat is found in a large quantity in the form of tufts or needle-like crystals in the form of sheaves.

Nervous Diarrhea may be present in persons suffering from neurasthenia and is indicative of an abnormal peristalsis in both the large and small intestine. The stools are frequently as many as from five to ten each day, which may alternately be solid or fluid in consistence. The patients often have a periodic sudden desire to empty the bowel, particularly at certain meal times.

Chronic Hypertrophy Colitis is characterized by the discharge of mucus in the feces after severe colicky pain (mucous crisis) which is usually relieved by the evacuation. The mucus discharges sometimes resembles the lumen of the bowel and are commonly called casts. Often these attacks are as-associated with constipation or followed by it. The feces present no other characteristic than the large amount of mucus.

Acute Catarrh. Diseases of the small intestine usually exist without causing a diarrhea unless there is an involvement of the colon. Affections of this type of inflammation which involve the ileum alone may not be associated with diarrhea, as the natural reservoir in the transverse and descending colon give ample time for the absorption of the fluids before evacuation. Lesions which involve the small intestine usually give rise to the formation of large quantities of gas. The stools are firmly formed, contain praline mucus and undigested food.

Acute Catarrh Colitis is generally accompanied by large, liquid, soap-like evacuations of mucus. The mucus is not bile-stained as may be found in the stools which accompany acute catarrh disease of the ileum.