250 INFECTIOUS AND PARASITIC DISEASES. 



The amount of fecal matter does not vary 

 Amount, so much as the number of stools, since 



the greater the number, the smaller the 

 individual movements, and vice versa. The size of the 

 stool bears a relation to the kinds of food eaten, a diet 

 rich in vegetables and starchy foods leaving a much 

 larger residue than one rich in animal proteids. 



The consistence of a stool depends upon 

 Consistence, the amount of water present. In health 



the food determines the amount of the 

 latter, being greater with a vegetable than a proteid 

 diet. 



Stools are described in regard to their consistency as 

 thin, mushy, or watery; and hard and dry (scybalous). 



The color of a stool varies with the charac- 

 CoLOR. ter of the food ingested. It may be quite 



light, as in a person restricted to a milk 

 diet ; green from green vegetables ; and black from a diet 

 containing an abundance of rare or raw meat. All 

 stools turn darker upon exposure to light. In disease 

 the stools may be golden, yellowish-green, or green, 

 from bile; pasty and greyish or white, in diseases 

 of the liver or bile passages; red, brownish-red, coffee- 

 colored, or black (tarry) from blood; dark blue from the 

 administration of methylene blue. Calomel turns the 

 stool green. The number of stools also has a bearing 

 upon their color, the larger the number, the lighter the 

 color of the individual movements. 



