The order of abnormal habits brought into existence by ulcerative inflammation of the anus, rectum, and colon is about as follows: (1) the habit of unduly retaining the feces in the rectum; (2) the habit of straining at stool; (3) the habit of unduly retaining the feces in the sigmoid flexure; (4) the habit of resorting to the use of purgatives, pepsin, and other drugs; (5) the chronic “physic” habit; (6) the foolish “diet” habit; (7) the gastro-intestinal neurasthenic habit; (8) the health-resort habit; (9) the habit of trying desperately to appear agreeable while feeling really ill; (10) the habit of blaming the liver for all direful feelings, physical and mental. It is but natural that the lower portion of the rectal and anal structures should be affected more severely than any other portion of the intestines by the ulcerative, inflammatory process. The sphincter muscles are very strong, as a rule, and fill their office only too well when the anal and rectal canals are in a diseased state, for they effectually prevent the contents from escaping. Often their contraction or stricture is so great that their expansion is limited to from one-fourth to one-half an inch. This virtually permanent closure of the anal vent naturally results in an accumulation of feces just above it, or in the lower portion of the rectum, which accounts for the dilatation, stretching, or ballooning of the anal and rectal tissues immediately above these muscles, as shown in Fig. 4. [Illustration: Fig. 4. 1, The dotted lines indicate the normal direction of the anus and rectum; 2, 4, the cavities or pouch formed by dilatation or ballooning from the storage of impacted feces; 3, a probe bent at right angles, and introduced through a speculum, to ascertain the depth of the pouch, which is frequently found to be two and a half inches.] In not a few cases where dilatation of the rectum exists, the upper half or more of the anal canal is also dilated, leaving an anal canal only an eighth of an inch in length in some cases; in other cases, perhaps half an inch to an inch. Similar dilatation of the sigmoid flexure occurs as the result of the severe contraction of the upper half of the rectum, and especially at the bend shown by Fig. 6 and Fig. 12. This bend forms quite a sphincter for the normal receptacle--the sigmoid flexure. Here also prolapse, distention, and dislocation of the sigmoid flexure may occur, somewhat similar to the anal prolapse from disease and abuse.