# Did/do Chinese physicians really smell their patients' feces? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196 "2003-06-29T18:53:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/1 "2003-06-29T18:53:04Z")
There’s a scene in the Bertolucci film _The Last Emperor_: Two-year-old Pu Yi has just been crowned emperor of China and is spending his first night in the palace. While he is reluctantly having his bath, a court physicians sniffs the crap in Pu Yi’s chamber pot and orders, “No bean curd!” Meaning, I presume, that for medical reasons the palace cooks shouldn’t feed the emperor any bean curd until further notice. Did traditional Chinese physicians really use the smell of a patients’ feces as a diagnostic tool? Do they still? Would it really provide any useful information? Unlike acupuncture, this practice seems never to have caught on in the West. ---
**Author:** ![Xgemina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/b5e925/32.png) [@Xgemina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xgemina)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/2 "2003-06-29T19:18:00Z")
I believe that the smell of feces has been and still is used by physicians everywhere. For exampe: according to Medfriendly.com-- [http://www.medfriendly.com/feces.html](http://www.medfriendly.com/feces.html) [quote] To diagnose various medical problems, feces are often examined for their **smell** , color, quantity, and consistency…\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/3 "2003-06-29T19:40:44Z")
I think I’ll mention this the next time my grandparents ask me why I didn’t become a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/4 "2003-06-29T19:45:37Z")
It’s certainly common for vets, and conscientious animals owners, to keep on out on what comes out. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/5 "2003-06-29T20:03:23Z")
Frankly, I don’t go around sniffing patient’s feces, but I can tell the scent of melanotic stool (digested blood), along with fatty stool, from ordinary stool. I can also diagnose trichomonas in a female patient by scent alone in a lot of cases (altho I also send it to the lab to make sure). Anaerobic abscesses are easy to diagnose by smell, as is wet gangrene. And diabetics in keto-acidosis give off a characteristic fruity odor. Hazard of the profession. Anyone still think we get paid too much? 😃 QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/6 "2003-06-29T21:41:29Z")
If pay scales are based on the ookiness factor, doctors should be on the low end! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/7 "2003-06-30T02:13:54Z")
no doctor in China has ever smelled my poop. I’m sure it can happen, but it’s not part of the normal exam. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/8 "2003-06-30T03:28:14Z")
I can smell pretty much what Qadgop can, plus maybe some liver disease, pneumonia, strep throat and urine infections. If I’m going to smell a patient’s stool, though, they’d probably need to be on their way to a more glamorous “throne” than the one you’re heading for :). ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/9 "2003-06-30T07:50:01Z")
Seems perfectly reasonable to me. Smell can be an incredibly useful diagnostic tool. I can diagnose parvo or other HGE’s by smell, as well as parasite infestations, yeast infection of the ears, hotspots and other skin ailments. Heck, one of the women I work with can usually tell you what _type_ of parasites an animal has just by smelling the poop. I can usually only recognize coccidia smell, though. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/10 "2003-06-30T08:05:28Z")
and i know when a person have had papaya… ---
**Author:** ![Mith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mith)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-do-chinese-physicians-really-smell-their-patients-feces/185196/11 "2003-06-30T09:45:09Z")
I saw a Dateline special… or maybe it was 20/20, where women suffering from breast cancer were seen by a Chinese doctor. he was dressed as a buddhist monk, I remember. Part of his examination included stirring the women’s urine sample and smelling it, as well as noting it’s foamabitlity or lack there of. He didn’t use the aid of a mamoghram or biopsy, and then proceeded to give them herbs and special diets. Very interesting.