Editing Scatology

{{short description|Study of faeces}}
{{For|the Coil album|Scatology (album)}}{{distinguish|Eschatology}}
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In [[medicine]] and [[biology]], '''scatology''' or '''coprology''' is the study of [[faeces]].

Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its [[diet (nutrition)|diet]] (and thus [[habitat (ecology)|where it has been]]), [[health]] and [[disease]]s such as [[tapeworms]].

A comprehensive study of scatology was documented by [[John Gregory Bourke]] under the title ''{{sic|hide=y|Scat|alogic}} Rites of All Nations'' (1891), with a 1913 German translation including a foreword by [[Sigmund Freud]]. An abbreviated version of the work was published as ''The Portable Scatalog'' in 1994.<ref>{{cite book  | last = Kaplan  | first = Louis P.  | author-link = Sigmund Freud  | title = The Portable Scatalog  | publisher = William Morrow and Company  | date = 1994  | location = New York  | isbn = 0-688-13206-5}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The word derives from the [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|grc|σκῶρ}} ({{small|[[Genitive case|GEN]]}} {{lang|grc|σκατός}}) meaning "dung, feces"; ''coprology'' derives from the Greek {{lang|grc|κόπρος}} of similar meaning.<ref>{{LSJ|skw{{=}}r|σκῶρ}}, {{LSJ|ko/pros|κόπρος|ref}}.</ref><ref>{{OEtymD|scatology}}</ref><ref>{{OEtymD|copro-}}</ref>

== Psychology ==
In [[psychology]], a scatology is an obsession with [[excretion]] or [[excrement]], or the study of such obsessions.

In [[sexual fetishism]], scatology or scatophilia (usually abbreviated ''scat'') refers to [[coprophilia]], when someone is [[sexual arousal|sexually aroused]] by fecal matter, whether in the use of feces in various sexual acts, watching someone [[defecation|defecating]], or simply seeing the feces. Entire subcultures in sexuality are devoted to this fetish.{{cn|date=September 2017}}

== Literature ==
In [[literature]], "scatological" is a term to denote the literary [[Trope (literature)|trope]] of the [[grotesque body]]. It is used to describe works that make particular reference to excretion or excrement, as well as to [[toilet humour|toilet humor]]. Well known for his scatological tropes is the late medieval fictional character of [[Till Eulenspiegel]]. Another common example is [[John Dryden]]'s ''[[Mac Flecknoe]]'', a poem that employs extensive scatological imagery to ridicule Dryden's contemporary [[Thomas Shadwell]]. German literature is particularly rich in scatological texts and references, including such books as [[Collofino]]'s ''Non Olet''.<ref>{{cite book | last = Dundes | first = Alan |author2=Carl R. Pagter  | title = Work hard and you shall be rewarded: urban folklore from the paperwork empire | publisher =[[Wayne State University Press]] | date = 1992 | pages = 75–80 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cFvY2jWqBlQC&q=strong+anal+component | isbn = 978-0-8143-2432-5}}</ref> A case which has provoked an unusual amount of comment in the academic literature is [[Mozart and scatology|Mozart's scatological humour]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2013}} Smith, in his review of English literature's representations of scatology from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, notes two attitudes towards scatology. One of these emphasises the merry and the carnivalesque. This is found in [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]] and [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]. The other attitude is one of self-disgust and misanthropy. This is found in the works of the [[John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester|Earl of Rochester]] and [[Jonathan Swift]].<ref>Smith (2012)</ref>

== See also ==
{{Wiktionary|scatology|coprology}}
* [[Coprolite]] – fossilized faeces 
* [[Coprophilia]] – faeces fetish
* [[Stool sample]] – sample of faeces for studying
* [[Urolagnia]] – urination fetish

== Sources ==
* [[Bakhtin, Mikhail]], ''[[Rabelais and His World]]''.
* Lewin, Ralph, ''Merde: excursions in scientific, cultural and socio-historical coprology''. [[Random House]], 1999. {{ISBN|0-375-50198-3}}.
* Susan Gubar, "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3173290 The Female Monster in Augustan Satire]." ''Signs'' 3.2 (Winter, 1977): 380–394.
* Jae Num Lee, ''Swift and Scatological Satire''. [[University of New Mexico Press]], 1971. {{ISBN|0-8263-0196-7}}.
* Smith, Peter J. (2012) Between Two Stools: Scatology and its Representation in English Literature, Chaucer to Swift, [[Manchester University Press]]<ref>[https://www.timeshighereducation.com/books/between-two-stools-scatology-and-its-representation-in-english-literature-chaucer-to-swift-by-peter-j-smith/421341.article David Palumbo, David (2012) Review of Between Two Stools: Scatology and its Representation in English Literature, Chaucer to Swift, by Peter J. Smith, ''Times Higher Education'' Oct 4, 2012] (Accessed Nov 2015)</ref>
* {{cite book
  | last = Henderson
  | first = Jeffrey
  | title = The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic Comedy
  | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
  | date = 1991
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aBsR2BEuAq0C
  | isbn = 0-19-506685-5}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Toilets}}
[[Category:Feces]]