Letter: The long and the short of it

Sir: In your feature 'Have I been? Don't mention it' (21 June), reference was made to the Bristol Stool Chart. We would like to point out that the first Faecal Form Scale was devised in 1983 as part of a research project at the University of Surrey and that the Bristol Stool Chart came later.

The relationship of the time taken for food residues to pass through the gut with the appearance of stools resulted in the development of our Faecal Form Scale. The use of this scale is helping us to understand more about gastrointestinal problems.

Yours faithfully,

JILL DAVIES

JOHN DICKERSON

Nutrition Research Centre

South Bank University

London, SE1