The removal of portions of malignant tumours for confir- matory section is often desirable, but fraught with danger in many situations. It may be dangerous for anatomical reasons, as in the case of the pancreas, or owing to dlifficulty of access, or there may be danger of spreading the disease into healthy tissues-for instance, an incision ir-to a cancer of the breast or a sarcoma of bone to obtain tissue for section is generally condemned. The rectum and lower pelvic colon, however, present a very favourable part of the body for this purpose: it can be easily reached by a sigmoidoscope without pain or the use of an anaesthetic, and malignant tumours here grow in such a way that portions may be removed from the lumen of the bowel without danger of perforation or serious ha'emorrhage. The danger of disseminating the disease by removing a small piece of tissue from the surface of the growth must be almost negligible-very little greater than the danger involved in the passage of faeces over the growth.
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W. B. Gabriel (1931) studied this question.