There are many unanswered questions on the subject for researchers to deal with:

When you let one rip, is the damage repairable?
Why is it that the noisy ones are often less smelly, but the silent ones are the real killers?
Is there a foolproof way of telling the dry from the wet ones in advance?
Why is a "rumbler" more satisfying in the presence of piles?
Did La Petomaine exist? Was she a real person? And was she "natural", or pump-assisted (as claimed by the eponymous film with Leonard Rossiter)?