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PilYtilOLOGICAL AJSID MEDICAL UBSEKVATlUNtf 



141 



Pulse, respiration, and temperature in relation to age 



Resume of the data shown in the preceding tables, and comparison 

 with whites. — Pulse: The average pulse rate in healthy adult whites 

 between the ages of 15 and 50 is from "70 to 72 in the male and 

 about 75 to 80 in the female" (Landois and Stirling, Vierordt, and 

 other authorities). It is higher in the young and rises again some- 

 what in those above 50. It is slightly more rapid in those of very 

 tall stature (Volkmann) and is more rapid in the forenoon than later 

 in the day. 



The average pulse rate in healthy adult Indians, in the sitting 

 position, is seen from the preceding tables to range in the different 

 tribes in men from 57 to 67 (extremes 44 to 78) and in the women 

 fi'om 62 to 73 (extremes 51 to 78). The heart beat is, therefore, 

 decidedly slower in the Indian " than in the white man. 



The differences between tribes are not marked enough to be of 

 much significance. The lowest averages, however, were obtained in 

 some of the shortest peoples. 



In the females the pulse was found generally somewhat quicker 

 than in the males, the average difference amounting to about 6 beats. 



In the same tribes the tallest individuals show, on the average, a 

 somewhat quicker pulse than the shortest ones. No regular pecul- 

 iarity of heart action was observed at any particular time of day. 



As to age, in two of five tribes the average pulse is greater in the 

 young; in three, in the old. The two groups of the oldest indi- 



a In 1869, in his Investigations in the Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers, 

 Gould states the average pulse in ."503 "Indians" to have been 76.31 per minute. This figure must be 

 erroneous cither through misprint (there are no details in the book) or through faulty observation. The 

 data utilized by Gould were obtained from various sources, as recruiting posts, where accuracy 

 and discrimination were hardly possible. No indication is given as to how many mixed-bloods or 

 unhealthy persons were comprised in the .503 individuals, nor as to the position of the body in which 

 the pulse was counted. The data should not be utilized as representative of the actual conditions of 

 the pulse in the Indians. 



That the relative slowness of heart action is not restricted to the Indians of the Southwest or to those 

 who are not civilized is shown by the following records obtained during the last two years on male 

 Indians of various delegations visiting Washington. The average pulse rate was: In 3 Creeks, 06; 2 

 Menominee, 67; 1 Mohican, 69; 2 Muscogee Creeks, 68; 3 Navaho, 63; 4 Osage, 61.5; 2 Pawnee. 70; 1 

 Pueblo (Isleta), 63; 1 Seneca, 68; 1 Ute, 64; 1 Wenatchee, 68; 1 Yakima, 64; 7 Yankton Sioux, 69. 



