HRDLicKA] PHYSIOLOGICAL A.ND MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS 187 



occasional headache; in one, stomach (Hsorder; in one, calentura, 

 pneumonia, or pleurisy; and in one, pneumonia or pleurisy, pains in 

 the back, vertigo, and stomach disorders. Among all the Iluichol 

 seen not one was blind, but there was found one deaf and dumb child. 



The most common disease among the Cora is.calentura. Outbreaks 

 of smallpox are not infrequent and are much feared. Intestinal dis- 

 orders among infants are common. Pulmonary tuberculosis, though 

 not unknown, is rare. 



Among the Tarasco the minor gastro-mtestinal disorders were met 

 with most often. However, there was but little opportunity among 

 this tribe for extended observations. 



The Otomi (Hidalgo), besides being commonly subject to digestive 

 disorders of lighter grades, show more often than other Indians 

 visited, excepting the Aztec, the common ill effects, both inherited 

 and acquired, of the abuse of intoxicants. Epilepsy and other 

 neuropathic conditions are met with quite frequently; but there are 

 districts in which the people are sturdier and healthier. 



Among the Tlahuiltec, according to personal observations and the 

 information of the "padre" who works among them, the most com- 

 mon diseases, besides the fi'equent effects of alcoholism, are various 

 calenturas and pneumonia. In consequence of the abuse of aguar- 

 diente many individuals show tremors, premature feebleness, and 

 other disorders. In their largest village there are but a few really 

 old people. The health of the women, who drink less, is superior to 

 that of the men." 



SUMMARY 



The preceding details and the general information obtained in the 

 study of Indian diseases may be summarized as follows: 



On the whole the health of the Southwestern and north Mexican 

 noncivilized Indians is superior to that of the whites living in larger 

 communities. The advantage of the Indian lies principally in the 

 greater freedom from those various morbid conditions that arise 

 through deficient inheritance, from those that in the white race 

 frequently accompany such processes or periods of life as teething, 

 puberty, menstruation, gestation, puerperium, menopause, and senil- 

 ity, and from malignant growths; while the only disadvantage of the 

 Indian consists in a possibly weaker resistance of his system to a 

 few of the contagions. 



Of afilictions of definite parts of the organism among the Indians of 

 the Southwest and northern Mexico it is possible to give the appended 

 information. 



Pathological conditions of the blood are very rare, but anemia is 

 occasionally met with in the latter stages of malaria, or, in a light 

 degree in some of the taller school girls, who have become debilitated. 



a See also chapter dealing with medicine and treatment, and individual notes in detail tables. 



