UNCOMMON DISEASES IN PERU AND BOLIVIA. 153 
each year. There exists a snake of the boa-constrictor species which lives upon 
vermin and is protected by the owners of estates for their utihty. They, however, 
are very fond of milk and at night quickly find where the nursing mothers sleep. 
Noiselessly approaching they coil themselves beside the mother and while they 
rob the child of its nourishment they keep it quiet by inserting the point of their 
tail in its mouth, and thus the child wastes away from insufficient nourishment. 
The author of this was inclined to scoff at the story, but assured of its truth by 
such men as Dr. A. Arrigoni and Prof. Raimondi we had to accept it and give 
it believing it to be true. 
Ring- Worms, Herpes Circinatiis. — On the River Madeira, in Brazil, nearly 
all the workmen on the Madeira & Mamore R. R., were attacked with ring- 
worms; some lightly, others over the entire body. 
Goitre, " Paperas," (Gotto). — Arriving at the towns on the plains of north- 
eastern Bolivia we were surprised to find so many cases of Goitre. At least ten 
per cent of each village had either single or double goitre, the females exceeding 
the males in proportion of six to one. Both children and grown people — Indian, 
Negro, or white, all were affected. In a town near Santa Cruz de la Sierra, -^-^-^ 
have it, and some assert that it even attacks animals. As these people live on 
low lands, far from mountains and snow, many never using water that did not 
come from wells fed by the rains, it must be acknowledged that the theory of the 
" snow-water cause " must be discarded. Besides, those who live at the base of 
the mountains and who might be considered as using water that had once been ice 
and snow, are entirely free or probably in proportion of one in twenty thousand. 
These facts, so at variance with the acknowledged belief that in other places holds 
good, makes it a subject of interest worth more than a hasty thought. The region 
drained by the Yacuma River lies between two water-sheds which run nearly 
parallel at that point separated by 200 miles. This region is a low prairie grazing 
land, and all the water that feeds the river comes from the winter rains, and the 
most ardent supporter of the snow theory must grant that his theory is at fault. 
At no time in the hfe of the female can one say it abounds more than at another, 
as in some parts. Could the winds bring it from the mountains? The winds 
come from an opposite direction. 
"EspuNDiA," (Malignant Indolent Ulcer), — In the Department of 
Caupolican. in Bolivia, there are some cities of consideration, among which is that 
of Apolobamba. The pasture lands about that city are insufficient to supply all 
the cattle needed for beef, hence they are very dear. On the plains of the De- 
partment of Beni cattle are abundant and cheap. As a natural consequence 
there exists a traffic in cattle between those two Departments. The droves pass 
the River Beni at Rurenabaque in S. Lat. 14° 26' 21", thence along the base of 
the mountains northwest to Tumupasa, then turning west, cross the intervening 
ridge, descending to the river Tuichi at San Jose, cross it then by dangerous and 
difficult mountain paths to " Apolo." This latter part must be passed on foot, as 
no horse or mule can travel there loaded. It is during this passage on foot that 
the traveler is exposed to the Espundia. At first it appears as a small pimple. 
