484 



CHAMBERLAIN. 



During the last three years the United States Aimy Board for the 

 Study of Tropical Diseases has been carrying out two series of observa- 

 tions, one to determine if any benefit resulted from the use of orange- 

 red underwear in the Philippines, ( 5 ) and the other to decide if 

 complexion type was a factor in the resistance of white men to tropical 

 influences. (6) During this work a large number of observations on the 

 blood were made by the members of the Board and by certain medical 

 officers of the Army who were detailed to make the examinations under 

 the supervision of the Board.'^ The large number of independent ob- 

 servers minimizes as far as possible the influence of the personal equation 

 in this work. The red cells were counted with the Thoma-Zeiss hsemo- 

 eytometer. The haemoglobin estimations were made in most cases with 

 Dare's hsemoglobinometer and in the remainder with the von Fleischl 

 instrument. The number of men observed is so large that the element 

 of chance is eliminated. With one exception the stations where the sol- 

 diers resided were close to the coast line. Most of them were near sea- 

 level and of the posts which were not so situated. none were at an altitude 

 exceeding 600 feet (200 meters). It should be understood that all of 

 the men were healthy soldiers performing their full military duty. The 

 results are shown in Tables II and III. The average age of the men 

 in Table II was 25.3 years and of those in Table III was 27.7 years. 



Table II. — Average erythrocyte counts and hcemoglobin estimations on 65 Amer- 

 ican soldiers who at the date of the first examination had served on the average 

 lJf.9 months in the Philippines. 



Dates of examinations. 



January, 1909— 



July, 1909 



December, 1909 





Average 

 number of 



erythrocytes 

 per cubic 



millimeter. 



Average 



hpemoglo- 



bin. 



Average 



color 



index. 





5, 276, 000 

 •5,355,000 

 .5,152,000 



Per cent 

 89.3 

 88.2 

 90.0 



0.85 

 0.82 

 0.87 









* The medical officers who were engaged in making the blood examinations 

 referred to in this sentence were the following: Majors A. E. Truby and Koger 

 Brooke, jr. : Captains E. G. Bingham, J. R. Barber, Mahlon Ashford, E. G. Huber, 

 H. M. Snyder, and W. L. Hart; 1st Lieutenants J. B. H. Waring, W. R. Dear, 

 C. E, Doerr, P. S. Wright, C. G. Snow, N. L. McDiarmid, Armin Mueller, T. J. 

 Leary, M. C. Stayer, L. C. Garcia, and C. E. Fronk, Medical Corps; and 1st 

 Lieutenants W. F. de Niedman, and C. A. Betts, Medical Reserve Corps. 



