144 The Philippine Journal of Science i9i6 



trie oscillometer on eighty-five subjects, gives the following 

 results : 



Table V. — Blood pressure recorded by Bachmann on eighty-five subjects. 



. , • „„„„ Millimeters of 



Age in years. mercury. 



15 to 20 95.5 



21 to 30 94.0 



31 to 40 88.7 



41 to 50 89.4 



51 to 60 90.0 



61 to 70 85.0 



These findings showed that diastolic-pressure readings in 

 man vary not only according to the instrument used but also 

 with age. As seen in Table I, our findings showed that the 

 average diastolic pressure for each decade varies from 76.6 to 

 91.6 millimeters in males and between 80.8 to 90.5 millimeters 

 in females. 



DISCUSSION 



Our findings show conclusively that systolic pressures of 

 Filipinos are very much lower than those of Americans 

 (Woley(ii)) and Europeans (Potain(i6)). If we take into 

 consideration that our observations were made on the Erlanger 

 sphygmomanometer, which gives comparatively higher readings 

 (1 to 10 millimeters or even 20 millimeters as found by the 

 appearance of the radial pulse in our cases), the difference is 

 much greater. 



Huggard(i7) claims that this low blood pressure found in 

 the tropics is associated with the dilation of the peripheral blood 

 vessels as well as increased elasticity of the vessel walls. Mus- 

 grave and Sison(i) believe that it is due, first, to low peripheral 

 resistance associated with the increased secretory function of 

 the sweat glands and, secondly, to the possibility of splanchnic 

 influences associated with prevalent sensation of abdominal va- 

 cuity and to the frequency of gastrointestinal disturbances. 

 Chamberlain suggests that there is a vaso-constriction of the 

 superficial blood vessels in the tropics. This will not only ex- 

 plain the occurrence of tropical pallor, but will also account 

 for the fact of its disappearance in a few days on the return 

 of the subject to a cold region. 



PULSE RATE 



It is a known physiological fact that pulse rate is influenced by 

 the size of the body, sex, muscular movements, hot food, rise of 



