﻿82 The Philippine Journal of Science isu 



the Philippine General Hospital and (2) the relative percentage 

 of infection with E. coli and E. histolytica. Incidentally evi- 

 dences of infection with intestinal parasites other than enta- 

 moebse were noted. 



The helminthic findings may be compared with those obtained 

 in other statistical studies of faeces in the Philippines for intes- 

 tinal helminthiasis by consulting a table which was compiled 

 by me.^ 



A criticism which may be made of many statistical studies 

 is that the conditions under which the data are secured, and 

 which, therefore, limit the conclusions drawn, are not defined 

 clearly. To avoid this, factors limiting the present investiga- 

 tion are given as carefully as possible. 



1. The persons examined were all inside hospital patients ad- 

 mitted during 1913. The vast majority of them were residents 

 of Manila. Some were victims of entamoebic dysentery, but 

 these constituted only a small percentage of the whole number 

 examined. 



2. Two thin cover-slip preparations of the one specimen ob- 

 tained from each case were examined. This is obviously a 

 meager examination. If more preparations had been examined 

 of each specimen and particularly if repeated examinations had 

 been made of negative cases, I am sure the positive percentage 

 obtained would have been augmented considerably. 



3. The stool specimens were collected by the regular hospital 

 routine method as follows : 



Unless otherwise specifically ordered, a patient is given a dose 

 of magnesium sulphate the morning after admission and a por- 

 tion of the first liquid stool obtained thereafter is sent to the 

 laboratory within an hour for examination. If a patient has 

 diarrhoeal or dysenteric symptoms, the first stool secured during 

 laboratory hours is sent to the laboratory by special messenger. 

 Since it was impracticable to examine all stools particularly for 

 entamoebae, it was determined before a specimen was seen by the 

 examiner whether it could be so examined, an operation which 

 requires more time than ordinary routine examination. When 

 a specimen from a patient having diarrhoeal or dysenteric symp- 

 toms arrived at the laboratory, it was included in the 1,000 cases 

 only provided that the next specimen, regardless of its nature, 

 would have been included in the series. Thus the cases were 

 unselected, but they may not represent a true average of those 

 entering the hospital. 



'Ihid (1911), 6, 77. 



