﻿202 The Philippine Journal of Science i9i4 



in the Philippines. This conclusion may seem too radical, but 

 it is confirmed by the fact that the examination of the faeces 

 of all the patients admitted in the obstetrical department of 

 the Philippine General Hospital has shown that about 80 per 

 cent of the women have intestinal parasites. 



Two articles that deserve mention are Filariasis and elephan- 

 tiasis in southern Luzon " and Notes on the distribution of 

 Filaria nocturna in the Philippine Islands" by Phalen and 

 Nichols. In the first paper, the authors arrive at the conclu- 

 sion that filariasis is not, as is generally believed, an un- 

 common affection in the Philippines ; that in the Bicol provinces 

 exists the largest focus of filariasis known with the exception, 

 perhaps, of Davao where there is even a larger focus ; and that 

 what they reported as Microfilaria bancrofti, generally known 

 as Filaria nocturna, is the most common form of filaria in the 

 Philippines. In the second paper the authors show that in the 

 valley of Kilani River in Albay Province there seems to exist 

 an endemic center of filariasis, while the surrounding regions 

 are not as highly infected. Probably small foci of infection may 

 also be found in Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. 



Lastly, I shall mention the interesting article by Willets^* in 

 which, after describing the topography and the inadequate sani- 

 tary conditions that prevail in the Batanes Islands, north of 

 Luzon, as well as the habits and customs of the inhabitants, he 

 alleges that the diseases most commonly registered in that 

 isolated region of the Archipelago are : Tuberculosis ; pneumonia ; 

 pleurisy; skin diseases, especially a chronic ulcer of the thigh; 

 rheumatism; Bright's disease; and malaria, most commonly of 

 the pernicious type, which appears usually from July until 

 December. 



The above is all I could glean from the literature about the 

 medical geography of the Philippines which exists in the archives 

 and libraries I had the opportunity to examine. However, due 

 to the kindness and spirit of cooperation of Dr. Victor G. Heiser, 

 the Director of Health, it has been possible for me to present 

 here the interesting vital statistics of health as written below: 



The Director of Health states that, among the diseases having 

 an important influence upon the mortality of the Philippine 

 Islands and which science is able successfully to combat, are the 

 following. 



"This Journal, Sec. B (1908), 3, 293. 

 "/6rd. (1908), 3, 305. 

 "/6id. 1913), 8, 49. 



