52 
(Army before 1898) than among the civilians from the District of 
Columbia. It is possible that the relatively high frequency of pin- 
worms among the soldiers admitted from the Army before 1898 may 
have the same explanation as that suggested in the case of the soldiers 
from the Soldiers’ Homes, namely, a long period of institutional life. 
All of the soldiers admitted before the Spanish- American war had 
necessarily been residents at the hospital at least four years before our 
examinations were begun. 
It is of interest to note that the rate of total infection among 
patients admitted to the hospital from the Navy is considerably higher 
than that among patients from civil life in the District of Columbia 
and slightly higher than the rate among the soldiers admitted from 
the Army before 1898. 
The soldiers admitted to the hospital after the outbreak of the 
Spanish- American war (1898) gave a rate of total infection almost 
three times as great as the rate present among soldiers admitted from 
the Army before that time. It is natural to attribute this marked 
difference in the frequency of helminthiasis in the two groups to the 
better hygienic conditions prevailing at the Regular Army posts than 
at the temporary reserve camps established during the war. Other 
factors to be considered, however, are the younger average age of the 
soldiers admitted during and after the war and the greater length of 
hospital residence prior to the time of examination in the case of the 
soldiers admitted to the hospital before 1898. It is seen that the 
higher rate of infection among the men from the Army after 1898 is 
due almost entirely to a greater frequency of infection with whip- 
worms and with hookworms, while pinworms gave a considerably 
higher infection among the soldiers admitted before the war. 
The soldiers admitted to the Government hospital after military 
service in the Philippine Islands presented a higher rate of total infec- 
tion than did any other group of patients examined, excepting the 
female patients confined to a few wards in one section of the Con- 
necticut hospital (see p. 58). The Philippine soldiers gave more than 
twice as many infections per 100 persons than did the soldiers 
admitted to the Government hospital from service in the States dur- 
ing the war and over eight times as many infections as the civilians 
admitted from the District of Columbia. The parasites contributing 
to this excessive amount of infection among the Philippine soldiers 
were for the most part whipworms and hookworms, eelworms and 
Cochin China worms having presented but one infection each and pin- 
worms none. The most striking results in this group of patients are 
the relatively high figures for hookworms. Of the 36 infections with 
this parasite found in the total 3,457 persons examined, 14 occurred in 
this group of 115 men. It is remarkable that Ascaris lumbricoid.es 
should have given only one infection among the Philippine soldiers. 
