preventable than curable, and that the best results are obtained when preventive and curative measures are instituted early. The effects of trachoma are felt not only by the individual but also by the community in which he lives. The invalidism caused by the disease is liable to impose financial burdens on that community, and the resulting blindness may render its victims public charges. Finally, school children affected by the disease have their studies interfered with, their education will be more expensive, their power to earn a living will be permanently lessened, and through no fault of theirs they may become permanent charges on the State. THE PREVALENCE OF TRACHOMA AMONG THE INDIANS. The occurrence of trachoma among western Indians has occasionally been noted in the medical literature for many years. It seems doubtful whether it has been generally recognized as such, however, by physicians on reservations until recently. In most of the older reservation records examined during this investigation, many cases of eye affections were recorded as "sore eyes," "conjunctivitis," "keratitis," "bad eyes," "scrofulous eyes," or "granulated eyes. In the records of very recent years increasingly frequent note is made of cases of trachoma as such, and the medical supervisor of the Office of Indian Affairs states that within the past three years concerted action has been taken to provide special curative measures, and their necessity has been emphasized to combat the disease. All of the officers engaged in these investigations endeavored by examination of records and consultations to secure evidence of the past prevalence of trachoma among the tribes visited, but the results were for the most part unsatisfactory, and reliance was placed on examinations of as large a number of Indians as possible to determine the present prevalence of the disease. NUMBER OF INDIANS INSPECTED. There was examined a total of 39,231 Indians at all the reservations and nonreservation boarding schools visited. Of this number, 8,940 individuals, or 22.7 per cent of the entire number examined, were found to have trachoma. Table No. I gives the location of the 39,231 Indians, the number of cases of trachoma found among those examined at each place, and the percentage of the disease. Accepting 322,715, the figures of the Indian Office, as the total Indian population in the United States, it will be seen that approximately one-eighth of this number were examined. If this rate of infection prevails among the Indians generally, it may be conservatively estimated that there are at the present time a total of 71,997 cases of trachoma among this class of the population. The persons examined represented both sexes and all ages. Some of them were students in boarding schools, others in day schools and mission schools, and the remainder were reservation Indians. All taken together are considered as representative of the general Indian population on the reservations and in the localities mentioned, with the exception of Oklahoma, to which explanatory reference is made on page 27. TRACHOMA AMONG ALL INDIANS EXAMINED. This table, it will be remembered, contains records of all Indians inspected. TABLE I.-Trachoma among all Indians examined in the United States. ARIZONA (COLLECTED BY FRICKS). TABLE I.-Trachoma among all Indians examined in the United States-Continued. KANSAS (COLLECTED BY HERRING). |