37

A.—3.

The Europeans are seen by this table to have an. appreciable infection. Strangely enough, Mangaia has the heaviest infection-rate, though the most southern island. This is probably due to the fact that the Mangaian goes inside of the makatea to work, where the soil is very damp in his gardens, and lives more nearly a rural life than those on the other islands, where the gardens are nearer home, on the beach. Clinically, Aitutaki was most heavily infected, especially among the young children. Clinically, I saw many cases of infection with intestinal parasites —enough, and more, in my opinion, to warrant mass treatment of the whole population. 5. Infection by Age. Primitive peoples do not know their ages accurately, so that we have to take the age-grouping of " adults " and " children," calling those who are of marriageable age " adults," and the younger ones " children." Table 2 will show this grouping in the Cooks by age :— Table 2. —Hookworm Infection by Age. Examined. Infected. Per Cent. Men .. .. .. .. .. 265 201 76 Women .. .. .. .. .. 193 138 71 Adults .. .. .. .. 458 339 74 Boys .. .. .. .. .. .. 292 204 69 . Girls .. .. .. .. .. .. 253 168 66 Children .. .. .. .. 565 372 68 6. Infection by Sex. Table 3 will show the infection-rate among Cook-Islanders by sex : — Table 3. —Hookworm Infection by Sex. Examined. Positive. Per Cent. Males .. .. .. .. .. .. 557 405 72 Females .. .. .. .. .. 446 306 68 When all the males from the different islands are added together, and all the females, there seems to be little difference in the rate of infection by sex. But the infection by sex in different islands varies much more than this. Table 4 will carry this infection by age and sex into detail by islands. lam unable to explain this great variation, unless it be a difference in the location of the gardens from the homes, or a difference in the customs of some islands by which the women do more or less of the work in the gardens. On some islands our number of specimens was too small to make the infection-rate absolutely accurate.

Table 4.—Hookworm Infection. —Rate by Age and Sex.

7. Infection by Race. Infection by race has been shown in Table 1. There are only Polynesians and Europeans living in the Cook Islands. Immigration of Asiatics has been prohibited. In the Society Islands, to the north-east, the Polynesian race is on the way to be replaced by a half-caste race by crossing with the Chinese, who are rapidly gaining economic control. 8. Severity op Infection as shown by Worm-counts. We made twenty-three worm-counts of sorts in this group. Worm-counting is difficult to do. Under the best conditions, with intelligent subjects who are interested in co-operating, the task is difficult. Only by eternal vigilance can one be certain, even under ideal conditions, of his results.

(Ex. = examined; Inf. = infected.) Rarotonga. Mangaia. Mauke. Mitiaro. Atiu. Aitutaki. Ex - Inf " |Cent. | Cent. Ex " | Inf " Cenl Ex ' | Inf " |cent. Ex " Inf " Cent. Ex " j Inf " Cent. Men .. 117 78 66 28 28 100 37 29 81 20 14 70 32 24 76 31 28 90 Boys .. 177 131 74 26 23 88 29 15 51 9 2 22 30 19 63 21 14 66 Women .. 80 57 71 20 17 85 28 22 78 15 12 80 23 18 77 27 12 44 Girls .. 158 103 65 15 11 73 35 22 62 9 6 66 19 13 67 17 13 76