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three times as many among Indians as among whites. If a case can be cured by a single operation, statements to the effect that cases are followed until cured may be true, but if the case requires protracted care and treatment it is not true. Thus figures regarding cures are open to serious question. No cases or figures are available in the Indian Service to show the course of treatment and results in these cases over a period of years.

The cure of trachoma is not as yet an established fact. Some specialists who have been in contact with the disease for years say there is no known cure. This belief was more or less general among agency physicians. On the other hand, some specialists contended that the tarsectomy operation brings about a permanent cure. The latter view is not regarded as based on sound knowledge, because cases among Indians at least have never been carefully followed over a sufficient period of time and then, as has been said, there is always the question of the diagnosis in the first place.

Generally speaking, nothing is known of the epidemiology of trachoma. Surveys have been made to determine its possible incidence. Transmission experiments have been conducted, but nowhere in the literature has been found any complete epidemiological study. In this matter the Indian Service could render not only the Indian but also the whole world a signal service in collecting careful data on trachoma. The field laboratory is ideal. There are numerous groups of Indians that could be used as controls for such a study.

Venereal Disease. The statement is commonly made that venereal diseases are widely prevalent among Indians. No accurate facts are available to substantiate the assertions. The parasyphilitic diseases, such as general paresis and locomotor ataxia, are reported very infrequently in Indian communities in which a high percentage of syphilis is said to exist. The few Wassermanns that have been made were on cases suspected of the disease, and hence results, although positive, are not a criterion of the situation in the general Indian population. At one reservation the agency physician asserted that 85 per cent of the tribe were infected. He had had some Wassermanns made, but could not show a single report at the time of the survey visit. The most frequent reports of these diseases were found among communities composed largely of mixed bloods. This type of population obviously comes into closer contact with