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Show 3 4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 42 difficulties in the way, but they can be overcome. The problem presented demands careful study of the conditions on each reservation, and thorough preliminary experiments, particularly in the matter of housing the patients. This subject again will require a clear understanding by the Indians concerned of what is being done and the reasons therefor. Further in the line of prevention, it is urged that wherever possible the earthen floors of the dwellings be replaced by those made of boards, which can be better cleaned. The habit of passing the pipe should be discouraged, as well as that of using and passing dishes and spoons which have not been properly cleaned. The use by others of clothing worn by consumptives, and of articles made or kept in their houses, should be prohibited, until such objects shall have been rendered aseptic. In this connection it is well to point out the advisability of obliging dealers in Indian curios to disinfect all fabrics and old articles coming from the reservations. Such articles often lie on the floors of infected dwellings and not a few are made by consumptives. The Navaho blankets are perhaps the freest from infection, the tribe being still about the healthiest of our Indians; nevertheless, the precaution should be carried out even with these. The danger of handling articles coming from Indian homes, particularly fabrics, before disinfection, needs to be well appreciated also in the various museums. General cleanliness of houses and their contents, of clothing, and of the person should be encouraged among the Indians in the most thorough and systematic manner. In a few localities, visited during the writer's former journeys, it was noticed that some of the field matrons did very good work in this direction. It is thought that excellent use could be made of the Indian police in this work, under the instruction and supervision of the agency physician. These men, who are generally willing and intelligent, could be trained not only to spread among these people much useful information regarding tuberculosis and its prevention, but also to do regular duty as a sort of sanitary inspection corps; they could be actually constituted a corps of sanitary officers, who should visit monthly each dwelling in the territory assigned them, to report on its cleanliness. Such supervision would soon teach the people to keep their dwellings in a more hygienic condition. The inveterately neglectful or filthy should be punished as are drunkards or other transgressors. These measures should be accompanied by judicious efforts to raise the Indian's pride and ambition in the directions indicated. In addition to the above measures, an improvement is called for in the nutrition of many of the Indians, particularly the aged. This is a serious problem and needs careful consideration. The most |