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Show 175 Unquestionably, the coca-chewing habit constitutes a problem which merits, and which has received, special attention. This habit which affects a large percentage of the population of various South American countries, has ultimately been included on the agenda of the United Nations, for investigation. The mass of American inhabitants, suffering from the unfortunate and disastrous effects of coca-chewing is largely an Indian majority, who resort to Eritoxylum coca because of inadequate nutrition, ignorance and other negative factors. Because of this, the subject has been discussed on various occasions in America Indigena; by Jorge Bejarano, in "El cocaismo en Colombia," V: 11- 20; by Victor Gabriel Garces, in "El indio ecuatoriano y la coca," V: 287-293; and by Carlos Gutierrez, in "El habito de la coca en el Peru," IX: 143-182. Henri Lehmann wrote on the same topic in his article "La supresion de la venta de coca en Colombia," as well as Clodoaldo Espinosa Bravo, in "Se decreta el estanco de la coca (en Peru)," and "El cocaismo en Jauja," which were published in Boletin Indigenista, IX: 26-30, 92-98, and 388-390 respectively. It gives us pleasure therefore to publish the present work, as a posthumous homage to the Peruvian investigator, Carlos Gutierrez Noriega. At the period of his untimely death, Gutierrez Noriega was justly considered one of the foremost authorities, biological as well as social, on the "coca-chewing habit." This article, which can well be considered a general synthesis for all of South America, and of the investigations realized by Dr. Gutierrez N. and his colleagues in Peru, has already been published in German in a specialized magazine. Although normally America Indigena features articles which have not appeared elsewhere, we make an exception on this occasion because of the quality of this well documented resume; (history of coca-chewing, its distribution, resulting physiological alterations, psychic effects, motives for acquisition of the habit). Including the articles especially written for this magazine mentioned above, and another titled, "Area de mezcalinismo en el Peru," X: 215-220, these constitute an invaluable contribution to our pages. Comhaire-Sylvain, Suzanne y Jean (Haiti). "La Alimentacion En La Region De Kenscoff, Haiti," America Indigena, XII (July, 1952), pp. 177-203. English Summary: Haiti has been the subject of particular attention from anthropologists during the past few years, and especially so since initiation of the Unesco investigations in the Marbial Valley in 1948. This pilot-project is the basis for future practical investigations, including the services of |