The Daily Alaska empire., 1934-09-10
NOTED DOCTOR
 VISITS JUNEAU
 ON WAY SOUTH
Creighton University Scien- lists Return from Eskl-
 mo Health Survey

day on ms Tetulu liOni e'iN
 leading a scientific expedition to study medical problems among the Eskimos. Dr. Levine was south bound passenger on the Victoria. He is a physician of national reputation, and is a professor al the School of Medicine in Creigh- ton University, Omaha, Neb. Dr. Levine is also a major in the med- ical department, United states Army.
 His trip to the Arctic is the first of A series of scientific mvestlga- lions on health problems relative to the Eskimo. Next year an inves- tiration will be made at Kotzebue, wainwright, and Point Barrow.
 Started in June
 Dr. Levine and his party started out from Seattle early in June, and sailed to Seward. From Seward he took the Alaska Railroad to Nenana, where they boarded the river steamer and sailed down the Yukon. They made observations of the Eskimos at Hamilton, Akul- urak. St. Michael, Unalakleet, King Island. Diomede Island and Nome. The research undertaken con- sisted of taking physical measure rnents of Eskimo children, determ- ming their nutritional status, and their basal metabolic rate. Blood samples were also taken in order to make quantitative determina- tions of important constituents. In addition, tests were run to deter mine the susceptibility of the Es- kimo child to tuberculosis, diph- theria and scarlet fever.
 Dying Race
 The Eskimos are fast dying oil, according to Dr. Levine. In 1857 a terrible epidemic of smallpox started and ragged for four years. It spread all along the coast. Thou sands upon thousands of Eskimos were numbered among its victims Many villages were almost com pletely depopulated.
 Hardly had the Inuit, as the Eskimos call themselves, begun to recuperate from the ravages of smallpox. than fresh misfortunes fell upon them. In 1848, an Amer ican whaling vessel commanded by Captain Roy, first passed the Ser , ing Straits and penetrated the icy s6astrhss of the Arctic Ocean. The result of this bold venture proved so very rich that in a few years the remote region became the reg ular cruising ground of the whal- ing fleet.
 Villages Shrink
 The inroads made by the whal- CTS upon the food supply of the Inuit in the slaughter of the whale and the walrus and the dreadful effect produced on the natives by the introduction of disease, have helped considerably to cut down the population Prior to the advent of the white man, villages having from 800 to 1000 inhabitants were thickly dotted along the entire coast. Now the villages are very small indeed.
 The influenza of 1918 took an extremely heavy toll in Eskimo lives. At the present time it is tu- berculosis that is ravaging the Es- kimo Every village visited by the expedition disclosed two or three in the last stages of tuberculosis and in 6 dying condition. It was not unusual for members to go into village to find that someone had just died of the disease.
 Highly Susceptible
 In the susceptibility tests, it was determined that 97 per cent of Eskimo children are susceptible to the disease. AS for scarlet fe- yer, the susceptibility runs as high as 87 percent. A very high per- centage of the children tested also showed susceptibility to diphtheria.
 Examination of the records of more than 2,000 Eskimo deaths dis closed that 50 percent of the deaths were due from tuberculosis alone.
 Short Life Span
 Calculation of the average life span of the Eskimo showed that at birth, the average Eskimo can ex- pect to live but 20 years. The birth rate is not high enough to offset the losses due to death. and Dr Levine declares that unless i'm mediate and stringent measures are taken for the preservation oi the Eskimo, he is doomed to speedy extinction.
 Professor c. w. Bauer of Creigh- ton University accompanied Dr Levine, and assisted in the survey
 In commenting upon present health programs in effect. Dr. Le- vine praised the work of the gov ernment physicians who are work. ing among the Eskimos, in tht highest terms, saying that they art accomplishing marvels, considering I- A.