Observations on the sweat glands of tropical and northern races

Abstract

The present preliminary report on the sweat glands was begun as a part of a joint investigation suggested by the late Paul C. Freer, Director of the Bureau of Science of Manila.The general problem was the supposed untoward effect of a tropical residence on the white man and the supposed constitutional adaptability of the dark races to a tropical climate.The investigations were undertaken in a cooperative way by chemists and physicists of the Bureau of Science, the departments of Anatomy, Pharmacology, Physiology and Physics of the University of the Philippines and the United States Army Medical Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases.Certain claims of Daubler ('00) and Aron ('11) seem to indicate at least one definite adaptation of the dark races to the tropics and lead us to investigate the sweat glands.Daubler states that the size of the sweat glands of the native of tropical Africa is much greater than that of the European.Aron finds that the sweating apparatus of the aborigines of the Philippines, the Negritos, is much superior to that oi the white man.This superiority he says is shown by the difference in the manner oi sweating rather than in the amount of sweat produced.According to Aron, the Negrito secretes small beads of sweat over the entire body, which soon forms a thin film.As the whole surface of the body is covered by this water film, the maximum cooling effect from evaporation is obtained.I n the case of the white man, on the other hand, the sweating is practically limited to certain areas of the body surface.I n these areas the sweating