No Clocks on Kapingamarangi

On an atoll in the Pacific—Kapingamarangi in the Eastern Carolines—Dr. Ralph E. Miller '24, Professor of Pathology on leave from the Dartmouth Medical School, has been making a fascinating excursion into the past. Working for the Pacific Science Board with Dr. Kenneth P. Emory, ethnologist of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, he has been testing the blood of natives on this small and isolated atoll to determine what mainland they originally came from. Dr. Miller began this project last June and will leave it as soon as the next boat comes by, in time to permit him to spend Christmas at home, he hopes.

Besides his main study, which has great significance for anthropologists, he has conducted with Dr. Emory a survey of health conditions and practices. As the island was converted to Christianity as recently as 1920, priests and magicians with their ancient formulae still serve as native doctors. Dr. Miller's medical knowledge has kept him busy attending the sick and helping out in emergencies. Western clothing is beginning to be adopted on the atoll but King David, the local ruler, has stated that he hopes this will turn out to be a fad.

Dr. Miller and his colleague were given the home of King David's son, Hetata, as their headquarters, with Hetata acting as their chief assistant. Most of their meals have been provided, ready to serve, by natives whom they have helped. Although the two men begin their day an hour before sunrise and do not finish working until three hours after sunset (there are no clocks), they find that the absence of whistles, radios, cars, trains and hurry brings them a sense of peace and rest which they wish they could take with them when they leave Kapingamarangi.

DR. RALPH E. MILLER '24, Dartmouth Medical School professor, with natives of the isolated Pacific atoll where as pathologist he is participating in a study to determine their mainland origin.