BLOOD PRESSURE CHANGES

To the Editor: —In their recent article inThe Journal(Dec. 18, 1926, p. 2053), Roddis and Cooper demonstrated that in tropical climates there is an habitually lower average blood pressure. Simultaneously they emphasize the importance of a modified routine of life, with far more rest than is usually the habit in temperate climates. However, mention is not made of the possible and even probable significance of this factor of rest and relaxation in lowering the arterial tension. Such rest has been and is the chief factor in logical therapeusis of hypertension, and may well be the major factor causing the lower pressures as observed, the climatic conditions being purely secondary. This is particularly significant in view of their fifth conclusion; namely, that "the change is not a rapid one and represents a lower vasomotor tone and general slowing of physiologic activity." It would be desirable to have the opinion