During late October 1941 an epidemic of ocular inflammation appeared in the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation yards. In the next six weeks I saw about 500 men with this condition. Although the men put the blame for their trouble on their working conditions, no matter where they were working in the yards, it was evident from the rapid spread, the similarity of the inflamed eyes and the uniform resistance to any treatment that I was dealing with the same process in all the men. The disease was more prevalent in men actively engaged in building the ships, but it was also found in the office workers, families of the workmen and several physicians in the Portland area. At the time of the first appearance of this inflammation in the Portland yard the overall payroll was thousands of men, of which many were in ship construction work. A small percentage of the