Eco-ethnological study of an ethnic group (Santal), residing in two villages with slightly different ecological settings, has been taken up to assess the impact of forest environ in determining quality of physical life, as revealed from demographic characteristics, incidence of diseases, dietary intake, height and weight, haemoglobin percent, and differential leucocyte count of the two survey villages, one is amid the perennial forest and far away from urban facilities, while the other is a road-side village with a Subsidiary Health Centre. The people of both the villages belong to the same endogamous group and, therefore, share a common gene pool. Overall geo-topography, economy and othet secular parameters being similar for the groups, the difference in the physical quality of life between them is attributable to none but the forest environ, or influence of accessibility of urban facilities. The analysis of the surveyed data point towards a slightly better physical quality of life of forest-village dwellers than that of road-side village dwellers. The most interesting finding of the survey is high Eosinophil count among the villagers of both the settings, irrespective of age and sex.
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