218 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



piration of an enlistment they will be so far destroyed as to render mastication im- 

 perfect: hence, men who have lost the front teeth from decay and have many 

 unsound back teeth should be rejected. The loss of the front teeth through 

 accident is not cause for rejection, provided a sufficient number of the back teeth 

 are sound. Unless an applicant has at least four sound double teeth, one above 

 and one below on each side of the mouth, and so opposed as to serve the purpose 

 of mastication, he should be rejected. Exception may be made by the adjutant 

 general in the case of a soldier who desires to reenlist, if a report is made show- 

 ing his age, physical condition as to nutrition, and the number and location of 

 the sound teeth. If the front teeth remain and the double teeth are gone, rejec- 

 tion is demanded. Artificial substitutes cannot be considered as equivalent in 

 value to the natural teeth, or as removing the disability on this account for 

 military service." 



In the years 1898, 1899 and 1900 there were 181,477 candidates for 

 enlistment examined, and, in accordance with the instructions, 2826, 

 or about one and one-third per cent., w^ere rejected, as follows : 



No. examined. No. rejected. Percentage. 



White 168,655 2,.326 1.-380 



Colored 12.822 90 .702 



Totals 181,477 2,416 1.331 



At first, it would seem that the percentage of rejection was much 

 smaller during the Spanish war than during the war of the rebellion. 

 But the element of age has not yet been considered. The men who 

 were examined for enlistment in the Spanish war were, as a rule, 

 young, strong, energetic men, who desired and expected to be accepted 

 for service. A large ratio of the men who were examined late in the 

 rebellion were past the age that was taken as a maximum during the 

 Spanish war. The relation of age to the percentage of rejection is 

 indicated in this table, which gives the result of the examination of 

 more than a third of a million men in the latter part of the rebellion : 



Age. No. examined. No. rejected. Percentage. 



Under 20 58,952 68 .1153 



20 to 25 78,639 647 .8227 



25 to 30 56,711 1,114 1.9643 



30 to 35 45,777 1,783 3.8950 



35 to 40 50,456 2,887 5.7218 



40 and over 43,786 3,801 8.6809 



Totals ' 334,321 10,300 3.0809 



Earlier in the war the ratio of rejection was lower. Of 806,610 

 men examined in the first years of the war, 12,904, or 1.599 per cent., 

 were rejected; but 501,002 of these were drafted men, of whom 9646, 

 or 1.925 per cent., were exempted. 



The ratio of colored men rejected during the rebellion was about 

 one-fourth that of white ; now it is more than one-half — this notwith- 

 standing the fact that the colored recruit of to-day is younger in 

 proportion. To quote again from Tripler's Manual: "It has been 



