he would not also have been rejected on account of an organic impair- 

 ment of the heart, or mental deficiency. The causes of rejection, 

 therefore, as presented in the usual form in army medical reports are 

 not conclusive evidence as regards the existence or co-existence of 

 impairments, defects and deficiencies of a physical or pathological 

 nature. Limited to the crude method of statistical presentation, the 

 recruiting statistics according to causes of rejection are therefore 

 merely indicative of the determining causes or reasons sufficient for 

 military purposes to justify the unconditional rejection of the recruit 

 as unfit for military service in time of peace or war. For a consider- 

 able number of specific causes of rejection, such as goitre, for illustra- 

 tion, or flatfoot, the available statistics are reasonably conclusive, and 

 usually in conformity to the known facts of local frequency of special 

 diseases or special forms of physical disability. In the German experi- 

 ence for the period 1904-08, out of every 100 recruits subjected to final 

 medical examination an aggregate of 49 were rejected or de- 

 clined, or, respectively, 19.3 per cent, on account of general debility, 

 7.2 per cent. o,n account of internal diseases, etc., 4.6 per cent, on 

 account of diseases, or defects or deficiencies of the eyes and ears, 11.9 

 per cent, on account of external diseases and malformations, 0.8 per 

 cent, on account of deficiency in stature, and 5.2 per cent., for other 

 causes. The details are of exceptional practical importance, but abso- 

 lute accuracy in the conclusions is precluded by the fact that the term 

 "general debility," which in the German experience accounts for 19.3 per 

 cent, of those permanently rejected on final examination, includes nu- 

 merous causes and conditions more or less complicating other causes 

 and conditions specifically referred to as reasons for final rejection, but 

 chiefly retarded bodily development, general weakness, partly in conse- 

 quence of previous diseases or injuries, deficiency in bone or muscle 

 formation, deficiency in chest development, etc. There are reasons for 

 believing that in a number of cases, sufficient to require special consid- 

 eration, the apparent unfitness for military service was after all only of 

 a temporary nature, suggestive of the advantage of special training or 

 curative processes, etc. In the majority of cases the reasons for de- 

 clining applicants on the ground stated have probably much to do with 

 retarded physical or physiological development, not only of the 

 body as a whole but of the separate organs and parts, subsequently 

 successfully overcome by the attainment of normal growth and develop- 

 ment during the remaining years previous to complete physical ma- 

 turity. 



REJECTION DATA OF THE GERMAN ARMY 



In the order of their importance the reasons for final rejection on 

 the ground of complete and permanent military unfitness in the German 

 army during the years 1904-08, aside from the rejections on account 



53 



