expected, the two groups yield somewhat different results, and as illus- 

 trating the importance of the age factor, which is almost invariably 

 ignored in recruiting and army medical statistics, the rejection results 

 are presented for both groups, and in t,he first group (age 21) in 

 the order of their importance. 



PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF REJECTION IN THE SWEDISH ARMY 



1903-1907 



Per Cent. Examined 

 Age 21 Over 21 



1. Diseases of the Heart and Circulatory Organs.... 4.4 5.7 



2. Diseases of Bones and Extremities 3.4 3.6 



3. Deafness and Other Diseases of the Ears 1.6 1.1 



4. Tuberculosis 1.6 2.9 



5. Constitutional Weakness 1.5 4.5 



6. Diseases of the Eyes 1.4 1.3 



The Swedish statistics are of very limited practical value on account 

 of the grouping of the causes, as best illustrated by the predominating 

 importance of rejections on account of diseases of the heart and cir- 

 culatory organs. Rejections for heart impairments require differen- 

 tiation as to whether functional or organic. Methods of examination 

 vary widely in the different armies and according to the branch of the 

 service. In modern armies with a thoroughly developed aviation ser- 

 vice the rejections for even minor functional heart murmurs are of 

 course very high. A man may be rejected for the aviation service al- 

 though thoroughly sound and efficient for some other branch of army 

 work. To group all rejections for diseases of the heart and circula- 

 tory organs with mere functional defects or deficiencies is therefore 

 scientifically erroneous. In the German army rejections on account 

 of diseases of the heart and circulatory organs accounted for 3.0 per 

 cent. There are no corresponding data for the Austrian army, for 

 which the information is limited to rejections on account of valvular 

 heart disease alone, accounting for 0.24 per cent, of the examined. 



Equally suggestive in the Swedish statistics is the rather high ratio of 

 rejections on account of deafness and other diseases of the ear (1.6 per 

 cent). It is scientifically erroneous to combine defects of hearing with 

 ear diseases and congenital deafness. It is even more misleading to 

 combine deafness and mutism in one classification, as is the case in the 

 German statistics, which, however, return defects of speech separately. 

 The German statistics also return separately diseases of the ear, ac- 

 counting for rejections of 1.5 per cent, of the examined, in addition, 

 however, mutism and deaf-mutism combined, accounting for 0.09 per 

 cent. It would seem, therefore, that deafness and other diseases of 

 the ear are not necessarily exceptionally common as a cause of rejec- 

 tion in the Swedish army, especially when compared with the ratio for 

 Norway of 2.5 per cent. 



74 



