INTRODUCTOKY. • '^ 



the North-German Empire, Belgium, Italy, a,iul Switzcrlai..!, tor their latest regulations 



npon the subject. 



Among the ancient Romans the physical qualifications to be required of a recruit 

 have been described by Vegetius in his summary of the art of war. He says, " The 

 young soldier ought to have a lively eye, should cany his head erect, liis chest should 

 be broad, his shoulders muscular and brawny, his fingers long, his arms strong, his 

 waist small, his shape easy, his legs and feet rather nervous than fleshy. When all 

 these marks are found in a recruit, a little height may be dispensed with, as it is of 

 much more importance that a soldier should be strong than that he shoukl be tall."' 



The regulation height of the Roman soldier appears to have varied, as it has 

 among modern nations. The lowest stature mentioned is equivalent to about 5 feet 3 

 inches of our measure.^ The emperor Valentinian established 5 feet 7 inches as the 

 most desirable height for the soldier, which would be 5 feet 5.55 inches Enghsh. The 

 members of the First Legionary Cohort were required to have a stature of 6 feet, (5 

 feet 10.3 inches English.) 



The regulation as to age in the Roman army required a ]-ecruit to have attamed 

 his seventeenth year upon entering the service. Under ordinary circumstances, the 

 soldier's term of duty ended with his forty-fifth year ; but if the need of troops were 

 m-gent and continual, he could be retained until he was sixty years of age. AVhen the 

 extstence of the republic was in peril, men of all ages, from seventeen to fifty years, 

 were impressed for duty. 



After the tyro was accepted, he was subjected to close observation dm-ing a pro- 

 bationary period of four months, at the end of which time he was, if found qualified, 

 finally enrolled liy the impress of the "military mark" upon the hand. It is indis- 

 putable that this extreme care in the selection of its material was one of the causes 

 of the early invincibility of the Roman armies. The writer already quoted says, "An 

 army raised without due regard to choice of recruits was never yet made a good army 



by any length of service."^ 



FRANCE. 



The limit of stature of the French foot-soldier has undergone numerous changes. 

 In 1701, an ordonnance of Louis XIV fixed the limit at 5 feet, (French,) equivalent to 

 1.624 metres, (63.938 inches English.) From 1799 to 1803, the limit was lowered to 

 1.598 metres, (62.914 inches English,) and again, in 1804, to 1.544 metres, and this 

 last measure remained the standard until after the downfall of Napoleon. By the law 

 of March 10, 1818, the minimum Avas estabhshed at 1.57 metres, (61.812 inches Eng- 

 Hsh,) but was reduced, by the law of December 11, 1830, to the lowest point yet 

 attained, viz, 1.54 metres, (60.631 inches English) The law of March 11, 1832, 

 raised it to 1.56 metres, (61.418 inches English;) in February, 1868, it was reduced 

 to 1.55 metres, (61.025 inches English;) and, lastly, by the 1-aw of Jidy 27, 1872, it 

 was again reduced to 1.54 metres, (60.631 inches English.) 



Before the re-organization of the French army in 1872, the family of a conscript 

 >vas allowed to furnish a substitute, (remplarant,) or to pay a stipulated sum of money 

 for his release; the latter process being termed exoneration. After the overwhelmmg 

 reverses following the war with the North-German Empire the doctrine of obligatory 

 personal service was adopted by the French Rcp ublic,jmd_substitu^^ 



' Vkgf.tius Rkn.mus, Dc re miliiari, lib. i, cai.. (i. ■^Acconiin- to d'Auvillr's stau.laid. n'tcurius, op. ciL, Vb. i, cap. 7. 



