48 CIRCUMFERENCE OF CHEST AGE. 



Table No. 16 of this work shows, under the heading of "Deficient size of chest," 

 that 7,348 were rejected, out of 501,068 examined, or at the rate of 14.665 per 1,000. 

 This description is precise, and no other class of general infirmity seems likely to have 

 included cases belonging to it. The men from whose particulars this table was com- 

 posed consisted of all classes of recruits, and the rate of exemption may, therefore, be 

 regarded as fairly representing the average population. In Table No. 21, the rate per 

 1,000 is only 4.090. The inclusion of a large mimber of ^^ enrolled men'''' in Table No. 

 16 accounts for this difference. 



The mean dimensions of the chest, as developed in the tables, may be compared 

 with the results of other admeasurements, but it must be admitted that no conclusion 

 of any value can be arrived at unless the corresponding qualities of height, age, and 

 especially of weight, be also present in each case. In addition, the influence of race 

 should also be considered. 



It is remarkable that the mean circumference of chest of men found fit for sei-vice, 

 and of those who have been rejected for physical causes, differ but in a small degree. 

 In the case of the six nativities, so often referred to, the entire niimber of men recorded 

 as examined was 484,770, and their mean circumference of chest was 33.52 inches, (851 

 miUimeti'es.) Of this numbei', 292,609 were accepted, and their mean girth was only 

 33.68 inches, (855 millimetres.) Dr. Balfour reports that, out of 1,439 recruits exam- 

 ined by him for the English army, 1,000 were passed as fit for military service; the 

 mean girth of chest of all was 32.47 inches, (825 millimetres,) and of the 1,00(> accepted 

 men 32.60 inches, (828 miUimetres.) 



Under the heading of "Deformity of chest" are included some cases of prepon- 

 derating development of one side of the thorax. The ordinary mode of ascertaining 

 the girth with the graduated tape does not, of course, admit of the discovery of this 

 defect, though it is more common than perhaps supposed. "Physiological promi- 

 nences" of the chest, as they have been termed, are of no special importance in the 

 recruit unless they amount to deformity, but unilateral excess is sometimes an indica- 

 tion of incipient disease, which fact has been demonstrated at length by Woillez.' At 

 a later period, this surgeon invented the cyrtomctre, an instrument which registers the 

 perimeter of the thorax as well as its different diameters.^ A simpler form of such an 

 apparatus would be serviceable to the military surgeon. 



Age. — It would be reasonable to entertain an expectation that the mean age of the 

 natives of the United States who volunteered for the war would prove to be lower 

 than that of the foreign-born portion of the Army, or of men conscripted under the 

 enrollment-law. Indeed, the annals of recruiting collected by Dr. Coolidge show that 

 during the period from 1839 to 1855, the mean age of the native soldier was below 

 that of all others.^ Early in 1863, Mr. E. B. EUiott, in the very able treatise before 

 quoted, pointed out that the preponderance of numbers corresponding to the earlier 

 ages in the native volunteers was the revei'se of the condition indicated by the census 

 as existing among the population. Speaking of a large body of Massachusetts volun- 

 teers, 51,271 in number, he says: 



■ Ilcchcichcs sitr la vakiir lUagnoslique lies diformationa de la poilrine, par E. J. Woillez, 4to, Paris, 1835. See also, 

 Uema):k8 on the cxaminalloii of recruits, by H. H. Massy, ))p. G4, 71, auil 72: 8vo. London, 1854. 

 ^;Ti-ailc clinique des maladies aiguvs des organea reapiraloirca, 8vo, Paris, 1872. 

 ^ Stalialical report, etc., p. 0:52. 



