PRELIMINAHY REMAKKS. 1G7 



consideration may seem to JippK- (iul\- to the cavalry-service, it is, in fact, of import- 

 ance to the iut'antr\- I'lso, inasnnich as tlie greater part of oni- troops are on duty in 

 Inihan territories, wliere the foot-sohliei- is nearly always ni(mute<l when sent on a 

 scouting-expedition. 



There is a icmarkahle nnanimitv in the opinions expressed by the authors of the 

 following;- i-eports as to the adequacy and ecpiitableness of the rules prescribed in regard 

 to disal)ilities in that ))ortion of the instructions to examining'-surgeons known as 

 Paragraph <S5.' It has been already observed that the diseases warranting exemption 

 under the draft were fewer in nund)er and more stringently defined in degree than 

 those laid down for the general recruiting-service. Nevertheless, the surgeons of the 

 enrolhnent-boai'ds, almost without exception, were in favor of the table remaining 

 unchanged. One writer, whose report is characterized by unusual comprehensiveness 

 and perspicacity, advised that the genei'al classification should be preserved, but that 

 the blank forms ^Jio.uld provide for greater speeificness in the description of diseases. 

 This suo-o-estion was with a view to increase tlu^ value of the I'etnrns for statistical iiur- 

 ])Oses, aside from the immediate object of the draft.' There is 710 question as to the 

 soundness of this view. In the event of an enrollment-law being again made neces- 

 sary, the surgeons should be instructed to furnish an exact description of all Ibrms oi 

 organic disease; and the locality in which the subject of it resided at the period of its 

 development should, at the same tinu', he re})orted. The facts as to vaccination anil 

 I'evaccination in the ease of every man examined, whether accepted or rejected, might 

 with advantage be recorded. 



^lodern warfare has experienced so man}' changes, through the potent aid of sci- 

 entific invention, that it is no longer necessary to exclude men from the army for cer- 

 tain defects which formerl}- were held to be unavoidable causes of exemption. When 

 the old-fashioned cartridge was made use of, it was of importance that a soldier should 

 possess sound incisor teeth wherewith to tear the paper; and the loss of those teeth 

 afforded a, sufficient reason for the i-ejection of a recruit. Breech-loading guns and 

 metallic cartridges, which nee<l no "'biting," have abolished the neces.sity for the rigor- 

 ous observance of this regulation. It is true that defective teeth are supposed to dis- 

 qualif}' the soldier for his diet of hard biscuit ; and if all the teeth were either carious 

 or deficient, the objection would be well grounded. But the loss of the incisors, and 

 even of the canine teeth, should not exempt if the molars remain in good condition. 

 As a matter of fact, there are not many days in which the soldier is not su])plied -w ith 

 soft Ijread. This question becomes of very great importance from the excessive prev- 

 alence of defects of the teeth among the inhabitants of the United States. The rejec- 

 tions on account of loss of teeth among nati\e-born Americans, under the dift'erent 

 drafts, was at the rate of 31.82 in the thousand of the whole number of men examined.'' 

 Hernia alone excelled it in importance as a cause of exemption. In England, the ratio 

 for the same disqualification was 11.78 in the thousand during the year 1869, and 10.50 

 during 1870.'' In France, during the nineteen years from 1831 to 1849, the ratio was 



'Tills [laiii^rapU will bo foiiud iu full at page Ivii of the Intioiliictioa to this volume. 



^ Repoi t of Dr. John L. Sullivan, sixth district of Massachusetts. 



3 Table No. 17, p. 433, vol. ii. 



* Army medical dejiartment report, for 1869, [>. i8 ; same, /ye 1S70, p. 41. 



