184 SUKGEONS' KEPORTS NEW HAMPSHIRE SECOND DISTRICT. 



Section 20. I would recommend lliat this section be so amended tbiit it read: "Total loss of 

 all the teeth of either jaw." 



Section 33. I would recommend it to bo so altered as to read: "Total loss of rhiM thumb; 

 total loss of iiidc.r i\nd middle tinger of rifjhl hand; loss of the lirst and second jdialanges of <(ll 

 the lingers of rigid hand ; permanent extension or iiermanent contraction of two fingers of rigiit 

 hand ; all tlie fingers adherent or united." 



Since tlie alteration of tiie enrollmentlaw by which actual " i)liysical disability " is required 

 to exempt "drafted and enrolled men" (drafted men being considered as in the service, and as ai)- 

 plying for their discharge) my experience has not developed many very marked cases of fraud. It 

 is true some liave "plowed" with their family-i)hysiciau and friends in the way of invalid certifi- 

 cates, while others have halted in upon crutches to make it appear that their locomotive apparatus 

 was woefully deranged. However, these harmless efforts were in most cases very readily detected, 

 and would scarcely reach the dignity of a "fraud." They were not attempted to any extent after 

 the first draft. 1 really cannot see there is much chance for the success of fraud in these cases if 

 the examining-siugeon faithfully performs his duty. But in the training, by brokers, of substitutes 

 and recruits previous to presenting them for examination, every species of decejition that human 

 ingenuity can in\ent has been brought into requisition. The "nagging u])," by a Jockey, of the 

 old wind-broken, chest-foundered, ring-boned, and spavined "plug" for the horse-market, is mere 

 bo^s play, compared with the exploits of some of these substitute-brokers. Soaking in alum-water 

 to remove wrinkles from the skin, painting the face, dyeing the hair "a glossy black or beautiful 

 brown/' are some of the methods resorted to in disposing of their dilapidated wares. But these 

 tricks can generally be detected by a careful examination. Tlieie are, however, two classes of men 

 who will sometimes succeed in deceiving the most careful examiiiiiig-surgeon. They are those wiio 

 have hernia and those who have epilepsy. Ordinarily, by strict examination, a hernia can be 

 easily discovered ; but, occasionally, a case is met with where the recruit seems to have the power 

 of holding ap or holding back the tumor at will, and no position or amount of straining will make 

 it apparent. So with epilepsy ; it is sometimes impossible to discover any indication of the disease 

 in persons who have had it for years. 



But, after all has been said in reference to other kinds of fraud practiced upon the Government 

 by the enlistment of improper men into the army, the disgraceful lact still remains that there is no 

 species of deception by which so large a number of men, who are totally unfit, get into the service 

 ashy the. jwrsuafiire influence of the almighty dollar. * * # 



The operation of the enrollment-law as it now exists has, I think, been au eflficient one, all things 

 considered. There is no form of conscri[)tion-act that can be enacted with any degree of probal>le 

 efhciency which will not bear heavily upon the interests and feelings of the peoiile. If the results 

 of this law have fallen shnrt of the wishes and expectations of its friends, the fault lay in the man- 

 ner of its execution rather than in the law itself,aiHl dei)eiMls no doul)t upon causes experience has 

 already pointed out, and which can be easily remedied in the future. In any emergency that may 

 hereafter arise in which it would become necessary for the Government to put this law again in 

 operation, I should have no doubt of its perfect success. * * * 



Memoranda which would have furnished the material for making this report what it should 

 be were destroyed when the office was barued in October last, and for all that relates to my ex- 

 perience anterior to that time I have to depend entirely upon meaioiy. I remember, however, two 

 cases of abnormal position of the heart, which I deem worthy of mention. I took notes of these 

 cases at the time, bat they were burned with the rest of my papers. In both instances, the heart 

 was on the right side, the impulse being distinctly felt and seen, in the one case, three inches, and, 

 in the other, two and a half inches, below the right ni[)ple. B,)th were good sized men, one very 

 large and plethoric, weighing over two hundred pounds ; the other, thinner and very pale. Neither 

 of them was aware that his heart occupied any other than the mitural position. ♦ * • 



KOBT. B. OAKSWELL, 

 Surgeon Second District of Xcic Ilampshire. 

 Concord, N. H., June 14, 1S65. 



