surgeons' reports NEW HAMPSHIRE THIRD DISTRICT. 185 



NEW HAMPSniEE— THIRD DISTRICT. 



Extractn from rc'iwrt.s of Dii. Dixi Crosby. 



• * * Since tbis office was opeucd, in the moiitli of April, 18G3, 1 have devoted 



nearly all my time to tlie duties pertaininfj to luy appointment, and have personally examined seven- 

 tentlis ot the total number of men ai)pearing for physical examination, the aggregate of the whole 

 being about fifteen thonsand. # # # 



These examinations hav£ been made in ;t large, well-lighted room, and the whole board has 

 usually been present; at no time has more than one member been absent. -I have made it a rule to 

 coaimence the examinations as early in the morning as i)ossible, and to continue uninterruptedly 

 until noon, as I am convinced that fewer mistakes are made during those hours than later in the 

 day, when the surgeon has become fatigued with labor and the recruit tired of waiting for his turn. 

 This is especially true of dratted men, who seek to escape service, since in the morning they are in 

 full vigor and cannot as easily feign physical unsoundness. Were it possible to so arrange it, I 

 would have no physical examinations made exc^ept between the hours of 8 a. m. (or earlier) and 1 

 p. m., and I am certain that the service would gain by this seeming waste of the afternoon. 



The four counties forming the third district of New Hampshire consist of Cheshire at the so\ithern 

 extremity, then Sullivan, Grafton, and Coos, the last and northern. In this county the Connecti- 

 cut River lakes its rise, and forms the western boundary of the entire district. A few small 

 streams in Coos County take their rise beyond the eastern water-shed, and lind their way into the 

 Androscoggin, and a still saialler number, in Grafton County, dow into the Merrimack River. With 

 these exceptions, the entire district is watered by the Connecticut and its tributaries. 



Just over the southern boundary of Cheshire County, the red conglomerates and sandstonesof the 

 Lower Connecticut are seen rei)0sing upon the argillaceous slate i-ocks that underlie the greater 

 portion of the third district, but the sandstone does not cross the line into New Hampshire. The 

 conglomerates consist of rounded pebbles and fiiu^ particles of the primary rocks, such as granite, 

 mica, and argillaceous slate. An examination of these will show that the hard pebbles and dehris 

 have been rounded by the action of long continued motion, and it is probable that in ancient times 

 a powerful river of much greater volume than the present Connecticut must have jioured its waters 

 through the highlands, and deposited the detritus of the primary rocks of New Hampshire into an 

 estuary at that time existing in the lower valley of the Connecticut. The waters of such a river 

 woulil readily transport these loose materials to their present localities. It is conjectured that the 

 waters of the river once occupied a much higher level than at present, since we have, along its 

 whole course, regular terraces of aqueous deposition far more elevated than the waters rise to in 

 our day, even during the most powerful freshets. Ancient watermarks are observed abundantly 

 on the rocky ledges at a great elevation above the bed of the river. I am aware that these " signs " 

 are accounted for ui)on the glacial theory, and, indeed, the marks upon the rocks, the smoothing of 

 the ledges aiul the locomotion of enormous bowlders seem to render this view plausible; but it 

 ujust be admitted that water has been the chief agent in the changes that have taken place in this 

 great valley. As might be expected from the foregoing statement, the soil is mostly alluvial, a line 

 sand alternating with heavy clay and occasional beds of marl. Upon the uplands the soil is thiu- 

 uer, stony, and contains a much larger proportion of disintegrated rock. 



The district is well watered with streams and springs of the purest water, free from lime, and 

 very rarely tinged with sulphur or iron. The inclination, or '' slope," toward the rivers is so great 

 that all the excess of surface-water finds its way to the drain, leaving no stagnant pools to breed 

 miasmatic pestilence. Besides this, it will be seen by the foregoing description of the general geo- 

 logical leatures of the country, that there can be but few causes of epidemic disease. These will 

 be detailed hereafter. The country having been settled for so many years, and being generally 

 elevated, with narrow, well cultivated valleys, tlie primeval forests mostly cleared, and the air 

 extremely pure, there is no miasm arising from vegetable decay, and, cousecpiently, none of the 

 maladies produced by these causes. In fact, a case of quotidian or tertian fever is rarely, if ever, 

 .seen in any i>art of the district, while the purity of the water and its freedom from lime renders cal- 



