194 surgeons' reports — Vermont — second district. 



and nearly one-tliird, or 404, were exempted, or bad tbeir names stricken from tbo rolls, for liernia. 

 Tbis disability is nndoubtedly caused by the labor in which the men are employed. 



In my opinion, the list of causes for exemption contained in paragraph 85, Revised Regulations, 

 Provost-Marsbal-General's Bureau, is a very good one and cannot be much improved. It has 

 seemed to me, however, that confirmed asthma should be added to the list of causes for exemption, 

 as it is a cause for rejection of a recruit. The organic lesion, if any exist, iu many cases of asthma 

 is so obscure as to be beyond the power of the examiningsurgeon to detect it. Decided myopia 

 should, it seems to me, be added to the list. I cannot imagine the use that a man cau be put to in 

 the service who cannot disUnguish a man from a horse at ten rods. I think the cause for rejection 

 of a recruit, and exemption of a drafted man, should be as lUMrly identical as possible, as it would 

 reduce chances for deceiition. Practice will enable the surgeon to detect deception very readily. 



* * * When everything has been properly arranged, and the men were ready to 



appear as wanted, I have, alone, examined ninety-five men iu a day, working seven hours; I think 

 JlJ'ty nieu i)er day is as many as a surgeon ought to examine, and six hours is as long as he should 

 be couiined to the bad air of an exaniiuing-room. 



The diseases most frequently claiuied by those drafted and enrolled men who desire to escape 

 service are those of the internal organs, as of the liver or kidneys, the lungs or heart, or the 

 stomach. Fraud has been attempted by pretending deafness. The successful perpetration of fraud 

 is much more diflBcult in the countrj' than iu the city, as nearly every person's antecedents are well 

 knowu by his neighbors, and many are interested that he do not succeed iu escaping his duty. 

 Recruits and substitutes have practiced deception in regard to their age as often as in any other 

 way, claiming to be older or younger than they really were. Gne or cwo persons suffering from 

 epilepsy have succeeded iu getting into the service ; others have failed simply because they had a 

 convulsion while in the neighborhood of the office. 



If the law were vigorously enforced that nieu must be credited to the subdistrict in which they 

 are enrolled or iu which they reside, a stop would be i)ut to the trade in men by substitute-brokers, 

 and most of tiie chances for the Government to be swindled by untit men entering the service for 

 the sake of the bounties would be avoided. 



No better class of men, physically, has been presented to this board for examination than the 

 natives of the State. The active and laborious o(!cu[)ations to which they have been inured from 

 childhood have given them fine muscular develoi)ment and great endurance. The greatest trial they 

 have to uudergo Ls in becoming acclimated. The Canadian French possess great physical aptitude 

 for service, being generally short, closely built, and inured to privation and hardshii). The Irish 

 have flue [)hysical development. 



My experience with colored men has been quite limited ; not more than one huiulredhave been 

 presented at this office for examination. Some of these were very good men for the service, hav- 

 ing a flue physical development, while others were of the poorest material, broken-down men who 

 had been the rounds of i)rovost-marshals' offices, and had been rejected everywhere. 



I believe the present enrollment-law to be very well devised for the end proposed. Iu this 

 State, it has acted as a powerful stimulus to recruiting, and the draft has not been required to any 

 great extent ; but without the law very few men would have been obtained. Some changes may 

 be desirable ; it seems to me that it would be quite as well if the board consisted simply of two 

 membeis, the provost-marshal and the surgeon. I see no occasion for a commissioner ; until within 

 a few mouths he lias beeu without any res])onsibility, and it has been Ibund very difficult to de- 

 termine what his })owers were. * # # 



In country districts of large extent, I believe the examination of enrolled men should be made 

 at several points iu the district. It is of quite as much consequence to the Government that men 

 permanently disabled should not stand upon the roll as it is to the indi\iduals themselves. Fre- 

 quently those persons who are sure they have some disability that would exeuqjt them if diatted 

 will not take the trouble or incur the expense of a trip to the provost-marshal's office, especially 

 if it be seventy-five miles away. Many, too, cannot aftbrd the expense of time or money. 



I believe it to be for the interest of the Government to secure the services of medical men as 

 surgeons of boards of enrollment who are possessed of as great professional ability as is required of 



