196 surgeons' reports — Massachusetts — first district. 



more barm thau all other matters connected with the recruiting-service. All the blunders, negli- 

 gences, and frauds of the members of all the boards during their whole term of service will not 

 amount to a tithe of the mischief to the country wrought by rapacious and unscrupulous sul)stitute- 

 brokerage. A provision which may prove an effectual safeguard against this enormity in any 

 future action of the Government is a desideratum. Perhaps a section on that point added to the 

 regulations might fticilitate the action of boards of enrollment in the right direction. 



Inquiry 8. My attention has not been directed to this subject. The average of the men ex- 

 amined in this office during the last two years exhibits a result that Vermouters, at least, need not 

 be ashamed of. 



Inquiry 9. On this subject I have had no opportunity to gain information, excepting such as 

 common report has given to all, and which I regard as indicative of fair qualifications for 

 military service in the "colored race." 



The fact that so many drafted men are yet found unfit, trtdyvvft, for military service, satisfies 

 me that some more equitable method of mahirKj the enrollment is veiy desirable. My own opinion 

 has long been a settled one that no boy should be enrolled before fully attaining the age of twenty 

 years, but we are allowed to aecei)t as recruits or substitutes those who are only eighteen years old. 

 This 1 have regarded as a great error in all nations where it is permitted, and the records of every 

 war, since records of war were made, will prove both its impolicy and its inhumanity. * * • 



J. L. CHANDLER, 

 Sicrgeon Board of Enrollment Third District of Vermont. 



Burlington, Vt., May 31, 1865. 



MASSACHUSETTS— FIEST DISTRICT, 



Extracts from report of Y>u. P. H. IIooper. 



• * * The number of men examined at this office Irom the time of the organization 

 of the board of enrollment to Ai)ril 14, 18Ci;;, when the examinations were^closed by order of the 

 Acting Assistant Provost-Marshal-General, was as follows: 



Drafted men li, 6C8 



Substitutes and recruits 1, 044 



Total 3, 712 



This district is nearly a peninsula, lying between the Narragansett and Massachusetts Bays, 

 embracing the cape towns and the islands of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and several others 

 along the coast. It is deejily indented with bays and inlets, and studded with fresh-water ponds 

 and rivulets. It is generally low, much of it marshy where bordering on the bays and inlets, and 

 quite a portion of it sandy. None of it rises to an elevation of more than 500 feet above high 

 water. About two-thirds of the district, embracing the northwest portion, is of primitive forma- 

 tion, the granite cropping out iu serai-form ridges, while the other third, including Cape Cod and 

 most of the islands, is of diluvial formation. 



The climate is exqeedingly variable. The Gulf stream being about sixty miles distant on the 

 one side, iind the pole of extreme cold but about six hundred miles off on the other, it is, as it were, 

 placed between a furnace and an iceberg, renderiiig the changes of temperature exceedingly violent 

 and extreme, though somewhat modified by sea-breezes. But very little snow falls on this district, 

 and it is rare to have a week of good sleighing. 



The diseases are such as might be expected in such a climate, the various forms of scrofula 

 prevailing, and phtiiisis taking the lead in the bills of mortality. Zymotic diseases and those of 

 childhood are about the same here as in other j)arts of the State; typhoid is the most prevalent 

 form of fever. The iidiabitants are a hardy and industrious peoi)le generally. They are divided 

 by occupation into three great classes, viz : agriculturists, machinists, (embracing the large variety 

 of manufacturers,) and sea-faring men. The nu'cliaiiical class is very liable to injuries disqualifying 

 for military duty. About two-fifths of the men drafted were seamen, and about one-third of all 

 those exempted were of the same class. This arises lloin the fact that a large number of invalids 



