surgeons' reports — MASSACHUSETTS — SECOND DISTRICT. 197 



came into tbe district from all ])arts of the country to engage in sea-faring pursuits, such as fisbing, 

 whaling, coasting, &c., for the benefit of their health. 



* * * In my judgment, paragraph 85, Revised Regulations, could not be much 

 improved. 



Tlie number of men that can be physically examined per day depends very much upon whether 

 or not they are drafted men or substitutes and recruits. The former relate all the diseases they 

 have ever experienced, to which account the surgeon has to listen attentively and courteously, to 

 follow out the whole change of symptoms, and explain why they are or are not sufiQcient to exempt. 

 On the other hand, substitutes and recruits invariably assure you they have never been ill or 

 received any injury. I am, therefore, disposed to say, as the former are over anxious to be exempted 

 and the latter to be accepted, that the number of drafted men that can be examined per day with 

 accuracy is sixUj, while with substitutes and recruits 1 would place the uumber as high as eighty. 



Tbe frauds were of every description, each individual endeavoring to deceive as he thought he 

 could best succeed. The only remedy I can suggest is the tact and expertness of the examiuing- 

 surgeon. 



The aptitude of the different nationalities can be best determined in the field. I have no data 

 on which to form an opinion on the subject. 



In relation to the physical qualifications of the colored race for military service, I would say 

 that the number examined has been comparatively small, and a great proportion has been rejected 

 on account of scrofula, varicose veins, and splay feet. 



The ])resent enrollment-law and the Revised Regulations of the Provost-Marshal-General's 

 Bureau seem to uie admirable in every particular, and I therefore have no suggestions to make for 

 their improvement. 



F. H. HOOPER, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment First District of Massachusetts. 



New Bedford, Mass., Jnly 1, 18G5. 



MASSACHUSETTS-SECOND DISTRICT. 



Extracts from report of Dr. H. B. Hubbard. 



* * . * i examined about five hundred men before the establishment of this 

 PMU-eau, and, as surgeon of the board of enrollment for this district, I have investigated about two 

 thousand cases of "manifest i)ermanent i^hysical disability," and examined three thousand six 

 hundred and forty recruits, drafted men, and substitutes — in all, 5,600 men. 



* * * For the details of my exjjerience, I would respectfully refer to the several 

 replies which follow ; adding only the general statement that I found, in a great majority of cases, a 

 most unexpected disregard of personal cleanliness; which fact deserves to be noted and carefully 

 weighed in any calculations affecting the sanitary condition of this district, and of the arms-bearing 

 capacity of its population. It is doubtless due to their modes of life and employment, which will 

 be explained hereafter. 



That section of the State lying between the Atlantic on the east and south, and the Narra- 

 gansett Bay and Blackstone River on the west, is known as Southern Massachusetts, and includes 

 the first and second congressional districts. In shape it is a wide peninsula, terminating east- 

 wardly in the long projection of rock and sand known as Cape Cod. 



The second district occupies its northern, central, and western portions, touching the sea only 

 at its northeastern and southwestern extremities. 



A high granite ridge traverses its northern section, which breaks the violence of the winds, 

 and, with the vicinity of the Gulf-stream on the south, decidedly modifies its climate, which is warmer 

 by several degrees than the region to the north and west. 



From this ridge, seaward, the land is flat, with alternate swamps and sandy plains; while 

 ponds and small, sluggish streams are far more numerous than elsewhere in the State. The county 

 of Bristol alone contains more than one hundred and twenty of these ponds within an area averag- 

 ing thirty miles in length by fifteen in width. Hence arises a constant moisture decidedly preju- 



