198 surgeons' reports — Massachusetts — second district. 



ilicial to the healtli of the locality, which is, also, not improved by the prevalence of damp and 

 chilly southwest winds. As might be expected, its ordinary diseases are phthisis and other de- 

 rangements of the organs of respiration, rheumatism, and low forms of fever. There is a scrofu- 

 lous taint in almost every household. 



The inhabitants iu most of the towns are mainly descended from the original families, though 

 some villages contain a large Irish element. Being the earliest-settled region in the State, and 

 means of communication being for a long period greatly restricted, intermarriages were frequent, 

 especially among the better classes, which fact, with the peculiarities of climate before referred to, 

 has undoubtedly induced a feebleness of constitution which has been made very apparent by the 

 statistics of my examinations. 



With the exception of a few localities, the people of this district are intelligent, industrious, 

 and moral. Almost all have received a good common school education, and possess a very fair un- 

 derstanding of their form of government, municipal. State, and national, and their duties in these 

 several relations. 



* * In fact, so general was the rush to aims of the flower of our youth and the 



vigor of our manhood, at that early iieriod, as most seriously to ali'ect the ratio of the able-bodied 

 to the disabled through the remainder of the rebellion. Large numbers absent from home, with- 

 out waiting to return, enlisted iu regiments from the Middle and Western States. Very many ab- 

 sentees promptly enlisted in the Navy. Before any draft was contemplated, the town of my resi- 

 dence had furnished from its own inhabitants an. able-bodied fighting force exceeding one-half ils 

 voting population. This was doubtless the proportion throughout the district. From these facts it is 

 obvious that the actual arms-bearing capacity of this district cannot be calculated till all these 

 elements are accurately ascertained and taken into account, and that any judgment of this capacity, 

 based on the results of my examinations exclusively, must be erroneous and delusive. 



So sterile is our soil that agriculture is seldom remunerative. Ilence our people have in part 

 availed themselves of the abundant water-power to engage in numerous kinds of manufactures, and 

 have also, in great numbers, resorted to shoemaking as a partial or entire means of support. The 

 confinement of the shop and factory only tends to increase and develop the peculiar diseases of 

 the locality. Especially is this true of the shoemakers, who, on approaching for examination, could 

 at once be detected by their stooijing shoulders, hollow chest, cadaverous couii)lexion, and feeble 

 extremities. It is also true that this calling aggregates to itself, from the convenience of its ex- 

 ercise, multitudes of cripples and persons disabled from more active labor. In fact, this class 

 migrate to the shoe-districts from all parts of the country, and seriously affect the ratio of the able- 

 bodied to the disabled in a section where nearly one-half of the populatiou is maintained by that 

 interest. On the other hand, we have extensive machine-shops and iron-works, from whose opera- 

 tives our best material has been furnished; but this was largely drawn upon iu the early part of 

 the rebellion, and the remainder, employed mostly on Government work, could not be si)ared for 

 the Army, and, if drafted, either paid commutation, or were I'epresented by substitutes ft-om abroad. 



" Reasons why any particular diseases or disabilities have disqualified a greater ratio per thou- 

 sand from military service." Au answer may be found to this question in what has been already 

 stated : First, the dampness of the climate ; second, the employment of so many iu shoemaking, 

 an occupation disabling in itself, and inviting the disabled from the agricultural districts; third, 

 the prompt enlistment of so many thousands of our best men, at home and abroad, betore my du- 

 ties commenced; fourth, the employment of so many of the able-bodied on Government labor, and 

 their necessary exclusion from the examination. Their substitutes were generally non-residents of 

 the district, many of whom were rejected for causes, and others provided, when their principals 

 could have readily passed. 



* * I have nothing to offer iu regard to paragraph 85, believing that the Revised 



Regulations have been efficient and equitable in their working. Under ordinary circumstances, I 

 am confident that a draft so conducted would furnish a sufdcieucy of men. 



'' The number of men that can be physically examined per day with accuracy," I should say, is 

 from thirty-five to forty. 



The attempted frauds which have come under my notice are as follows : 1st. One case of pre- 

 tended chronic inflammation of the eyes. The inflainmatiou was evidently of recent origin, and very 



