surgeons' reports MASSACHUSETTS SIXTH DISTRICT. 20f) 



iiig only from tlicir ni)i)carni)ce in the cxauiiiiing room, I sliouUl expect tliem to make good 

 sokliers. 1 liave not hail occasion to reject a colored recruit tor any delect in teeth, eyes, ears, 

 or heart. # » » 



Tile draft is truly a severe infliction, ajul must be so, however managed. Ifeominntations are 

 allowed, it becomes a tax by lot, to which the poor as well as the rich are liable, and thereloie not 

 an e(iuitable tax. It seems to me, upon a review of the whole matter, that if our Government liad 

 given to tlie soldiers from the first very large monthly i)ay for actual service, without any boun- 

 ties, it would have saved us from most of the frauds from which we have sutfered. I would dis- 

 card altogether the wheel of fortune; and if we should fail to secure a sufficient army by this 

 nn aus, and very large numbers should be necessary in coining years, (from which calamity we 

 jiray the good Lord to save us,) it might be better to take from the enrollment all between certain 

 ages, say twenty and twenty-one years, to serve for one year, when they would be discharged and 

 theii places filled by the same rule of age; and this, besides meeting a present want, would make 

 us a military nation. » * * 



DANIEL I'ERLF.Y, 

 iiurgcon Board of Enrollment Fifth District of Musmvhusetts. 



Salem, Mass., June 12, 18G5. 



MASSACHUSETTS— SIXTH DISTRICT. 

 Extracts from Report of Dr. John L. Sullivan. 



The sixth congressional district of Massachusetts embraces eight cities and towns lying in the 

 county of Essex and seventeen cities and towns lying in the county of Middlesex. 



On the north are Haverhill and Bradford ; on the east, Uradford and Saugus ; Charlestown 

 and Somerville lie at the southern extremity of the district ; ou the west are VValtham, Burlington, 

 Billerica, &c. The district contains two cities of considerable size and importance, viz, Charlestown 

 and Lawrence. Haverhill, situated about ten miles from Lawrence, is a compact town of nearly ten 

 thousand inhabitants, most of whom are engaged in the manulacture of shoes. These three towns 

 have a joint iiopulation of over fifty thousand inhabitants, or more than one-third of the entire popu- 

 lation of the district. 



The surface of the district is agreeably diversified throughout. It is watered by several large 

 and by numerous smaller rivers, and abounds in small lakes or ponds, the largest of which, sit- 

 uated in the town of Andover, called Long Pond, covers nearly five hundred acres. Portions of 

 the district are extremely hilly, and somewhat densely wooded. In many places, the rivers, hikes, 

 and elevations conspire to render the scenery romantic and picturesque. Several of the streams 

 atlord excellent water-power. The Merrimack, which flows through the northern part of the dis- 

 trict, furnishes the city of Lawrence with an immense water-i)ower. 



The soil is generally unfertile ; some portions, however, have been brought under high cultiva- 

 tion. In Andover and Boxford, there are tine farms. In the vicinity of Charlestown and Boston, 

 within the limits of the district, the business of horticulture receives considerable attention, and 

 tlie contiguous gardens supply the city-markets with fruit and vegetables. There are but three 

 towns in the district, however, and these the least important, in which agriculture forms the prin- 

 cipal occupation. Tlie mechanical and manufacturing interests everywhere predominate. 



The climate is disagreeable, from the sudden vicissitudes of heat and cold for which it is 

 remarkable. In the spring and autumn, easterly winds prevail, which are damp, chilling, and 

 peculiarly trying, especially to invalids. The variations in temperature, even in the pleasantest 

 season, a.re sudden and violent. Khennuitism, cousumption, bronchitis, and, in general, disease.s 

 of the respiratory and intestinal mucous membranes are of frequent occurrence, and sometimes 

 prevail epidemically. It must not be inferred, however, that the climate of the district, or of New 

 England as a whole, cheerless and uncongenial as it is, compared with more favored sections of 

 the country, is especially prejudicial to health and longevity, or that its sharp meteorological 

 changes carry disease and death into every household and family. Ou the contrary, the chances 



