210 SURGKONS' REPORTS MASSACHUSETTS SIXTH DISTRICT. 



of living to old age in New England are excellent. TLere are few spots on tbe face of tlie earth 

 better in this respect. The trnth is, that, on the broad scale and in the long iiin, there is health 

 rather than disease in its biting winds and decisive changes. The atmosphere is pnritied and the 

 system toned np by the operation of causes which seem to us at tlie time " not joyous, but griev- 

 ous." To New England belong the rugged soil and climate which tend to develop the vigor of 

 body and hardihood of spirit so desirable in the soldier — qualities, indeed, in which recruits from 

 this section of the country have not been surpassed. 



The population of the district is mixed and heterogeneous, embracing a large proportion of 

 foreigners, among whom the Irish are the most numerous class. Tbe natives of the soil are, of 

 course. New Englanders. I might content m^, self with this statement, since the peculiarities 

 of Yankee character are so well known as scarcely to require description. # * # ij^g 

 descendants of the Pilgrims still retain many of the traits which characterized their Puritan ances- 

 tors. This is true, despite tbe lapse of more than two centuries, the copious admixture in their 

 veins of foreign (not Anglo-Saxon) blood, the combined influences of a different and more lib- 

 eral form of government, and of geological and meteorological agencies, so potent in modifying 

 physical and mental organization. Tlie latter class ot causes, operating surely, though impercepti- 

 bly, through centuries, imjiress radical changes upon the organism, remodeling not only tbe form 

 of the solter structures, but even of the bony skeleton. Tbe Anglo-American approximates grad- 

 ually to the Indian type of physiognomy. Thus, his jaws are narrower than the European's, and 

 cannot accommodate, without crowding, tbeliormal complement of teeth ; wbence one reason why 

 this country is tbe " paradise of dentists.'' 



Tbe average height of Anglo Americans is found to be greater than that of the European 

 races from wbicb they are descended, and tbe vital caj)acity of the tliorax less; a deficiency par- 

 tially comi)ensated for by a greater expansive mobility. In this respect, also, tbe physical con- 

 formation of the Anglo-American resembles that of the aboriginal inhabitants. The latter were 

 agile, slender, and litbe, though musciilar, and their movements unimpeded by superflons adipose 

 tissue. As a race, the New Englanders are s])are in habit, angular in figure, law-boned, and sal- 

 low. They are not so "juicy" as the Englishman — have not tbe ruddy complexion and portly 

 embonpoint characteristic of tbe latter. Tbe Anglo-American skin is finer and smoother, less like 

 saddle leatber. These physical changes are, of course, not unaccompanied by corresponding 

 mental difl'erences. Tbe drier atmosphere of New England, tbe sudden and violent alternations in 

 tenijierature, from which no season is exempt, have wrought their effects upon tbe nervous system 

 of tbe inhabitants. The New Englander is a restless and excitable being, ever " on the drive." 

 The speed of the locomotive and the electric telegraph hardly satisfy him. In England, on the 

 contrary, occupation produces no excitement, because it is felt to be irregvhtr. This equable tem- 

 perament of tbe people is fostered by the bracing island air, tempered as it is by tbe prevailing 

 moist southwest winds. But the New Englander, like bis native climate, is given to extremes and 

 contrarieties. He is by nature an ultraist, or, in popular language, a ratlical. 



Descended from tbe Anglo-Saxon, mentally and pbysically the most vigorous of modern races, 

 the natives of New England inherit qualities of mind and body wbicb admirably fit them for the 

 twofold task of develoiiing tbe resources of an unexplored continent, and of conducting on a grand 

 scale tbe experiment of popular or democratic government. As managers of tbe material forces 

 of the earth, or as exi)lorers of tbe region of abstract ideas, tillers of tbe soil, ]iioneers of new set- 

 tlements, orof philantbro[iic enterprises, they arealike pre-eminent. Their industry, enterprise, and 

 mechanical ingenuity and skill are i)roverbial ; so also their frugality and success iu " making both 

 ends meet." With tbeni, economy is a virtue practiced as olten by the wealthy as by tbe poorer 

 classes. All the qualities implied in tbe word ihrijty find their fullest development in New England. 

 * * * The New Englander isarden tly attached to liberty, proud of the republican institutions inher- 

 ited from bis fathers, and unshaken in his loyally to tbe Union, even tliough he may be opi)osed 

 to the policy of tbe government, or to the measures advocated by the miijority. 



There is no region of tbe globe whither tbe New Englander has not wandered, lured by tbe 

 love of gain or adventure, or impelled by his roving disposition ; no habitable clime whither be has 

 not migrated and may not be found naturalized. Yet, altbougb accommodating himself readily to 



