2i)8 surgeons' REIMR'l'S CONNECTICUT FOURTH DISTRICT. 



CONNECTICUT— FOURTH DISTRICT. 

 Extracts from report of Dr. W. H. Trowbridge. 



* • * My first experience in the examination of persons for the military service 



\v;is in the physical examination of abont three hundred men for the regiment of which I had the 

 honor of filling the position of surgeon, which men 1 had the opportunity of watching through 

 their term of service. My next experience has been that of performing the by no means pleasant 

 duty of surgeon of a board of enrollment for the period of about sixteen months, during which 

 time I have examined over five thousand recruits, substitutes, drafted, and enrolled men. 



Geographically, this district comprises the counties of Litchfield and Fairfield, extending from 

 Massachusetts on the north to Long Island Sound on the south ; and from the counties of New 

 Haven and Hartford on the east to the State of New York on the west. It contains an area of 

 about one thousand square miles. This area is broken and undulating as you proceed north, until 

 in the more northern portion it assumes a decidedly mountainous character ; the geological forma- 

 tion is of a granitic nature, and the district, as is usual with areas of such formation, is admirnbly 

 supplied with ]mie water. The Housatonic and Naugatuck Kivers, with their numerous tributaries, 

 afford an abundance of water-power for mechanical and other purposes. The inhabitants number 

 about one hundred and twenty-five tliousand, and are energetic and thrifty. Of this number a 

 large proportion are engaged in manufactures, mechanical occupations, and the arts; agriculture 

 liohling a decidedly inferior position, the soil of .so rugged a section being unequal to the task of 

 furnishing supplies and competence to the number of its inhabitants. The habits of the people 

 are stirring and industrious. 



Overstudying. overacting, overthinking, rapid eating, and nervous precipitancy in much that 

 they do, causes indigestion and hepatic derangements to be common. But, owing to the bracing 

 and salubrious air and excellent water, the habits above mentioned rarely culminate in fevers of 

 iiny considerable maUgnity, while epidemics are extremely uncommon. Typho-malaria is never 

 indigenous, but tubercular diseases are rather common in the southern portion of the district. 



As a whole, I deem the sections of paragraph 85 of thie Revised Regulations, Provost-Marshal- 

 General's Bureau, excellent ; still, I would modestly suggest, relative to section 23, that when a 

 stalwart man of splendid physique, with no physical or mental fault other than a small reducible 

 hernia which has never cost him a pang, or hindered him from lulfilling the duties of a laborious 

 avocation, and who was unconscious of tlie fact of its existence until the defect was shown to him 

 by the examining surgeon, presents himself for examination, the examiner should have a little 

 discretionary power given by the regulations. He might then accept some of the men that he is 

 now i^omiielled to reject in accordance with the unequivocal language of the section. I consider 

 lailure in such men much less likely to occur than in many in whom we can discover no particular 

 disqualification. Section 30 appears to me to be entirely useless, for its provisions are covered by 

 sections 33 and 34. * * * 



In a thorough manner, I cannot, in justice to myself, continue for any length of time to 

 examine more than ivoiw fifty to sixty men per diem. 



Relative to frauds practiced by drafted and enrolled men and recruits and substitutes, I woidd 

 say that but few drafted men have come under my inspection, our quota having been mostly filled 

 by ])urchased volunteers and substitutes; but, as far as my limited observation has extended, 

 general debility, asserted and sustained by certificates of friends and neighbors, is the disability 

 that. has been most resorted to for purposes of fraud. 1 have met with pretended cases of 

 hernia in which the truss was «orn backwards or bottom-side up. My experience with enrolled 

 men has been confined to examining them for exemption fiom enrolhudit, and as I have 

 adhered strictly to the letter of the instructions, giving the G()vernment in all cases the benefit 

 of doubt, I have had but little trouble. I have, however, tound the truss dodge tried; also 

 leigned anchylosis of joints, as well as permanent flexion of the fingers, and a variety of lame- 

 :;c sses; but these attempts at fraud were easily disposed of by the ajiplication ot siui])le tests. With 

 substitutes and hireling volunteers I have had much to do and much to contend with, for the 



