262 surgeons' reports — new york — seventeenth district. 



NEW YOEK— SEVENTEENTH DISTEICT.i 

 Extracts from report of Dk. Sidney P. Bates. 



♦ • • I was appoiuted, temporarily, to fill the»place of surgeou to this board on 



the 10th of April, 1865. I had, however, assisted iu the examination of men drafted under the call 

 of July, 1SG3, and also of recruits to fill the quota of this district under subsequent calls of that 

 year and 1864, whenever the pressure of business in the surgeon's otfi(!e was suflicient to make it 

 necessary to call for additional help. I have, perhaps, examined one thousand five hundred men, 

 of all classes, drafted men, volunteers, substitutes, and enrolled men. I have, therefore, been 

 familiar with the general duties of the surgeon, from the establishment of boards of enrollment up 

 to the present time, and particularly the manner of conducting physical examinations. » * * 



This district is composed of Saint Lawrence and Franklin Counties. It contains an area of 

 four thousand five hundred and ninety-eight square miles, and is centrally situated, about one hun- 

 dred and fifty miles from Albany. 



The north and northwestern part of the district is quite level, with a slight inclination toward 

 the river Saint Lawrence, on which and the Canada line (which is here the forty-fifth degree north 

 latitude) it borders. This portion of the district varies iu width from six to twenty miles. It is 

 underlaid by calciferous sandstone; the superimposed soil being a heavy clay. Next south of this 

 is another belt of from eight to twelve miles in width, covering the Potsdam sandstone. The soil 

 of this region is a loam, well adapted to agricultural purposes, and especially fit for grazing. This 

 l)art is broken into gentle undulations; the traversing ridges extending from the northeast to the 

 southwest, with slopes gradual yet suflicient to give good water-drainage. The southern part of 

 the district is mountainous, with elevations varying from two to four thousand feet above the tide- 

 level. The rock in this region is gneiss, the soil sandy and light, and quite unfit for cultivation, 

 and the entire region only valuable for its timber and iron-ores. 



The population of the district iu 1860 was one hundred and fourteen thousand five hundred 

 and twenty-six. A large majority of the inhabitants are of New England origin, and retain the 

 habits and characteristics of the people of that portion of our country, manifesting, as a general 

 thing, the same industrious habits of application to business, the same love of order and good 

 morals, and the same desire for knowledge and general intelligence. The remaining portion is made 

 up of different nationalities, of which the Irish*and Canadians constitute the larger proportion. 



This is essentially an agricultural district, having only a few villages of importance, of which 

 Ogdensburgh, Malone, Potsdam, and Canton are the most considerable. 



The district is free from malarial influences, and usually quite healthful. Epidemics incident 

 to the latitude, such as influenza, bronchitis, and pneumonia, prevail to some extent in spring and 

 autumn, but usually are of no especial severity. Phthisis claims its victims here about in the same 

 ratio as elsewhere in the world. 



This district is comparatively new, most of the people having been obliged to clear the lands 

 they occupy of the heavy primeval forests which but lately covered them. They consequently pre- 

 sent a large number of those disabilities iucideht to men engaged in powerful muscular efforts, such 

 as hernia, and also a large proportion of varicose veins and fractured limbs. » • # 



The various sections of paragraph 85 of Eevised Kegulations have so far met the necessities 

 of this ofiice, and I see no reason why they should be changed. ♦ » * 



With an usher to present and prepare the men for examination, and a clerk to keep the 

 records, a surgeon can, on an average, examine sixty men in a day, working ten hours. * * * 



The frauds met with, and against which it is necessary to be constantly on guard, are almost 

 innumerable. Among these may be named ophthalmia, produced by putting snuff, sand, and other 

 irritating substances into the eyes, feigned amaurosis, stone in the bladder, stricture of the urethra, 

 incontinence of urine, internal hemorrhoids, shortening of the legs, and, in particular, diseases of 

 the lungs and heart. Yankees more particularly claim exemptions on account of lung-diseases, 

 .such as asthma and bronchitis, which they simulate by inhaling the fumes of burning locofoco- 

 ' No report was received from the sixteenth district of New York. 



