surgeons' REPOR'IS NEW YoKK EIGHTEENTH DISTRICT. 263 



matches. Irisliraeu Imve frequent affections of the heart, which they usually locate just below the 

 point of the ensiform cartilage. I know of no better way of penetrating and overcoming these 

 impositions than to employ a 'shrewd, intelligent, and thoroughly honest surgeon, one who has 

 knowledge of men sutticient to penetrate their designs, and knowledge enough of his profession to 

 detect their impositions. The cleverest will make mistakes, and the shrewdest will sometimes hud 

 bis match; bat, with a thoroughly-qualified surgeon, few imj)ostors will accomplish success in their 

 attempts to evade duty. It may be somewhat difficult to always secure the services of such a sur- 

 geon as the position demands, for the compensation paid by Government; for, even up here, in this 

 " Siberiau region," the services of such a one are in demand by his neighbors and fellow-citizens, 

 and he cannot afford to abandon his ordinary practice for one or two years, even for the salary paid 

 to surgeons of the botird. • ♦ * The appointment of good men to the office I deem the 

 " best method of overcoming and avoiding these difficulties." 



So far as my observation extends, and so far as is shown by statistics in this office, no nation- 

 ality presents greater physical aptitude for military service than our own; and, if to the perfection 

 of the machine be added intelligence and an educated mind, I cannot understand why Americans, 

 when they have had experience, should not make the best soldiers in the world. 



I can give no oi)inion upon the physical qualifications of the colored race, as there have been 

 but three or four examined by this board. 



My views in regard to the operation of the enrollment-law would be of little worth. Conscrip- 

 tion, to the American mind, is not a nice thing; in fact, it seems to be very repugnant to people. 

 Yet something must be held up in terrorem to make them enlist. I think this law just as good as 

 any for that purpose. 1 fear we shall never succeed well with conscription. The best way will 

 always be to have a just cause for which to contend, and the intelligence of the people will then 

 command their bodies, their lives, and all else for the defense of the country against enemies, come 

 they from our own midst or from foreign lands. 



SIDNEY P. BATES, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Seventeenth District of New York. 



Potsdam Junction, N. Y., Maij 26, 1865. 



NEW YORK— EIGHTEENTH DISTRICT. 

 Extracts from report of De. A. M. Veddee. 



My experience in the examination of men for the military service of the United States is neces- 

 sarily limited. The whole number examined by me, as exhibited by the record, is eight hundred 

 and fifty-four. 



This district is situated in the most eastern part of the State, and comprises the counties of 

 Schenectady, Saratoga, Fulton, Hamilton, and Montgomery. 



Schenectady County is centrally distant twenty miles from Albany. The greater j)art lies 

 between the Mohawk River and the Schoharie Creek. The surface consists of the Mohawk Valley 

 and an upland, generally much broken by ridges and isolated hills, two hundred to three hundred 

 and fifty feet above the river. The greater part of the surface is covered with a thick deposit of 

 drift, consisting principally of clay in the western part and sand in the eastern. The rocks crop 

 out on the banks of the river, and form the declivities of the steeper hills. The soil in the western 

 part is a tenacious, clayey loam, underlaid by hard-pan on the hills; and in the eastern part, a light, 

 unproductive soil. 'The valley of the Mohawk consists of a deep, rich alluvium, well adapted to 

 tillage, and extensively devoted to the cultivation of broom-corn. The principal streams are the 

 Mohawk River, Schoharie Creek, and Norman's Kill, and their branches. Many of the smaller 

 streams have woru deep gullies in the loose drift-deposits, giving to the surface a very broken 

 character. There are fine alluvial fiats near Schenectady, five miles west, on the south side of the 

 river, a tract two miles in extent- on the north side of the river, and a tract four miles west of 

 the city. 



The valleys are best adapted to tillage, and the hills to pasturage. Manufactories are chiefly 

 limited to the city of Schenectady, which is situated on the Mohawk, aud on the borders of one of 



