surgeons' reports NEW JERSEY FIFTH DISTRICT. 295 



succession, repicseiiting the extremes of tlie law. It may be two ueigbbois Lave weuded their way 

 togctlier to answer tlieir country's call, and present their excuses I'roni service: the one is a feeblo 

 lUiiu, so pooil y (level()i)ed that you hesitate, you very carefidly look liini over again, and decide that 

 the law contemplates that such as he cannot be exemi)ted; the other, a well-developed, strong, 

 muscular man, possessiug all the muscular strength that could be desired, but yet has no teeth, or 

 is ruptured, and is exempt: both wend their way homeward, the one to prepare for service, and 

 the other to remain and eujoy the privileges of a citizen, each believing end knowing tiiat he who 

 was exemjjt was capable of performing twice the service of the man who was held. Such incidents 

 were of daily occurrence, and did much to stir up dissatisfaction with the enrollment-law. Should 

 not all drafted men be iield that are cai)able of performing any part of the duties of 4;he soldier, and 

 the board of enrollment be empowered to specify the duties they are capable of performing, or of 

 assigning them to such duties as they can perform ? * * * 



My opinion is that an esamining-surgeon, furnished with a well-ventilated apartment, with his 

 subjects presented to him stripped, can accurately dispose of cases as thev' occur at an average of 

 one every lifteeu minutes for a period of six hours, or at the rate of twenty-five per d.ay. # * « 



The frauds mostly to be guardwl against which aie practiced by drafted and enrolled men to 

 escape the service are : 



1st. A man with disability yVowt representing one without disability. A few instances of this 

 kind were attempted, but our stringent rule of having men identified by a responsible person, 

 known to some member of the board, soon prevented further trouble in this direction. 



2d. The claims of disability from age were probably the most perplexing. To judge of a man's 

 age is but to guess at it ; some men at forty are apparently as old as others are at fifty, and with 

 the young it is impossible to form a coi-rect opinion as to which side of twenty they belong. In a 

 very great number, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two, to be confident of one's opinion 

 would be but to expose the fallacy of human judgment. Family-records are by no means common, 

 especially among our foreign population, and the aflidavits of relatives and acquaintances are 

 made from memory and liable to error as to a few months or years. 



3d. The exaggerations of trilling ailments, accompanied by a dissertation upon human suffer- 

 ing, and good nursing as the only prophylactic against the speedy dissolution of adored mortality 

 by the mother,- wife, or sister, which sometimes deeply impresses a sensitive man. 



Substitutes and recruits endeavor to appear as well as possible, and to nuxke a good display of 

 their physical powers. They, of course, conceal all defects within their power, and stand mute like 

 the horse before the veterinary for inspection, and any information you may elicit by questions is 

 of no more value than would be the neighing of the horse ; you have the subject before you, and you 

 must make the best use of your skill. If there is any such thing as joclceyiuy a human being, you 

 know that it has been done, and that the man is appearing to the best advantage; if you err in 

 judgment, or neglect a single point, you are most likely cheated, or, as the jockey would say, " You 

 have cheated yourself." But this is not the case with disabilities that the examiniug-surgeon 

 cannot detect; for instance, epilepsy ; andalsoLernia, which cannot always be detected: and moral 

 disabilities, and those relating to age, are positive frauds against which you have no remedy. 



The obstacles with which the examiuing-surgeou had to contend were : 



1st. To make the people understand the difference between drafted men who were trying to 

 get out of the service and substitutes or recruits who were-trying to get into service ; a difference 

 which they could not oi» would not understand as a general thing, and which seemed to be good 

 cause for criticising the motives of the surgeon in his decisions. 



lid. The general spirit of malignity of the people toward that functionary, upon whom they 

 look as the evil genius in their midst, levying the dreaded burdens upon them, and being blind as 

 to their physical inability to endure them, believing it as much a Christian duty to defraud him as 

 to cheat the evil one of his dues. They seemed to think it was as much their prerogative and 

 bounden duty to bring him into disfavor by heaping epithets and maledictions upon him, and to 

 apprise everybody of his wicked intent to send them into the Army, and of his remorseless man- 

 ner of doing it, as it was to apprise the Sunday scholar of the wiles of him that goeth about seeking 

 to destroy young children. # * * 



