304 suRGr.ONs' reports — Pennsylvania — sixth district. 



tbose sections, or portions of them, wliicli have not aiisweieil tlieir purposes in cases wliicli bave 

 come under my observation as surgeon of the board of eiirollnient, and under ^Thicll 1 have had to 

 accept the men in opposition to my own Judgment. 



* * * I think a,hontJi/ty men per day can be examined accurately ; (that is, from 

 9 o'clock a. ni. until 4 p. ni.) 



The only fraud I have noticed practiced ui)on the surgeon is the attempt of drafted and enrolled 

 men to feign disability, and recruits and substitutes to conceal any disqualification which theym»y 

 have. Neither can be considered as an obstacle to the surgeou in his duties. 1 made it a rule in 

 my examinations always to decide doubtful cases in favor of the Goveiniueut, and to hold ))aragraph 

 85 responsible for all my decisions concerning drafted men. I accei)ted no recruit or substitute who 

 did not reach what I supposed to be the required standard. 



A more important fraud, and a greater obstacle to be overcome by the board, is that i)ractice(l by 

 deserters and others in enlisting unlawfully. I would venture to say that over one-third of the 

 alfidiivi*:s produced at this otfice were unreliable, (most frequently those of alienage,) and nearly 

 that number were rejected. The difficulty of detection iu these cases is obvious, although a great 

 deal can lie accomjilished by a judicious cross-examination. 



My experience has been that Americans have presented by far the best physical qualificatious 

 for military service. 



The colored race, as a class, have furnished a larger proportion of men who have passed the 

 examination than any other; the majority of those rejected were of northern birth, and generally 

 mulattoes. 



Tiie enrollment-law, so far as my knowledge goes, has operated admirably, and since its 

 amendment meets with general appi'obation. I would beg leave to state, in offering the foregoing 

 report, that it ».s necessarily brief and imperfect. 1 did not feel warranted, with my short acquaintance 

 with the duties of surgeon of the board of enrollment, to make a more elaborat* statement, and 

 jiarticularly to advance opinions upon subjects concerning which I had not acquired sufficient 

 experimental knowledge upon which to base correct views. 



•J. H. MEARS, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Fifth District of Pennsylvania. 



Fbankfoed, Pa., May 29, 1865. 



PENNSYLVANIA— SIXTH DISTEICT. 

 Extracts from report of Dr. William Corson. 



* * * The number of men examined, commencing July, 18G4, to close of service, 

 was nine thousand and seventy-five, and, previously, it is supposed, about twenty-five hundred or 

 three thousand, making about twelve thousand in all. 



This district, the sixth, is composed of the counties of Montgomery and Lehigh, extending in a 

 line diagonally drawn a distance of nearly one hundred miles. 



The county of Montgomeiy is of primitive formation. Commencing at the line of Philadelphia 

 County iu the micaceous schist, upon the upiier margin of that stratum, we next pass the hornblende 

 of only half a mile in width, a hilly but fertile strip of laud stretching along the whole extent of 

 the county, and forming the southern boundary of the valley of marble and limestone, which, as a 

 continuation of the Chester County "Great Valley," passes from west to east through the whole 

 county ; it has an average breadth of nearly three miles. This valley is bounded upon the north 

 by the sand-rock, which extends over the whole northern part of the county. Upon the west, we 

 have a margin of twelve miles ; but, at Valley Forge, the Schuylkill Kiver enters the county, and 

 passes through it, cutting off three miles in width, until it reaches Philadelphia County. 



The Perkiomen and Skiiipack Creeks drain off the waters of nearly the whole northern half 

 of the county, and empty them into the Schuylkill at about the middle of its course; while the 

 Wissaliickon and Pennypack Creeks drain the southeastern parts — the former emptying into the 

 Schuylkill Itiver in Philadelphia Couuty, and the latter carrying its waters to the Delaware. 



