SURGEONS' KErOKTS — PENNSYLVANIA — ELEVEffTH DISTRICT. 317 



a small space is cleared and (niltivated, yielding but a poor reinnneration to the hard-working and 

 humble liusbandiuau. The prin(-ii)al employment is lumbering. 



Carbon County, the more western portion of the district, though equally wild in appearance, 

 and the soil as little susceptible to euItivation,.is more wealthy and prosperous, owing to the exten- 

 sive coal-mines iu operation there, w hich give the principal occupation to the inhabitants. 



The general character of the inhabitants of this district, physically, is fair, being mostly hard- 

 working men, inured to hardships and exposure natural to men of their calling. They are in gen- 

 eral moderate and frugal in tlieir mode of living. Mentally, though blessed with flue schools and 

 every facility to secure a good education, they are, as far as the rural districts are concerned, not 

 as intelligent as they might be. Politically, they are far behind some of our neighboring districts, 

 being little acquainted with the real and essential points and principles of political morality, and 

 more than two-tliirds pro-slavery men and " copperheads." A large number of foreigners — Irish 

 and Germans — inhabit the counties of Carbon, Pike, and Wayne; in the tirst named they are found 

 the most extensively, the large coal- works forming a nucleus around which they gather by thou- 

 sands. In our experience, these foreigners, especially the Irish poi)ulation, have given us more 

 trouble than any other class of citizens in the district. Stubborn, self-willed, and bitter opponents 

 of the Government, they either failed to report at all, keeping themselves secluded iu their subter- 

 ranean places of labor or among the wild regions surrounding their abode, or, assisted by others of 

 American birth equally unruly, banded together to defend themselves against arrest, and to defy 

 the strong arm of the law. But I may be digressing, and intruding on a subject more properly 

 belonging to the report of my superior officer. 



As to the prevalent diseases of the district, I am at a loss to determine their nature as fully as 

 I may be expected to do. Like all other portions of the country, our people are subject to the 

 various and almost innumerable ills which "flesh is heir to," being visited by the ruthless and 

 invisible presence in diflerent forms and with a variety of afflictions. The diseases more generally 

 prevalent, I think, are those of the respiratory organs. Pneumonia prevails in a great degree 

 throughout the upper portions of the district. Affections of the throat, also remittent and typhoid 

 fevers, are very numerous. Thesi^ affections of the respiratory organs, and the frequent fevers, may 

 be caused by the severe and sudden changes of temperature peculiar to this section of the country. 

 The most intense heat of one day is often followed by chilling winds and a damp foggy atmosphere. 

 The greater portion of this district, as before stated, is very mountainous, and on these elevated 

 parts there is more or less of a cold breeze on the hottest days. The heat is as intense as at any 

 other place in the same latitude, but an occasional cold breeze sweeping over the hills at the same 

 time is often the immediate cause of a severe cold, which frequently ends i,n a serious attack of fever. 

 This is particularly the case in the upper counties of Pike, Wayne, and Monroe, while the lower 

 portion of the district suffers much less from these affections. As a general thing, however, this 

 district is a healthy one, and the diseases mentioned are often the results of unnecessary or 

 unavoidable ex[)osure. 



The i^articular disabilities which have disqualified a greater ratio per thousand for military 

 service in this district are loss of teeth and hej-uia. What really causes the first-named disqualifi- 

 cation to be so common among all classes in this district, I cannot definitely explain. It may be 

 partly attributed to their diet, or mode of living. I find in my examiniitions that natives of Germany 

 and Ireland, as a general thing, are more fortunate in the preservation of their teeth than are our 

 own citizens ; and some members of the medical Irateruity believe that it is owing to the smaller 

 (piautity of animal food and saccharine mattei' used by them. This may, however, be only conjecture. 



Ilernia, or its causes, may be more successfully traced. The greater portion of our people are 

 engaged iu very laborious and enervating pursuits : lumliering, for instance, which requires very 

 heavy lifting; mining, calling for frequent overtaxation of bodily strength ; and tarming on a soil 

 in most places not very fertile or even, requires the exertion of the human frame to such an extent 

 as to lead to hernia very fre(]nently. This disability is not only common among men in the more 

 advanced stages of life, but among the younger portion cases are' equally numerous. The youths 

 of our section are called to the field, the woods, or the mines, to perform the tasks of men before 

 the Irame has attained its lull strength and vigor, which very frequently results iu souie serious 

 physical iryury. 



