SURGEONS RKPORTS — PENNSYLVANIA — TWENTY-FIRST DISTRICT. 343 



suggest lliat the eiirollmeiitlaw bo so amcndod tliat all ordaiiu'd iiiinisteis of the gospel, having a. 

 regular charge, bo exempt from inilitai\ duty. The lueseiit hiw is, in tliis respect, certainly a retro- 

 grade step in any government founded on the principles of civilization. As a class, we find preachers 

 physically uiitit for military duty to a greater extent than an equal number of men in any other 

 calling. 



With much defereiKre, I would respectfully suggest that the importance of obtaining the first 

 medical talent in the country in surgeons of boards of enrollment is so obvious that uo argument 

 is required to establish it. It is equally clear that the salary of surgeons iu this capacity was, 

 during the war, by no means an equivalent for the resixnisibility, labor, and, in some respects, 

 disagreeable duties connected wMth the oftice. A respectable physician in full practice can, under 

 ordinary circumstances, collect, as the proceeds of his practice, double and often treble the amount 

 prescribed by law as compensation of surgeons of boards, and have, besides, the advantage of enjoy- 

 ing the comtbrts of home. The inference is, therefore, clear that a physician who, from necessity or 

 choice, is anxious to secure a competency for himself and family in his declining years by his pro- 

 fessional labors, will not accei)t this position at the present raulv of tlie surgeon. 



The question may be quaintly asked of your humble servant, "Do you not claim professional 

 respectability, with a profitable practice at home f I answer yes. It is now full thirty-five years 

 since I engaged actively in the practice of medicine in my ])resent locality, and, at the time my ap- 

 pointment as surgeon came, (which was unsolicited by and nnlinowu to me,) I was meditating retire- 

 ment from the laborious part of professional life. I decided to accept the position as a change, and, 

 once iuitiated, 1 became interested in the cause, and felt that, as we must all make ^sacrifices in 

 putting down this terrible rebellion, I would do what I could toward the consummation of the great 

 work. 



An amendment to the law, ranking surgeons of the board as mojorst^ would, in my humble 

 opinion, hereafter secure the services of our best me<lical men; and the additional expense would be 

 more than comiiensated for by the assurance that the work of the surgeou was committed to pro- 

 fessional ineu iu every way competent to the discharge of so responsible a duty. 



A. ROTH ROCK, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Seventeenth District of I'ennnylvama 



HOLLIDAYSBURGH, Pa., Jime 15, 1865. 



PENNSYLVANIA— TWENTY-FIRST DISTRICT.' • 



Extracts from report of Dk. Frederick C. Robinson. 



* # ■ » J iia,ve the honor to herewith submit the following report, as embodying 



the result of my opinions and deductions as surgeon of this board of enrollment during the last 

 two eventful years of our historic , and an experience derived from the examination of six thousand 

 four hundred and sixty-four recruits, substitutes, and drafted men. This is exclusive of enrolled 

 men, who would probably number three thousand. 



The geographical position of this district is immediately west of the last ridges of the Alleghany 

 Mountains; Chesnut and Laurel Ridges, running through the eastern sides of Fayette and VVest- 

 luorela.nd Counties, stand as sentinels or outposts guarding the western approaches to the grander 

 scenery of the great Apalachian range that crosses our State farther eastward. 



The rest of the district is composed of a fertile agricultural section, well watered by the Monon- 

 gahela, Alleghany, Youghiogheny, Loyalhanna, Cheat, and Couemaugh Rivers, and their tributa- 

 ries. It abounds in iron, coal, salt, and limestone; the latter impregnating the water in some 

 sections of the district to a very great extent, the well-water iu many places during the summer- 

 months having a specific gravity of 1000 trom the pi'esence principally of the contained lime. 



Much the largest portion of our peo])le is engaged in agricultural pursuits ; but the mineral 

 resources of the district give remunerative and constant employment to a large number ot i)ersoii,s. 



'No reports wore received from the eijjhteuutb.nineteeuth, twoutietli, twenty-second, twenty-third, and twenty- 

 fourth districts of Penusylvauia. 



