546 surgeons' reports — Maryland — second district. 



himself of that pica iu tbe cvenfof his being drafted. The notice might also require him to present 

 the evidence of age or alienage before draft, if he was not on tbese accounts subject to duty. 



The seventeenth section of the act of Februarj' 24, 1804, has been taken iidvaiitage of during 

 the drafts of 1SG4 by persons joining some of the various religious sects whose tenets forbid the 

 bearing of arms. Some joined these sects after being drafted, but in such cases the board of enroll- 

 ment deemed their conscientious scruples of too receut a date to avail in exempting them from 

 service. 



Self-mutilation has been resorted to by drafted and enrolled men in some cases. The cutting 

 off the fingers or the great toe, or extracting the teeth, were the usual means resorted to; the two 

 former methods not as frequently in the second and third drafts as iu the first one in 18(53, but tbe 

 extracting the front, canine, and first molar teeth has been quite frequent. The only remedy I can 

 suggest is to refuse to stiike the name of any man from the enrollmeutlist, or to exempt any who 

 are drafted whose gums indicate that the teeth have been recently extracted. I pursued this course 

 w ith ctirolled men during the last winter. My action iu these cases was based on the order froia 

 your oflice to report the case of any drafted man who attempted, by means of self-mutilation, to 

 evade service. 



The foreign clement in the population of this district is relatively so small, and so many influ- 

 ences operate to control the results arrived at in determiniug the physical capacities of the different 

 nationalities for militarj- service, that any deductions arrived at must be very defective and unsatis- 

 factory. Out of two thousand three hundred and eighteen men examined, and included in* my last 

 two reports, there were but ninety of loreign birth. 



Taking the measurement of the chest as a standard of physical capacity, I find the Germans 

 present the largest average. This measurement cannot be regarded as a correct index, from tlie 

 fact that 30 many native-born young men entered the service as recruits between the ages of six- 

 teen and twenty, before the physical development was completed. Measurements of the chest, or 

 height, or weight, or all combined, are not sufiQcient to measure the capacity of recruits for endur- 

 ing military service. The temperament must also be embraced iu the estimate. Yivacity and hope- 

 fulness would sustain a soldier under fatigue au<l wounds where one of a less happily constituted 

 organization would sink. Therefore, iu considering physical aptitude for service, and taking this 

 factor into the calculation, I am convinced that the native soldier is unsurpassed. 



Among the most perfect specimens of physical development I have seen during my examina- 

 tions, I found some of them belonging to the colored race. In physique, as a class, they will com- 

 pare favorably with the whites. They arrive at maturity at an earlier age than the latter. Though 

 they have not the mental capacity of the whites, yet they possess many of the requisites calculated 

 to make them hardy and enduring soldiers. Their vitality, when relieved of the restraints which 

 contact with the whites impose, and their good phyaiques, will enable them to bear the fatigues of 

 a campaign as well as any other soldiers. On the whole, I have been very favorably impressed 

 with their jthysical qualifications for military service. 



I have no suggestions to make in relation to the " operations of the enrollment-law," further 

 than such as I have already made iu relation to it and the orders based upon it, in the foregoing 

 report. * * * 



FRED. C. ROBINSON, 

 Surgeon Board' of EnroUmenl Twentyjirst District of Pennsylvania. 

 Greensburgh, Pa., May 20, 18G5.- 



MARYLAND— SECOND DISTRICT.' 



Extracts from report of Dii. J. E. Ward. 



• * * Of drafted men there have been examined five thousand six hundred and 



thirty-five. Of that number there were one thousand two hundred and eighty-eight exempted for 

 physical disability, leaving four thousand three hundred and forty-seven held to service. Under 

 the revision of enrollment, there were examined physically eight hundred andfourteeu; of this 



' No report was icceived t'roui tlie first ilistrict. 



