SUUGKONS' REPORTS KENTUCKY SIXTH DISTRICT. 379 



cause he liuds tlicin soiiiul, or fit for military duty accordius' to the regulations, had better resign 

 at once. He is utterly unlit for the place, aud will be iu a fret or fume uutil he gets out of it. These 

 things are simply aunoyauces, nothing more, and should be serenely despised. Because the air 

 teems with gnats and flies, that is no reason why a man should be confounded and overcome in 

 carrying out the great purposes of life. lie must simply brush them away, and labor on in the 

 performance of duty as nobly and energetically as if such miserable creatures had never existed. 

 "Wo unto you" only " when all men speak well of you." 



The number of men examined by me from other nationalities than our own is so very small that 

 I am without that experience necessary to give an intelligent opinion upon this subject. So far as 

 my experience goes in reference to recruits, I have seen none that excel those of our own country. 

 There is, however, among the Canadians and Irish who oft'er themselves as subslitutes — and of 

 course it would be the same if they came as recruits — a physical development, perfection of form, 

 and symmetry of proportion that I have rarely seen equaled in men from any other nationality. 

 The negro, iu many of liis physical characteristics, is well calculated to make as good a soldier as 

 ever marched to the field of battle. 



Drafted '.men who show themselves to the board of enrollment are generally a miserable set; 

 so that, judging from those that make their appearance, the conclusion would be that there is no 

 physical aptitude in the American people for military service. But such a conclusion is manifestly 

 erroneous. Nearly all the Germans who are drafted are 2'%stca/'^ worthless ; they have already 

 been'rejected from the armies of Europe, and have come here physically disabled, as tailors, tin- 

 ners, shoemakers, gardeners, milk-men, vine-dressers, rag-pickers, and small shop-keepers. 



The Irish and English mostly claim alieiuuje ; and, if not exemi)ted ujjon that plea or some 

 other, the Irish all run off. Upon the whole, therefore, I am inclined to give an opiuion in favor 

 of the American people, though I believe the Irish may possibly excel them; but I have not a 

 sufiQcient number of facts from experience to verify this conjecture in reference to them. 



Within the last year I have examined ahont nixteen hundred negroes, some drafted men, more 

 as substitutes, but by far the larger number as recruits. Except for being over age or under age, 

 very few comparatively have been rejected ; not more perhaps than ten per cent. Out of a hundred 

 recruits examined on one occasion, but five were rejected, three tor hernia, one for loss of the 

 right eye, and one for some difficulty about the ankle-joints.- Fifteen drafted men (colored) reported 

 on the same day ; they were examined carefidly one after another and not one rejected. The same 

 thing could not occur among a like number of white men, except by a miracle. The negro is rarely, 

 according to my experience, the subject of hernia, except iu the umbilical form, until he becomes 

 forty-five or fifty years old. Their bones, too, would seem to be tougher, and less brittle than the 

 osseous structure of the white race, for fractures are very ■uneommon among them. They are almost 

 entirely exempt from Imeiuorrhoids ; indeed, I never saw, as far as I can now recollect, a case of 

 internal piles in one of them, nor of prolax>sus ani, and only one or two of fistula in auo. This last 

 disease is a very extraordinary thing iu a colored man. They have no complaints to make about 

 their livers, stomachs, bowels, kidueys, or bladders. Tuberculosis is comparatively rare among 

 them ; and, coutrary to the generally-received opinion iu the slave States, they are not, as far as my 

 experience goes, more subject to scrofulosis than other people. Though often the subjects of rheuma- 

 tism, I have never met, so far as recollection goes, with more than four or live cases of organic dis- 

 ease of the heart, (curvature of the spine may exist, and functional disease of the heart, but are 

 both matters of surprise when met with, such is almost their universal exemption from these troubles 

 which so often afHict the white race. Their teeth are nearly -dlways 2)erfect. But few, if any, have 

 ever been rejected or exeini)ted ou account of the loss of these organs. The eye, however, is not 

 as perfect as iu the white uuin. Rheumatism affects their joints more seriously, according to my 

 observation, than in the white race. Being well fed, upon coarse aud common food, but substan- 

 tial, nutritious, and abundant, they are generally finely developed. The muscles are powerfid, the 

 joints large, the chest round aiul full, and the abdomen rather concave thau otherwise. Their forms 

 are not as beautiful, nor is their symmetry as perfect, as the white man's, nor do I believe that their 

 powers of endurance are as great, especially in cold weather. They come before the examiniiig- 

 surgeon with fewer disabilities, to begin with, iu proportion to the number examined, and, when 

 sound, their physical qualifications for military service are certainly good, if not quite equal to 



