400 surgeons' reports — ohio — fifth district. 



Varicose veius and hernia have also been fruitful sources of exemption. The prevalence of 

 these are undoubtedly to be accounted for from the same cause. 



There are but one or two sections of paragraph 85 as to which I have any modifications to 

 suggest. 



Scclion 3. — In very many cases, it is absolutely impossible for the persons suffering from epi- 

 lepsy to procure the evidence required by the rule. This is almost invariably true in cases of long 

 standing. After the malady has become confirmed, the patient usually abandons all hope of relief. 

 He concludes that the ])rofession has exhausted its skill, and that the only result of continued pro- 

 ff ssional attendance will be " a doctor's bill to pay," without any benefit to himself. Hence there 

 •were many cases, and honafide ones too, where physicians had not been in attendance for years, 

 and, of course, no such certificate as that required by the rule could be obtained. 1 am thoroughly 

 satisfied that this provision ought to be so modified as to permit the evidence of two or three 

 disinterested neighbors being received as to the fact of the existence of the disease. Such testimony, 

 coupled with a thoiough examination by an intelligent and conscientious physician, would, I believe, 

 be just both to the Government and citizen. 



Section '20. — I would respectfully suggest that this section also be modified. 1 am satisfied that 

 many men have been held to service who were unable to properly masticate their food. The rule, 

 however, was so abnulutc, that I did not feel authorized to direct their discharge. I am aware that 

 surgeons are liable to abuse their discretion; but I suggest that, if they were allowed more iu cases 

 of this character, the service would be benefited thereby. * . * * 



With two rooms, (one for dressing,) a surgeon can, if he has a clerk to keep his records, exam- 

 ine one hundred men per day. I did not, however, average more than seventy, even when busy from 

 early mornitg until evening. I had but one room, and was compelled to wait for the men to dress 

 and undress. 



Malingering among drafted and enrolled men applying for exemptions was almost universal. 

 Ninety -five jier cent, of tiie drafted men claimed exemption on account of some physical defect. 

 The v^'pine was usually the seat of these imaginary defects. It was not unusual for men to produce 

 affidavits of their friends, confirming their own statements, that, in conseijueuce of a "lame back" 

 or a "pain in the side," they had not been able to do any labor for a period varying from one 

 to five years. On examining their hands, they v^ould be found to be hard and calloused to such an 

 extent as to prove the statements to be absolutely false. 



Deafness was the disability most frequently assumed, and its detection was the easiest. I 

 generally appeared to have no doubt of the fact, but pretended to find some other defect that would 

 exemi)t them, and would then converse with them in a low tone of voice, as if I did not want the 

 clerk to overhear. If the deafness did not exist, he was soon thrown oft his guard, and his 

 attempted fraud thus easily exposed. 



To iUustrate one of the means by which both recruits and substitutes may have passed suc- 

 cessful examinations when they sliould probably have been rejected, I will mention a circumstance 

 which occurred at this office. A recruit was rejected by reason of inguinal hernia; the next day a 

 veteran, (at home on furlough,) of about the same size, presented himself iu citizen's clothes, was 

 examined, imd i)assed under the other'' s name. After the i)a])ers were properly signed by me, they 

 ■were passed over by the confederate to tlie man who had been rejected. The latter went into the 

 provost-marshal's room and was mustered in. After he had been forwarded to his regiment, he 

 wrote to me, telling the joki', as he called it. I then adopted a rule requiring all recruits and sub- 

 stitutes to bring their papers iu with them, and, if accepted, the description was entered upon 

 them, and they were signed iu my room. 



Another fraud that has been perpetrated at this office is that of procuring forged " parents' 

 consent." In a iew cases, minors have forged, or proc-ured the forgery of, their parents' consent; 

 and iu a number of cases they have deliberately and falsely sworn as to their age. 



In regard to the nationality which presents the greatest physical aptitude for military service, 

 I think our own native-born citizens, without doubt, possess the best physical qualities, as far as 

 the experience of this otlice lias extended. 



I have not had data sufficient upon which to base a definite opinion as to the physical qualifi- 



