surgeons' reports OHIO SIXTH DISTRICT. 40.'T 



Again, it is not unusual to find men wbo present tlieniselves for exemption and acceptance as 

 recruits who have no positive disease. Bad air and unwholesome food have produced a general 

 cachectic condition of the system with flaccidity of muscle; the abdominal walls are in close prox- 

 imity to the vertebrae, and the assimilative functions are feeble. They cannot be exempted under par- 

 agraph 83, section 0, nor can they be accepted as recruits. " Decided feeble constitution" are the only 

 words that fully express their condition. The first part of the sentence iu section 13, paragraph 95, 

 will meet the case; but the nomenclature will not be ada]>ted to paragraph 85, section 9. Obesity 

 and nearsightedness should be cause for exemption, especially when the cases are extreme; and 

 the regulations might be amended by qualifying, as in the case of varicose veins, haemor- 

 rhoids, &c. * # # 



Eighty men are as many as can be examined thoroughly and the proper record made each 

 day. As a matter of course, by extending the time beyond the usual hours, the number could be 

 increased. 



The frauds that are most frequently practiced by enrolled men seeking exemption, and by 

 drafted men, are the placing of irritating substances in the eyes and feigning ojjhthalmia, or by 

 extracting the teeth. The first can be delected by the character of the inflamed surface after ask- 

 ing the duration of the disease; the second by the alveolar i)rocess not being absorbed. A man 

 presented himself before the board for exemption on account of loss of teeth ; on being asked how 

 long they had been out, he said " two weeks ;" and, thrusting his hand down to the bottom of a long 

 pocket in his jeans pantaloons, exhibited twelve sound teeth that had been recently extracted, thus 

 settling the question that a man may stand the steel, but fear the powder and lead. * * * 



The late rule adopted by the Provost-Marshal-General's Bureau requiring surgeons of boards 

 to forward monthly reports with appropriate remarks, would in a great measure dispense with 

 reexaminations, provided that, in addition to the other descriptions we now give, we were to 

 give the tceight of each man accepted or rejected. The chief medical officer at Washington could 

 form some idea of the capability of the examiner as also of the quality of the recruit. * » * 



The best physically developed men I have examined in this district are of Oeltic origin. Per- 

 haps my experience here is not a fair test, as quite a number of foreigners presented themselves as 

 substitutes, and claimed to come from Ireland or Canada very lately. As a general thing, they 

 were men who led a kind of peripatetic life, attached to circuses and other traveling exhibitions. 

 A great many could perform acrobatic feats, in which they would rival the best performers attached 

 to any circus. But, for good fighting material, 1 think the Western Americans can excel any 

 nationality. The cause may be found in their early habit of handling a gun, their unerring aim 

 bringing down a squirrel from the loftiest tree. Nor is this opinion based upon any precon- 

 ceived notion as to my particular locality, being a foreigner myself, but from actual observation on 

 the battle field ; having served during the years 1862 and 1863 as surgeon to an Ohio regiment 

 in active field service. Their occupation, being principally farming, has a tendency to develop their 

 physical system, and pure air and healthy invigorating exercise render them eai)able of enduring 

 hard and fatiguing marches. 



The pure-blooded African is every way physically equiil to the European; and, when a free 

 man from the North, or even a contraband from the South — if a house-servant, and intelligent, and 

 not brutalized by the lash of a hard overseer or master — from his imitative qualities, would, I 

 presume, be readily taught the manual of arms. Negroes are easily molded to the will of their 

 superiors when well treated, and as subordination and discipline are the qualities that characterize 

 the true soldier, I would venture the opinion that they are inferior to no other as common soldiers, 

 and are emine'ntly well fitted for military service. Their mixture with the white race deteriorates 

 very much from tbeir physical development. * * • 



DAVID NOBLE, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Sixth District of Ohio. 



Hlllsborough, Ohio, May 31, 1865. 



