406 SURGrONS' KEPORTS — OHIO EIGHTH DISTRICT. 



OHIO— EIGHTH DISTEICT. 

 Extracts from report of Dr. T. B. Fisher. 



♦ * * I observed one curious fact during my visitation of tbe several counties in tbis 

 district. Each locality concentrated upon a certain disease as a cause of exemption. For example, 

 a large proportion of tbe applicants in Morrow County claimed to bave disease of tbe lungs ; iu 

 Delaware County, disease of tbe heart; and in Union County that of the spine and kidneys; and 

 if their assertions could be relied u])on, those diseases must bave been endemical iu their respective 

 localities; but as examinations did not o/«fl?/s confirm their assertions, I could not satisfactorily 

 account for this i>eculiarity. * • * _ 



Previous to January, 1865, I made no entry of those examined in correcting the rolls who were 

 not exempted, therefore cannot state positively how many I bave examined; but from an informal 

 record kept during a portion of tbe time, I estimate that I examined about eight thousand persons 

 from October 27, 1SC3, to Ai)ril 11, 1805, a period of about seventeen and a half months. * * * 



Tbe Eighth District of Ohio is composed of tbe counties of Richland, Morrow, Marion, Delaware, 

 and Union, and is situated about midway between Lake Erie and the Ohio Eiver. 



Tbe country is level and fertile, including a portion of tbe valley of tbe Upper Scioto and its 

 tributaries and a small portion of tbe Sandusky and Darby Plains. Tbe products are wheat, rye, 

 barley, corn, and grass, with hogs, horses, large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. The i)revail- 

 ing diseases are of a bilious character — at least three-fourths assume that type; but in winter 

 and spring, typhoid fever and inieumonia are not unfreqiient. 



The climate is temperate and the country generally healthy, with no peculiar tendency to epi- 

 demics or infectious diseases. 



Tbe character of the inhabitants differs considerably in different counties. Richland and 

 Marion Counties are settled cbietly by Pennsylvanians and their descendants, with a large number 

 of Germans interspersed ; Delaware County by emigrants from New England and their descend- 

 ants. Morrow County was taken from Richland, Marion, and Delaware Counties, and i)resents the 

 characteristics of the counties from wbich it was taken. Union County was settled by emigrants 

 from most of the older States and surrounding counties, and contains a mixed population. 



The intelligence of tbe inhabitants is fair, there being but few who cannot read and write. 

 Tbe country is well supplied with comfortable school-bouses, and," generally, competent teachers. 

 The schools are free, being supported by a school-fund and by public tax. Each of the county- 

 seats supports respectable union schools, where the usual English branches are taught, with the 

 modern sciences and classics to a limited extent. In addition, the district contains one college and 

 two female seminaries. 



The inhabitants of the district are chiefly farmers, and their mode of life is generally plain, 

 frugal, industrious, and temperate, although many of them are possessed of great wealth. 



Paragrajyh So, lievised Regulations, Provost-Marshal-GeneraVs Bureau. — By a liberal construction 

 of the several sections of paragraph 85, nearly every case entitled to exemption may be classified, 

 but not all. For example, section 6, {developed tuberculosis,) if strictly construed, excludes some 

 meritorious cases, for there are diseases of tbe lungs which disqualify for military duty which can- 

 not be properly classified under the section developed tubercnlosis, and if thej' may be classified 

 under section No. 5, (organic disease of internal organs,) then why not, with the same propriety, let 

 them carry with them "develo[)ed tuberculosis," and dispense with section entii'ely ; or, if they are 

 to be classed with section 9, (general disability,) then with the same propriety all the diseases might 

 be therein included. Again, section 20, total loss of teeth ; by the requirements of tbis section, a 

 man may bave a single front tooth in each jaw and no other teeth, and yet be not entitled to 

 exemption, while another, with good double teeth and a full set in one jaw, may be exem[)ted. I 

 need hardly say every surgeon knows tbe fii-st man to be less fitted for masticating food than the 

 latter, and yet under section 20 the former must be held and tbe latter exem[ited. Once more, 

 imv.tiou -'),'■'■ I'Jjtiernul liwiiiorrkoids arc 110 cause for exemption;''' not even if the tumors are large 

 and constantly protruding, and attended with intlammalion 1 Would any sensible surgeon hesitate 



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