surgeons' KEPORTS — OHIO EIGHTEENTU DISTRICT. 41U 



varieties are used largely for railroad culverts, bridges, aud all the various purposes for which 

 stoue is used iu railroad coustruction, iu which strength aud durability are cousideratious of iiiore 

 imj)ortaiice iu regard to the material tliau beauty. 



At Middleburgh is au extensive deposit of griudstouegrits, and Berca griudstoues have a wide 

 reputation. In several townships of fSuiumit County are productive mines of bituminous coal. 



The soil of the district is quite varied; large portions of it are clay-loam of greater or less 

 tenacity. Parallel with the shore of the lake, and at a distance from it of from one mile to three 

 miles, are ridges composed of sandy or gravelly loam, underlaid, at a depth of from three feet to 

 fifteen feet, by a stratum of gravel, (drifts,) which is succeeded by a tenacious blue clay, which con- 

 tinues downward to the slaterock. 



Tlie water in all the wells upon the ridges is found iu coarse clear gravel, lying immediately 

 over the clay, aud is abundant aud very good. Indeed, the water iu all parts of the district is 

 good, except iu comparatively few locations, where the wells penetrate into the clay-slate. This 

 latter is pretty strongly impregnated with sulphuret of iron, which reuders the water of the wells 

 which penetrate iuto it quite unpalatable, but perhaps not really unwholesome. 



The deptli of the stratum of clay is uot yet definitely ascertained. A petroleum-well now being 

 sunk in Lake County has already attained a depth of six hundred feet without passing through it. 



From the meteorological records kept at Paiuesville, in Lake County, by Jesse Storrs, it appears 

 that the mean temperature for five consecutive years was 49.39 degrees Fahrenheit ; that in that 

 ])eriod the highest tem])erature was ninety degrees, aud the lowest ten degrees below zero; and 

 that the average fall of rain in the same number of years was forty inches iier annum. 



In the couuties of Lake aud Cuyahoga, a large number of men are employed iu lake navigation. 

 In various parts of the district are extensive rolling-mills for the manufacture of railroad-iron, 

 blast-furnaces, founderies, and machine-shops, and in Cleveland a large number of men are engaged 

 iu mercantile pursuits. The reinaiuder of the population are farmers or mechanics. Grain and 

 fruit are largely cultivated, and large quantities of cheese and wool are annually produced. Some 

 idea of the exteut of the productiou may be formed from the fact that the yearly shipments of 

 cheese from Paiuesville station on the Lake Shore Eailroad have reached as high as four^thousaud 

 tons, or eight millions of pounds. A part of this is received for shipment from the adjoining county 

 of Geauga. 



In some portions of Cuyahoga and Summit Counties, Germans are quite numerous, and there are 

 also a good number of Irish. With these exceptions, the inhabitants of the district are of Ameri- 

 can descent, mainly from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, and are an intelligent, 

 orderly, and thrifty people. 



In the early history of the district, malarious diseases — as intermittent and remittent fevers — 

 were common, and iu localities quite prevalent. They have diminished in frequency, and are uot 

 now common. 



Furnace-men aud iron-workers generally, from their exposure to great heat and air alternately, 

 aud sailors, from inevitable exposure to the weather, sufl'er much from rheumatism. The chilly 

 winds from the lake in the winter and early spring have no doubt some influence iu predisposing to 

 diseases of lungs. My belief is that a portion of the German population have a peculiar proneness 

 to hernia, and also to congenital deformity of the feet. 



The diseases of the district are those commou to other localities iu similar latitudes. Typhoid 

 fever, scarlatina, dysentery, inflammation of the lungs, and rheumatism are among the most 

 common. 



I have no remarks to make, except on a few of the sections of paragraph 85, Revised Regulations 

 Provost-Marshal-General's Bureau. 



Iu regard to section 3, ejnlepsy, it is no doubt true that cases of confirmed epilepsy cease 

 after a while to be the iiubjects of medical treatment, so that the man cannot procure the certificate 

 of aphyslcian who has "attended him in the disease" within six months. Still I would not suggest 

 any alteration of the section, as an aggravated case of confirmed epilepsy might generally be 

 exempted for manifest mental imbecility. 



In regard to section C, requiring ^'■developed tuberculosis" to entitle a drafted hiau to exemption, 

 if all exemptions are made strictly on the letter of the section, it would seem that persons would 



