422 surgeons' reports — ohio — nineteenth district. 



OHIO— NINETEENTH DISTRICT. 

 Extracts from report of Dr. George W. Howe. 



• * * My experieuce in the examiDation of men for the military service has been 

 limited to the period of my services as surgeon of the board of enrollment of the Nineteenth Dis- 

 trict of Ohio, about two years ; during which time I have examined about ten thousand one hundred 

 and seventy-two enrolled men for exeu'ption, one thousand and ninety drafted men, and two thou- 

 sand six hundred and sixty-nine recruits and substitutes; making the total number examined 

 thirteen thousand nine hundred and thirty-one. 



The Nineteenth District of Ohio is in the northeast corner of the State, including an area of 

 2,650 square miles, and had a population, according to the census of 1860, of 128,339. 



It is formed of the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage, and Geauga, sub- 

 divided into one hundred and four townships or subdistricts. It is bounded on the north by Lake 

 Erie and Lake County of the eighteenth district ; on the west by Cuyahoga and Summit Counties 

 of the eighteenth district; on the south by Stark and Columbiana Counties of the seventeenth 

 district; and on the east by the State-line of Pennsylvania. 



The surface of the district is gently undulating. The headwaters of Grand, Cuyahoga, and 

 Mahoning Elvers arise in it, the first two terminating in Lake Erie, the Grand at Fairport, Lake 

 County; the Cuyahoga (a sluggish stream) at (Cleveland, Cuyiihoga County; and the Mahoning 

 terminates in the Beaver River, which is a tributary of the Ohio. The Lake Shore, Atlantic and 

 Great Western, and the Cleveland and Mahoning Railroads pass through the district from east to 

 west, the last two passing through Warren, the headquarters of the provost-marshal. 



The north part of Ashtabula County, bordeiing on Lake Erie, has a sandy soil ; the southern 

 part, with most of Trumbull County, a rich loam with a clay subsoil ; while Mahoning, Portage, 

 and Geauga Counties are diversified with gravel, clay, and loam. The east part of Trumbull and 

 Mahoning Counties abounds with rich deposits of iron, coal, and oil. 



The whole district is comparatively healthy. Epidemics are seldom prevalent, though the air 

 is moist and subject to severe and sudden changes, inducing pneumonia and phthisis pulmonalis in 

 the northern portion, (attributable to lake-winds,) and bilious and typhoid fevers in other portions, 

 (attributable to those disturbing influences that tend to their development.) * # # 



The general character of the inhabitants is intelligent and industrious. They are mostly 

 descendants of a New England ancestry, with a mixture of Virginians, Pennsylvaniaus, English, 

 Germans, Irish, and Welsh. Their churches, school-houses, mode of life, and surroundings evi- 

 dence the taste and comfort that ever attend superior intelligence. Their principal occupation is 

 agriculture. 



The diseases and disabilities that have disqualified the greater ratio per thousand are found 

 under sections 23, 20, 32, G, 9, and 5 of paragraph 85, hernia, loss of teeth, fractures, dislocations 

 and diseased joints, diseased lungs, &c. I might indulge in speculations in reference to the reason 

 why ; but faals arc preferable to speculative theories. In most cases examined for hernia, upon in- 

 quiry it will be attributed to injury from blows, strain, or overexertion of muscular energies in 

 lifting or in gymnastic exercises. 1 have no doubt that a tendency to hernia is hereditary. Three 

 brothers presented themselves to me for examination, each having an inguinal hernia. I found 

 there were two more of the brothers, one of whom had a hernia ; also, that their father was simi- 

 larly afflicted. Evidence might be multiplied, but I cite only this. 



That so many men have lost their teeth may be attributed to a variety of causes. I believe 

 man in his uncultivated state is not as much afflicted with diseasesof the teeth as the refined and civ- 

 ilized. This would turn the investigation to causes in that direction. Do not the rich condiments 

 and luxuries with which we pamper the digestive organs vitiate the natural, healthy, salivary 

 secretions, as well as others, till they become disorganizing even to the teeth ? Whatever the cause, 

 the effect is on the increase. In those countries, and among those who eat to live and do not live 

 simply to eat, the evil is not so great. Another reason may be that, desirous of beautiful teeth, 

 a person resorts to dentrificial nostrums, strongly acidulated, which prove disorganizing. 



