428 surgeons' reports — Indiana — fourth district. 



contraction of either finger, except the fourth, in some direction so as to hinder the handling and 

 use of arms, should be causes of exemption. In the other sections I have uo alterations to suggest. 



Without an assistant or clerk, with a fair class of recruits and substitutes, sixty persons areas 

 many as can very well be examined in one day. * » * 



You request me to mention the frauds most to be guarded against which are practiced by drafted 

 and enrolled men to escape, and by volunteers and substitutes to enter, the service, and any other 

 obstacles I have had to contend with in the discharge of my duties, and to make any suggestions 

 as to the best method of avoiding or overcoming these difficulties in the future. 



The frauds of drafted and enrolled men in many respects are the same ; these depend much on 

 the knowledge or belief of what will exempt from military duty. Many of them consult lawyers 

 and physicians and obtain certificates covering some section of paragraph 85 of the Regulations. 

 During the examination of drafted men in 1804 some lawyers and physicians annoyed us not a 

 little. The effects of injuries, sprains, fractures, and cuts are greatly magnified. Quite a large 

 number are afflicted with rheumatism, although there are no visible signs ; and one would think a 

 large portion of the men were far gone in consumption. The breast is very tender and weak ; they 

 can't bear to have it touched. Some are afflicted with weak eyes; in one or more cases they had 

 apparently been tampered with. In others the vision is very indistinct — can see no distance. One 

 would be led to believe that amaurosis was exceedingly prevalent ; but deafness becomes epidemic. 

 Its assumption, well played, and sustained by certificates, requires no small amount of care and 

 skill to detect. Epilepsy is sometimes alleged where it is not believed to exist. Some feign hernia, 

 and hope to prove its existence by the presence of a truss, and varicocele is sometimes aggravated 

 by its use. To overcome these attempts, I can only recommend vigilance and caution. Some men 

 make improper claims of being under or over the military age ; others claim that they are wrongly 

 enrolled. While we frequently find drafted men magnifying or simulating disease, some substitutes 

 and volunteers take eqnal pains to bide any real disease or infirmity they may have. Vigilance 

 and a practical eye will generally detect them. The greatest number of frauds, and under the 

 ordinary practice the most difficult to detect, are those practised in relation to age. In many cases 

 it is impossible by physical examination to determine the exact age by at least some months. The 

 young man states he is eighteen years and a certain number of days or weeks of age, and a recruit- 

 ing officer, an interested agent, or companion, confirms it to the best of his belief. The examination 

 goes forward ; the measurement fills the regulations ; the muscles are good ; the organs of genera- 

 tion are well developed, and the pubes well covered with hair; yet he may be six mouths, and iu a 

 few cases possibly a year, less than eighteen. In my opinion, volunteers and substitutes claiming 

 to be eighteen years of age should be required to furnish a certificate from parents or guardian, or 

 a certified copy of record when it can be obtained, or other clear proof when it cannot, that such is 

 the fact. 



Obstacles ill the dischar/je of duty. — In my opinion, the surgeon should have complete control of 

 his own department. He is the best judge of the size and kind of rooms needed and of the time 

 required to make examinations, and is best fitted to decide in any given case. The surgeon should 

 have the control of a clerk, to be selected or approved by him. In nothing have I found so much 

 difficulty as in the matter of continued or suitable clerical help. 



The physical aptitude of the Irish or Celtic race generally is good, better, perhaps, than the 

 German or Teutonic, and equal probably to the Anglo-Saxon. They are more abstemious. The 

 French army could be subsisted on much less than an English army of the same size. The 

 Celtic race is less inclined to flesh and corpulency, and their action is quicker. But while there 

 is eqnal or greater i)hysical aptitude, in mental and moral qualities they are not equal to the 

 English. # # * 



The physical adaptation of this mixed liberty -loving American nationality is equal to that of 

 any, and their morale, under the circumstances and conditions of which I have spoken, I believe to 

 be better than any other. 



The American soldier has the dash of the French and the indomitable perseverance of the 

 English. The officers who attempt to break the spiiit and destioy the self-resitcct of their men 



