surgeons' reports ILLINOIS SIXTH DISTRICT. . 437 



claims for exemption from the draft, to protect tlie surgeon in the discharge of his duties, and, in 

 fine, to conduce both to the wants and security of the Government and to the public welfare 



Individual sections may be susceptible of revision and amendment, and such a one, in my 

 opinion, is section 11. The predisposition to frequently-recurring attacks of acute rheumatism, as 

 is doubtless well known to all Army medical officers, is frequently a disqualifying cause for active 

 service, both from the impairment of constitution and from the concomitant diseases (such as peri- 

 carditis, endocarditis, pleurisy, &c.) which it ma^ cause, and more especially from its liability to 

 constant recurrence at any time on the operation of the most trifling causes upon the existing pre- 

 disposition. That it is a disease eminently characterized by persistence and intractability, even 

 under the most favorable circumstances of civil lite, all practitioners are aware, and, of course, the 

 exposure, fatigue, &c., necessarily incident to active field-service, enhance these difficulties 

 materially. 



Chronic rheumatism is open to the same objection from the fact of impairment of constitution 

 and intractability. It is well known that those who sutler from this atiectiou are constantly liable 

 to become useless, so far as physical efficicsncy is concerned, on exposure to wet or cold, or the 

 occurrence of wet or damp weather, and e^•()n, in some cases, with a change in the quarter of the 

 wind. It would, therefore, seem eminently proper, and by no means operating to the disadvantage 

 of the Government, to alter the section under consideration, so that some opportunity might be 

 afforded to deserving cases for exemption on these grounds. It has occurred to me that were the 

 section so amended as to read : " The predisjiositiou to frequent attacks of acute rheumatism (rheu- 

 matic diathesis) and chronic rheumatism, wliicli has so far impaired the constitution as to render 

 it unfit for the exposure and fatigue of military serNdce, in either case duly established by affidavit of 

 a physician or surgeon known by the board to be in good standing in his profession and who has him- 

 self treated the claimant therefor, with such other evidence as the board may require to establish 

 the merit of the claim " — it would not result in disadvantage to the Government, would offer no 

 more opportunity for fraud than in the case of epilepsy, for exami)le, and would certainlj' result in 

 justice to persons enrolled as liable to draft. [ am nijt unaware that rheumatism is one of the most 

 frequent of feigned diseases, both among claimants lor exemption from the draft, and among sol- 

 diers ill the Army; but this by no means invalidates the fact that there are cases meriting exemp- 

 tion and discharge on these grounds. Should it be objected that such alterations as I have pro- 

 posed in the case of section 11 would afford too much latitude to the examiuingsurgeon, it must 

 be admitted that from the very nature of his position abundant opportunity is, in the majority of 

 other cases, afforded him of being a party to fraud, and it must of necessity be a presumption that 

 he, as a sworn officer of the Government, will be guided in all his official dealings by fidelity to the 

 country, and that he will endeavor to secure its best interests. » * » 



In my judgment, a surgeon cannot, injustice to the Government and himself, examine a greater 

 number than forty men per day ; that is, if all th(^ examinations are conducted, as they should be, 

 by daylight. * * * 



The greatest and almost only difficulty that we had to contend with in the examination of men 

 related to age. In the case of drafted men, there was an effort made by .some to escape the draft 

 by giving their age as over forty-five years, when, in our judgment, they were under that age, and 

 by some to underestimate their age, when in reality they were liable to draft. Again, in the case of 

 recruits and substitutes, there was often an attempt at fraud by persons over and under age in 

 giving their age so as to come within the requirements of Che law. 



In the absence of a registry of birth, I cannot suggest any better method to detect these 

 frauds than that already laid down in the llegulations of the Provost-Marshal's Bureau, together 

 with the utmost vigilance on the part of the board of enrollment. 



In the case of artificial teeth, there are some instances that might escape detection by mere 

 ocular inspection, and I would advise in every case that the teeth be also examined by manipulation. 

 From personal exi)erience and the records of this office I concede to the American-born citizen 

 the honor of the greatest physical aptitude for military service. 



My experience in the examination of the colored race has been so limited that an opinion as 

 to their fitness for military service would be of no value. I would say, however, that many of tho 



