surgeons' reports WISCONSIN — FIFTH DISTRICT. 471 



Most of paragraph 85, Eevised Eegulations of the Provost-Marshal-General's Bureau, I concur 



in; but bog leave to suggest some few modifications. Admitting all surgeons to be capable and 



honest, much benefit would accrue both to the Government and to the men examined from giving the 



, surgeon greater discretion in his decisions as to drafted men. I will allude only to such sections 



as my experience leads me to believe would be bettered by a change. 



I would suggest that sections 5, C, and 9 be merged into one, since their general import is the 

 same, and the hurry and confusion of the provost-marshal's office is unfavorable to a critical diagnosis. 



I would also suggest that sections 12 and 13 be so amended as to hold to service all men with 

 no other disqualification than the loss of one eye, whether right or left ; but all men very near-sighted 

 I would reject. Under the present rule I have liad to hold men to service who were useless to 

 the Government on account of near sightedness. 



Section 20, I regard as quite too arbitrary, and think it should be so amended as to give the 

 surgeon greater discretion. At present, if a man has an incisor or canine tooth in each jaw, though 

 otherwise toothless, I am compelled to hold him ; while his neighbor, having sound molars and a 

 line set of artificial teeth in his pocket, is exempt. There is not only apparent but real injustice in 

 this, and the surgeon is sujiposed to be at fault in the matter. 



I also believe that section 29 should be so amended as to exempt men for excessive varicocele, 

 as it is often disqualifying. * * # 



The number of men that can be carefully examined per day by one surgeon, leaving him time to 

 still perform his other iudispensable duties as member of the board of enrollment, will not exceed 

 sixty; and to do this the surgeon mu.st be very active, for, since he is made responsible for all acts 

 of an assistant, he naturally desires to inspect every man himself. 



The frauds practiced by enrolled and drafted men are so numerous and varied as to require the 

 utmost vigilance ou the part of the surgeon. I will mention a few most to be guarded against. 

 Alleged bliuduess of right eye is very common; the pupil often appearing fully and apparently per- 

 manently dilated, and the eye presenting the appearance of genuine amaurosis. The ophthalmo- 

 scope, however, detects no lesion whatever, and the color and general appearance of the eye 

 are healthy. Some of these men had belladonna upon their persons at the time of examination, 

 which they had been using freely. 



Every expedient is also tried to get up an inordinate action of the heart. I have required the 

 men, in all suspected cases of this kind, to sit quiet for a few hours, that I might give them a more 

 thorough inspection, and have found this method very salutary. 



Often a certain form of malingering becomes fashionable in a particular locality. In one 

 county in this district it was very common for men to report with very bad-looking ulcers on the 

 leg, decidedly phagadenic iu their character, always on the fleshy jiortion of the leg, and never 

 over the tibia. 1 very soon learned that these sores had been manufactured in anticipation of the 

 draft, and I have affidavits of some (who became ashamed of the trick) that they were induced to 

 have the sores made by certain doctors of medicine, for which operation they were to pay fifty 

 dollars if exempted. Some of these men were so injured I was compelled to exempt them, as'it 

 was evident it would require two or three months' treatment to heal the ulcers. Other cases of 

 less severity I held for treatment, and finally sent them forward. I will here mention an ingenious 

 fraud practiced upon me by some Bolieraians. These men claimed to have hernia of many years' 

 standiug, and of a peculiar character ; that it had defied all treatment, and had baffled the surgeons 

 in Europe; that it incapacitated them from labor of any kind requiring locomotion. On inspecting 

 these men, I found such an anomalous condition of the scrotum and surrounding parts as to make 

 it quite impossible to diagnose the case satisfactorily. The scrotum was evidently inflamed, tender, 

 and much thickened, feeling much like a large, solid, corrugated orange. The cellular tissue was 

 so thickened, extending above the pubes, that it was quite impossible satisfactorily to inspect the 

 iuguinal regiou, or to come to any definite conclusion as to the cause of the difficulty. On a more 

 ciireful inspection, however, I discovered a fine crepitus, as of air in the cellular tissue about the 

 pubes, and, in one instance, in Iheprepuce; this led me to susi>ect a trick, and ou pushing my investi- 

 gations 1 learned that an incision had been made iu one or more places in the scrotum, a blow-pipe 

 inserted, and the surrounding parts completely filled with air. The orifice was then closed, and 



