498 surgeons' reports — California — southern district. 



latitiules I think tliey would be physically well adapted to the military service, mucb better, 

 indeed, than the white race. lu regard to mental capacity, I have no doubt but they would fall 

 far below the white race. * * * 



A. B. NIXON, M. D., 

 Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment Middle District of California, 

 Sackamento City, Cal., July 1, I8C5. 



CALIFORNIA— SOUTHERN DISTRICT. 

 Extracts from report o/Dr. L. C. Lane 



* • * The number of men examined by me for enlistment as soldiers in the vol- 



unteer service amounts to nearly fifteen hundred ; of this number, two hundred and fifty were 

 examined prior to my having received any orders from you in reference to making any record of the 

 same. 



The geographical position of this place is latitude 37° 48' N. ; longitude 122° 21' W. from 

 Greenwich. 



The major portion of the men examined had been from one to ten years past residents of a dis- 

 trict of country which in any direction would not extend more than one hundred miles from this 

 city; the remaining portion came from districts varying from one hundred to three hundred miles 

 either north or south of San Francisco. 



The occupations of the inhabitants of the district are agricultural and mining. Most of the 

 men examined had led an irregular, roving life, and had been exposed to the climatic influence of 

 the district for too brief a period to warrant any conclusions in regard to it. 



Geologically, the country consists of a succession of mountains of a metamorphic formation, 

 quartzose and basaltic, clad in many places with heavy forests in which the coniferw predominate. 

 Between these mountains, which in a few places present snow-capped altitudes, there are inter- 

 posed valleys of Secondary and Tertiary formation, of which, when cultivated, the luxuriant cereals 

 and fruits bear ample evidence of a fertility which cannot be surpassed. 



The residents of the mountains are chiefly miners ; those of the valleys devote themselves 

 mainly to agriculture. From an experience of several years in the practice of medicine in this 

 State, I believe there is no disease prevalent hero referable to the climate. 



The laborious occupations of the miners will account for the prevalence of hernia and a vari- 

 cose condition of the spermatic and saphenous veins among them. 



Among the native Californians, who are a mixture of the Spanish and Indian races, I have 

 observed scrotal hernia to be very prevalent ; its cause may be found in their almost constant habit 

 of riding a breed of half-wild horses which are peculiar to Spanish America, and are popularly 

 called here " mustangs." 



The several sections comprised under the head of paragraph 85, "Revised Regulations," &c., 

 in my opinion, embrace all the causes which disqualify men for military service. Were I to offer a 

 suggestion in reference to any change or amendment, it would be in respect to sections 12 and 2;}. 

 When from any cause the right eye has been lost, I have met with several instances in which the 

 individuals assured me that they were able to use the left eye for all purposes whatever, and that 

 they had acquired the power to " shoot left-handed" quite as well as they formerly had done with 

 the right hand. 



An experienced examiningsurgcon can readily examine one hundred men per day, but to make 

 the prescribed record of the same, the number should not exceed fifty men. 



There were very few attempts at fraud on the part of the recruits whom I examined, as there 

 was no drafting or substituting here, and an exceedingly small number of men enrolled who claimed 

 exemption on the score of physical disqualification. The attempts at concealment of disease on 

 the part of recruits were in regard to the power of vision, and the use of the lower extremities. 



A graduated scale of national aptitude for military service would be as follows: First, Ameri- 

 cans ; second, Germans and Swe^les ; Ihird, Trisli and French ; fourth, MexicauSpanish, a hybrid 



