SUKGEONS' REPORTS KANSAS NORTHERN DISTRICT. 499 



race between Spanish and Indian which generally presents a constitution saturated with either 

 acquired or inherited syphilis. 



The number of negroes examined by me is too small to form an accurate judgment in regard 

 to their physical aptitude for military service, yet, so far as that experience goes, it is in their 

 favor. * » * 



L. C. LAXE, 

 Surgeon Board of Unrollnicnt Southern District of California, 

 San Francisco, Cal., June 1, 1865. 



KANSAS— NORTHERN DISTRIOT.i 

 Extracts from report of Dr. Tiffin Sinks. 



* * * Mj' experience in the examination of men for military service consists of 



four months' service at Fort Leavenworth as post-surgeon, and two years service as surgeon of the 

 board of enrollment for the Northern District of Kansas. 



The number of men examined during that time has been about two thousand. 



The Northern District of Kansas comprises all that portion of the State north of the Kansas 

 Elver; the course of the river being nearly due east. 



The district lies between 39° and 40° north latitude, and 17° 30' and 25° west longitude, reck- 

 oning from Washington. The face of the country is nearly uniform from the Missouri River to the 

 western border, being one continual succession of undulating ridges and valleys; the general 

 trend of the ridges and valleys is north and south. 



From the Kansas River to the northern line of the State, and" from the Missouri River to the 

 western border, there is a gradual and quite uniform ascent of about three feet per mile. The 

 country is prairie interspersed with timber, which latter is principally confined to the margins of 

 the streams. The average width of the timber in the valley of the Missouri River is about five 

 miles, of the Kansas River two miles, and of the other streams of importance from one-half to one 

 mile. The timber consists principally of oak, hickory, walnut, Cottonwood, and hackberry. 



The country is open to the free passage of the winds from the north, west, and south. The pre- 

 vailing direction of the winds is from the south in the summer, and from the north and northwest 

 during the remainder of the year. East and west winds are very infrequent. Nothing that could 

 be called a hurricane or tornado has been known, although the winds blow pretty constantly, 

 and sometimes a " stiff breeze" is experienced. 



Tbe mean annual precipitation of rain and snow for the seasons is as follows, viz : spring, 10 

 inches; summer, 12 inches; autumn, 8 inches; and winter, 3 inches. 



No lakes, swamps, or marshes exist in the district. The soil being deep, light and porous, is 

 readily permeated by tho moisture, and as readily yields it up to the demands of vegetation. For 

 the first hundred miles west of the Missouri River the rocks belong to the Middle and Upper Car- 

 boniferous series, being the western extension of the great coalfields of Missouri. The next hun- 

 dred miles the Jurassic rocks prevail ; the western jiortion belongs to the Cretaceous system. 



The population is to be found almost entirely in the eastern half of the district ; in the western 

 portion the buffalo reigns supreme. 



The most prevalent diseases are malarial fevers in the fall and winter, pneumonia and rheuma- 

 tism in the spring, and dysentery in tbe summer. All diseases are more or less complicated with 

 malaria. Pure typhoid fever is a very rare disease, though typho-malarial fever is of frequent 

 occurrence. The district being without the great basin of the Mississippi will account for the prev- 

 alence of malarial fevers. 



During the months of March and April the winds are constant, the temperature exceedingly 

 changeable, and the rains more frequent than in winter. Pneumonia and rheumatism prevail, but, 

 excepting with the very young or very old, these diseases are rarely fatal, and require but little 

 medication. The counti'y is so new, or rather has been settled so recently, that with our necessa- 



' No report was received from the Southern District. 



