of examination. In proportion, therefore, as methods of physical and 

 medical examination are perfected, the rejection ratio is increased, but 

 the higher percentage is merely evidence of thoroughness and not 

 necessarily of a higher degree of frequency occurrence. 



CAUSES OF REJECTION IN THE DUTCH ARMY 



The statistics for Holland are for the period 1903-07. 

 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF REJECTION IN THE DUTCH ARMY, 1903-1907 



Per Cent. 

 Examined 



1. Errors of Refraction 4.2 



2. Other Diseases of the Eyes : 1.9 



3. Bodily Weakness, Anemia, etc 1.9 



4. Flatfoot, etc 1.6 



5. Spinal Curvature, etc 1.5 



6. Ear Diseases 1.0 



The predominating importance of visual impairments, accounting for 

 rejections of 6.1 per cent, of all the examined and 32.5 per cent, of 

 all rejections, is not explained by the available information as regards 

 the military rules and regulations covering army rejections on this 

 ground. It is difficult to assume that visual defects are proportionately 

 so very much more common in Holland than in Germany, and the high- 

 frequency figure is probably governed exclusively by rules and regula- 

 tions, for in Germany, where errors of refraction are known to be 

 exceptionally common, and perhaps more so than in any other country, 

 the proportion of rejections for this cause was only 2.0 per cent., and, 

 including blindness and all other diseases of the eye, only 3.1 per cent. 



Of special importance in the Dutch recruiting statistics is the rela- 

 tively high rate of rejections on account of flatfoot and related patho- 

 logical conditions of the feet. No details are provided, but in the Bel- 

 gian statistics flatfoot accounts for rejections of 0.27 per cent, of the 

 examined, while other pathological conditions of the feet, such as 

 excessive sweating, etc., account for 0.7 per cent. 



Finally, the very high figure for rejections on account of spinal cur- 

 vature, etc., in the Dutch army indicates rather exceptional thorough- 

 ness in the examinations and particular attention to a condition prob- 

 ably frequently overlooked or ignored in other countries. In the Ger- 

 man army experience rejections on account of spinal curvature repre- 

 sent only 0.3 per cent, of the examined, against 1.5 per cent, in the 

 Dutch army. The condition is not enumerated at all in the Belgian 

 statistics, but in French recruiting the proportion of those rejected 

 on this account was 0.46 per cent. 



CAUSES OF REJECTION IN THE SWEDISH ARMY 

 The statistics for Sweden are for the period 1903-07, differentiating 

 those of the age period 21 and those of older ages. As might be 



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