for hemorrhoids, fissures of the anus, fistula in ano, or urinary fistula.

The lower extremities should be examined with reference to extent of mobility or diseases of joints, for ulcers or old cicatrices, for nodes, caries, or necrosis, for aneurisms, for varices, or for malformations, deformities, or injuries of the feet. Each inferior extremity should be stood upon in turn, whilst all the joints of the other are being tested in all their motions; and the two extremities should be compared as to size, length, symmetry, and mobility.

An examination conducted in this way, if entered into with zeal, supported by a competent knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, can scarcely fail to expose all real and dissimulated infirmities and to develop the physical capacity of the recruit for the mili tary service.

CHAPTER III.

QUALIFICATIONS OF RECRUITS.

THE standard of qualification for the military service varies usually with the necessities of the country. The limits of variation are, however, not very wide, for a certain degree of efficiency is absolutely essential to the soldier: below this none should be admitted; whilst beyond, the qualities so much esteemed,-good appearance, symmetry, and elegance of form,-although desirable, are by no means essential. The ideal which every examining surgeon will probably form in his own mind, and by which, consciously or unconsciously, he will judge the recruits who come before him, should not be formed after too complete a model. Under the operation of the enrolment act the same standard of efficiency may not be necessary as in recruiting for the regular army; for in the one case the service may not last longer than one, two, or three years; whilst in the other it extends

over five. Moreover, drafted men may be classified, as is done in the Prussian army, and assigned to different arms of the service, according to the especial fitness of their physical qualifications. Dr. Tripler* is of opinion "that the only safe rule is to insist upon a sufficient integrity of all the organs to enable a man to endure the greatest hardships for a severe campaign; and if the recruit is capable of this he is as fit to be enlisted for life as for three months." Whilst it seems to me this opinion is much too strongly stated, there can be no doubt that the lowest standard of physical efficiency required for military service is not separated by many intermediate degrees from the highest. The examining surgeon of drafted men should reject all those who do not come up to the lowest standard; but the examining surgeon of recruits for the regular army may reject all who do not come up to the highest. For instance, the regulations of the army fix the minimum height of the recruit at five feet three inches; but neither the enrolment act nor the regulations of the Bureau of the Provost-Marshal General have established a rule as to stature: hence, if a drafted man were pre

* Manual for the Recruiting Service, p. 31.

sented five feet one inch in height, and otherwise physically capable, he must be accepted.

The chief physiological characteristics to be attended to in the examination of recruits or drafted men are: a suitable age, a sufficient stature, and a just correspondence between weight and stature, a capacious chest, aptitude of the limbs, and a perfect condition of the organs of sense; or, as they are tersely expressed in the instructions of the DirectorGeneral of the British army, addressed to examining surgeons, "a tolerably just proportion between the trunk and different members of the body; a countenance expressive of health, with a lively eye; skin firm and elastic; lips red; teeth in good condition; voice strong; chest capacious and well formed; belly lank; limbs muscular; feet arched and of moderate length; hands rather large than small."* Besides these physiological characteristics, there are certain other circumstances entering into the subject of the qualifications of recruits, as locality, occupation, race,-each of which affects either the health, stamina, or military aptitude.

AGE. I have already discussed, in another section, the disqualifications due to youth or

* Marshall, op. cit. pp. 4, 15.

old age. The age for military service is fixed by the enrolment act for the minimum at twenty years and for the maximum at fortyfive. Under the recruiting regulations the maximum age for a recruit is thirty-five and the minimum eighteen years. Marshall,* who had thorough knowledge of the qualifications of soldiers, derived from long experience in the British army, says, army, says, “The period during which a man's efficient service may be depended upon is limited to between twenty and forty years of age." There can be no doubt, I think, of the correctness of this opinion.

When the draft comes to be enforced, the claims for exemption on the ground of age may prove a subject of great embarrassment to boards of enrolment. Paragraph 66 of the Regulations of the Bureau of the ProvostMarshal General says, "The board shall require the enrolling officers to judge of the ages of individuals by the best information they can obtain in each case, but always to make a decision as to whether the person in question is subject to enrolment, and, if so, in which class, and to enroll him accordingly. The board will decide questions of exemption on

* On Enlisting and Discharging Soldiers, op. cit. p. 13.