The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-13 00:00:00

Recruits for the Army.

The returns which have been issued for the year
1864 show that in that year 27,754 recruits were
examined ; 10,725 were rejected at the primary in-
spection (386 per 1000), and 1,720 more rejected at
the secondary inspection, bringing the rejections up
to 448 per 1,000 and leaving 15,309 to pass into the
army as soldiers. The returns relating to the pri-
mary inspections are this year more complete than
they have hitherto been, and they show that the
proportion rejected at the ;primary inspection
by army medical officers, 422 per 1,000,
though considerably lower . in the preced-
ing year, was still very much greater than the
proportion rejected by civil medical practitioners,
which was only 325 per 1,000. But this less strict
sifting on the part of civil practitioners did not pro-
duce a larger number of soldiers ; the only result
was that a greater number of men passed by them
were rejected at the secondary inspection, at which
indeed four of the men passed by them were rejected
for every ono rejection of a man passed by the
army medical officers at the primary inspection.
The very low proportion of rejections at the secon-
dary inspections when the primary have been made
by army surgeons has long been observed; and the
result of the comparison with the examination by
civilians is now seen in exact figures. A little more
strictness on the part of the civil practitioners might
save considerable expense without materially reduc-
ing the number of recruits ultimately received into
the service. The proportions rejected varied greatly
at the several recruiting districts, Liverpool and
Belfast being very much in excess of the average,
and Edinburgh and Bristol much under it. Of every
1,000 recruits 563 came from England and Wales,
112 from Scotland, 320 from Ireland, and 5 from
ports beyond the seas. These figures, when com-
pared with those for the preceding year, show a
slight decrease in the proportion from Scotland, and
a corresponding increase from England. Of Scotch-
men only 351 per 1000 were rejected, and of
Welshmen only 366; but 458 Englishmen per 1,000
were rejected, and 471 Irishmen. The list of
causes of rejection may serve as a sort of index
of the physical condition of the classes which furnish
recruits. The most frequent cause assigned was
varicose veins ; but diseases of the eyes were nearly
as common a cause, and occasioned the rejection of
one man in every2o. Next came defects of the lower
extremities, small or malformed chest, or curvature
of spine, variocele, muscular tenuity, hernia, or ten-
dency to hernia. Less frequent causes of rejection
are " unsound health," disease of the heart, ulcers
and cicatrices, syphilis, scrofula, loss or decay of
many teeth, defects of the upper extremities. No
other defect or disease is set down as causing the
rejection of so many as one man in 100. The bulk
of the recruits examined may be placed in four
classes ; in every thousand 592 were labourers, hus-
bandmen, or servants ; 174 were mechanics em-
ployed in occupations favourable to physidal deve-
lopment,- such as carpenters, smiths, masons ; 142
were manufacturing artisans, such as cloth-workers,
weavers, lacemakers ; and 65 were shopmen or
clerks. The first class—labourers, husbandmen,
and servants—are an increasing proportion of the
army. The rejections in this class in 1864 were not
so numerous as those of the manufacturing artisans,
but more numerous than among mechanics, shop-
men, and clerks. So far as educational returns are
given, they are more favourable than the preceding
year. They show that two out of every three men
were able both to read and write ; of the third of
the recruits inspected, two-thirds (a rather larger
proportion than one man in every five of the whole
number) could do neither. Nearly three-fifths were
under 20 years of age. One-third were sft. Gin. in
height. Of 10,000 inspected at the head-quarters
of the recruiting districts, one-half weighed less than
1301 b. each ; nearly one-fifth did not weigh more than
1201 b. We do not expect the recruiting sergeant
to collect the flower of the population, but it is
rather unsatisfactory to find that not far from half
the young men who presented themselves were
found unfit to be soldiers.

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