The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1917-06-14

tant general.
The eyes are another stumbling
block. Circular No. rs, war depart
ment 1909 requires that the appli-
cants for the line of the army and
for the signal corps shall have the
following vision or better:
2O-4O for the right eye, and 2O-1OO
for the left eye, providing that no
organic disease exists in either eye.
The applicant is tested by requir-
ing him to read black letters of var
ious heights at distance of twenty
feet If he is able to read the line
in which the letters are three lights
of an inch high, he is said to have
normal vision, and this is recorded
as 1920.
The requirements of 2O-4O means
that the applicant mustbe able to
read at least the line of letters three
quarters of an inch high at distance
of twenty feet. With normal vision
the line should be read at forty feet.
For the left eye, 2O-1OO signifies that
the line normally read at 100 feet
must beread by the applicant at 20
feet 1t is not necessary to have this
defect corrected by glasses. In the
hospital corps and the ordnance corps
severe as the above.
Defects of hearing are disqualify-
ing. The hearing is tested by having
the applicant stand with his back to-
ward the examiner at distance of
twenty feet. While an assistant
stops one ear, the examiner whispers
words or phrases, and if these are
heard. he records the hearing as 90
20. If the words are not heard, the
examiner walks toward the applicant
until the whisper can be heard and
records this distance as the numera-
tor.
Thus $50 signifies that the whis-
per is heard five feet, and 1920 that
it is heard at twelve feet. The sur
geon reaches his decision by deter
mining whether, in his opinion, the
applicant will be able to hear COM
mands at all times. Due allowance
is made for the surroundings at the
examination. If the examination is
made in a noisy room, the applicant
may be recorded as normal, 1920,
even when the whisper is not clearly
heard at twenty feet.
The Irishman and His Teeth
The story is told of an Irishman,
who, when disqualified on account of
a deficient number of teeth, wanted
to know if he was expected to bite
the enemy.
This apparently makes the require
ments as to teeth ridiculous, but new
ertheless they are most important.
The soldier who must have special
food prepared because he is unable to
masticate it as burden to the army
False teeth, while satisfactory for CT
william populations, are not satisfac-
tory for military requirements. Cir
cular Sc, war department, 1906, re-
quired that "unless an applicant has
at least four serviceable double be-
cuspid or molar) teeth, two above and
two below, and so opposed as to serve
the purpose of mastication, that he
should be rejected"
Foot trouble is one Of the greatest
causes of rejection. Every year more
soldiers are discharged on surgeons
certificate of disability because of
foot trouble than are discharged for
pulmonary tuberculosis. The most
common cause of foot disability is
flatfoot.
Mental diseases and alcoholism
must both be looked for by the exam
ming surgeon, but they are less cas-
lily detected than some of the other
conditions already mentioned.
In general, the surgeon must ex-
anime carefully for any evidence Of
disease and then, bearing in mind
the common causes of discharge for
disability, make up his mind whether
the applicant is qualified or disqual-
fled