New Britain herald., 1918-02-09
APPROXIMATELY Ga Per Cent: Found
Fit in First District
MANY TRY TO FAKE ON EYES
Up to Noon 175 Had Been Accepted
Out of 272 Who Had Been Exam-
ined-Docfors Respond Generously
District Board Meets Tomorrow.

The first exemption board met in
the Prevocational Grammar school
this morning and with a, full COM
plement of rs doctors and clerks
examined9 approximately 400 men.
The other Class i A registrants in
this district will appear for exami-
nation tomorrow morning, and at
o'clock in the afternoon the dis
trict advisory board will meet to pass
upon appealed and .g doubtful cases.
DR.. Fl. T. Bray, in Eharge of the
medical end of the boards work, ex-
pressed hinaself as well pleased today
with the cooperation Of the arnedical
fratrnity, and the response of sthe
various offices. in loaning the services
of clerks is Aso appreciated blythe
board, the other members of which
are Chairman. A. F.aCorbin andxJ. ].
Watson.
,s4 Per Cent. Accepted. -
During the noon hour hull the
board compiled it's figures on accept
ances and reflections and found that
out Of 272 men examined up to that
hour IT'S were found physically fit
for first line military work. Only 81
were rejected and there were 70 cases
peaIed or the examination board de-
cided to call upon the opinion of the
advisory >bdard. Thus, it appears that
the average acceptances in this.x dis
trict are about Ga per cent. of 81 the
total number examined, while the re-
jectionss>average only about I'll per
cent Of the whole. When ut is COM
sidereds that some of those who are
hnir, CT ,n1T fI,-
advisory board may. ultimately be ac-
cepted, 1T probably means sthats the
average of acceptance for first line
work will be considerably higher than
GA per cent.
AT / D.. m. when the days exanina-
tions.~cWere completed, it was stated
thai $40 men had been examined and
s,oks tf3fs numberF208~ had been passed
without question. This brings the ap-
|sprQYimate. average down to 61 per
IT is explained that this Increased
Fpercentage in the number of accept
ances is due to the drastic changes
made in the qualification rules as pro-
mulgated by General Crowder and
forwarded to the local boards last
might. Under these new rules many
men who were heretofore exempted
are now passed as physically fit. The
most drastic changes from the former
examinations are said to be in the
standard Of eye tests, teeth, hernia,
skin diseases and. similar Affections
which may not seriously affect the
health or vitality of the soldier. Now
that these new rules governing ex-
aminations have been received DR.. d.
w O'Connell, medical director of the
!
been working hard all day with the
first district, states that within short
tine he will issue an order for many
of the men previously rejected in his
district to return for re-examination.
The large corps Of physicians and
dentists who assisted in the work Of
examining the men today greatly ac-
celerated the work of examinations
| and if the same number of doctors re-
| spond tomorrow the board feels that it
! will accomplish it's work at an early
! hour The medical advisory board of
| which DIR. G. H. Bodley S chairman
! and Dr. G. M. Cooley is vice-chair-
man, will convene at 1 p. m. tomor-
! row to consider all cases referred to
it, from both districts
Many Try to Fake Eye Test.
During the examinations today the
| registrants exhibited good humor
| throughout and there was little con-
fusion. In the eye testing room how
ever, the doctors had considerable
| silent amusement This was part1cu-
| larly true in the case of DR.. Frederick
! j. Mann and DR.. H. t. Bray. Both of
! these doctors discovered several men
who were trying to fake the eye tests.
BY scientific tricks and tests the ex-
amining doctors are able to tell in
almost every instance where a man
is trying to evade and by apply these
| special tests unknown to the 1ayman,
they are able to determine just what
men are really suffering from poor
vision and what men are trying to
dupe the doctors into thinking they
are.