PHYSIQUE OF RECRUITS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16282, 15 January 1915, Page 3

PHYSIQUE OF RECRUITS

REJECTIONS ASTONISHINGLY FEW. LESSONS FROM THE EXAMINATIONS. TEETH OF MEN BADLY NKGLKCTKD. Whon a very large number of the healthiest men in the. community have passed through tho hands of the defenev. authorities, and have had their physical condition subjected to severe tests, it is interesting to consider tho results of the examination in mass, since it gives eo clear an index to tho various ailments that are most prevalent among the young men of the dominion. The examination for recruits is a. very searching one, and it is certain that no man may sutler from any serious defect und pass the doctors. Kvery would-be recruit, after ho has signed on, has a day appointed on which he must proceed to the Hospital for medical inspection. Here he must remove all his clothing and eubmit to a thorough examination by skilled hands. The examiners take note of any defect whatever from which a man may be suffering; but there are certain requirements laid down to which special attention must bo paid, and those are as follows: — Vision sufficiently good; recruit sufficiently intelligent; hearing good; spocoh without impediment; no glandular swellings or marks of scrofula; chest capacious und well-formed, aiid heart and lungs sound; not ruptured; limbs well formed and fully developed; free and perfect motion of all jointe; feet and toes wellformed ; no congenital malformations or defects; does not bear traces of previous acute disease pointing to impaired constitution; sufficient number of teeth for efficient mastication.

This list does not appear to be very comprehensive; but in reality it covers a great deal of ground, and the discretion of the examiners does the rest. The various complaints for which men have been rejected in the Otago district are curvature, of the spine, disease of tho stomaoh, varicose vains, flat feet, varicocele, dkease of the joints or muscles, defective vision, hernia, defective chest, heart disease, hemorrhoids, cleft palate, skin disease, debility, defective teeth, goitre, eciatica, epilepsy, failure to reach the required height, and deafness. A large number of men were, of course, rejected for being under ago, but that does not come under the heading of physical unfitness, though it is so classified, for the sake of convenience, by tho doctors. The excellence of the physique of young Now Zealandere is attested to by the comparatively small number who have been rejected through inability to reach the physical standard required. For the main body and tho first reinforcement in Otago some 1400 men were examined. About one-tenth of this number were turned down in the first place for physical reasons —a small number, considering the stringency of the examination. In London 33 per cent, of the first batch of recruits were rejected. The keen desire of the man to get away, however, is shown by the fact that a large proportion of those rejected hastened to make themselves fit, with the result that about a quarter of the rejects in the first place were ultimately able to join the colours. The final figures, therefore, for the main body of the first reinforcement show that only about one man in every 14- was finally rejected by tho authorities. ONE REJECTED IN EVERY THIRTY.

With the reinforcements the percentage ■was even smaller, and it is clear that a better class of men js coming forward now than was the case at first, excellent though the men of the main body were. Whereas one man was turned down for every 14 in tho main body and first reinforcement, it is found that in the eeoond, third, and fourth reinforcements only one man in 30 was rejected finally, at least two men out of every three rejected making himself fit before the body left and being accepted. This overcoming of physical disabilities has, in many cases, meant great inconvenience. A large number of these men have had to submit to irksome operations in order to have tho disability which prevented them from serving their country removed. Ever since tho work of recruiting commenced the hospitals have had their work increased by the presence within their walls of a greater or lesser number of young men who were there " for p-atriotic reasons." This is surely the greatest testimony that could be found of the desire of the youth of New Zealand to serve the Empire.

This readiness to make themselves fit has been much more noticeable amongst men for the second, third, and fourth reinforcements than amongst those of the main body. In the earlier stages of the war the emotional and excitable type of men, who enrolled in a moment of patriotic impulse, was more in evidence, and these were not nearly such good subjects as the cooler and more genuinely earnest men. Many of the younger applicants became quite arrogant when informed that they were not physically fit, and took up the attitude: " Very well; if my country doesn't want me, she needn't have me!" These were of the typo of men who enrolled, and did not turn up for examination, or who were accepted and then " forgot" to present themselves at the Defence Office when required, their excitement having , cooled down. The men who are now being , obtained are, generally speaking, of a soberer and more deliberative type. They have not rushed to the colours in a moment of excitement, but have thought the matter over, realised thajf their services are wanted, decided that it fs their <kty to go, and volunteered with a calm determination to get away if they possibly can. If rejected for any curable ailmeni they are extremely keen to have it removed, and, far from making any demur to going into the hospital, they gladly volunteer to do so, if given a reasonable assurance that they will be fit at the end flf a few weeks' treatment. GOOD TEETH VERY RARE.

Perhaps the most striking lesson that has been learnt from the examinations that have taken place is that the teeth of young New Zealanders are in a shockingly bad state. Of the total number of rejections for the main body,, for the various ailments that have already been mentioned, a quarter were for bad teeth, and the number of men who could be said to have really good teeth could be counted on the fingers of one hand. A much larger number would have failed to pass the examination but for the welcome services of the Dental Association in Dunedin, which, during the time when the Expeditionary Force was in camp, attended to 50 men per day free. The examination of recruits in New Zealand is as stringent as that to which candidates for entry into tho British army are subject, except in that one particular. It was found that tho standard of dental efficiency demanded by the niles could not possibly be insisted on here, since, such a course on it would mean th'e rejection of an impossibly large number of men. Yet the British rule demands only reasonably good tenth. It provides that the teeth, generally, must be in good order, and states thai the loss of 10 teeth will lie considered a disqualification, though cWiiyed teeth, if well filled, are considers' -• und. False teeth, however, are not allowed. In Now Zealand these rules have had to be considerably modified. By the British rule a man is required to have 22 sound teeth; in New Zealand men have had to bo passed without a single tooth in their heads, their masticating apparatus being entirely artificial. The New Zealand rule allows well(itting false teeth, since so few men can bo found with a good natural set. The articia.l variety, however, are a danger on tho field, and dturintr the South African war men with them were a nuisance, for they wt ' ro continually losing or breaking them. It ie to be hoped that this trouble will not recur in the present campaign. There are dentists in the camps, who do "extractions and fillings, but the Defence Department does not undertake to supply or repair artificial teeth. A majority ot tho men who rendered themselves lit after rejection have done so by having their teeth attended to, and it would s-'ive trouble to the department and to tho medical examiners if intending rocruite would have their decayed teeth filled bolore they volunteer. The real root of the trouble is, of course, in the schoolroom. Parents aJlow their children's teeth to become neglected, with tho result that the Defence Department's medical examination has shown. OPERATIONS OF EXPEDIENCY.

Next to bad teeth, trw most prevalent ailmnnt has been found to bo liernia,, from which about one-«?venth of tho men rejected wero suffering, while varicose veins and varicocele were the next in frequency of occurrence. These ailments ure all curable by operation, and a very largo number of tho men who rendered themselves fit did so by being operated on for them- The varicose ailments necessitate a stay of about a fortnight in the Hospital, and tho patient is fit" for eervie.o at the end of that period. Hernia, is more serious, and necessitates a stay of throe weeks in tho Hospital, while six months are required before the patient is fit for service. Apparently this system of allowing recruits to become eligible by operation is not so general in England as it is here, for, .in a recent issue of the British Medical Journal, it was Veiled that at Leicester Royal Infirmary they had established a ward of 12 beds for the purpoee, the assumption being that theao "operations

of expediency" lire an innovation in thn Old Country. If so, a largo number of good men must, liavc. been lost, to the colours in the earlier M:i{rif) of the war. Much advorso <tritii:i*in has been f f Kissed on the Defence Department, for rejecting- men. for wluit have been railed "trivialities." It has been staled, with u\wh derisive emphasis, that men have Ixscn rejected for sore tor-s, Imnions, and similar complaints. A on«* w:ia alleged in which an international footballer was turned away because he had an insrrowincr toenail ; but Hi is appears t-o be a myth. St.ilL, too mueh cn.ro cannot lw exercised. Recently a report. appeared in the British Medical Journal to the effect that the British Army was suffering from lameness, and that expla : ns why flip feet, must lmve particular attention paid to them. An army, it ie said, marches on its stomach: but it also marches on its feet, and what nrny be a triviality in civil life may lose 'i Imttle when men havo to march, heavily laden, for miles, or to stand for days in the trenches, knee-doep in water. It is "far better to be 10 per cent, under number th:m 10 per cent, over, with recruits who are in the hospital half the time.