THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY JANUARY, 1920 DEFECTS FOUND IN DRAFTED MEN' By C. B. DAVENPORT FORMERLY MAJOR, S. C. AND ALBERT G. LOVE LT. COL., M. C., U. S. A. I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM HE ideal population of any country is one in which all the inhabitants are physically sound, mentally competent and temperamentally controlled. Actually, the condition of any population comes far from meeting the ideal. Witness the army of doctors, the cities of hospitals, the thousands of court-houses, jails and penitentiaries. Those persons who come to the notice of such physicians and such institutions are more or less sporadically or even accidentally brought to notice. Any survey of the physical, mental and temperamental health of a large section of the population taken without selection had until recently not been made. A complete survey of the defects in the American population which would give information would be of importance for many interests. Such knowledge would be important from the standpoint of social and industrial life, since it would give some insight into the suitability of the population for the various occupations which our social organization requires. 1 This study is based on data recorded on Form 1010 of the office of the Provost Marshal's General and Surgeon General of the Army. Acknowledgments are made to Colonel James Easby-Smith, Colonel Frank H. Wigmore and Colonel Frank R. Keefer, of the Provost Marshal General's Office. The statistics were prepared in the Section of Medical Records, Medical Department, U. S. Army, compiled under the direction of the Surgeon General, M. W. Ireland, and published with his permission. This paper is extracted from the Introduction of a larger work which is to appear shortly under the same title as a Congressional document. |