President's Health

Last week the White House secretariat told the correspondents and the correspondents told the country that President Roosevelt was in fine health. Under the trained eye of Lieut.-Commander Ross T. McIntire of the U. S. Naval Hospital in Washington, the President paddles in the White House swimming pool for 30 minutes practically every day between 5:30 and 6 p. m. In addition the President follows a system of calisthenics intended to re-educate his paralyzed leg muscles.

Although cheered the nation began to take anxious note of the haggard lines that eleven terrific months in office have left on the President's face. The smile is as bright as ever but the flesh has aged perceptibly. Colds have caused the President most of his trouble. Last April he was forced to remain indoors for two days with a congested nose and sore throat. In July a slight cold helped him lose two of the seven pounds which he had picked up during his sailboat vacation. In September another head cold and touch of fever again confined him to bed & study, and left a hangover which required a weekend in the sun aboard the Sequoia to eradicate. Last time that he was indisposed was late in October, when he went to bed with what he called the "sniffles." Since then he has been taking sunlamp treatments.

Pretending that George Washington had come for a medical examination, Professor Walter Augustus Wells, Washington, D.C. ear-nose-&-throat specialist, worked up a medical case history of the First President. The finished "history" he published last week in Hygeia:

THE CASE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, ESQ.

A Clinical Sketch

Heredity. Father died at the age of 49 of some acute respiratory disease. Mother died of cancer at the age of 82. His half-brother Lawrence died at the age of 34 of consumption. . . .

Habits of Life. Always rose early (4:30 or 5 a. m.), and retired early (9 p. m.). He ate heartily and was not over-particular about the fare. The patient was always accustomed to vigorous outdoor exercise.

Stimulants. Fond of tea. Never used tobacco in any form. He drank freely.

Past Illnesses. The patient suffered many minor ailments and some serious illnesses. First in the record is seasickness suffered at 19, while on a voyage to Barbados. Upon his return he developed smallpox. The marks remained for life. But portraitists blurred them.

During military services Washington contracted dysentery and malaria, which recurred in later life. Shortly after he assumed the Presidency a carbuncle developed on his hip, obliged him to lie on one side for six weeks, and to have his coach altered so he could ride half-recumbent.

All his life he frequently suffered from head colds, sore throat, headaches. Several times he was bed-ridden with fevers and lung involvements. Rheumatism kept him from attending the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia. In October 1787 he went to Boston with a severe head cold.

Height, 6 ft. 3 in. Weight, about 200 lb. Form, very erect; unusually long limbs, big hands, feet and joints; slightly sunken chest; large head (26 7/8 in. around).

Organs of Head. Eyesight somewhat affected but fairly well corrected by the use of glasses. Difficulty of hearing, probably due to an extension of catarrhal inflammation from the throat into the eustachian tube. Teeth lost, or removed on account of decay.

Endocrine System. Well balanced.

Summary and Conclusions. The health impairment in this case may be considered as affecting especially three systems; namely, the gastrointestinal system, as exemplified by the attacks of dysentery; the circulatory system, as a result of the persistent malaria, and the respiratory system, as shown by the susceptibility to colds in the head, throat and chest. All signs seem to point to the respiratory system as presenting the place of least resistance of the body.

Special Recommendations: "You must remember, Mr. Washington, that you are not as young a man as you once were, and certainly you are not as strong. Remember that you came of a family noted for their short life, their tendency to respiratory troubles, even to consumption.

"You have been through some serious illnesses which were bound to leave their traces; they have impaired your health and lowered your resistance. Your chief weakness is evidently in your respiratory organs. You have a marked susceptibility to colds and to serious inflammation in the head, throat and chest.

"It is our advice that you go in the beginning of the winter to a mild, warm, southern climate and remain through the season. If, however, you elect to remain in your Virginia home on the Potomac, it is important that you take every precaution against catching cold. Be especially careful to avoid undue exposure in cold, wet weather.

"If, in spite of all precaution, a cold happens to develop, then let us particularly advise that you take extraordinary care to keep it from extending or getting worse. In such an event, it is especially important that you do not go out in the cold but that you remain in the warm indoors, take warm drinks, a warm bath and a laxative, and go to bed."

Epilog. Thursday, Dec. 12, 1799, the weather being very bad, rain, hail and snow falling alternately, Washington rode out to his farm as usual, returned with coat and hair wet by snow, and sat down to dinner without changing his clothes. Next day he showed signs of a cold. His throat was hoarse. Washington, answering remonstrances: "I never take anything for a cold. Let it go as it came."

Everyone knows the rest: the swift, relentless progress of the disease, the evidence of a streptococcic infection, the edematous swelling of the larynx, the painful swallowing, the labored breathing and the agonizing death from suffocation.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.