President's Health

Monday, Feb. 05, 1934
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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.

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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 (26⅞ in. around).