
Lincoln Diagnosis -- Breaking News

Doctor Zebra > Presidential health > List of Presidents > Abraham Lincoln

The Health and Medical History of President

Abraham Lincoln

========> UNDER CONSTRUCTION <========

"He may be President of the United States, but he has dirty fingernails." [31a]

President #16.

Lived: 1809·1865.		Served: 1861·1865.

Timeline:

<== 2007
|<== 1776

Maladies = NOTICE · not color blind · near-drowning · concussion · malaria - 1830 · malaria - 1835 · marfanoid habitus · habitus - ?Stickler · pectus excavatum · depression · vertical strabismus · presbyopia · jaw fracture · penetrating voice · snored · swollen feet · scarlet fever? · unusual face and head · face & beard · corns · constipation · dentist phobia · cancer · Willie's death · pulsations · smallpox · upset stomach · very strong · receding hairline · gas leak · assassination & resuscitation ·· Odds & Ends ·· Resources

Maladies and Conditions

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NOTICE

The great Lincoln mystery -- Solved!

John Sotos, MD has diagnosed the disease that made Lincoln tall, long-limbed, thin, and homely. Dr. Sotos (a.k.a. Dr. Zebra) will publish the diagnosis in two Physical Lincoln books in November 2007. These books will change forever the way people look at Abraham Lincoln.

Sotos' new diagnosis explains that:

Lincoln did not have Marfan syndrome -- he had something worse: multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2b (MEN 2B).
At least two of his sons, and probably his mother, had the same disease.
Lincoln was not depressed.
Lincoln was not being ground down by the rebellion and by his office.
Lincoln would not have lived another year had he not been shot.

Like Sherlock Holmes, The Physical Lincoln finds never-before-seen clues to the diagnosis in dozens of Lincoln photographs and eyewitness descriptions, and tells the story in plain language that even high school students will find fascinating.

Read the Washington Post story on the Lincoln / MEN2B / cancer hypothesis.

Over time, the Lincoln page you are reading now will be updated. For now, however, the authoritative source of information on Lincoln's health and physiology is The Physical Lincoln.

not color blind

For many years Dr. Zebra reported, as have several others, that Lincoln was color blind. Recently, however, he reviewed the original evidence behind this assertion, e.g. Thomas Shastid's 1929 article in The Nation, and found it completely worthless. There is no good reason to believe Lincoln had defective color vision.

near-drowning

As a child Lincoln almost drowned in Knob's Creek, Kentucky. A neighbor boy saved him. [2a]

Austin Gollaher ... claims to have saved Lincoln from drowning one day as they were trying to 'coon it' across Knob Creek on a log. The boys were in pursuit of birds, when young Lincoln fell into the water, and his vigilant companion ... fished him out with a sycamore branch. [8a]

concussion

As a youth Lincoln was driving an old horse to turn a grist mill. Losing his patience at one point, Lincoln applied the whip and was rewarded with a kick square to the head. He was knocked unconscious for several hours. [2b]

malaria - 1830

Lincoln's father moved the family to Macon County, Illinois in 1830. All of the family members developed "ague and fever" that autumn and resolved to leave the area. This was undoubtedly vivax malaria. Lincoln, having reached the age of 21, settled in New Salem. [34]

malaria - 1835

The summer of 1835 in New Salem was hot and followed a wet spring -- perfect conditions for malaria. Lincoln developed malaria that summer, about the same time his near-fiancee Ann Rutledge became ill with "brain fever" (probably typhoid). He took "heroic doses" of quinine and other anti-malaria medications then in use. (Quinine is effective.) Rutledge's death greatly affected Lincoln, but there is no record on whether his unusual behavior afterwards was due to grief, to malaria, or to the treatments being inflicted upon him. [34]

marfanoid habitus

Lincoln was 6 feet 3.75 inches tall, had long legs, long arms, long thin feet (about size 12 today), long hands, a long thin face, a high pitched voice, a long thin neck, flat feet, and a "sunken breast" (in the words of his law partner William Herndon). All of these characteristics are typical of persons with Marfan syndrome.

This does not mean he had Marfan syndrome, however. Several distinct medical conditions cause this same type of body shape. It is proper to say that Lincoln was "marfanoid," meaning he was shaped like a person with Marfan syndrome, but it is unlikely that he had Marfan syndrome. Diagnosis of Marfan syndrome must be addressed separately. [33] [34]

A sample of men from about the same geographic area and the same era as Lincoln averaged 5 feet 8.5 inches in height. Thus, Lincoln was about 7 inches taller than average. It is interesting to note that Lincoln's height came from his legs. Sitting, he was no taller than the average man. [33]

It has been said that a cast of Lincoln's hands show them to be muscular and powerful, not the slender hands of Marfan syndrome [13] [24]. This is not correct. True, the casts show that Lincoln did not have the classic long, graceful hands and fingers of Marfan syndrome. But they also show that his hands were longer than normal and that his fingers were longer than normal. It is important to remember that Lincoln used an axe more or less all day every day from the time he was about 8 years old until he was 23. No physician practicing today knows what that level of hand exertion does to the hands of someone with Marfan syndrome. [33] Evidence for other features of Marfan syndrome (ocular, cardiovascular, familial) in Lincoln has been presented, but found weak [33] [16a]. In 1959, Marfan syndrome was diagnosed in a distant relative of Lincoln's (a third cousin four times removed) on his father's side [28]. Sharing 1/4096th of Lincoln's genetic material, it is difficult to ascribe much significance to this fact [16b]. Although the world's greatest authority on Marfan syndrome thinks it's "50-50" that Lincoln had the condition, other geneticists think it unlikely [16c] [27].

habitus - ?Stickler

J. Hermann et al wonder whether Lincoln and his son Tad had Stickler syndrome, "the most common autosomal dominant connective tissue dysplasia in the North American Midwest" [17a]. This is thought unlikely, however [16d].

pectus excavatum

Lincoln's chest was, according to his law partner, thin and had a "sunken breast" [16e]. Yet, none of the several physicians who saw Lincoln's naked body at autopsy remarked on a sunken chest [16f]. Comment: Given the multiple unusual features of Lincoln's body that are clearly documented in photographs, and the fact that the physicians remarked on none of them, the statements of these physicians cannot be accepted as a detailed clinical evaluation.

depression

Much has been written about Lincoln's "melancholia," but the evidence is not convincing [15a]. Advocates of the theory point to several periods of major depression in Lincoln's life: (1) After the death of his mother, (2) After the death of his fiancee, Ann Rutledge (see Malaria/1835, above), and (3) About the time of interpersonal difficulties with Mary Todd in early 1841. Other cited instances are: after the terrible Union loss at the battle of Chancellorsville (he is widely quoted as entertaining suicide, but there is no way to know if this was serious or just Lincoln speaking in a vivid metaphor) and after the death of his son Willie (he signed no official documents for four days). [2c]

Lincoln's depression has been variously ascribed to familial tendencies (his mother and sister had "melancholy dispositions," as did first cousins afflicted with the "Lincoln horrors" [5a]), to the horse-induced concussion, and to neurosyphilis. The last of these is generally discounted ("not a shred of truth"). [2c] A book devotes 350 pages to Lincoln's melancholy [32]. That's a lot of melancholy.

vertical strabismus

Lincoln's intermittently-upturned left eye is consistent with weakness of the left superior oblique muscle. See: Goldstein JH. Lincoln's vertical strabismus. J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus 1997 Mar-Apr;34(2):118-20.

It has been speculated that the horse-kick to his head damaged his trochlear nerve, which controls the muscle, or that a malformation of his skull was responsible (R Fishman, Arch Ophthalmol).

presbyopia

Lincoln did not wear eyeglasses until he reached the approximate age when all persons with normal vision need to start wearing reading glasses. The spectacles in his pocket at the time of his death have been analyzed. They are reading glasses (to correct for far-sightedness) and their strength is consistent with simple aging of the eye (which is known as presbyopia). [33] [2d].

jaw fracture

A dentist broke off part of Lincoln's jaw bone while pulling a tooth -- without anesthesia [2d]. The extraction may have taken place in Louisville, KY in Sept. 1841 [5b].

penetrating voice

Lincoln had a "penetrating and far-reaching" voice that could be heard over great distances [23a]. It was high-pitched and "tended to become even more shrill when he became excited. At times, it was even unpleasant. But his voice was a great asset because it could be heard at the farthest reaches of the crowds that gathered outdoors to hear him speak" [23b]. "For example, everyone present heard the Gettysburg Address, and there were at least 15,000 people in attendance" [23a].

snored

Reliability of this information is uncertain [4]. Comment: Its credibility is somewhat enhanced by the description of Lincoln's breathing as "exceedingly stertorous" (i.e. loud) as he lay comatose and dying in Ford's Theater [6a]. Snoring sounds are a sound of an endangered airway, and Dr. Zebra guesses that anyone can be made to snore if coma is deep enough.

Lincoln was not a good sleeper [22].

swollen feet

In 1858 Lincoln walked from the Danville, IL train depot to the home of Dr. William Fithian (116 Gilbert St.), with a crowd in tow. Lincoln went upstairs, took off his boots to relax, but the crowd insisted on a speech. Unable to easily get his boots on over his swollen feet, Lincoln, at Fithian's suggestion, spoke from the window, so the crowd could not tell he did not have his boots on. [5c]

scarlet fever?

While campaigning for the Presidency in 1860, Lincoln developed sore throat, headache, fever, and malaise which lasted for a few days. Simultaneously, his son Willie was in bed with scarlet fever. Lincoln felt he had a form of the same disease. [2d]

unusual face and head

A single photograph of Lincoln (before he grew a beard) [More] shows numerous unusual features: (1) his eyes appear smaller than they should be, (2) he has ptosis (drooping eyelids), (3) large ears that protrude, (4) a long straight nose, and (5) heavily wrinkled skin, even at an early age [16g].

These features pertain to the discussion of Lincoln's body habitus.

face & beard

Lincoln began growing his beard about the time he was elected President in November 1860. On Feb. 16, 1861 his inauguration train stopped in Westfield, NY where he sought out 11 year old Grace Bedell, who had before written to advise him to grow a beard: "I have got four brothers and part of them will vote for you anyway and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you; you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin." [5d]

corns

In the words of a biographer, Lincoln "suffered mightily" from corns and bunions. He obtained some relief at the hands of a "chiropodist" named Isachar Zacharie [22]. Comment: Lincoln's large feet doubtlessly complicated the acquisition of well-fitting shoes, but this biographer has gone well beyond what the historical record actually says. There are no records that Lincoln ever complained about his feet.

constipation

Neely [22] quotes Lincoln's law partner as saying Lincoln took "blue mass" pills for constipation. Comment: Reports that he took the mercury-containing blue mass pills for melancholy are not credible [9].

dentist phobia

It has been said that Lincoln was afraid of dentists (see episode above for a good reason why he might have been). In 1862 Lincoln developed a severe toothache and consulted Dr. G. S. Wolf, who had an office near the White House. As Wolf prepared to pull the tooth, Lincoln asked him to wait. Lincoln "took a container of chloroform from his pocket, inhaled it deeply, and sleepily gave the signal for the dentist to proceed" [2d].

cancer

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2b (MEN2B) is a genetic cancer syndrome. The most common cancers are medullary carcinoma of the thyroid and pheochromocytoma. Did Lincoln have cancer? If he had MEN2B, the answer is unambiguous: yes.

Lincoln began losing weight in 1860. There is no quantitative data about his weight after becoming President, but many people wrote of his declining appearance and increasing thinness. Casts of his face in 1860 and 1865 show a striking loss of soft tissue. Temporal wasting is present on the 1865 cast. MEN 2B is rare -- perhaps about one in a million people have it -- and there are no large studies on survival statistics. Lincoln lived to be quite old for someone with MEN2B. This topic is discussed in great detail in [33] and in [34].

Willie's death

Lincoln's son Willie died in 1862. One of Lincoln's friends described the aftermath [11a]:

"[It] wellnigh broke the President's heart, and certainly an affliction more crushing never fell to the lot of man. ... Strong as he was in the matter of self-control, he gave way to an overmastering grief, which became at length a serious menace to his health. ... A deep and settled despondency took possession of Mr. Lincoln; and when it is remembered that his calamity -- for such it surely was -- befell him at a critical period of the war, just when the resources of his mighty intellect were in most demand, it will be understood how his affliction became a matter of the gravest concern to the whole country."

In fact, Lincoln went only four days without writing official documents [22].

pulsations

A photograph taken November 15, 1863 by Alexander Gardner shows Lincoln sitting with legs crossed. The image of the left foot -- the one nearest the camera -- is blurry, however. Lincoln noticed this and wondered why. Newspaperman Noah Brooks suggested it was because throbbing of the arteries may have imparted a slight motion to the foot. To test this idea, Lincoln crossed his legs, watched his foot, ... and saw that it moved. "That's it! That's it! Now that's very curious, isn't it?" he exclaimed [16h]. This incident is cited as evidence that Lincoln had aortic regurgitation [29] [30].

Comment: Aortic regurgitation is caused by a leaky heart valve. When severe, large swings in blood pressure occur with every heartbeat, causing structures in the body to pulsate. Diagnosing aortic regurgitation from photographic blurriness is a clever idea, but, in this case, wrong. First, Lincoln's foot may simply have been out of focus. Second, such foot movement is normal: Dr. Zebra's foot moves in a similar way, and he does not have aortic regurgitation or Marfan syndrome. Third, Lincoln was incubating smallpox when the photograph was taken, so possibly he was vasodilated for that reason and more prone to foot movement.

smallpox

The story is usually told this way: Shortly after delivering the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 [2d] Lincoln became ill with red blotches "all over" his skin. Lincoln's physician arrived while an office-seeker was with Lincoln. The doctor made the diagnosis of varioloid, a mild type of smallpox, and informed Lincoln the disease was highly contagious. The office-seeker made excuses and left immediately, causing Lincoln to remark: "There is one good thing about this. Now I have something I can give everybody" [1a].

The historical record shows that Lincoln's course was not typical of the mild smallpox form, but was instead completely typical of the usual form of smallpox. In other words, Lincoln had a major illness. There is evidence that the diagnosis was delayed. The first reports of illness appeared in the newspapers on Nov. 28. On Dec. 2 the press learned it was varioloid. They were never told it was more serious than that, and the myth that this was some kind of vacation for Lincoln persists to this day. Lincoln did not recover an air of health until early January 1864. [34] [33]

upset stomach

Lincoln and son Tad visited the battlefield area near Petersburg, VA on June 21-22, 1864. When Lincoln and General Grant steamed part way up the James River the next day, Lincoln had an upset stomach. He was offered champagne, but declined, noting that many people get "seasick ashore from drinking that very stuff" [5e].

very strong

Lincoln was immensely strong. As a young adult he was rarely bettered in wrestling. While visiting troops in the field, less than a month before his death, Lincoln picked up a heavy axe, chopped wood for several minutes, then held the axe "straight out horizontally, steady without a quiver." Several soldiers, strong ones, tried to duplicate his feat, but could not [5f].

Yet, just two years before, he was described as "cadaverous and emaciated" in appearance [5g].

Lincoln performed the "horizontal" feat several times, e.g. at Milwaukee, WI on Sept. 30, 1859 [5h]. Comment: I accept some stories of Lincoln's strength in youth, but I have been unable to find the primary reference for the 1865 wood-chopping performance.

receding hairline

Lincoln is generally not thought of as bald, but a photo showing the top of his head in November 1863 (while giving the Gettysburg address) discloses significant temporal recession of his hairline. [See photo [More] ]

gas leak

On Sept. 9, 1864 Lincoln was almost overcome by gas leaking from lighting fixtures in his White House office [20]. (I'd appreciate it if anyone having another reference to this incident would let me know. Thanks.)

assassination & resuscitation

The bullet from the assassin's gun entered behind the left ear and lodged behind the right eye. When Dr. Charles Leale arrived in Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater, he found the President without a radial pulse and breathing laboriously, still sitting upright in his chair. Leale, just two months out of medical school [10a], laid Lincoln onto the floor, and resuscitated him using various "physiological" techniques. Modern authors speculate that the technique of anal dilation, popular at the time, may have been used [12].

Eyewitness accounts of the shooting and its immediate aftermath are available from Dr. Leale [More] and from Dr. Charles Taft [More].

An autopsy was performed in the White House, as was the embalming [5i].

Odds & Ends

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In reference to discussions of Lincoln's health, one Lincoln scholar writes: "Lincoln was not a sufferer from much of anything, and students should be thinking what an edge his fabulous health gave him in the quest for success as politician and president" [22]. Comment: This is a common misconception. Lincoln was indeed quite healthy until about 1860. He then began losing weight, and went continuously downhill from there. In his last three months, he was sick more than he was well. Lincoln was not a complainer, so it requires digging to see the true pattern.
In declining a job offer in Chicago (about 1849) Lincoln gave as a reason
that he tended to consumption, and, if removed to a city like Chicago, he would have to sit down and study harder than ever. The close application required of him and the confinement in the office, he contended, would soon kill him. [8b]
It is hard to know if Lincoln was being diplomatic or was referring to his leanness.
His eyes were gray [8c].
At his second inaugural, Lincoln shook so many hands, "the perspiration ... rolling down his face as he grasped the hands of the passing throng, as though he had been splitting rails as of yore" [25a], that he got blisters on his hand.
"Lincoln never forgot anybody" [35a].
Analysis of a bloodstain on the cuff of Dr. Woodward showed that Lincoln had type A blood [3].
Stephen Douglas called Lincoln "two-faced." Lincoln responded: "I leave it to my audience. If I had another face, do you think I would wear this one?" [1b].
Walking barefoot through Dixon, IL in 1832, Lincoln complained that his feet were cold. Someone told him: "No wonder, there's so much of you on the ground" [5j]. The same story is told about him in the post-1839 time frame [5k].
Lincoln was "devoid of any natural ability as a singer" [8d]. After being serenaded by a quartet of singers in 1860, Lincoln said he wished he could sing like that, "but he knew only two tunes; one is 'Old One Hundred' and the other isn't'" [5l]. Essentially the same anecdote is told about Ulysses Grant.
In January 1862 Lincoln braved the sickroom of General George McClellan, who was ill with typhoid fever [26].
Lincoln once used his knowledge of medicine to get rid of someone who often encroached upon his time. The encroacher was bald. In one of their meetings, Lincoln got up, walked over to the wardrobe, picked up a bottle, and asked "Did you ever try this for your hair?" The man answered no, so Lincoln said "Well, I advise you to try it and I will give you this bottle. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Keep it up. They say it will make hair grow on a pumpkin. Now take it and come back in eight or ten months and tell me how it works." The man left with the bottle, and Lincoln was still convulsed with laughter when the next visitor entered the room [1a].
A delegation "called on Mr. Lincoln to ask the appointment of a gentleman as commissioner to the Sandwich Islands. They presented their case as earnestly as possible and besides their candidate's fitness for the place they urged that he was in bad health, and that a residence in that balmy climate would be of great benefit to him. The President closed the interview with this discouraging remark: 'Gentlemen, I am sorry to say that there are eight other applicants for that place, and they are all sicker than your man.'" [11b]
During his 1860 campaign speeches, Lincoln would tell of seeing a man nearby with a sore on his neck. The man, he said was like the slavery question: it was dangerous to cut out because the man might bleed to death, but if he did not have it removed, it would shorten the man's life. [5m]
Soon after the fall of Richmond, Lincoln walked through the city. He was immediately recognized. Black citizens crowded around him and knelt before him. Lincoln, famously, told them "Don't kneel to me. That is not right." Less famously, but equally telling of the status in which Lincoln was held, one black woman was later heard to tell her child that "a touch of Lincoln's garment would cure his pain" [5n].
In 1842 Lincoln admitted writing letters to the newspaper in Springfield, IL satirizing the state auditor, James Shields. (Whether Lincoln wrote one, some, or all of the letters is unclear.) To uphold his honor, Shields, a crack shot, challenged Lincoln to a duel. As the challengee, Lincoln was to make the choice of weapons. He chose cow pies. Shields would not be deterred, however, and eventually Lincoln chose to duel with cavalry broadswords. When Lincoln and Shields met at the appointed place, Lincoln picked out a sword and, with his remarkable height and long arms, began slashing at tree branches that the shorter Shields could not reach. After this, an accomodation was reached and the duel never took place. Although humorous in retrospect, the affair was deadly serious. (Shields later became a Brigadier General and a U.S. Senator from Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota.) [5o] [21]
Some family history:
- Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, died during an epidemic of "milk sickness," caused by drinking the milk of cows feeding on poisonous plants [2a] [More]. Fear of the milk sickness' return seems to have been a factor in the surviving Lincolns' decision to move from Indiana to Illinois in 1830 [8e]. [5p]. [More].
- Lincoln's son Tad had a cleft palate. Because of a speech impairment he was known as "stuttering Tad." He died in 1871 of a pulmonary condition that included intractable pleurisy. [5q] He contracted, but survived, the illness that killed his brother Willie in 1862 [5r].
- Among Lincoln's children, Willie was the most like his father mentally. Willie died in the White House while still a child, probably from typhoid fever he contracted from the recently installed indoor plumbing that was fed from the Potomac River [5s]. (Willie had survived typhoid fever in 1860 [5t].)
- Lincoln's son Robert had a son, Abraham II, who resembled his grandfather mentally and physically, and supposedly had great promise. However, Jack, as he was called, died at age 17 of blood poisoning after an operation for an abscess (or carbuncle) [5u]. Abraham Lincoln's last descendant died in 1985 [5v].
- There is a tradition in Terre Haute, IN that Lincoln brought his son Robert there to be treated with a "mad stone" after a dog bite, possibly in September 1859 [5w].
In a weird twist of fate, Edwin Booth saved the life of Robert Lincoln. Edwin Booth was the older brother of Lincoln's assassin, and Robert Lincoln was the son of Abraham Lincoln. Robert had slipped onto the train track at Jersey City, NJ train station while travelling to Washington from New York City. He fell into an open space and was helpless until Booth "vigorously seized" him to safety. The incident occurred while Lincoln was President. [5x]
During the time Lincoln lived in Kentucky and Indiana, the family name was pronounced "Linkhorn" [5y].
A neurological disorder, spinocerebellar ataxia type 5, has been found in 56 of 170 individuals descended from the paternal grandparents of Abraham Lincoln. The problem has been traced to a gene on chromosome 11. Lincoln was not one of the 56 with disease. Disease onset among the 56 varied from age 10 to age 68. Lincoln died at age 56. His father lived to age 73. I have not read anything suggesting Lincoln's father had the condition. [17b] [There are people in that research group who advocate testing Lincoln's DNA for the SCA5 gene. They have not done their historical homework. Their calls should be resisted.]

Resources

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Disclosure: Doctor Zebra gets a few pennies if you click & buy from Amazon.

Books (ranked by Amazon.com sales)		More


The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War Thomas Dilorenzo	The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words Ronald C. White Jr.	Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times Donald T. Phillips

DVDs (ranked by Amazon.com sales)		More


You Are There:Abraham Lincoln's Great	Abraham and Mary Lincoln:House Divide	Abraham Lincoln

Resources used by Dr. Zebra

Boller, Paul F. Jr. Presidential Anecdotes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. ISBN 0-19-502915-1 @ Amazon [a] p. 133 [b] p. 125
Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-89950-956-8 @ Amazon [a] p. 89 [b] p. 90 [c] pp. 91-94 [d] p. 95
Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
Davidson, Glen W. Abraham Lincoln and the DNA controversy. Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. 1996;17(1):1-26.
Dugan, James. Bedlam in the boudoir. Colliers. 22 Feb. 1947; pages 17, 69-70.
Credibility is dubious. Just before a list of Presidents, the article states: "Twenty of the 32 Presidents ... are proved or believed on a thick web of circumstance to have been nocturnal nuisances in the White House."
Gary, Ralph. Following Lincoln's Footsteps. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2001. ISBN 0-7867-09413 @ Amazon [a] p. 70 [b] p. 227 [c] p. 58 [d] p. 272 [e] p. 305 [f] p. 307 [g] p. 313 this comment was from soldiers in Fredericksburg, VA, April 1863 [h] p. 397 [i] p. 338 the Prince of Wales Bedroom was used [j] pp. 66, 398 [k] p. 177 [l] p. 68 [m] p. 4 [n] pp. 322, 323-324 [o] pp. 9-10 [p] p. 193 [q] p. 49 [r] p. 337 [s] pp. 332-333 [t] p. 138 [u] p. 51 [v] p. 385 [w] p. 197 [x] pp. 238, 261 [y] pp. 209, 318
Good, Timothy S. (ed). We Saw Lincoln Shot. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 1995. ISBN 0-87805-778-1 @ Amazon [a] p. 61
Gordon AM. Abraham Lincoln: a medical appraisal. Journal of the Kentucky Medical Association. 1962;60:249-253. Pubmed.
Herndon, William H. and Weik, Jesse W. Herndon's Life of Lincoln. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1942 (originally published 1888). [a] p. 18 [b] p. 247 [c] p. 250 [d] p. 48 [e] p. 56 [f] pp. 25-26 [g] pp. 26-27 [h] pp. 27 [i] pp. 56-57
Hirschhorn N, Feldman RG, Greaves IA. Abraham Lincoln's blue pills: did our 16th President suffer from mercury poisoning?. Perspect Biol Med. 2001;44:315-332. Pubmed.
Kunhardt, Philip B, et al. Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0-679-40862-2 @ Amazon [a] p. 356
Lamon, Ward Hill. Recollections of Abraham Lincoln. Washington, DC: Dorothy Lamon Teillard, 1911. [a] p. 161 [b] p. 136
Lattimer JK. The wound that killed Lincoln. JAMA. 1964;187:480-489.
Lattimer JK. Lincoln did not have Marfan syndrome; documented evidence. N Y State J Med. 1981;81:1805-1813. Pubmed.
(reported in BMJ. 1982;284:203)
Lattimer, John K. Kennedy and Lincoln: Medical & Ballistic Comparisons of Their Assassinations. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980. ISBN 0-15-152281-2 @ Amazon
MacMahon, Edward B. and Curry, Leonard. Medical Cover-Ups in the White House. Washington, DC: Farragut, 1987. ISBN 0-918535-01-8 @ Amazon [a] p. 19
Marion, Robert. Was George Washington Really the Father of our Country?. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1994. ISBN 0-201-62255-6 @ Amazon [a] pp. 88-124 [b] p. 100 [c] pp. 108, 110. Marion believes Lincoln had mitral valve prolapse syndrome, which shares some of the skeletal features of Marfan syndrome. [d] pp. 108-109 [e] p. 93 [f] p. 104 [g] pp. 92-93 [h] p. 102
McKusick, Victor A. Mendelian Inheritance in Man. 9th ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990. [a] MIM#108300 [b] MIM#600224
Later print editions have appeared, e.g. the 12th in 1998: Amazon (ISBN is 0801857422). The entire contents are freely available on the web as "Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM)." The online version is more current than the printed version.
McKusick VA. Advisory statement by the panel on DNA testing of Abraham Lincoln's tissue. Caduceus. 1991;7(1 Spring):43-47. Pubmed.
McKusick VA. Abraham Lincoln and Marfan syndrome. Nature. 1991;352:280 only.
Web page: http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/content_inside.asp?ID=217&subjectID=3
(Mr Lincoln's White House.org)
Myers, James E. The Amazing Saber Duel of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln-Herndon Building, 1968.
Cited by Gary.
Neely, Mark E. Jr. Rattling Lincoln's bones. Lincoln Lore: Bulletin of the Louis A. Warren Lincoln Library and Museum. August 1990; nbr 1818:1-4.
Phillips, Donald T. Lincoln on Leadership. NY: Warner Books, 1993. ISBN 0-446-39459-9 @ Amazon [a] p. 6 [b] p. 146
Pyeritz RE, McKusick VA. The Marfan syndrome: diagnosis and management. N Engl J Med. 1979;300:772-777. Pubmed.
Pendel, Thomas F. Thirty-Six Years in the White House. Washington: Neale Publishing Company, 1902. [a] pp. 35-37
Pendel was door-keeper at the White House from the time of Lincoln to the time of Theodore Roosevelt. Full text is available on-line at loc.gov. It's a rather dry book, and reads as if it were written by an old man. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?lhbcbbib:1:./temp/~ammem_rEou::
Rafuse, Ethan S. Typhoid and turmoil: Lincoln's response to General McClellan's bout with typhoid fever during the winter of 1861-62. Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. 1997;18(2):1-16.
Ready T. Access to Presidential DNA denied. Nature Medicine. 1999;5:859. Pubmed.
Schwartz H. Abraham Lincoln and the Marfan syndrome. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1964;187:473-479. Pubmed.
Schwartz H. Abraham Lincoln and aortic insufficiency. The declining health of the President. California Medicine. 1972;166(5):82-84. Pubmed.
Schwartz H. Abraham Lincoln and cardiac decompensation: a preliminary report. West J Med. 1978:128(2):174-177. Pubmed.
Seldes, George. Witness to a Century. New York: Ballantine, 1987. ISBN 0-345-33181-8 @ Amazon [a] p. 245
In 1927 Katherine Medill McCormick recalled to a group of people that her mother used to say this -- and several other disparaging things about the President -- before sending her to play with the Lincoln children. McCormick's father, Joseph Medill, was a friend of Lincoln's. Lincoln was not alone in being an object of Mrs. Medill's scorn. Seldes makes it clear that she hated just about everyone and everything.
Shenk, Joshua Wolf. Lincoln's Melancholy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. ISBN 0618551166 @ Amazon
Sotos, John G. The Physical Lincoln: A Photo-Medical Solution to the Puzzle of Abraham Lincoln's Height, Homeliness, Pseudo-Depression, and Imminent Death. Mt. Vernon, VA: Mt. Vernon Book Systems, 2007 (forthcoming).
You can sign up for the publication announcement at the book's web site: http://www.physical-lincoln.com/
Sotos, John G. The Physical Lincoln Sourcebook. Mt. Vernon, VA: Mt. Vernon Book Systems, 2007 (forthcoming).
You can sign up for the publication announcement at the book's web site: http://www.physical-lincoln.com/
Tarbell, Ida. Abraham Lincoln and His Ancestors. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska, 1997. [a] p. 185
Originally published 1924 as In the Footsteps of the Lincolns.
The Abraham Lincoln web page at the White House.
(64 matches when checked in November 2003)

Alternate index terms: Medical history of President Lincoln, Medical history of Honest Abe, Medical history of Abe Lincoln.

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