WORCESTER NIPS ILL HEALTH EARLY

Dr. Alfred Worcester '78, Henry K. Oliver Professor of Hygience, in his report to the President for the past year, states that his main service had not been attending students needing medical care, but saving them from such need.

His office has been open to all who voluntarily sought his aid and to those whose conduct or failure in studies caused their deans to suspect such conduct or failure to be due to physical or mental ill health. Dr. Worcester feels that in most cases a thorough study of the students' physical and mental condition is necessary.

The condition known during the war as shell-shock is by no means as uncommon among young college students as might be thought. In this connection the doctor points out, Harvard is fortunate in having the services of Dr. H. A. Shaw '89, whose long service as surgeon in the United States Army and later at the Psychopathic Hospital in Boston has especially fitted him for such work with young men.

Dr. Worcester's report included that of Dr. P. H. Means, Medical Assistant in Hygiene. Dr. Means stated that most of the Freshmen physical examinations which obliged further study were the results of heart trouble and that a special effort was made in such cases to determine the amount of activity, physical exercise in particular, which would lead to general health and yet avoid heart strain.

Some men were found to have chronic digestive troubles and a few showed signs of lung trouble. A follow-up system is adhered to in the case of men whose abnormalities persist, and such cases are given close and proper treatment.