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and one has learned more or less what the nature of the disease is. The doctors do tell us that the people who have lost the actual nerve fibre to the extent that he had don't get back the use of their legs. Even with all of this modern treatment that they give they can't restore the function of a muscle that's been completely atrophied and its nerve supply cut off. All the research work that's done on polio now is done primarily on prevention and cure quickly before this paralysis sets in. That doesn't mean that partial paralyses aren't overcome, but when there's been a big destruction they don't think they can restore it.

But in those days the popular knowledge of medical theory and medical experience was nothing like what it is now. Doctors didn't put pieces in the paper to describe diseases. The practise of medicine was a profession. It was an art as well as a science. You didn't write it up. The doctor judged what you could do. The doctor certainly never told a patient that he couldn't be cured.

As a matter of fact, in the case of Roosevelt it would probably have been fatal to him to tell him that he couldn't be cured - “You're a cripple. Just forget it.” He certainly believed that he could get the use of his legs back. Certainly all the medical advice that he took was encouraging. Although I won't say that any doctor promised him that he