Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-26
NEWS OF GERMANY
Death of Duke Theodor Mourn
ed by the Poor.
WAS A FAMOUS OCULlST
Charged Nothing for His Services to
All Glasses.
KAISER AS PLAY CENSOR
His Majesty a Believer in the Stage
as an Educational influence
in Politics.
ign Correspondence of The Star.

ness Duke Karl Theodor in Bavaria, the
! head of the ducal line Of the house of
| Whittelsbach. brother of the Inflated
Empress Elizabeth of Austria, father of
| the future queens of Bavaria and of the
/ Belgians. and an oculist of uncontested
eminence. who had performed no fewer
| than 500 operations for cataract. He was
| already thirty years of age when he left
the army. in which he was major of
artillery. and devoted himself exclusively
| to the study of medicine.
! A sad family event Is reported in Ba-
varia to have turned his attention to
medicine. In the spring of 1867 his first
wife, a daughter of King John of Sax
! ony. was seized with dphtneria. which
/ ended fatally, and. it is said. i'm the pres
| ence of her suserings the duke formed
the resolution 10 devote his life to the
study of the healing art. lie entered
| himself a medical student at Munich
University. attended the usual dissecting
| course and worked in the hospitals. The
| most prominent professors at Munich
! such as Ziemosen. the surgeon Nuss-
| baum, the oculist Rothmund. ranked the
| duke among their most devoted assist
| ants and students. At Rothmund's oph-
| thalmic infirmary the duke completed
| the studies for his intended profession
| as oculist while with Horner at Zurich
| and with Alt at Vienna he perfected
| himself i'm operative ophthalmia. He was
| frequently found in the ward of the ia
nous Vienna surgeon. BillrOth, and the
cessful cataract operations frequently
| bear the comment 'Dux fecit"-this mod
estly intimating that the duke had per-
formed the operation.
Treated All Free of Charge.
AS soon as he had taken his degree he
| settled down at his seat, Schloss Tegern-
bo arso
daily in the local hospital. where he
| treated all the eye cases. regardless of
the patients position in life, free of
charge Later he opened a private eye
hospital in Mymphenburg street. at Mu-
Mich, to which patients f1ocked in thou
sands from all parts of the kingdom.
| Though he held the honorary rank OF
general in the Bavarian army he always
| wore civilian attire, and was wont to
| say that he felt most comfortable In his
| operating apron.
I The dukes kindness and affability with
the peasantry may be judged by the
fact that they addressed him with the
familiar "Pu.' which he returned. He
! was rarely seen at any court festival.
and signed himself in official documents
"Oculist for the Poor An old peasant
| woman used to describe how the duchess
acted as assistant to her husband in his
surgery, held the patients heads and
| whispered words of hope and encourage
ment. An aged Tyrolese peasant whom
the duke rescued from hereditary ,hiifd-
1 ness, said to him: Now, l don't know
whether 1 should thank God most or
thee"
Apart from his surgical skill. his royal
hghness acquired considerable fame
through his theoretical work. especially
| with two books. Contributions to the
Anatomy and Pathology of the Vitreous
Body" and "Contributions to Patho-
| logical Anatomy of the Eye In Kidney
| n
duke occupied himself with music and
the study of foreign languages. He was
allied with the German imperial family
by ties of close friendship. On one oc-
peror William for eye trouble, and the
crown prince and his brothers were
frequently his guests for channels hunting
at Bad Kreuth.
age, was twice married, the first time
to a sister of the late King John of
Saxony and the second time to the In
| fanta Josefa of Portugal. The ducal
from the main stem in the second half
| Of the seventeenth century.
The Kaiser and the Play.
AS is we'll known, the kaiser is a warm
believer in the educative influence of the
play with a purpose, the political tract
play, as it might be called. An article
just published has some interesting de-
tail and comment on the intensity of
the emperor's personal effort to make
the stage a forcing machine for turning
out good Germans. He specialzes i'm what
is called. seriously by himself and more
or less satirically by others, the Hohen-
zoliern piece-all of course, made into
one sounding word. Observation-Disclosures
and be highly edifying in every respect
The emperor himself "censors'' severely
all the plays that are to be produced to
this effect. and very frequently stage
ever, that thus far the kaiser has not
made much of a success of his enter
prise. The writer's he has gathered around
him are apparently awed by the deli
find themselves cramped by their fear Of
| the kaiser and by their sense that he
is not satisfied with general broad eff
fects of patriotic inspiration but is jeal-
| ouSly attentive to every minute detail
of plot and dialogue. The Hohenzol-
lernstuecke SO far have been wooden
and heavy and have fallen fiat as q rule
But If the kaiser could allow his wr tiers
to think freely and write after their own
| minds on the specifically German sub
jects he desires to see presented to the
people. he would, probably. succeed very
well in his plan. There is no reason why
a reasonably good play should not be
produced to order. as very good pictures
constantly are. and there is no reason
on earth why a stirring national history
should not be presented very usefully in
good plays. The German people certainly
like the play that idealizes their own
land. The kaiser, who allows the clas-
sizes the liberty that he persistently re-
fuses to his own pet contemporaries, or
ganized last year a series of performances
for workmen, in which German historical
and legendary plays made the roper
| toire Working people, members Of
| trades institutions, were given seats at
| IA very cheap rate, and none but they
were admitted at all. For the ten per-
formances there were 100000 applica-
tions-a vast percentage. evideatly, of the
workers of the city.
A Wonderful Symphony.
| A German composer. Herr Auguste
Bungert. has composed a symphony
which is a reply to those who hold that
| music cannot describe material things.
The following are the motifs of the new
compositions, as set out in the analytical
program: THE departure of Zeppelin.
preparation, the ascent happiness of the
aeronauts. journey over the hills and
across cities and valleys. approach of a
| tempest. storm symphony, the dir gible
| .evolutes' over Strasburg. fresh start.
/ new storm. the dirigible explodes, conf
dence in the future The symphony is
apnounced IN he Dlayed at COhlentZ this