Evening star., 1923-07-14
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTENOY,

By THE MARC USE DE FONTENo1s
When in the fall of 1920 the world
was apprised of the fact that young
King Alexander of Greece had been
bitten by a pet monkey ar Athens.
there was an inclination to treat the
matter as a joke, and / remember re-
calling in these letters stories of the
role that simians had played at royal
and imperial courts ever since the
days of King Solomon, who, accord
ing to Holy Writ, had cargoes of them
brought to him every three years by
his ships of Tarsis, and which were
considered worthy of scriptural emu
meration on the same list as the
freight of gold, silver and ivory.
They served TO dispel the ennui OF
monarchs. notably of the great en-
peror. Charles V. of Frederick the
Great, Of old King Peter of Serbia.
and above all of Cardinal Mazarin.
the powerful statesman who for
number of years controlled the des-
tinies of the kingdom of France
But a few weeks later there was no
longer any disposition to treat the
bite inflicted by the King of Greece's
pet monkey upon his royal master as
a joke. For the promising young
monarch had succumbed to Sceptic
poisoning. resulting from the injury:
and his death was responsible for all
the misfortuneS by which his country
has since been overtaken, for the
massacre of the Christian populations
in Asia Minor, for the revolution and
deposition of his father, King Con-
stantine, and for the muddled situa-
tiou in the southeast OF europe Whlch
has been source of so much inter-
rational disturbance, still engaging
| the wearied attention of the powers
assembled in congress at Lausanne.
X X
There Is no inclination, therefore.
to treat as joke the news that ABDUL
| Medjid. who, after the detronement
and flight of his elder brother. Sultan
Mohammed VI. last year. was elected
not sultan. but caliph in his stead,
his functions being restricted to the
| spiritual side of the dignity without
any voice in the administration OF
| the eovernment-has been badly bit
ten in the hand while petting horse.
| The bite of a stallion is capable or
| developing into a very ugly INJURY,
and should Abdul Medjid suffer the
same fate as King Alexander of
| Greece, and succumb to blood poison
| ing a contingency which is by no
means preCluded. the member of the
!! imperial dynasty of osman, VINO is
next in the line of succession, is
/ prince Mehmed Zia- -Eddine, now just
ffty wears of age, and who is the
/ first of his house to have received
medical education. Indeed, ne has
made an intensive STUDY IN the Narl
Gus principal hospitals of Europe, of
dermatology, and has achieved inter-
national note as an authority on skin
diseases These are maladies that are
very common in the orient by reason
| of the lack of sanitation, and there
| is no doubt that the popular prestige
| of the new caliphate, set up last year
| by the Angora government, in de-
fance of canonfcal and koranlc
| secular law. would find its prestige
considerably enhanched if 1t were to
become known among the people that
the occupant of it's throne were gifted
with the powers of healing maladies
! Of the skim
IT NAV be we'll in this connection
TO recall the extent to which political
events have been Influenced by ami
mails. Adrian w, the only English
man who, during the course of near
! . 600 years has occupied the chair of
CT Peter at Rome as supreme pontln,
was choked by fly. The role played
by the spider in the career of king
known TO have been afflicted with lep-
rosy-is familiar to every child who
knows anything about Scottish his
! tory. while at Potsdam curiously
decorated Ce1ilnB III lhe pdidSc VI
San Souci, representing a golden
spider's web, serves to recall how a
snider saved Frederick the Great
from assassination by means of poison
during the seven years war, and thus
assured the defeat of the coalition
against him. In England, King Will
liam HIS death, so momentuous in
its consequences, was brought about
hV fall with his horse resulting
from the latter's putting it's foot into
a mole hill out in Richmond Park.
From that time forth until well on
IN the end of the century there was
rarely a dinner that took place among
| the adherents of the old Stuart dy-
nasty. either in the United Kingdom
or abroad, at which bumpers were not
tdrunk to "the little gentleman in
brown velvet who did such good serv-
lice in 1902" the little gentleman
being, of course. the mole.
, Lord Birkenhead is, perhaps, the
most brilliant figure of the British
bar. at which he has made his way
from the lowest rung of the ladder
without the advantages of birth or
of aff1uence. to its very summit,
namely the historic woolsack and to
| an earldom, while still on the sunny
side of fifty. But while the ex-lord
S.shines pre.eminent as 2