Evening star., 1926-10-09
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Bookloper.

personalities and to live all Sorts oi
interesting existences, usually Iade
away with the approach OF maturity
1t is only the rare adult who IS aDie
whimsically to preserve some Oh THESE
fantasies to enliven his later years.
Sir James NJ. Barrie has an imaginary
other self whom he calls M'Connachie'
in his rectorial address delivered at
ST. Andrews in 1922 he said: 1T is
M'Connachie who has brought me 10
this pass. M'Connachie. should eA'
plain. as I have undertaken to open
the innermost doors, Is the name
give to the unruly half OF mysen !,
the writing half. We are compiemeh.
and supplement. I am the hai1 tnat
is dour and practical and canny. ne
Is the fanciful half VINO prere,s p,,,
to fiy around on one wing" SIT WI
liam Osler also had his fanciful nan
into whose personality he often re
tired for refuge. He called him Eyer
ton Yorrick Davis. In his Lille OF
Sir William Osler," DR.. Harvey Cush'
ing tells many interesting anecdotes
about this mythical E. Y. D., as osler
usually referred to him.
y X \ \
The fictitious f. y. d. originated
in 1880, when Osler was professor az
tho McGiu Medical School and physi'
clan to the Montreal General HOS
pital. in an article sent by Osler 10
the Canadian Medical and Surgical
Journal and signed Egerton Y. DAVIS
M. D., late u S. Army surgeon. Inc
article, purporting to relate some an
cient tribal rites of the Northwest IN
dams, was a literary hoax, whlcn Mas
not discovered in the Journal once
so that Osler himself revealed IT,
From that time, during Osler's Nle
T.. y. D. appeared frequently. Il. I. ~
often signed Osler's letters ana oc
casionally signed articles on nedlca
subjects. When Osler'S son Revere
was born. he was often referred to as
Egerton, 1r. Once, at a meeting OF the
Pediatric Society in Montreal. Oslel
sent an unhumorous Boston pediatrls'
and his wife off on a wild-goose chase
to find an imaginary suburb Oh
Montreal built by an American ARMY
surgeon, E. Y. Davis-a spotless town
of model parks, streets, schools, inca
ters and hospitals-but the poor feliow'
E. Y. D., "had a dreadful end
drowned in the rapids-drunk, they
saw" Sometimes in hotel lobples
Osler would "be waylaid by reporters
and by bores, whom he never sunereo
gladly. This is DIR. Osler, 1 believeE
To which he would be likely to reply
.No-sorry-often mistaken for him
NV name is Davis-E. Y. Davis OF
Caughnawauga' Once he signed
the name Of Egerton Y. Davis under
that of Mrs. Osler on hotel register
at Atlantic City. In his Oxford days
f. Y. D. appeared less frequently
but on one occasion he sent a nctl
tious examination paper to two young
woman students, signed Egerton 1or.
rick Davis, Senior Examiner. One o1
the last notes he ever wrote, at the
end of November, 1919, was signed
Z. Y. D.
Several years ago, after his IN
terest in spiritualism had become IN
tense, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote
a yery striking short story called
"How 1t Happened" in the volume
published under the title Danger.
It is the story Of an automobile acci-
dent. told by the driver of the car
who is killed. He describes the rush
of the big car down a steep hill with
brakes not working, his frantic enort
to turn the car into the gateway OF
his own estate, where an uphill
grade would have saved him; the
crash into one Of the stone pillars
of the gate; moment OF dizzy
blankness; then the sight of the
wrecked car and a still figure lying
beside it, while a group Of people
quickly gathered, talk in whispers
AS he himself walked along the roac
he sees coming toward him an ole
friend of college days and hurries
to greet him. Then the sudder
thought flashes through his brair
that this friend died in South Africa
some years before. He exclaims
"But you are dead!" and the friend
replies: $50 are you." In originality
method, compression and climax
How 1t Happened" is a remark
ably good short story. Now Conan
novel, 1.-The Land of Mist" In this
the story rather suffers from the
weight of the authors theories. II
concerns the explorations of two
London journalists, who are sim
cerely desirous of knowledge. into
the manifestations of the occult. One
experience after another is narrated
and arguments are given in defense
of mediums and showing the injus-
tice of British law toward them.
X y \ X
The time-honored tales about the
mysterious poison of the Borgias
many Of them traceable to Victor
Hugo's tragedy "Lucrezta Borgia'
and Alexandra Dumas LES Borgtas'
in Grimes Celebres," are scorned by
Rafael Sabatini in his Life of Cesare
Borgia." The secret poison of the
Borgias was supposed to be white
powder, "of faint and not unpleas
ing SAVIOUR" called cantarella--can
tharides. But, says Sabatini, canthar
ides is "green. intensely acrid and
burning. Yet who cares for such
discrepancies" The poison was sup
posed to do its work very slowly, &C
that its detection was almost impos
sible. LET us here and now say.
Sabatini comments. that, just as to
to science that will either lie fallov
for weeks in the human system, sud
denly to become active and slay, OF
yet to kill by degrees involving some
weeks in the process, so none wal
known in the Borgian or any othel
| era"
4 X X
The drawing and enduring charm
of Julia Marlowe, which made Shakes
peare popular even with the masses
is emphasized by Charles Edwart
Russell in his volume Julia Mar
lowe-Her Life and Art" English b,
birth, Miss Marlowe has always mad,
! her chief appeal to American audi
ences and has become SO identified
with American life that many believe
| her to be of American birth. She wa.
born in Cumberlandshire. England, O.
| farmer stock, and her real name wa.
Sarah Frances Frost. Wordsworth
| and Shakespeare were her favortt,
childhood reading. When she was {
her family came across the ocean ant