Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-03
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
1. C.. NJ.
THE STORY OF SAN MICHELE. Axe
Munthe E. p. button e. Co

THE STORY OF SAN MICHELE. Axel
Munthe. E. P. Dutton e. Co.
If the doctor, any doctor, could be
unlocked and opened up like trunk,
! what wealth of useful truth about
| the human would be disclosed! But his
profession is of all others deepest in
the bond OF geographically and. in
| the main wisely, so. In the first place,
ailfng mankind refuses to hear the
facts about itself. Besides, there is
much in every specific case of which
| the physician in attendance is so largely
ignorant that silence becomes the only
mode Of safety. Again, this particular
professional walks by day and by night
! with an Unseen Companion, whom he
strives, hopeleSsly, to overcome and
whose approach to this sufferer or that
one he Is desperate to conceal so, all
In all. silence and concealment have
/ become, as a matter Of course, the
watchword of the art of medicine, the
arbiter of the doctors attitude toward
the sick and the terrified.
Here is a doctor of another sort.
Axel Munthe Is famous throughout Eu-
rope for hts skill and success among
the ailing and the sick. From his stu
dent days he was ardent in pursuit of
medical knowledge. He became assist
ant to Pssteur. He was a zealot In the
cause of science as this bears upon the
subject of sickness and its treatment
generally. Then, as maturity and ex-
perience and increasing recognition
came to this man he rose to the height
OF authority upon the sources of dis
ease, of certain diseases, and upon the
methods of meeting or circumVenting
such diseases. So much for the emf
nent physician.
Here he tells his own story Now If
this story we're merely the recounting
CT experience as physician of growing
lame, 1t would be worth a good deal to
the profession itself, but not much good
to the rest of us. The point OF general
interest here is that, under the doctor,
there is man, live man, who by way
OF this story appears to be having the
time of his life in telling the world all
about 1t. Beside the doctor, here is an
adventurer in life, here is one to whom
another human being is an object of
the deepest concern. A keen man
probing his fellows, usually with laugh
ter and most communicable numor,
but, upon occasion, with brusque snap
OF wholesome truth. A man whose love
for the poor and squalid seems to be as
genuine as Is that for the gilded ones
IN his following. One who, in an in
slant, knows An attack of organic
trouble from a seizure of pure imagi-
nation. To him the human is an abb
Sorbing matter, but never any more
let us say, companionable, than a dog
or bear, or bird Is. Where with the
human contingent there is always more
or less of tndirection in approach and
association, with these Others the meet
ing is at once full and spontaneous on
both sides. In the days round he meets
the sick and fanciful and the supersti-
tious and the hysterical, as he must
meet them in order to help, on their
own ground. He meets a dog right
where that sincerest of all creation is
and they talk it out together to the
complete satisfaction OF both. Quite
seriously he discusses 1.-The good dog
doctor" as seriously as he would dis
cuSS the good man doctor" mention
this since it is an indication-there are
hundreds OF them within the book-of
the universal quality of the man him
sen. 1t would be impossible to imagine
Axel Munthe drawing lines of distinc-
ZION between what we call orders OF
creation" They. are all one-each a
peculiar and distinct emanation from
some single creative force, not to be set
IN ranks and orders and precedences.
Man and dog, or other animal, tree and
flower. rising sun and fading day-all
expressions OF one and the same thing.
all to be understood ss such and loved
as such. Along with this great euuali-
tarianism there goes the power OF gay
adventure, OF smiling hazard, of even
reckless daring. And how he knows the
world!
Once this good man went astray. He
became fashionable doctor" That
was In the beginning of his career and
should not be charged up against him.
What they all liked to talk about was
appendicitis. Appendicitis was lust then
much in demand among better-class
people on the lookout for a complaint.
All the nervous ladies had got it on
the brain, If not In the abdomen. So
l jdrifted gradually into appendicitis
ana treated great number of such
cases with varied success. But when
the rumor began to circulate that the
American surgeons had started on a
campaign to cut out every appendix
In the United States-consterTiatio :"
Then came colitis to take the place of
the other pet disease-and so the doc
tor goes on, laughingly, but altogether
seriously after all, through disease fads,
and out Of these into serious and mo-
mentous matters pertaining to the pre-
Vention OF many of the ills under which
man suffers. Serious at heart, smiling
OF face, DR.. Axel Munthe goes calamity
along his way, with always a personal
dream OF his own shining before him.
The dream is San Michele" itself, the
vision is that of life and leisure on the
jewel height of Capri, with the Med
iterranean, bluer than blue, ever
laughing below. A scientist. a seer. in
so FAR as the human Is concerned; 4
poet, an adventurer-a beguiling man
from any OF these facets Of personality.
Fighting cholera scourge, dissecting
an idle lady's mind, discussing hydro
phobia, experimenting with telepathy
from the standpoint of the Psychical
Research conclusions, or just living to
the limit on the sun-soaked islet or
Capri here, Is a truly significant human
being, and an altogether fascinating
man and writer.
VISIT INDIA WITH ME. Dhan Gopal
Mukerji. E. P. Dutton q Co.
A rare opportunity stands behind
this gravely courteous invitation, Visit
India with me-" For, here in the role
OF host and guide is one who has
known India-not for a year, not even
for his own lifetime alone, but for hum
dreds Of years, instead, through the
roots of long family line. While cur
rent opinions of the traveller hastily
passing through the country possess
the interest Of particular, and alien,
point of view, yet until these are set
of against the ingrained knowledge of
the wise native, there can be no
equitable evaluAtion of this much-dis-
cussed part of the Orient. So. let us
go along with Dian Gopal Mukerii.
Suppose, for ViVidness of impression. we
step inside the personality of "Mr.
Eagles" American, who is the guest
of Mr.. Mukerji in this adventure of
seeing India. The eyes of the Western,
traveller are much like our own: his
point of view is ours. He will ask our