Evening star., 1935-11-29
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret Cermond.
DOCTOR IBRAHIM. BY John Knittel.
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.

DOCTOR IBRA1IM. BY John Knittel.
New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
Ibrahim, poor boy of Assiut, in Upper
Egypt, is the medium through which
John Knittel brings to an unbelieving
world powerful indictment against the
unintelligent exertion of dominion over
a hapless people. Egypt, shorn these
many centuries of her glory and might,
passes in review over tWenty-year
period in modern history, her people
degraded, her treasures exploited and
her nationality suppressed.
But no matter how tragic the fate of
a nation may be, there will always be a
few patriots whose faith and pride in
their race Is supreme, and in Upper
Egypt young Ibrahim was one of these.
There was not much of an opportunity
for lad of poor family in the Egypt of
twenty to thirty years ago to rise above
his loWly station. Education was at a
premium, and the lowly born should not
be allowed to read and write anyway.
But 1brahim was an ambitious young
ster bent upon learning the art Of heal
ing. Illness and suffering distressed him.
He became obSeSSed with passion to
relieve the victims Of disease and pain.
Familiarity with the prevailing custom
of brutality to man and beast had fired
an intense love in the heart of the young
man for animals and for his race before
his medical school days were over. 1t
was a love that filled him with another
ambition. In addition to he,.ling the sick
he was prompted to strive for more
humane methods in dealing with both
animals and men and to seek for his
people restoration Of their prideful heri-
tage of self-esteem and national honor.
A thorny, rocky road lay ahead, for
Ibrahim soon learned that to be a patriot
in his native land was punishable crime.
He learned also, just as many other
races have learned, that the white man
is appallingly ignorant in matters of vital
concern to the people over whom he as
sumes control, and that he lacks the
capacity to judge the intelligence OF
race except by the color of its skin.
But Ibrahim pushed onward despite
hardship, cruelty and Encouragement,
and though his ideal of Egypt for
Egyptians" was doomed to failure in his
own lifetime, he did attain success as
great surgeon.
1t was in his capacity as assistant sur
geon in the hospital at Damnoorah that
he stirred up hornets nest over the
filth, graft, malpractice and cruelty that
prevailed, and eventually brought about
the purging of the institution from the
dishonorable conditions that were filling
the pockets of the higher-ups with
wealth. And throughout this compelling
story of Doctor Ibrahim's struggle against
disease and alien oppression runs the
tender romance Of two souls bound by
great love.
Englishmen will not particularly enjoy
this exposition of a shameful period
in Egyptian medical affairs any more
than justice-loving Americans enjoy
rejecting upon the sorry story of
the fate of the native red man
who roamed the forests and the
rivers of this country before the white
man usurped dominion. But there can
be no doubt that Mr.. Knittel knows the
Egypt whereof he writes just as he knew
the people of the Via Mala region. He
is a deep student of conditions as well
as of individuals and of national char
acteristics. His work rings with truth
and knowledge. and he presents his mar
rative on large scale, endoWing it with
firmness, clarity and a satisfying quality
of endurance