MISCELLANY

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26971, 21 February 1953, Page 3

MISCELLANY

The Ludwigs of Bavaria. By Henry Channon. John Lehmann. 79 pp. The two major kingdoms of Prussia and Bavaria played a big part in the achievement of German unity in the nineteenth century. Prussia, under the titanic figure of Bismarck, who held that a man should not die until he had

smoked a hundred thousand cigars and drunk five thousand bottles of champagne, was Nature’s response to the desire for leadership among the Germans in 1862. For the struggle against Napoleon, Prussia supplied leadership, Bavaria supplied troops and the support of its King at Versailles on the declaration of German unity in 1871. This was a significant period in the history of Bavaria, as indeed in the history of Germany as a whole. It is dealt with in this excellent book now appearing in its second edition as a study of the Wittlesbach kings who ruled Bavaria for 1000 years. First comes the Ludwig whose passion for building created Munich, the art capital of Europe, and whose passion for Lola Montez cost him his throne. Next comes Ludwig 11, prince charming, misogynist, and madman, in whom the passion for building came out again; this time to produce the fantastic castles which have made Bavaria the tourist attraction of all Germany. Finally, the last Ludwig, and the Red revolution whose centre was Munich, the Wittlesbach capital. The intimate story of the flight from Munich the Red terror, the assassination of Kurt Eisner by Count Arco-Valley, are told from accounts by eye-witnesses alive at the time of the first publication of this fascinating book in 1933. It has been brought up to date, in particular, with references to the significance of Munich in more recent German history. The book ends with a chapter on Bavarian monasteries giving details of architectural and historical importance. Reflections On Life. By Alexis Carrel. Hamish Hamilton. 189 PP. Dr. Alexis Carrel is famous as the author of a most original book, entitled “Man, the Unknown.” When France was invaded in 1940, he was on a government mission in New York. In spite of all difficulties he returned to his native land. It was in a France dominated by Nazi tyranny that he tried to finish this “Testament on the Conduct of Life.” Unfortunately, worn out by privation and suffering, he died before he could revise it. Madame Carrel has published the book in an unfinished state in the hope that it will be a help to those young people who have to struggle with the manifold difficulties of our time.

Dr. Carrel begins his book with the kind of indictment of modern civilisation now all too well known. He finds the cause of the deplorable state of affairs in which we live to lie in man’s disregard of the fundamental laws of life. These laws are the law of the preservation of life, the law of the propogation of the race and the law of the development of spirit. The first two laws can be investigated by science and, though much useful knowledge has been obtained, there is crying need for minds with a synthetic outlook. Men with minds of this kind could be provided with an organisation which would be devoted to the work of “envisaging physiological and mental problems from a truly human point of view.” As some of the necessary experiments are, according to Dr. Carrel, likely to last 100 years, one wonders what will happen to the world while it is waiting for the solutions.

The third law of life belongs to the probince of morality and religion. For civilised man, the author very rightly thinks, these are inseparable. There is no more effective form of religion than Christian religion understood “in the mystical sense which advocates union with God and. with other human beings.” But religion cannot be fully operative without a recognition of science and its achievements. What we need more than anything else is “integral education.” The author hopes that there will come into existence “a religious order whose members will possess a character at once scientific and sacerotal.” The members of this order will

“be qualified to serve as guides to the vast flock of those who wander in universal confusion,” Whatever we may think of the author’s suggestions, we are glad to possess this “testament,” written in one of the darkest hours of the world’s history, a book which looks forward with undying hope.—L.G.W. OUTLAWS OF THE LEOPOLDS (Angus and Robertson, 244 pp.) is a biography by the most popular of Australian writers. lon Idriess, of Sandamara, or Pigeon, probably “the only Australian aboriginal who, though first through force of circumstances, actually planned and tried to carry out a feasible scheme to drive the white people from his country.” But for the alert’ and hard-working police patrols Pigeon would have caused the loss of a great many more lives in the Australian Kimberleys than he actually did. Pigeon was originally one of the best black trackers employed by the police, and the knowledge he gained from this, together with his own quick wit and clear reasoning, made him most formidable to the lonely outback settlers at the close of last century, when he was persuaded to turn renegade by the cunning outlaw Ellemara. Mr Idriess has gathered details of Pigeon’s career from pioneers, police records and aboriginals, including some of the original members of Pigeon’s “mob,” and woven them into an exciting story -well worth recording. x