Dr. Schweninger's reminiscences of Prince Bismarck, con- tributed to the
Tagliche .Rundschau and summarised in Thursday's Times, are chiefly valuable on their non-medical aide. It does not add much to our knowledge of the ex-Chancellor to learn that his pulse was remarkably steady and slow, or that his lungs were extraordinarily healthy and strong. But it is interesting to know that Prince Bismarck repeatedly declared : "My death-sentence was pronounced at my dismissal. The ancient Romans voluntarily took leave of this life when they were compelled to retire from the scene of their activity. But this is not to be for me." Prince Bismarck evidently had Dryden's thought that the Roman might " dis- charge his soul" and give it exit to another world,—
" But we, like soldiers, are compelled to stand
'Neath starless skies, and wait the appointed hour." Still, in spite of his abnormally steady pulse, he indulged at times in bitter outbursts of feeling. Thus once "the Prince, violently clutching at his hair, exclaimed : 'Oh, that I could only once more plunge into the political pigstye (Schweinerei) and tell them what it leads to l' " It certainly would have required a Job to endure with equanimity the ordeal of inactivity imposed on the ex-Chancellor.
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