NOTEBOOK

nous center of intelligence—a place where the last possi-
bilities of attainment in all the sciences are to be had for
the seeking. Berlin is a wonderful city for that sort of
opportunity. They teach everything here. I don't believe
there is anything in the whole earth that you can't learn
in Berlin except the German language. It is a desperate
language. They think it is the language of concentration.
They hitch a cattle train of words together, and vestibule
it, and because there isn't a break in it from one end to
the other, they think that is concentration, and they call it
so. An officer gave me this word the other day, got it out
of a naval handbook—"Untersecretariatsapplicant."

I wrote a chapter on this language 13 years ago, and
tried my level best to improve it and simplify it for these
people—and this is the result—it merely concentrates the
alphabet with a shovel. It hurts me to know that that
chapter is not in any of their textbooks and they don't
use it in the Universities. If I could get an Imperial decree
it would help the reform along.

But the fact is they ought to adopt our language. It is so
simple and easy, whereas (here follows a long involved
German sentence). But never mind about that, you are
here to learn—you are here to perfect yourself in your
great calling. And that is the thing to do. A half-educated
physician is not valuable. He thinks he can cure every-
thing.

This note was evidently part of an address to
medical students.

We hate the critic and think him brutally and mali-
ciously unjust, but he could retort with overwhelming
truth: "You will feel just as I do about your book if you
will take it up and read it ten years hence."

Move from Kornerstrasse to Hotel Royal, Unter den

219