ved in Vienna must know that, except in certain restricted circles,
there is no Judenhetz, no social ostracism for Hebrews. At the
eleven-o'clock high mass in St. Stefan's Cathedral, the numbers of
Oriental faces that one sees would be surprising if we did not hear of
so many conversions. It is considered rather fashionable in Vienna to
join the Christian fold. And on the score of business certainly the
Austrian Hebrews have little to complain of, as they are said to be
the leading factors in commerce. However, Henry James has warned us
not to question too closely the theme of an artist; that is his own
affair; his treatment should concern us. Has Schnitzler succeeded in
making a play of heterogeneous material? I don't think he has
altogether, yet I enjoyed several acts and enjoyed still more the
reading of it in book form.

Professor Bernhardi is the professor of a medical institute in Vienna
known as the Elizabethinum. A patient, a young woman, is dying in one
of the wards, the victim of malpractice. But her passing away will be
painless. She is happy because she believes that she is on the road to
recovery, that she will live to marry her beloved young man. Euphoria,
the doctor calls her condition. To tell her the truth would be in his
eyes criminal. She would die in anguish. Why not let her go out of the
world in bliss? But a female nurse, a conscientious Roman Catholic,
thinks differently. With the aid of a budding student she sends for
Father Franz Reder in the near-by Church of the Holy Florian. The
priest obeys the summons, anxious to shrive a sinning soul, and to
send her out of the world if not to Paradise, at least to Purgatory.
In the office he encounters Professor Bernhardi, who tells him
politely but firmly that he won't allow his patient to be disturbed.
The priest, without excitement but painfully impressed, argues that,
even if there are a few moments of sorrow, the saving of the girl's
immortal soul is of paramount importance. The physician shrugs his
shoulders. His business is with the body, not the soul, and he
continues to bar the way. The priest makes one last appeal, uselessly;
but, unperceived, the nurse has slipped out, and going to the bedside
of the dying woman announces the advent of the holy man. The patient
screams in agony: "I am dying!" and she does die, from fright.
Bernhardi is enraged, though he never loses his air of sardonic
politeness. The act ends. The result of the incident, magni