Abraham Lincoln quarterly. [Vol. 3, no. 2]

NEWS AND COMMENT

101

paper bound, and made to fit into the pocket of a uniform. They
are not sold, nor made available to civilians.
The Selected Writings of Abraham Lincoln is a collection expertly chosen for the audience it is intended to reach. It contains,
among other things, Lincoln's letters to Mary Owens, his letters
to Joshua F. Speed, his 'House Divided' speech, his reply to
Douglas in the Alton joint debate, and a good representation of
his presidential writings. The only startling omission is the First
Inaugural Address. Most of the documents included are given in
full-a practice too rarely adopted by editors and compilers.
In The Case of A.L --, Aged 56,1 Otto Eisenschiml explores
certain esoteric aspects of the death of Abraham Lincoln. In five
short papers the author discusses such minor but perplexing
questions as the course of the fatal bullet, the exact place of its
eventual lodgment, and the reason for the shattered orbital plates
revealed by the autopsy, as well as two subjects of broader interest: could present-day surgeons, with modern equipment, have
saved Lincoln's life? and would he have attained his present place
in the regard of mankind had he lived?
Modern surgeons, Mr. Eisenschiml says, would have been no
more successful in saving Lincoln's life than were those of his
own time. Only a miracle could have prevented his death; only
a miracle could prevent it in the present state of medical knowledge. And a miracle, then as now, would have been deplorable,
for a man who survives the kind of wound he suffered is almost
always paralyzed, blind, and without a living brain.
Had Lincoln escaped Booth's bullet altogether and died a
natural death, Mr. Eisenschiml is inclined to think that he might
easily have met the fate that befell Woodrow Wilson. He would
have handled his opponents with far more skill than Andrew
Johnson possessed, and fought them more resourcefully, but he
lacked many of the qualities which the problems of reconstruction demanded. At best, "every future accomplishment of the
martyred President would have been an anti-climax, every error
a blemish on his memory."
1 Privately Printed, The Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Chicago. 500 copies
signed by the author.