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Sir: The Count von Luckner Milestone [April 22] failed to mention one of the accomplishments for which he was best known, his astounding physical strength. In the 1930s, as his unofficial host in Panama, I took him to dinner on the carrier Saratoga. He was asked if he could tear any book in half, and he said yes. The officers produced first a Sears, Roebuck catalogue, which he caught in midair; it barely touched his hands and went sailing back, torn crosswise from the back into two pieces. They handed him a 1,700-page dictionary, and he grasped it by the back and slowly tore it into two pieces, the tear going through every page and covers, without once taking his hands off. As an encore, he took a U.S. half dollar and between thumb and fingers, bent it double.
WENDELL S. DOVE, M.D.
Socorro, N. Mex.