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diff --git a/old/50539-0.txt b/old/50539-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d863eb1..0000000 --- a/old/50539-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16478 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man of Genius, by Cesare Lombroso - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Man of Genius - -Author: Cesare Lombroso - -Release Date: November 23, 2015 [EBook #50539] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN OF GENIUS *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - - The Contemporary Science Series. - - Edited by Havelock Ellis. - - - I. THE EVOLUTION OF SEX. By Prof. PATRICK GEDDES and J. A. THOMSON. - With 90 Illustrations. Second Edition. - - “The authors have brought to the task--as indeed their names - guarantee--a wealth of knowledge, a lucid and attractive method of - treatment, and a rich vein of picturesque language.”--_Nature._ - - II. ELECTRICITY IN MODERN LIFE. By G. W. DE TUNZELMANN. With 88 - Illustrations. - - “A clearly-written and connected sketch of what is known about - electricity and magnetism, the more prominent modern applications, - and the principles on which they are based.”--_Saturday Review._ - - III. THE ORIGIN OF THE ARYANS. By Dr. ISAAC TAYLOR. Illustrated. - Second Edition. - - “Canon Taylor is probably the most encyclopædic all-round scholar - now living. His new volume on the Origin of the Aryans is a - first-rate example of the excellent account to which he can turn - his exceptionally wide and varied information.... Masterly and - exhaustive.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._ - - IV. PHYSIOGNOMY AND EXPRESSION. By P. MANTEGAZZA. Illustrated. - - “Brings this highly interesting subject even with the latest - researches.... Professor Mantegazza is a writer full of life and - spirit, and the natural attractiveness of his subject is not - destroyed by his scientific handling of it.”--_Literary World_ - (Boston). - - V. EVOLUTION AND DISEASE. By J. B. SUTTON, F.R.C.S. With 135 - Illustrations. - - “The book is as interesting as a novel, without sacrifice of - accuracy or system, and is calculated to give an appreciation of - the fundamentals of pathology to the lay reader, while forming a - useful collection of illustrations of disease for medical - reference.”--_Journal of Mental Science._ - - VI. THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY. By G. L. GOMME. Illustrated. - - “The fruit of some years of investigation on a subject which has of - late attracted much attention, and is of much importance, inasmuch - as it lies at the basis of our society.”--_Antiquary._ - - VII. THE CRIMINAL. By HAVELOCK ELLIS. Illustrated. - - “An ably written, an instructive, and a most entertaining - book.”--_Law Quarterly Review._ - - “The sociologist, the philosopher, the philanthropist, the - novelist--all, indeed, for whom the study of human nature has any - attraction--will find Mr. Ellis full of interest and - suggestiveness.”--_Academy._ - - VIII. SANITY AND INSANITY. By Dr. CHARLES MERCIER. Illustrated. - - “He has laid down the institutes of insanity.”--_Mind._ - - “Taken as a whole, it is the brightest book on the physical side of - mental science published in our time.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._ - - IX. HYPNOTISM. By Dr. ALBERT MOLL. Second Edition. - - “Marks a step of some importance in the study of some difficult - physiological and psychological problems which have not yet - received much attention in the scientific world of - England.”--_Nature._ - - X. MANUAL TRAINING. By Dr. C. M. WOODWARD, Director of the Manual - Training School, St. Louis. Illustrated. - - “There is no greater authority on the subject than Professor - Woodward.”--_Manchester Guardian._ - - XI. THE SCIENCE OF FAIRY TALES. By E. SIDNEY HARTLAND. - - “Mr. Hartland’s book will win the sympathy of all earnest students, - both by the knowledge it displays, and by a thorough love and - appreciation of his subject, which is evident - throughout.”--_Spectator._ - - XII. PRIMITIVE FOLK. By ELIE RECLUS. - - “An attractive and useful introduction to the study of some aspects - of ethnography.”--_Nature._ - - “For an introduction to the study of the questions of property, - marriage, government, religion,--in a word, to the evolution of - society,--this little volume will be found most - convenient.”--_Scottish Leader._ - - XIII. THE EVOLUTION OF MARRIAGE. By Professor LETOURNEAU. - - “Among the distinguished French students of sociology, Professor - Letourneau has long stood in the first rank. He approaches the - great study of man free from bias and shy of generalisations. To - collect, scrutinise, and appraise facts is his chief business. In - the volume before us he shows these qualities in an admirable - degree.... At the close of his attractive pages he ventures to - forecast the future of the institution of marriage.”--_Science._ - - XIV. BACTERIA AND THEIR PRODUCTS. By Dr. G. SIMS WOODHEAD. - Illustrated. - - “An excellent summary of the present state of knowledge of the - subject.”--_Lancet._ - - XV. EDUCATION AND HEREDITY. By J. M. GUYAU. - - “It is at once a treatise on sociology, ethics, and pædagogics. It - is doubtful whether among all the ardent evolutionists who have had - their say on the moral and the educational question any one has - carried forward the new doctrine so boldly to its extreme logical - consequence.”--Professor SULLY in _Mind_. - - XVI. THE MAN OF GENIUS. By Prof. LOMBROSO. Illustrated. - - “By far the most comprehensive and fascinating collection of facts - and generalizations concerning genius which has yet been brought - together.”--_Journal of Mental Science._ - - XVII. THE GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE. By Prof. KARL PEARSON. Illustrated. - - “The problems discussed with great ability and lucidity, and often - in a most suggestive manner, by Prof. Pearson, are such as should - interest _all_ students of natural science.”--_Natural Science._ - - XVIII. PROPERTY: ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT. By CH. LETOURNEAU, - General Secretary to the Anthropological Society, Paris, and - Professor in the School of Anthropology, Paris. - - “M. Letourneau has read a great deal, and he seems to us to have - selected and interpreted his facts with considerable judgment and - learning.”--_Westminster Review._ - - XIX. VOLCANOES, PAST AND PRESENT. By Prof. EDWARD HULL, LL.D., - F.R.S. - - “A very readable account of the phenomena of volcanoes and - earthquakes.”--_Nature._ - - XX. PUBLIC HEALTH. By Dr. J. F. J. SYKES. With numerous - Illustrations. - - “Not by any means a mere compilation or a dry record of details and - statistics, but it takes up essential points in evolution, - environment, prophylaxis, and sanitation bearing upon the - preservation of public health.”--_Lancet._ - - XXI. MODERN METEOROLOGY. AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH AND PRESENT - CONDITION OF SOME BRANCHES OF METEOROLOGICAL SCIENCE. By FRANK - WALDO, PH.D., Member of the German and Austrian Meteorological - Societies, etc.; late Junior Professor, Signal Service, U.S.A. With - 112 Illustrations. - - “The present volume is the best on the subject for general use that - we have seen.”--_Daily Telegraph._ - - - IMPORTANT ADDITION TO THE SERIES. - - XXII. _THE GERM-PLASM: A THEORY OF HEREDITY. By August Weismann, - Professor in the University of Freiburg-in-Breisgau. With 24 - Illustrations._ - - “There has been no work published since Darwin’s own books which - has so thoroughly handled the matter treated by him, or has done so - much to place in order and clearness the immense complexity of the - factors of heredity, or, lastly, has brought to light so many new - facts and considerations bearing on the subject.”--_British Medical - Journal._ - - XXIII. INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. By F. HOUSSAY. With numerous - Illustrations. - - “His accuracy is undoubted, yet his facts out-marvel all romance. - These facts are here made use of as materials wherewith to form the - mighty fabric of evolution.”--_Manchester Guardian._ - - XXIV. MAN AND WOMAN. By HAVELOCK ELLIS. Illustrated. - - “Altogether we must congratulate Mr. Ellis upon having produced a - book which, apart from its high scientific claims, will, by its - straightforward simplicity upon points of delicacy, appeal strongly - to all those readers outside purely scientific circles who may be - curious in these matters.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._ - - “This striking and important volume ... should place Mr. Havelock - Ellis in the front rank of scientific thinkers of the - time.”--_Westminster Review._ - - XXV. THE EVOLUTION OF MODERN CAPITALISM. By JOHN A. HOBSON, M.A. - - “Every page affords evidence of wide and minute study, a weighing - of facts as conscientious as it is acute, a keen sense of the - importance of certain points as to which economists of all schools - have hitherto been confused and careless, and an impartiality - generally so great as to give no indication of his [Mr. Hobson’s] - personal sympathies.”--_Pall Mall Gazette._ - - XXVI. APPARITIONS AND THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE. By FRANK PODMORE, M.A. - - “A very sober and interesting little book.... That - thought-transference is a real thing, though not perhaps a very - common thing, he certainly shows.”--_Spectator._ - - XXVII. AN INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY. By Professor C. - LLOYD MORGAN. With Diagrams. - - “A strong and complete exposition of Psychology, as it takes shape - in a mind previously informed with biological science.... Well - written, extremely entertaining, and intrinsically - valuable.”--_Saturday Review._ - - XXVIII. THE ORIGINS OF INVENTION: A STUDY OF INDUSTRY AMONG - PRIMITIVE PEOPLES. By OTIS T. MASON, Curator of the Department of - Ethnology in the United States National Museum. - - “A valuable history of the development of the inventive - faculty.”--_Nature._ - - XXIX. THE GROWTH OF THE BRAIN: A STUDY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM IN - RELATION TO EDUCATION. By HENRY HERBERT DONALDSON, Professor of - Neurology in the University of Chicago. - - “We can say with confidence that Professor Donaldson has executed - his work with much care, judgment, and discrimination.”--_The - Lancet._ - - XXX. EVOLUTION IN ART: AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE LIFE-HISTORIES OF - DESIGNS. By Professor ALFRED C. HADDON. - - - - - _THE CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE SERIES._ - - EDITED BY HAVELOCK ELLIS. - - - THE MAN OF GENIUS. - - [Illustration: PAINTERS. - - Proportion to a million inhabitants.] - - - - - THE - - MAN OF GENIUS. - - BY - - CESARE LOMBROSO, - - _Professor of Legal Medicine at the University of Turin_. - - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. - - - LONDON: - WALTER SCOTT, - 24, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. - 1891. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -It has never before happened that in the latest edition of a book I have -had to disown so much in preceding editions; my first imperfect and -spontaneous idea has never before been so modified and transformed, the -final form being, perhaps, not even yet altogether attained. - -The idea that genius was a special morbid condition had indeed often -occurred to me, but I had always repelled it; and besides, without a -sure experimental basis, ideas to-day do not count. Like still-born -children, they appear but for a moment, to disappear at once. I had been -enabled to discover in genius various characters of degeneration which -are the foundation and the sign of nearly all forms of congenital mental -abnormality, but the exaggerated extension which was at that time given -to theories of degeneration, and still more the vague and inexact -character of that conception, had repelled me; so that I accepted the -facts, but not their ultimate consequences. How, in fact, can one -suppress a feeling of horror at the thought of associating with idiots -and criminals those individuals who represent the highest manifestations -of the human spirit? - -But recent teratologic researches, especially those of Gegenbauer, have -shown that the phenomena of atavistic retrogression do not always -indicate true degradation, but that very often they are simply a -compensation for considerable development and progress accomplished in -other directions. Reptiles have more ribs than we have; quadrupeds and -apes possess more muscles than we do, and an entire organ, the tail, -which we lack. It has been in losing these advantages that we have -gained our intellectual superiority. When this is seen, the repugnance -to the theory of genius as degeneration at once disappears. Just as -giants pay a heavy ransom for their stature in sterility and relative -muscular and mental weakness, so the giants of thought expiate their -intellectual force in degeneration and psychoses. It is thus that the -signs of degeneration are found more frequently in men of genius than -even in the insane. - -And again, this theory has entered to-day on so certain a path, and -agrees so entirely with my studies on genius, that it is impossible for -me not to accept it, and not to see in it an indirect confirmation of my -own ideas. I find this confirmation in the characters of degeneration -recently discovered;[1] and still more in the uncertainty of the -theories which were at first advanced to explain the problem of genius. -Thus Joly affirms in a too convenient formula that “it is not even -necessary to refute the theory of insanity in genius;” for, he says, -“strength is not weakness, health is not disease, and for the rest the -cases quoted in favour of these hypotheses are only particular -cases.”[2] But the physician knows that very often, in the delirious and -epileptic, strength is precisely an index of disease. As to the second -objection, it falls to the ground as facts accumulate. It is certain -that there have been men of genius presenting a complete equilibrium of -the intellectual faculties; but they have presented defects of -affectivity and feeling; though no one may have perceived it, or, -rather, recorded it. Up to recent years, historians, being chroniclers -rather than psychologists, very careful to transmit to us the adventures -and pageantries of princes and peoples, and the wars which have so much -importance in the eyes of the multitude, have neglected everything which -concerns the psychology of thought. They have very seldom informed us -concerning the disorders and degenerative characters which exist in men -of genius and their families; while vanity, which is extreme in men of -genius, has never allowed them, save in rare instances (such as Cardan, -Rousseau, J. S. Mill, Renan), to yield spontaneous revelations of -themselves. If Richelieu had not on one single occasion been caught in -an epileptic fit, who could ever have guessed it? If it had not been for -the recent works of Berti and Mayor, who would have believed that Cavour -twice attempted to kill himself? If Taine had not been one of those rare -writers who understand what help psychiatry can give in the study of -history, he would never have been able to surprise those characteristics -which make Napoleon’s moral insanity manifest to all. Carlyle’s wife -wrote the narration of her tortures; few wives do as much, and, to tell -the truth, few husbands are anxious to publish such narratives. Many -persons still regard as an angelic being the celebrated painter -Aiwosowski, who succoured hundreds of poor persons and left his own wife -and children to die of hunger. - -It must be added that moral insanity and epilepsy which are so often -found in association with genius are among the forms of mental -alienation which are most difficult to verify, so that they are often -denied, even during life, although quite evident to the alienist. There -are still many estimable persons who doubt the insanity of King Ludwig -of Bavaria, and even openly deny it.[3] - -There are, also, no individual cases in nature; all particular cases are -the expression and effect of a law. And the fact, now unquestioned, that -certain great men of genius have been insane, permits us to presume the -existence of a lesser degree of psychosis in other men of genius. - -But, adds Joly, genius is often precocious; as Raphael at fourteen years -of age, Mozart at six, Michelangelo at sixteen; and sometimes it is -tardy, with special characteristics, as in Alfieri. This is true; -precocious originality is one of the characteristics of genius; but -precisely because genius is a neurosis, an accidental circumstance may -provoke it even at a comparatively late age, and like every neurosis -which depends on irritation of the cerebral cortex it may take on -different aspects, according to the spot attacked, while preserving the -same nature. - -Hailes, in a much praised essay on genius in art, maintains that genius -is a continuation of the conditions of ordinary life; thus, as we all -write prose we must all have a little genius. But how then does it -happen, Brunetière rightly objects,[4] that one individual alone becomes -a great painter or a great poet? And how is it that so many philosophers -affirm, and quite truly, that genius consists in an exaggerated -development of one faculty at the expense of others? - -The man of genius is a monster, say others. Very well, but even monsters -follow well-defined teratologic laws. - -Brunetière remarks that there have been men of talent, like Addison and -Pope, who were lacking in genius; and men of genius, like Sterne, who -were lacking in talent. These two facts, however, are not contradictory; -to be lacking in talent, or rather in good sense or common sense, is one -of those characters of genius which witness to the presence of neurosis, -and indicate that hypertrophy of certain psychic centres is compensated -by the partial atrophy of other centres. As to the first assertion, it -confirms rather than destroys my conclusions. Certainly talent is not -genius, just as vice is not crime, but there is a transition from one to -the other in virtue of that law of continuity which may be observed in -all natural phenomena. _Natura non facit saltus._ - -I must confess here that very often in this book I have had to confound -genius with talent; not because they are not quite distinct, but because -the line that separates them, like that which separates vice from crime, -is very difficult to define. A man of scientific genius, lacking in -education and opportunities--a Gorini, for example--will appear more -sterile than a man of talent, who has been favoured by circumstances -from the first. - -For the rest--and this is the point which concerns us most--the morbid -effects and analogies are the same in both, since the man of talent, -even without genius, presents various slight but real abnormalities. A -man of even ordinary talent may be so exhausted as to exhibit the -pathological central reactions of the most powerful genius, and to leave -traces of degeneration in his offspring; and, although it is rare, it is -not impossible for the man of talent to descend from the neurotic and -insane. This may easily be explained: talent, like genius, is -accompanied by cortical excitation, only in a less degree and in a -smaller brain. The true normal man is not the man of letters or of -learning, but the man who works and eats--_fruges consumere natus_. - -But our nature, it is customary to say, revolts against a conception -which tends to lower the most sublime manifestation of humanity to the -level of the sorrowfully degenerate, to idiocy and insanity. It is sad, -I do not deny, but has not nature caused to grow from similar germs, and -on the same clod of earth, the nettle and the jasmine, the aconite and -the rose? The botanist cannot be blamed for these coincidences; and -since they exist it is not a crime that he should record them as he -finds them. Repugnance also is a sentiment, not a reason; and a -sentiment, moreover, which has not been shared by the race generally, -who long ago reached conclusions--repugnant to the academic world, which -sometimes closes its eyes in order not to see--entirely in harmony with -the results here presented. We may see this in the most ancient -etymologies; in Hebrew as well as in Sanscrit the lunatic is synonymous -with the prophet. We may see it, too, in proverbs: “_I matti ed i -fancialli indovinano_;” “_Kinder und Narren sprechen die Wahrheit_;” -“_Un fol advise bien un sage_;” “_Sæpe enim est morio valde opportune -locutus_.” The lunatic, again, among barbarous people is feared and -adored by the masses who often confide to him supreme authority. - -In modern times the same conviction has been preserved, but in a form, -it must be confessed, altogether disadvantageous to genius. Not only is -fame (and until recent years even liberty), denied to men of genius -during their lives, but even the means of subsistence. After death they -receive monuments and rhetoric by way of compensation. And why is this? -Neither the jealousy of rivals nor the envy of mediocre men is enough to -explain it. The reason is that if we leave out certain great statesmen -(though there are exceptions--Bismarck, for example), men of genius are -lacking in tact, in moderation, in the sense of practical life, in the -virtues which are alone recognized as real by the masses, and which -alone are useful in social affairs. “_Le bon sens vaut mieux que le -génie_,” says an old French adage. And as Mirabeau said, “Good sense is -the absence of every strong passion, and only men of strong passions can -be great.” Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And -that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to -treat great men as lunatics, while the lettered crowd cry out when--as I -have attempted to do here--this general opinion is attached to a theory. - -By some of those persons who have too much good sense--and who do not -know that that destroys every great truth, because we reach truth more -by remote paths than by smooth and ordinary roads--it has been objected: -“Many of these defects that you find in great men may be found also in -those who are not men of genius.” This is very true, but it is by the -quality and quantity that the abnormal character is marked; and, above -all, by the contradiction with the whole of the other characters of -their personality, that the abnormality appears. Cooks are vain, but in -those matters which refer to their occupation they are not so vain as to -believe themselves gods. The nobleman will boast of descent from a -mediæval hero, but not of being a sculptor. We are all forgetful -sometimes, but not so far forgetful that we cannot recall our own names -while at the same time we have an extraordinary memory for our own -discoveries. Many have said what Michelangelo said of monks, but they -have not afterwards spent large sums in fattening monasteries. In short, -it is the doubling and contradiction of personality in genius which -reveals the abnormality. - -It has again been objected to me that these studies are deficient in -utility. To this I might reply with Taine that it is not always -necessary that the true should be useful. Yet numerous practical -applications arise out of these researches; they furnish us with -explanations of those strange religious insanities which become the -nucleus of great historical events. The examination of the productions -of the insane supply us with new sources of analysis and criticism for -the study of genius in art and literature; and, above all, these data -bring an important element to the solution of penal questions, for they -overthrow for ever that prejudice by virtue of which only those are -declared insane, and therefore irresponsible, whose reason has entirely -departed, a prejudice which has handed thousands of irresponsible -creatures to the executioner. They show us, lastly, that literary -madness is not only a curious psychiatric singularity, but a special -form of insanity, which hides impulses the more dangerous, because not -easy to perceive, a form of insanity, which, like religious insanity, -may be transformed into a historical event. - -C. LOMBROSO. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - -PART I. - -_THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GENIUS._ - -CHAPTER I. - -.....PAGE - -HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM.....1-4 - -Aristotle--Plato--Democritus--Felix Plater--Pascal--Diderot--Modern -writers on genius. - -CHAPTER II. - -GENIUS AND DEGENERATION.....5-37 - -The signs of degeneration--Height--Rickets--Pallor--Emaciation ---Physiognomy--Cranium and Brain--Stammering--Lefthandedness ---Sterility--Unlikeness to Parents--Precocity--Delayed -development--Misoneism--Vagabondage--Unconsciousness--Instinctiveness ---Somnambulism--The Inspiration of Genius--Contrast--Intermittence ---Double Personality--Stupidity--Hyperæsthesia--Paræsthesia--Amnesia ---Originality--Fondness for special words. - -CHAPTER III. - -LATENT FORMS OF NEUROSIS AND INSANITY IN GENIUS.....38-65 - -Chorea and Epilepsy--Melancholy--Megalomania--_Folie du -doute_--Alcoholism--Hallucinations--Moral Insanity--Longevity. - -CHAPTER IV. - -GENIUS AND INSANITY.....66-99 - -Resemblance between genius and insanity--Men and women of genius who -have been insane--Montanus--Harrington--Haller--Schumann--Gérard de -Nerval--Baudelaire--Concato--Mainländer--Comte--Codazzi--Bolyai ---Cardan--Tasso--Swift--Newton--Rousseau--Lenau--Széchényi--Hoffmann ---Foderà--Schopenhauer--Gogol. - - -PART II. - -_THE CAUSES OF GENIUS._ - -CHAPTER I. - -METEOROLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON GENIUS.....100-116 - -The influence of weather on the insane--Sensitiveness of men of genius -to barometrical conditions--Sensitiveness to thermometrical conditions. - -CHAPTER II. - -CLIMATIC INFLUENCES ON GENIUS.....117-132 - -Influence of great centres--Race and hot climate--The distribution of -great masters--Orographic influences--Influence of healthy -race--Parallelism of high stature and genius--Explanations. - -CHAPTER III. - -THE INFLUENCE OF RACE AND HEREDITY ON GENIUS AND INSANITY.....133-150 - -Race--Insanity--The influence of sex--The heredity of genius--Criminal -and insane parentage and descent of genius--Age of parents--Conception. - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE INFLUENCE OF DISEASE ON GENIUS.....151-152 - -Spinal diseases--Fevers--Injuries to the head and their relation to -genius. - -CHAPTER V. - -THE INFLUENCE OF CIVILIZATION AND OF OPPORTUNITY.....153-160 - -Large Towns--Large Schools--Accidents--Misery--Power--Education. - - -PART III. - -_GENIUS IN THE INSANE._ - -CHAPTER I. - -INSANE GENIUS IN LITERATURE.....161-178 - -Periodicals published in lunatic -asylums--Synthesis--Passion--Atavism--Conclusion. - -CHAPTER II. - -ART IN THE INSANE.....179-208 - -Geographical distribution--Profession--Influence of the special -form of alienation--Originality--Eccentricity--Symbolism ---Obscenity--Criminality and moral insanity--Uselessness--Insanity -as a subject--Absurdity--Uniformity--Summary--Music among the insane. - -CHAPTER III. - -LITERARY AND ARTISTIC MATTOIDS.....209-241 - -Definition--Physical and psychical characteristics--Their literary -activity--Examples--Lawsuit mania--Mattoids of genius--Bosisio--The -_décadent_ poets--Verlaine--Mattoids in art. - -CHAPTER IV. - -POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LUNATICS AND MATTOIDS.....242-313 - -Part played by the insane in the progressive movements of -humanity--Examples--Probable causes--Religious epidemics of the Middle -Ages--Francis of Assisi--Luther--Savonarola--Cola da Rienzi ---San Juan de Dios--Campanella--Prosper Enfantin--Lazzaretti ---Passanante--Guiteau--South Americans. - - -PART IV. - -_SYNTHESIS. THE DEGENERATIVE PSYCHOSIS OF GENIUS._ - -CHAPTER I. - -CHARACTERISTICS OF INSANE MEN OF GENIUS.....314-329 - -Characterlessness--Vanity--Precocity--Alcoholism--Vagabondage-- -Versatility--Originality--Style--Religious doubts--Sexual -abnormalities--Egoism--Eccentricity--Inspiration. - -CHAPTER II. - -ANALOGY OF SANE TO INSANE GENIUS.....330-335 - -Want of character--Pride--Precocity--Alcoholism--Degenerative -signs--Obsession--Men of genius in revolutions. - -CHAPTER III. - -THE EPILEPTOID NATURE OF GENIUS.....336-352 - -Etiology--Symptoms--Confessions of men of genius--The life of a great -epileptic--Napoleon--Saint Paul--The saints--Philanthropic hysteria. - -CHAPTER IV. - -SANE MEN OF GENIUS.....353-358 - -Their unperceived -defects--Richelieu--Sesostris--Foscolo--Michelangelo--Darwin. - -CHAPTER V. - -CONCLUSIONS.....359-361 - -APPENDIX.....363-366 - -INDEX.....367-370 - - - - -THE MAN OF GENIUS. - - - - -PART I. - -_THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GENIUS._ - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM. - - Aristotle--Plato--Democritus--Felix Plater--Pascal--Diderot--Modern - writers on genius. - - -It is a sad mission to cut through and destroy with the scissors of -analysis the delicate and iridescent veils with which our proud -mediocrity clothes itself. Very terrible is the religion of truth. The -physiologist is not afraid to reduce love to a play of stamens and -pistils, and thought to a molecular movement. Even genius, the one human -power before which we may bow the knee without shame, has been classed -by not a few alienists as on the confines of criminality, one of the -teratologic forms of the human mind, a variety of insanity. - -This impious profanation is not, however, altogether the work of -doctors, nor is it the fruit of modern scepticism. The great Aristotle, -once the father, and still the friend, of philosophers, observed that, -under the influence of congestion of the head, “many persons become -poets, prophets, and sybils, and, like Marcus the Syracusan, are pretty -good poets while they are maniacal; but when cured can no longer write -verse.”[5] And again, “Men illustrious in poetry, politics, and arts, -have often been melancholic and mad, like Ajax, or misanthropic, like -Bellerophon. Even in modern times such characters have been noted in -Socrates, Empedocles, Plato, and in many others, especially poets.”[6] - -In the _Phædo_, Plato affirms that “delirium is by no means an evil, -but, on the contrary, when it comes by the gift of the gods, a very -great benefit. In delirium, the prophetesses of Delphi and Dodona -performed a thousand services for the citizens of Greece; while in cold -blood they were of little use, or rather of none. It often happened -that, when the gods afflicted men with fatal epidemics, a sacred -delirium took possession of some mortal, and inspired him with a remedy -for those misfortunes. Another kind of delirium, that inspired by the -Muses, when a simple and pure soul is excited to glorify with poetry the -deeds of heroes, serves for the instruction of future generations.” - -Democritus was more explicit, and would not believe that there could be -a good poet who was not out of his mind:-- - - “_Excludit sanos Helicone poetas_ - _Democritus._”[7] - -It was, evidently, the observation of these facts, wrongly interpreted -and, according to a common habit, transformed into superstitions, which -caused ancient nations to venerate the insane as beings inspired from on -high. We possess not only the witness of history to this effect, but -also that of the words _navi_ and _mesugan_ in Hebrew and _nigrata_ in -Sanscrit, in which the ideas of insanity and prophecy are confused and -assimilated. - -Felix Plater affirmed that he had known persons who, although they -excelled in certain arts, were yet mad, and betrayed their infirmity by -a curious seeking for praise, and by strange and indecent acts. He had -known at Court an architect, a celebrated sculptor, and a distinguished -musician, who were mad.[8] - -Pascal, later on, repeated that extreme intelligence was very near to -extreme madness, and himself offered an example of it. Diderot wrote: “I -conjecture that these men of sombre and melancholy temperament only owed -that extraordinary and almost Divine penetration which they possessed at -intervals, and which led them to ideas, sometimes so mad and sometimes -so sublime, to a periodical derangement of the organism. They then -believed themselves inspired, and were insane. Their attacks were -preceded by a kind of brutish apathy, which they regarded as the natural -condition of fallen man. Lifted out of this lethargy by the tumult -within them, they imagined that it was Divinity, which came down to -visit and exercise them.... Oh! how near are genius and madness! Those -whom heaven has branded for evil or for good are more or less subject to -these symptoms; they reveal them more or less frequently, more or less -violently. Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to -them.”[9] - -Many examples of men who were at once mad and highly intelligent were -offered by Hécart in his _Stultitiana, ou petite bibliographie des Fous -de Valenciennes, par un homme en démence_; by Delepierre, an -enthusiastic bibliophile, in his curious _Histoire littéraire des Fous_ -(1860); by Forgues, in _Revue de Paris_ (1826); and by an anonymous -writer in _Sketches of Bedlam_ (London, 1873). - -On the other hand, it was shown in Lélut’s _Démon de Socrate_ (1836) and -_Amulette de Pascal_ (1846), in Verga’s _Lipemania del Tasso_ (1850) and -in my own _Pazzia di Cardano_ (1856), that there are men of genius who -have long been subject to hallucinations, and even to monomania. Other -proofs, the more precious because impartial, were supplied by -Réveillé-Parise, in his _Physiologie et Hygiène des hommes livrés aux -travaux de l’esprit_ (1856). Moreau (de Tours), who delighted in the -least verisimilar aspects of truth, in his solid monograph, _Psychologie -Morbide_ (1859), and J. A. Schilling, in his _Psychiatrische Briefe_ -(1863), endeavoured to show, by researches that were very copious -although not very strict in method, that genius is always a neurosis, -and often a true insanity. Hagen has more recently sought to prove a -thesis which is partly the same in his _Verwandtschaft des Genies mit -dem Irrsinn_ (Berlin, 1877), and, indirectly, Jürgen-Meyer, in his -admirable monograph, _Genie und Talent_ (from the _Zeitschrift für -Völker-psychologie_, 1879). These two writers have tried to explain the -physiology of genius, and, singularly, they have reached conclusions -which were reached, more by intuition than through close observation, by -an Italian Jesuit, now quite forgotten--Bettinelli--in his book, _Dell’ -entusiasmo nelle belle Arti_ (Milan, 1769). - -Radestock, in his _Genie und Wahnsinn_ (Breslau, 1884), added little to -the solution of the problem, as he merely copied, for the most part, -from his predecessors, without profiting greatly by their work. - -Among recent writers, I note Tarnowski and Tchukinova, who to the -Russian translation of my book (St. Petersburg, 1885) have added many -new documents from the history of Russian literature; Maxime du Camp, -who in his curious _Souvenirs Littéraires_ (1887), has shown how many -modern French writers have concealed within them the sorrowful seed of -insanity; Ramos Mejia, who, in his _Neurosis de los Hombres Celebres de -la Historia Argentina_ (Buenos Ayres, 1885), shows how nearly all the -great men of the South American Republics were inebriate, neurotic, or -insane; A. Tebaldi, who, in his book _Ragione e Pazzia_ (Milan, 1884), -brings fresh documents to the literature of insanity; and, finally, that -acute thinker and brilliant writer, Pisani-Dossi, who has given us a -curious study,[10] which is a monograph on madness in art; as in my _Tre -Tribuni_ (1889) I have attempted to do with the insane and semi-insane -in their relation to politics. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -GENIUS AND DEGENERATION. - - The signs of - degeneration--Height--Rickets--Pallor--Emaciation--Physiognomy--Cranium - and Brain--Stammering--Lefthandedness--Sterility--Unlikeness to - Parents--Precocity--Delayed - development--Misoneism--Vagabondage--Unconsciousness--Instinctiveness--Somnambulism--The - Inspiration of Genius--Contrast--Intermittence--Double - Personality--Stupidity--Hyperæsthesia--Paræsthesia--Amnesia--Originality--Fondness - for special words. - - -The paradox that confounds genius with neurosis, however cruel and sad -it may seem, is found to be not devoid of solid foundation when examined -from various points of view which have escaped even recent observers. - -A theory, which has for some years flourished in the psychiatric world, -admits that a large proportion of mental and physical affections are the -result of degeneration, of the action, that is, of heredity in the -children of the inebriate, the syphilitic, the insane, the consumptive, -&c.; or of accidental causes, such as lesions of the head or the action -of mercury, which profoundly change the tissues, perpetuate neuroses or -other diseases in the patient, and, which is worse, aggravate them in -his descendants, until the march of degeneration, constantly growing -more rapid and fatal, is only stopped by complete idiocy or sterility. - -Alienists have noted certain characters which very frequently, though -not constantly, accompany these fatal degenerations. Such are, on the -moral side, apathy, loss of moral sense, frequent tendencies to -impulsiveness or doubt, psychical inequalities owing to the excess of -some faculty (memory, æsthetic taste, &c.) or defect of other qualities -(calculation, for example), exaggerated mutism or verbosity, morbid -vanity, excessive originality, and excessive pre-occupation with self, -the tendency to put mystical interpretations on the simplest facts, the -abuse of symbolism and of special words which are used as an almost -exclusive mode of expression. Such, on the physical side, are prominent -ears, deficiency of beard, irregularity of teeth, excessive asymmetry of -face and head, which may be very large or very small, sexual precocity, -smallness or disproportion of the body, lefthandedness, stammering, -rickets, phthisis, excessive fecundity, neutralized afterwards by -abortions or complete sterility, with constant aggravation of -abnormalities in the children.[11] - -Without doubt many alienists have here fallen into exaggerations, -especially when they have sought to deduce degeneration from a single -fact. But, taken on the whole, the theory is irrefutable; every day -brings fresh applications and confirmations. Among the most curious are -those supplied by recent studies on genius. The signs of degeneration in -men of genius they show are sometimes more numerous than in the insane. -Let us examine them. - -_Height._--First of all it is necessary to remark the frequency of -physical signs of degeneration, only masqued by the vivacity of the -countenance and the prestige of reputation, which distracts us from -giving them due importance. - -The simplest of these, which struck our ancestors and has passed into a -proverb, is the smallness of the body. - -Famous for short stature as well as for genius were: Horace -(_lepidissimum_ homunculum _dicebat Augustus_), Philopœmen, Narses, -Alexander (_Magnus Alexander corpore parvus erat_), Aristotle, Plato, -Epicurus, Chrysippus, Laertes, Archimedes, Diogenes, Attila, Epictetus, -who was accustomed to say, “Who am I? A little man.” Among moderns one -may name, Erasmus, Socinus, Linnæus, Lipsius, Gibbon, Spinoza, Haüy, -Montaigne, Mezeray, Lalande, Gray, John Hunter (5ft. 2in.), Mozart, -Beethoven, Goldsmith, Hogarth, Thomas Moore, Thomas Campbell, -Wilberforce, Heine, Meissonnier, Charles Lamb, Beccaria, Maria -Edgeworth, Balzac, De Quincey, William Blake (who was scarcely five -feet in height), Browning, Ibsen, George Eliot, Thiers, Mrs. Browning, -Louis Blanc, Mendelssohn, Swinburne, Van Does (called the Drum, because -he was not any taller than a drum), Peter van Laer (called the Puppet). -Lulli, Pomponazzi, Baldini, were very short; so also were Nicholas -Piccinini, the philosopher Dati, and Baldo, who replied to the sarcasm -of Bartholo, “_Minuit præsentia fama_,” with the words, “_Augebit cætera -virtus_;” and again, Marsilio Ficino, of whom it was said, “_Vix ad -lumbos viri stabat_.” Albertus Magnus was of such small size that the -Pope, having allowed him to kiss his foot, commanded him to stand up, -under the impression that he was still kneeling. When the coffin of St. -Francis Xavier was opened at Goa in 1890, the body was found to be only -four and a half feet in length. - -Among great men of tall stature I only know Volta, Goethe, Petrarch, -Schiller, D’Azeglio, Helmholtz, Foscolo, Charlemagne, Bismarck, Moltke, -Monti, Mirabeau, Dumas _père_, Schopenhauer, Lamartine, Voltaire, Peter -the Great, Washington, Dr. Johnson, Sterne, Arago, Flaubert, Carlyle, -Tourgueneff, Tennyson, Whitman. - -_Rickets._--Agesilaus, Tyrtæus, Æsop, Giotto, Aristomenes, Crates, -Galba, Brunelleschi, Magliabecchi, Parini, Scarron, Pope, Leopardi, -Talleyrand, Scott, Owen, Gibbon, Byron, Dati, Baldini, Moses -Mendelssohn, Flaxman, Hooke, were all either rachitic, lame, -hunch-backed, or club-footed. - -_Pallor._--This has been called the colour of great men; “_Pulchrum -sublimium virorum florem_” (S. Gregory, _Orationes XIV._). It was -ascertained by Marro[12] that this is one of the most frequent signs of -degeneration in the morally insane. - -_Emaciation._--The law of the conservation of energy which rules the -whole organic world, explains to us other frequent abnormalities, such -as precocious greyness and baldness, leanness of the body, and weakness -of sexual and muscular activity, which characterize the insane, and are -also frequently found among great thinkers. Lecamus[13] has said that -the greatest geniuses have the slenderest bodies. Cæsar feared the lean -face of Cassius. Demosthenes, Aristotle, Cicero, Giotto, St. Bernard, -Erasmus, Salmasius, Kepler, Sterne, Walter Scott, John Howard, -D’Alembert, Fénelon, Boileau, Milton, Pascal, Napoleon, were all -extremely thin in the flower of their age. - -Others were weak and sickly in childhood; such were Demosthenes, Bacon, -Descartes, Newton, Locke, Adam Smith, Boyle, Pope, Flaxman, Nelson, -Haller, Körner, Pascal, Wren, Alfieri, Renan. - -Ségur wrote of Voltaire that his leanness recalled his labours, and that -his slight bent body was only a thin, transparent veil, through which -one seemed to see his soul and genius. Lamennais was “a small, almost -imperceptible man, or rather a flame chased from one point of the room -to the other by the breath of his own restlessness.”[14] - -_Physiognomy._--Mind, a celebrated painter of cats, had a cretin-like -physiognomy. So also had Socrates, Skoda, Rembrandt, Dostoieffsky, -Magliabecchi, Pope, Carlyle, Darwin, and, among modern Italians, -Schiaparelli, who holds so high a rank in mathematics. - -_Cranium and Brain._--Lesions of the head and brain are very frequent -among men of genius. The celebrated Australian novelist, Marcus Clarke, -when a child, received a blow from a horse’s hoof which crushed his -skull.[15] The same is told of Vico, Gratry, Clement VI., Malebranche, -and Cornelius, hence called _a Lapide_. The last three are said to have -acquired their genius as a result of the accident, having been -unintelligent before. Mention should also be made of the parietal -fracture in Fusinieri’s skull;[16] of the cranial asymmetry of Pericles, -who was on this account surnamed Squill-head (σκινοκἑφαλος) by -the Greek comic writers[17]; of Romagnosi, of Bichat, of Kant,[18] of -Chenevix,[19] of Dante, who presented an abnormal development of the -left parietal bone, and two osteomata on the frontal bone; the -plagiocephaly of Brunacci and of Machiavelli; the - -[Illustration: - -Figs. 1-3. Kant’s Skull. - - “ 4. Volta’s Skull. - -Figs. 5-6. Fusinieri’s Skull. - - “ 7-8. Foscolo’s Skull.] - -extreme prognathism of Foscolo (68°) and his low cephalic-spinal and -cephalic-orbital index;[20] the ultra-dolichocephaly of Fusinieri (index -74), contrasting with the ultra-brachycephaly which is characteristic of -the Venetians (82 to 84); the Neanderthaloid skull of Robert Bruce;[21] -of Kay Lye,[22] of San Marsay (index 69), and the ultra-dolichocephaly -of O’Connell (index 73), which contrasts with the mesocephaly of the -Irish; the median occipital fossa of Scarpa;[23] the transverse -occipital suture of Kant, his ultra-brachycephaly (88·5), platycephaly -(index of height 71·1), the disproportion between the superior portion -of his occipital bone, more developed by half, and the inferior or -cerebellar portion. It is the same with the smallness of the frontal -arch compared to the parietal. - -In Volta’s skull[24] I have noted several characters which -anthropologists consider to belong to the lower races, such as -prominence of the styloid apophyses, simplicity of the coronal suture, -traces of the median frontal suture, obtuse facial angle (73°), but -especially the remarkable cranial sclerosis, which at places attains a -thickness of 16 millemetres; hence the great weight of the skull (753 -grammes). - -The researches of other investigators have shown that Manzoni, Petrarch, -and Fusinieri had receding foreheads; in Byron, Massacra (at the age of -32), Humboldt, Meckel,[25] Foscolo, Ximenes, and Donizetti there was -solidification of the sutures; submicrocephaly in Rasori, Descartes, -Foscolo, Tissot, Guido Reni, Hoffmann, and Schumann; sclerosis in -Donizetti and Tiedemann who, moreover, presented a bony crest between -the sphenoid and the basilar apophysis; hydrocephalus in Milton, -Linnæus, Cuvier, Gibbon, &c. - -The capacity of the skull in men of genius, as is natural, is above the -average, by which it approaches what is found in insanity. (De -Quatrefages noted that the greatest degree of macrocephaly was found in -a lunatic, the next in a man of genius.) There are numerous exceptions -in which it descends below the ordinary average. - -It is certain that in Italy, Volta (1,860 c.cm.), Petrarch (1,602 -c.cm.), Bordoni (1,681 c.cm.), Brunacci (1,701 c.cm.), St. Ambrose -(1,792 c.cm.), and Fusinieri (1,604 c.cm.), all presented great cranial -capacity. The same character is found to a still greater degree in Kant -(1,740 c.cm.), Thackeray (1,660 c.cm.), Cuvier (1,830 c.cm.), and -Tourgueneff (2,012 c.cm.). - -Le Bon studied twenty-six skulls of French men of genius, among whom -were Boileau, Descartes, and Jourdan.[26] He found that the most -celebrated had an average capacity of 1,732 cubic centimetres; while the -ancient Parisians offered only 1,559 c.cm. Among the Parisians of to-day -scarcely 12 per cent. exceed 1,700 c.cm., a figure surpassed by 73 per -cent. of the celebrated men. - -But sub-microcephalic skulls may also be found in men of genius. Wagner -and Bischoff,[27] examining twelve brains of celebrated Germans, found -the capacity very great in eight, very small in four. The latter was the -case with Liebig, Döllinger, Hausmann, in whose favour advanced age may -be advanced as an excuse; but this reason does not exist for Guido Reni, -Gambetta, Harless, Foscolo (1426), Dante (1493), Hermann (1358), Lasker -(1300). Shelley’s head was remarkably small. - -In the face of all these facts I shall not be taxed with temerity if I -conclude that, as genius is often expiated by inferiority in some -psychic functions, it is often associated with anomalies in that organ -which is the source of its glory. - -Reference should here be made to the ventricular dropsy in Rousseau’s -brain,[28] to the meningitis of Grossi, of Donizetti, and of Schumann, -to the cerebral œdema of Liebig and of Tiedemann. In the last-named, -besides remarkable thickness of the skull, especially at the forehead, -Bischoff noted adherence of the _dura mater_ to the bone, thickening of -the arachnoid and atrophy of the brain. In the physician Fuchs, Wagner -found the fissure of Rolando interrupted by a superficial convolution, -an anomaly which Giacomini found only once in 356 cases, and Heschl once -in 632.[29] Pascal’s brain showed grave lesions of the cerebral -hemispheres. It has recently been discovered that Cuvier’s voluminous -brain was affected by dropsy; in Lasker’s there was softening of the -corpora striata, pachymeningitis, hæmorrhage, and endarteritis deformans -of the artery of the fissure of Sylvius.[30] - -In eighteen brains of German men of science Bischoff and Rüdinger found -congenital anomalies of the cerebral convolutions, especially of the -parietal.[31] In the brains of Wülfert and Huber, the third left -frontal convolution was greatly developed with numerous meanderings. In -Gambetta this exaggeration became a real doubling; and the right -quadrilateral lobule is divided into two parts by a furrow which starts -from the occipital fissure; of these two parts the inferior is -subdivided by an incision with numerous branches, arranged in the form -of stars, and the occipital lobe is small, especially on the right.[32] - -“The comparative study of these brains,” writes Hervé,[33] “shows that -individual variations of the cerebral convolutions are more numerous and -more marked in men of genius than in others. This is especially the case -in regard to the third frontal convolution which is not only more -variable in men of genius, but also more complex, especially on one -side, while in ordinary persons it is very simple both on the left and -on the right. Without doubt the individual arrangements which may be -presented by the brains of men of remarkable intelligence may also be -found in ordinary brains, but only in rare exceptions.” - -I refer those who wish to form an idea of the development reached by -Broca’s centre in some of the brains of the Munich collection to -Rüdinger’s monograph, and to the beautiful plates which accompany it. -One remarks especially the enormous size and the numerous superficial -folds at the foot of the left convolution in the jurist Wülfert, who was -remarkable among other qualities for his great oratorical talent. On the -other hand, the convolution is much reduced and very simple on the left, -much developed in all its parts on the right, in the brain of the -pathologist Buhl, a professor whose speech was clear and facile, but who -was left-handed, or at all events ambidextrous. To these facts others -may be added, showing the morphological complexity of Broca’s -convolution in distinguished men; in the brains, for instance, of -various men of science, described and figured by R. Wagner.[34] Among -these was the illustrious geometrician, Gauss: compared with Gauss’s -brain that of an artisan called - -[Illustration: - -Fig. 1. Gauss’s Brain. - - “ 2. Frontal Lobe of same. - - “ 3. Brain of a German Workman. - -Fig. 4. Frontal Lobe of same. - - “ 5. Dirichlet’s Brain. - - “ 6. Hermann’s Brain.] - -Krebs was much less complicated, and notably narrower in the frontal -region. The frontal convolutions were also inferior in development to -those of Gauss; and the anterior lobes were voluminous in another -celebrated mathematician, Professor De Morgan, whose brain is in -Bastian’s possession.[35] - -_Stammering._--Men of genius frequently stammer. I will mention: -Aristotle, Æsop, Demosthenes, Alcibiades, Cato of Utica, Virgil, -Manzoni, Erasmus, Malherbe, C. Lamb, Turenne, Erasmus and Charles -Darwin, Moses Mendelssohn, Charles V., Romiti, Cardan, Tartaglia. - -_Lefthandedness._--Many have been left-handed. Such were: Tiberius, -Sebastian del Piombo, Michelangelo, Fléchier, Nigra, Buhl, Raphael of -Montelupo, Bertillon. Leonardo da Vinci sketched rapidly with his left -hand any figures which struck him, and only employed the right hand for -those which were the mature result of his contemplation; for this reason -his friends were persuaded that he only wrote with the left hand.[36] -Mancinism or leftsidedness is to-day regarded as a character of atavism -and degeneration.[37] - -_Sterility._--Many great men have remained bachelors; others, although -married, have had no children. “The noblest works and foundations,” said -Bacon,[38] “have proceeded from childless men, which have sought to -express the images of their minds, where those of their bodies have -failed. So the care of posterity is most in them that have no -posterity.” And La Bruyère said, “These men have neither ancestors nor -descendants; they themselves form their entire posterity.” - -Croker, in his edition of _Boswell_, remarks that all the great English -poets had no posterity. He names Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Milton, Otway, -Dryden, Rowe, Addison, Pope, Swift, Gay, Johnson, Goldsmith, Cowper. -Hobbes, Camden, and many others, avoided marriage in order to have more -time to devote to study. Michelangelo said, “I have more than enough of -a wife in my art.” Among celibates may be mentioned also: Kant, Newton, -Pitt, Fox, Fontenelle, Beethoven, Gassendi, Galileo, Descartes, Locke, -Spinoza, Bayle, Leibnitz, Malebranche, Gray, Dalton, Hume, Gibbon, -Macaulay, Lamb, Bentham, Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Reynolds, -Handel, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Schopenhauer, Camoëns, Voltaire, -Chateaubriand, Flaubert, Foscolo, Alfieri, Cavour, Pellico, Mazzini, -Aleardi, Guerrazzi. And among women: Florence Nightingale, Catherine -Stanley, Gaetana Agnesi (the mathematician), and Luigia Laura Bassi. A -very large number of married men of genius have not been happy in -marriage: Shakespeare, Dante, Marzolo, Byron, Coleridge, Addison, -Landor, Carlyle, Ary Scheffer, Rovani, A. Comte, Haydn, Milton, Sterne, -Dickens, &c. St. Paul boasted of his absolute continence; Cavendish -altogether lacked the sexual instinct, and had a morbid antipathy to -women. Flaubert wrote to George Sand: “The muse, however intractable, -gives fewer sorrows than woman. I cannot reconcile one with the other. -One must choose.”[39] Adam Smith said he reserved his gallantry for his -books. Chamfort, the misanthrope, wrote: “If men followed the guidance -of reason no one would marry; for my own part, I will have nothing to do -with it, lest I should have a son like myself.” A French poet has said: - - “_Les grands esprits, d’ailleurs très-estimables,_ - _Ont très peu de talent pour former leurs semblables._”[40] - -_Unlikeness to Parents._--Nearly all men of genius have differed as much -from their fathers as from their mothers (Foscolo, Michelangelo, Giotto, -Haydn, &c.). That is one of the marks of degeneration. For this reason -one notes physical resemblances between men of genius belonging to very -different races and epochs; for example, Julius Cæsar, Napoleon, and -Giovanni of the Black Bands; or Casti, Sterne, and Voltaire. They often -differ from their national type. They differ by the possession of noble -and almost superhuman characters (elevation of the forehead, notable -development of the nose and of the head, great vivacity of the eyes); -while the cretin, the criminal, and often the lunatic, differ by the -possession of ignoble features: Humboldt, Virchow, Bismarck, Helmholtz, -and Holtzendorf, do not show a German physiognomy. Byron was English -neither in his face nor in his character; Manin did not show the -Venetian type; Alfieri and d’Azeglio had neither the Piedmontese -character nor face. Carducci’s face is not Italian. Nevertheless, one -finds very notable and frequent exceptions. Michelangelo, Leonardo da -Vinci, Raphael, and Cellini, presented the Italian type. - -_Precocity._--Another character common to genius and to insanity, -especially moral insanity, is precocity. Dante, when nine years of age, -wrote a sonnet to Beatrice; Tasso wrote verses at ten. Pascal and Comte -were great thinkers at the age of thirteen, Fornier at fifteen, Niebuhr -at seven, Jonathan Edwards at twelve, Michelangelo at nineteen, -Gassendi, the Little Doctor, at four, Bossuet at twelve, and Voltaire at -thirteen. Pico de la Mirandola knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and -Arabic, in his childhood; Goethe wrote a story in seven languages when -he was scarcely ten; Wieland knew Latin at seven, meditated an epic poem -at thirteen, and at sixteen published his poem, _Die Vollkommenste -Welt_. Lopez de la Vega composed his first verses at twelve, Calderon at -thirteen. Kotzebue was trying to write comedies at seven, and at -eighteen his first tragedy was acted. Schiller was only nineteen when -his epoch-making _Räuber_ appeared. Victor Hugo composed _Irtamène_ at -fifteen, and at twenty had already published _Han d’Islande_, -_Bug-Jargal_, and the first volume of _Odes et Ballades_; Lamennais at -sixteen dictated the _Paroles d’un Croyant_. Pope wrote his ode to -_Solitude_ at twelve and his _Pastorals_ at sixteen. Byron wrote verses -at twelve, and at eighteen published his _Hours of Idleness_. Moore -translated _Anacreon_ at thirteen. Meyerbeer at five played excellently -on the piano. Claude Joseph Vernet drew very well at four, and at twenty -was already a celebrated painter. At thirteen Wren invented an -astronomical instrument and offered it to his father with a Latin -dedication. Ascoli at fifteen published a book on the relation of the -dialects of Wallachia and Friuli. Metastasio improvised at ten; Ennius -Quirinus Visconti excited the admiration of all at sixteen months, and -preached when six years old. At fifteen Fénelon preached at Paris before -a select audience; Wetton at five could read and translate Latin, Greek, -and Hebrew, and at ten knew Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. Mirabeau -preached at three and published books at ten. Handel composed a mass at -thirteen, at seventeen _Corinda_ and _Nero_, and at nineteen was -director of the opera at Hamburg. Raphael was famous at fourteen. Restif -de la Bretonne had already read much at four; at eleven he had seduced -young girls, and at fourteen had composed a poem on his first twelve -mistresses. Eichorn, Mozart, and Eybler gave concerts at six. At -thirteen Beethoven composed three sonatas. Weber was only fourteen when -his first opera, _Das Waldmädchen_, was represented. Cherubini at -thirteen wrote a mass which filled his fellow-citizens with enthusiasm. -Bacon conceived the _Novum Organum_ at fifteen. Charles XII. manifested -his great designs at the age of eighteen.[41] - -This precocity is morbid and atavistic; it may be observed among all -savages. The proverb, “A man who has genius at five is mad at fifteen” -is often verified in asylums.[42] The children of the insane are often -precocious. Savage knew an insane woman whose children could play -classical music before the age of six, and other children who at a -tender age displayed the passions of grown men. Among the children of -the insane are often revealed aptitudes and tastes--chiefly for music, -the arts, and mathematics--which are not usually found in other -children. - -_Delayed Development._--Delay in the development of genius may be -explained, as Beard remarks, by the absence of circumstances favourable -to its blossoming, and by the ignorance of teachers and parents who see -mental obtusity, or even idiocy, where there is only the distraction or -amnesia of genius. Many children who become great men have been -regarded at school as bad, wild, or silly; but their intelligence -appeared as soon as the occasion offered, or when they found the true -path of their genius. It was thus with Thiers, Pestalozzi, Wellington, -Du Guesclin, Goldsmith, Burns, Balzac, Fresnel, Dumas _père_, Humboldt, -Sheridan, Boccaccio, Pierre Thomas, Linnæus, Volta, Alfieri. Thus -Newton, meditating on the problems of Kepler, often forgot the orders -and commissions given him by his mother; and while he was the last in -his class he was very clever in making mechanical playthings. Walter -Scott, who also showed badly at school, was a wonderful story-teller. -Klaproth, the celebrated Orientalist, when following the courses at -Berlin University, was considered a backward student. In examination -once a professor said to him: “But you know nothing, sir!” “Excuse me,” -he replied, “I know Chinese.” It was found that he had learnt this -difficult language alone, almost in secret. Gustave Flaubert “was the -very opposite of a phenomenal child. It was only with extreme difficulty -that he succeeded in learning to read. His mind, however, was already -working, for he composed little plays which he could not write, but -which he represented alone, playing the different personages, and -improvising long dialogues.”[43] Domenichino, whom his comrades called -the great bullock, when accused of being slow and not learning so fast -as the other pupils, replied: “It is because I work in myself.” - -Sometimes children have only made progress when abandoned to their own -impulses. Thus Cabanis, although intelligent, was regarded at school as -obstinate and idle, and was sent home. His father then decided to risk -an experiment. He allowed his son, at fourteen years of age, to study -according to his own taste. The experiment succeeded completely. - -_Misoneism._--The men who create new worlds are as much enemies of -novelty as ordinary persons and children. They display extraordinary -energy in rejecting the discoveries of others; whether it is that the -saturation, so to say, of their brains prevents any new absorption, or -that they have acquired a special sensibility, alert only to their own -ideas, and refractory to the ideas of others. Thus Schopenhauer, who was -a great rebel in philosophy, has nothing but words of pity and contempt -for political revolutionaries; and he bequeathed his fortune to men who -had contributed to repress by arms the noble political aspirations of -1848. Frederick II., who inaugurated German politics, and wished to -foster a national art and literature, did not suspect the worth of -Herder, of Klopstock, of Lessing, of Goethe;[44] he disliked changing -his coats so much that he had only two or three during his life. The -same may be said of Napoleon and his hats. Rossini could never travel by -rail; when a friend attempted to accustom him to the train he fell down -fainting, remarking afterwards: “If I was not like that I should never -have written the _Barbiere_.” Napoleon rejected steam, and Richelieu -sent Salomon de Caus, its first inventor, to the Bicêtre. Bacon laughed -at Gilbert and Copernicus; he did not believe in the application of -instruments, or even of mathematics, to the exact sciences. Baudelaire -and Nodier detested freethinkers.[45] Laplace denied the fall of -meteorites, for, he said, with an argument much approved by the -Academicians, how can stones fall from the sky when there are none -there? Biot denied the undulatory theory. Voltaire denied fossils. -Darwin did not believe in the stone age nor in hypnotism.[46] Robin -laughed at the Darwinian theory. - -_Vagabondage._--Love of wandering is frequent among men of genius. I -will mention only Heine, Alfieri, Byron, Giordano Bruno, Leopardi, -Tasso, Goldsmith, Sterne, Gautier, Musset, Lenau. “My father left me his -wandering genius as a heritage,” wrote Foscolo. Hölderlin, after his -much loved wife had entered a convent, wandered for forty years without -settling down anywhere. Every one knows of the constant journeys of -Petrarch, of Paisiello, of Lavoisier, of Cellini, of Cervantes, at a -time when travelling was beset by difficulties and dangers. Meyerbeer -travelled for thirty years, composing his operas in the train. Wagner -travelled on foot from Riga to Paris. One knows that sometimes, at the -Universities, professors are seized by the desire of change, and to -satisfy it forget all their personal interests. - -_Unconsciousness and Instinctiveness._--The coincidence of genius and -insanity enables us to understand the astonishing unconsciousness, -instantaneousness and intermittence of the creations of genius, whence -its great resemblance to epilepsy, the importance of which we shall see -later, and whence also a distinction between genius and talent. -“Talent,” says Jürgen-Meyer,[47] “knows itself; it knows how and why it -has reached a given theory; it is not so with genius, which is ignorant -of the how and the why. Nothing is so involuntary as the conception of -genius.” “One of the characters of genius,” writes Hagen, “is -irresistible impulsion. As instinct compels the animal to accomplish -certain acts, even at the risk of life, so genius, when it is dominated -by an idea is incapable of abandoning itself to any other thought. -Napoleon and Alexander conquered, not from love of glory, but in -obedience to an all-powerful instinct; so scientific genius has no rest; -its activity may appear to be the result of a voluntary effort, but it -is not so. Genius creates, not because it wishes to, but because it must -create.” And Paul Richter writes: “The man of genius is in many respects -a real somnambulist. In his lucid dream he sees farther than when awake, -and reaches the heights of truth; when the world of imagination is taken -away from him he is suddenly precipitated into reality.”[48] - -Haydn attributed the conception of the _Creation_ to a mysterious grace -from on high: “When my work does not advance,” he said, “I retire into -the oratory with my rosary and say an _Ave_; immediately ideas come to -me.” When our Milli produces, almost without knowing it, one of her -marvellous poems, she is agitated, cries, sings, takes long walks, and -almost becomes the victim of an epileptic attack. - -Many men of genius who have studied themselves, and who have spoken of -their inspiration, have described it as a sweet and seductive fever, -during which their thought has become rapidly and involuntarily -fruitful, and has burst forth like the flame of a lighted torch. Such is -the thought that Dante has engraved in three wonderful lines:-- - - “_I’ mi son un che, quando_ - _Amore spira, noto ed in quel modo_ - _Che detta dentro vo significando._”[49] - -Napoleon said that the fate of battles was the result of an instant, of -a latent thought; the decisive moment appeared; the spark burst forth, -and one was victorious. (Moreau.) Kuh’s most beautiful poems, wrote -Bauer, were dictated in a state between insanity and reason; at the -moment when his sublime thoughts came to him he was incapable of simple -reasoning. Foscolo tells us in his _Epistolario_, the finest monument of -his great soul, that writing depends on a certain amiable fever of the -mind, and cannot be had at will: “I write letters, not for my country, -nor for fame, but for the secret joy which arises from the exercise of -our faculties; they have need of movement, as our legs of walking.” -Mozart confessed that musical ideas were aroused in him, even apart from -his will, like dreams. Hoffmann often said to his friends, “When I -compose I sit down to the piano, shut my eyes, and play what I -hear.”[50] Lamartine often said, “It is not I who think; my ideas think -for me.”[51] Alfieri, who compared himself to a barometer on account of -the continual changes in his poetic power, produced by change of season, -had not the strength in September to resist a new, or rather, renewed, -impulse which he had felt for several days; he declared himself -vanquished, and wrote six comedies. In Alfieri, Goethe, and Ariosto -creation was instantaneous, often even being produced on awaking.[52] - -This domination of genius by the unconscious has been remarked for many -centuries. Socrates said that poets create, not by virtue of inventive -science, but, thanks to a very certain natural instinct, just as -diviners predict, saying beautiful things, but not having consciousness -of what they say.[53] “All the manifestations of genius,” wrote Voltaire -to Diderot, “are the effects of instinct. All the philosophers of the -world put together would not be able to produce Quinault’s _Armide_, or -the _Animaux Malades de la peste_, which La Fontaine wrote without -knowing what he did. Corneille composed _Horace_ as a bird composes its -nest.”[54] - -Thus the greatest conceptions of thought, prepared, so to say, by former -sensations, and by exquisite organic sensibility, suddenly burst forth -and develop by unconscious cerebration. Thus also may be explained the -profound convictions of prophets, saints, and demoniacs, as well as the -impulsive acts of the insane. - -_Somnambulism._--Bettinelli wrote: “Poetry may almost be called a dream -which is accomplished in the presence of reason, which floats above it -with open eyes.” This definition is the more exact since many poets have -composed their poems in a dream or half-dream. Goethe often said that a -certain cerebral irritation is necessary to the poet; many of his poems -were, in fact, composed in a state bordering on somnambulism. Klopstock -declared that he had received several inspirations for his poems in -dreams. Voltaire conceived during sleep one of the books of his -_Henriade_; Sardini, a theory on the flageolet; Seckendorf, his -beautiful ode to imagination, which in its harmony reflects its origin. -Newton and Cardan resolved mathematical problems in dreams. Nodier -composed _Lydia_, together with a complete theory of future destiny, as -the result of dreams which “succeeded each other,” he wrote, “with such -redoubled energy, from night to night, that the idea transformed itself -into a conviction.” Muratori, many years after he had ceased to write -verse, improvised in a dream a Latin pentameter. It is said that La -Fontaine composed in a dream his _Deux Pigeons_, and that Condillac -completed during sleep a lesson interrupted in his waking hours.[55] -Coleridge’s _Kubla Khan_ was composed, in ill health, during a profound -sleep produced by an opiate; he was only able to recall fifty-four -lines. Holde’s _Phantasie_ was composed under somewhat similar -conditions. - -_Genius in Inspiration._--It is very true that nothing so much resembles -a person attacked by madness as a man of genius when meditating and -moulding his conceptions. _Aut insanit homo aut versus facit._ According -to Réveillé-Parise, the man of genius exhibits a small contracted pulse, -pale, cold skin, a hot, feverish head, brilliant, wild, injected eyes. -After the moment of composition it often happens that the author himself -no longer understands what he wrote a short time before. Marini, when -writing his _Adone_, did not feel a serious burn of the foot. Tasso, -during composition, was like a man possessed. Lagrange felt his pulse -become irregular while he wrote. Alfieri’s sight was troubled. Some, in -order to give themselves up to meditation, even put themselves -artificially into a state of cerebral semi-congestion. Thus Schiller -plunged his feet into ice. Pitt and Fox prepared their speeches after -excessive indulgence in porter. Paisiello composed beneath a mountain of -coverlets. Descartes buried his head in a sofa. Bonnet retired into a -cold room with his head enveloped in hot cloths. Cujas worked lying -prone on the carpet. It was said of Leibnitz that he “meditated -horizontally,” such being the attitude necessary to enable him to give -himself up to the labour of thought. Milton composed with his head -leaning over his easy-chair.[56] Thomas and Rossini composed in their -beds. Rousseau meditated with his head in the full glare of the sun.[57] -Shelley lay on the hearthrug with his head close to the fire. All these -are instinctive methods for augmenting momentarily the cerebral -circulation at the expense of the general circulation. - -It is known that very often the great conceptions of thinkers have been -organized, or at all events have taken their start, in the shock of a -special sensation which produced on the intelligence the effect of a -drop of salt water on a well-prepared voltaic pile. All great -discoveries have been occasioned, according to Moleschott’s remark, by a -simple sensation.[58] Some frogs which were to furnish a medicinal broth -for Galvani’s wife were the origin of the discovery of galvanism; the -movement of a hanging lamp, the fall of an apple, inspired the great -systems of Galileo and Newton. Alfieri composed or conceived his -tragedies while listening to music, or soon after. A celebrated cantata -of Mozart’s _Don Giovanni_ came to him on seeing an orange, which -recalled a popular Neapolitan air heard five years before. The sight of -a porter suggested to Leonardo da Vinci his celebrated _Giuda_. The -movements of his model suggested to Thorwaldsen the attitude of his -Seated Angel. Salvator Rosa owed his first grandiose inspirations to the -scenes of Posilipo. Hogarth conceived his grotesque scenes in a Highgate -tavern, after his nose had been broken in a dispute with a drunkard. -Milton, Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci, liked to hear music before beginning -to work. Bourdaloue tried an air on the violin before writing one of his -immortal sermons. Reading one of Spenser’s odes aroused the poetic -vocation in Cowley. A boiling teakettle suggested to Watt the idea of -the steam-engine. - -In the same way a sensation is the point of departure of the terrible -deeds produced by impulsive mania. Humboldt’s nursemaid confessed that -the sight of the fresh and delicate flesh of his child irresistibly -impelled her to bite it. Many persons, at the sight of a hatchet, a -flame, a corpse, have been drawn to murder, incendiarism, or the -profanation of cemeteries. - -It must be added that inspiration is often transformed into a real -hallucination; in fact, as Bettinelli well says, the man of genius sees -the objects which his imagination presents to him. Dickens and Kleist -grieved over the fates of their heroes. Kleist was found in tears just -after finishing one of his tragedies: “She is dead,” he said. Schiller -was as much moved by the adventures of his personages as by real -events.[59] T. Grossi told Verga that in describing the apparition of -Prina, he saw the figure come before him, and was obliged to relight his -lamp to make it disappear.[60] Brierre de Boismont tells us that the -painter Martina really saw the pictures he imagined. One day, some one -having come between him and the hallucination, he asked this person to -move so that he might go on with his picture.[61] - -_Contrast, Intermittence, Double Personality._--When the moment of -inspiration is over, the man of genius becomes an ordinary man, if he -does not descend lower; in the same way personal inequality, or, -according to modern terminology, double, or even contrary, personality, -is the one of the characters of genius. Our greatest poets, Isaac -Disraeli remarked (in _Curiosities of Literature_), Shakespeare and -Dryden, are those who have produced the worst lines. It was said of -Tintoretto that sometimes he surpassed Tintoretto, and sometimes was -inferior to Caracci. Great tragic actors are very cheerful in society, -and of melancholy humour at home. The contrary is true of genuine -comedians. “John Gilpin,” that masterpiece of humour, was written by -Cowper between two attacks of melancholia. Gaiety was in him the -reaction from sadness. It was singular, he remarked, that his most comic -verses were written in his saddest moments, without which he would -probably never have written them. A patient one day presented himself to -Abernethy; after careful examination the celebrated practitioner said, -“You need amusement; go and hear Grimaldi; he will make you laugh, and -that will be better for you than any drugs.” “My God,” exclaimed the -invalid, “but I am Grimaldi!” Débureau in like manner went to consult an -alienist about his melancholy; he was advised to go to Débureau. -Klopstock was questioned regarding the meaning of a passage in his poem. -He replied, “God and I both knew what it meant once; now God alone -knows.” Giordano Bruno said of himself: “_In hilaritate tristis, in -tristitia hilaris_.” Ovidio justly remarked concerning the -contradictions in Tasso’s style, that “when the inspiration was over, he -lost his way in his own creations, and could no longer appreciate their -beauty or be conscious of it.”[62] Renan described himself as “a tissue -of contradictions, recalling the classic _hirocerf_ with two natures. -One of my halves is constantly occupied in demolishing the other, like -the fabulous animal of Ctesias, who ate his paws without knowing -it.”[63] - -“If there are two such different men in you,” said his mistress to -Alfred de Musset, “could you not, when the bad one rises, be content to -forget the good one?”[64] Musset himself confesses that, with respect to -her, he gave way to attacks of brutal anger and contempt, alternating -with fits of extravagant affection; “an exaltation carried to excess -made me treat my mistress like an idol, like a divinity. A quarter of an -hour after having insulted her I was at her knees; I left off accusing -her to ask her pardon; and passed from jesting to tears.” - -_Stupidity._--The doubling of personality, the amnesia and the misoneism -so common among men of science, are the key to the innumerable -stupidities which intrude into their writings: _quandoque bonus dormitat -Homerus_. Flaubert made a very curious collection of these, and called -it the “_Dossier de la sottise humaine_.” Here are some examples: “The -wealth of a country depends on its general prosperity” (Louis Napoleon). -“She did not know Latin, but understood it very well” (Victor Hugo, in -_Les Misérables_). “Wherever they are, fleas throw themselves against -white colours. This instinct has been given them in order that we may -catch them more easily.... The melon has been divided into slices by -nature in order that it may be eaten _en famille_; the pumpkin, being -larger, may be eaten with neighbours” (Bernardin de Saint Pierre in -_Harmonie de la Nature_). “It is the business of bishops, nobles, and -the great officers of the State to be the depositaries and the guardians -of the conservative virtues, to teach nations what is good and what is -evil, what is true and what is false, in the moral and spiritual world. -Others have no right to reason on these matters. They may amuse -themselves with the natural sciences. What have they to complain of?” -(De Maistre in _Soirées de St. Petersbourg, 8e Entretien_, p. 131). -“When one has crossed the bounds there are no limits left” (Ponsard). “I -have often heard the blindness of the council of Francis I. deplored in -repelling Christopher Columbus, when he proposed his expedition to the -Indies” (Montesquieu, in _Esprit des Lois_, liv., xxi., chap. xxii. -Francis I. ascended the throne in 1515; Columbus died in 1506). -“Bonaparte was a great gainer of battles, but beyond that the least -general is more skilful than he.... It has been believed that he -perfected the art of war, and it is certain that he made it retrograde -towards the childhood of art” (Chateaubriand, _Les Buonaparte et les -Bourbons_). “Voltaire is nowhere as a philosopher, without authority as -a critic and historian, out of date as a man of science” (Dupanloup, -_Haute Éducation intellectuelle_). “Grocery is respectable. It is a -branch of commerce. The army is more respectable still, because it is an -institution, the aim of which is order. Grocery is useful, the army is -necessary” (Jules Noriac in _Les Nouvelles_). Let us recall Pascal, at -one time more incredulous than Pyrrho, at another, writing like a Father -of the Church; or Voltaire, believing sometimes in destiny, which -“causes the growth and the ruin of States”;[65] sometimes in fatality -which “governs the affairs of the world”;[66] sometimes in -Providence.[67] - -_Hyperæsthesia._--If we seek, with the aid of autobiographies, the -differences which separate a man of genius from an ordinary man, we find -that they consist in very great part in an exquisite, and sometimes -perverted, sensibility. - -The savage and the idiot feel physical pain very feebly; they have few -passions, and they only attend to the sensations which concern more -directly the necessities of existence. The higher we rise in the moral -scale, the more sensibility increases; it is highest in great minds, and -is the source of their misfortunes as well as of their triumphs. They -feel and notice more things, and with greater vivacity and tenacity than -other men; their recollections are richer and their mental combinations -more fruitful. Little things, accidents that ordinary people do not see -or notice, are observed by them, brought together in a thousand ways, -which we call _creations_, and which are only binary and quaternary -combinations of sensations. - -Haller wrote: “What remains to me except sensibility, that powerful -sentiment which results from a temperament vividly moved by the -impressions of love and the marvels of science? Even to-day to read of a -generous action calls tears from my eyes. This sensibility has certainly -given to my poems a passion which is not found elsewhere.”[68] Diderot -said: “If nature has ever made a sensitive soul it is mine. Multiply -sensitive souls, and you will augment good and evil actions.”[69] - -The first time that Alfieri heard music he experienced as it were a -dazzling in his eyes and ears. He passed several days in a strange but -agreeable melancholy; there was an efflorescence of fantastic ideas; at -that moment he could have written poetry if he had known how, and -expressed sentiments if he had had any to express. He concludes, with -Sterne, Rousseau, and George Sand, that “there is nothing which agitates -the soul with such unconquerable force as musical sounds.” Berlioz has -described his emotions on hearing beautiful music: first, a sensation of -voluptuous ecstasy, immediately followed by general agitation with -palpitation, oppression, sobbing, trembling, sometimes terminating with -a kind of fainting fit. Malibran, on first hearing Beethoven’s symphony -in C minor, had a convulsive attack and had to be taken out of the hall. -Musset, Goncourt, Flaubert, Carlyle had so delicate a perception of -sounds that the noises of the streets and bells were insupportable to -them; they were constantly changing their abodes to avoid these sounds, -and at last fled in despair to the country.[70] Schopenhauer also hated -noise. - -Urquiza fainted on breathing the odour of a rose. Baudelaire had a very -delicate sense of smell; he perceived the odour of women in dresses; he -could not live in Belgium, he said, because the trees had no fragrance. - -Guy de Maupassant says of Gustave Flaubert: “From his early childhood -the distinctive features of his nature were a great _naïveté_ and a -horror of physical action. All his life he remained _naïf_ and -sedentary. It exasperated him to see people walking or moving about him, -and he declared in his mordant, sonorous, always rather theatrical -voice, that it was not philosophic. ‘One can only think and write -seated,’ he said.”[71] Sterne wrote that intuition and sensibility are -the only instruments of genius, the source of the delicious impressions -which give a more brilliant colour to joy, and which make us weep with -happiness. It is known that Alfieri and Foscolo often fell at the feet -of women who were very unworthy of them. Alfieri could not eat on the -day when his horse did not neigh. Every one knows that the beauty and -love of the Fornarina inspired Raphael’s palette, but very few know -that he also composed one hundred sonnets in her honour.[72] - -Dante and Alfieri fell in love at nine years of age, Scarron at eight, -Rousseau at eleven, Byron at eight. At sixteen Byron, hearing that his -beloved was about to marry, almost fell into convulsions; he was almost -suffocated and, although he had no idea of sex, he doubted if he ever -loved so truly in later years. He had a convulsive attack, Moore tells -us, on seeing Kean act. The painter Francia died of joy on seeing one of -Raphael’s pictures. Ampère was so sensitive to the beauties of nature -that he thought he would die of happiness on seeing the magnificent -shores of Genoa. In one of his manuscripts he had left the journal of an -unfortunate passion. Newton was so affected on discovering the solution -of a problem that he was unable to continue his work. Gay-Lussac and -Davy, after making a discovery, danced about in their slippers. - -It is this exaggerated sensibility of men of genius, found in less -degree in men of talent also, which causes great part of their real or -imaginary misfortunes. “This precious gift,” writes Mantegazza, “this -rare privilege of genius, brings in its train a morbid reaction to the -smallest troubles from without; the slightest breeze, the faintest -breath of the dog-days, becomes for these sensitive persons the rumpled -rose-petal which will not let the unfortunate sybarite sleep.”[73] La -Fontaine perhaps thought of himself when he wrote:-- - - “_Un souffle, une ombre, un rien leur donne la fièvre._” - -Offences which for others are but pin-pricks for them are sharpened -daggers. When Foscolo heard a mocking word from one of his friends he -became indignant, and said to her: “You wish to see me dead; I will -break my skull at your feet”; so saying, he threw himself with great -violence and lowered head against the edge of the marble mantlepiece; a -charitable bystander promptly seized him by the collar of his coat, and -saved his life by throwing him on the ground. Boileau and Chateaubriand -could not hear any one praised, even their shoemakers, without a certain -annoyance. Hence the manifestations of morbid vanity which often -approximate men of genius to ambitious monomaniacs. Schopenhauer was -furious and refused to pay his debts to any one who spelled his name -with a double “p.” Barthez could not sleep with grief because in the -printing of his _Génie_ the accent on the _ē_ was divided into two. -Whiston said he ought not to have published his refutation of Newton’s -chronology, as Newton was capable of killing him. Poushkin was seen one -day in the crowded theatre, in a fit of jealousy, to bite the shoulder -of the wife of the Governor-General, Countess Z., to whom he was then -paying attention. - -Any one who has had the rare fortune to live with men of genius is soon -struck by the facility with which they misinterpret the acts of others, -believe themselves persecuted, and find everywhere profound and infinite -reasons for grief and melancholy. Their intellectual superiority -contributes to this end, being equally adapted to discover new aspects -of truth and to create imaginary ones, confirming their own painful -illusions. It is true, also, that their intellectual superiority permits -them to acquire and to express, regarding the nature of things, -convictions different from those adopted by the majority, and to -manifest them with an unshakeable firmness which increases the -opposition and contrast. - -But the principal cause of their melancholy and their misfortunes is the -law of dynamism which rules in the nervous system. To an excessive -expenditure and development of nervous force succeeds reaction or -enfeeblement. It is permitted to no one to expend more than a certain -quantity of force without being severely punished on the other side; -that is why men of genius are so unequal in their productions. -Melancholy, depression, timidity, egoism, are the prices of the sublime -gifts of intellect, just as uterine catarrhs, impotence, and tabes -dorsalis are the prices of sexual abuse, and gastritis of abuse of -appetite. - -Milli, after one of her eloquent improvisations which are worth the -whole existence of a minor poet, falls into a state of paralysis which -lasts several days. Mahomet after prophesying fell into a state of -imbecility. “Three _suras_ of the _Koran_,” he said one day to -Abou-Bekr, “have been enough to whiten my hair.”[74] In short, I do not -believe there has ever been a great man who, even at the height of his -happiness, has not believed and proclaimed, even without cause, that he -was unfortunate and persecuted, and who has not at some moment -experienced the painful modifications of sensibility which are the -foundation of melancholia. - -Sometimes this sensibility undergoes perversion; it consumes itself, and -is agitated around a single point, remaining indifferent to all others. -Certain series of ideas or sensations acquire, little by little, the -force of a special stimulant on the brain, and sometimes on the entire -organism, so that they seem to survive life itself. Heine, who in his -letters declared himself incapable of understanding the simplest things, -Heine, blind and paralytic, when advised to turn towards God, replied in -his dying agony: “_Dieu me pardonnera; c’est son métier_;” thus crowning -with a stroke of supreme irony the most æsthetically cynical life of our -time. The last words of Aretino after extreme unction were, it is said, -“Keep me from the rats now I am anointed.” The dying Rabelais enveloped -his head in his _domino_, and said, “_Beati qui in Domino moriuntur_.” -Malherbe, in his last illness, reproached his nurse with the solecisms -she committed, and rejected the counsel of his confessor on account of -its bad style. The last words of Bouhours the grammarian, were, “_Je -vais ou je va mourir: l’un et l’autre se disent_.” - -Foscolo confesses that “very active in some directions, he was in others -inferior to a man, to a woman, to a child.”[75] It is known that -Corneille, Descartes, Virgil, Addison, La Fontaine, Dryden, Manzoni, -Newton, were almost incapable of expressing themselves in public. -D’Alembert and Ménage, insensible to the sufferings of a surgical -operation, wept at a slight critical censure. Luce de Lancival smiled -when his legs were amputated, but could not endure Geoffrey’s -criticisms. Linnæus, at the age of sixty, rendered paralytic and -insensible by an apoplectic stroke, was aroused when carried near to his -beloved herbarium.[76] Lagny was stretched out comatose, insensible to -the strongest stimulants, when it occurred to some one to ask him the -square of twelve, he replied immediately, “One hundred and forty-four.” -Sebouyah, the Arab grammarian, died of grief because the Khalif -Haroun-al-Raschid did not agree with him on some grammatical point. - -It should be observed here that men of genius, at all events, if men of -science, often present that species of mania which Wechniakoff[77] and -Letourneau[78] have called _monotypic_. Such men occupy themselves -throughout their whole lives with one single problem, the first which -takes possession of their brains, and which henceforth rules them. Otto -Beckmann was occupied during the whole of his life with the pathology of -the kidneys; Fresnel with light; Meyer with ants. Here is a new and -striking point of resemblance with monomaniacs. - -On account of this exaggerated and concentrated sensibility, it becomes -very difficult to persuade or dissuade either men of genius or the -insane. In them the roots of error, as well as those of truth, fix -themselves more deeply and multiplexly than in other men, for whom -opinion is a habit, an affair of fashion, or of circumstance. Hence the -slight utility of moral treatment as applied to the insane; hence also -the frequent fallibility of genius. - -In the same way we can explain why it is that great minds do not seize -ideas that the most vulgar intelligence can grasp, while at the same -time they discover ideas which would have seemed absurd to others: their -greater sensibility is associated with a greater originality of -conception. In exalted meditation thought deserts the more simple and -easy paths which no longer suit its robust energy. Thus Monge resolved -the most difficult problems of a differential calculus, and was -embarrassed in seeking an algebraic root of the second degree which a -schoolboy might have found. One of Lulli’s friends used to say -habitually on his behalf: “Pay no attention to him; he has no common -sense: he is all genius.” - -_Paræsthesia._--To the exhaustion and excessive concentration of -sensibility must be attributed all those strange acts showing apparent -or intermittent anæsthesia, and analgesia, which are to be found among -men of genius as well as among the insane. Socrates presented a -photo-paræsthesia which enabled him to gaze at the sun for a -considerable time without experiencing any discomfort. The Goncourts, -Flaubert, Darwin had a kind of musical daltonism. - -_Amnesia._--Forgetfulness is another of the characters of genius. It is -said that Newton once rammed his niece’s finger into his pipe; when he -left his room to seek for anything he usually returned without bringing -it.[79] Rouelle generally explained his ideas at great length, and when -he had finished, he added: “But this is one of my arcana which I tell to -no one.” Sometimes one of his pupils rose and repeated in his ear what -he had just said aloud; then Rouelle believed that the pupil had -discovered the arcanum by his own sagacity, and begged him not to -divulge what he had himself just told to two hundred persons. One day, -when performing an experiment during a lecture, he said to his hearers: -“You see, gentlemen, this cauldron over the flame? Well, if I were to -leave off stirring it an explosion would at once occur which would make -us all jump.” While saying these words, he did not fail to forget to -stir, and the prediction was accomplished; the explosion took place with -a fearful noise: the laboratory windows were all smashed, and the -audience fled to the garden.[80] Sir Everard Home relates that he once -suddenly lost his memory for half an hour, and was unable to recognise -the house and the street in which he lived; he could not recall the -name of the street, and seemed to hear it for the first time. It is -told of Ampère that when travelling on horseback in the country he -became absorbed in a problem; then, dismounting, began to lead his -horse, and finally lost it; but he did not discover his misadventure -until, on arrival, it attracted the attention of his friends. Babinet -hired a country house, and after making the payments returned to town; -then he found that he had entirely forgotten both the name of the place -and from what station he had started.[81] - -One day Buffon, lost in thought, ascended a tower and slid down by the -ropes, unconscious of what he was doing, like a somnambulist. Mozart, in -carving meat, so often cut his fingers, accustomed only to the piano, -that he had to give up this duty to other persons. Of Bishop Münster, it -is said that, seeing at the door of his own ante-chamber the -announcement: “The master of the house is out,” he remained there -awaiting his own return.[82] Of Toucherel, it is told by Arago, that he -once even forgot his own name. Beethoven, on returning from an excursion -in the forest, often left his coat on the grass, and often went out -hatless. Once, at Neustadt, he was arrested in this condition, and taken -to prison as a vagabond; here he might have remained, as no one would -believe that he was Beethoven, if Herzog, the conductor of the -orchestra, had not arrived to deliver him. Gioia, in the excitement of -composition, wrote a chapter on the table of his bureau instead of on -paper. The Abbé Beccaria, absorbed in his experiments, said during mass: -“_Ite! experientia facta est_.” Saint Dominic, in the midst of a -princely repast, suddenly struck the table and exclaimed: “_Conclusum -est contra Manicheos_.” It is told of Ampère that having written a -formula, with which he was pre-occupied, on the back of a cab, he -started in pursuit as soon as the cab went off.[83] Diderot hired -vehicles which he then left at the door and forgot, thus needlessly -paying coachmen for whole days. He often forgot the hour, the day, the -month, and even the person to whom he was speaking; he would then speak -long monologues like a somnambulist.[84] Rossini, conducting the -orchestra at the rehearsal of his _Barbiere_, which was a fiasco, did -not perceive that the public and even the performers had left him alone -in the theatre until he reached the end of an act. - -_Originality_.--Hagen notes that originality is the quality that -distinguishes genius from talent.[85] And Jürgen-Meyer: “The imagination -of talent reproduces the stated fact; the inspiration of genius makes it -anew. The first disengages or repeats; the second invents or creates. -Talent aims at a point which appears difficult to reach; genius aims at -a point which no one perceives. The novelty, it must be understood, -resides not in the elements, but in their shock.” Novelty and grandeur -are the two chief characters which Bettinelli attributes to genius; “for -this reason,” he says, “poets call themselves _troubadours_ or -_trouvères_.” Cardan conceived the idea of the education of deaf mutes -before Harriot; he caught a glimpse of the application of algebra to -geometry and geometric constructions before Descartes.[86] Giordano -Bruno divined the modern theories of cosmology and of the origin of -ideas. Cola di Rienzi conceived Italian unity, with Rome as capital, -four hundred years before Cavour and Mazzini. Stoppani admits that the -geological theory of Dante, with regard to the formation of seas, is at -all points in accordance with the accepted ideas of to-day. - -Genius divines facts before completely knowing them; thus Goethe -described Italy very well before knowing it; and Schiller, the land and -people of Switzerland without having been there. And it is on account of -those divinations which all precede common observation, and because -genius, occupied with lofty researches, does not possess the habits of -the many, and because, like the lunatic and unlike the man of talent, he -is often disordered, the man of genius is scorned and misunderstood. -Ordinary persons do not perceive the steps which have led the man of -genius to his creation, but they see the difference between his -conclusions and those of others, and the strangeness of his conduct. -Rossini’s _Barbiere_, and Beethoven’s _Fidelio_ were received with -hisses; Boito’s _Mefistofele_ and Wagner’s _Lohengrin_ have been hissed -at Milan. How many academicians have smiled compassionately at Marzolo, -who has discovered a new philosophic world! Bolyai, for his invention of -the fourth dimension in anti-Euclidian geometry, has been called the -geometrician of the insane, and compared to a miller who wishes to make -flour of sand. Every one knows the treatment accorded to Fulton and -Columbus and Papin, and, in our own days, to Piatti and Praga and Abel, -and to Schliemann, who found Ilium, where no one else had dreamed of -looking for it, while learned academicians laughed. “There never was a -liberal idea,” wrote Flaubert, “which has not been unpopular; never an -act of justice which has not caused scandal; never a great man who has -not been pelted with potatoes or struck by knives. The history of human -intellect is the history of human stupidity, as M. de Voltaire -said.”[87] - -In this persecution, men of genius have no fiercer or more terrible -enemies than the men of academies, who possess the weapons of talent, -the stimulus of vanity, and the _prestige_ by preference accorded to -them by the vulgar, and by governments which, in large part, consist of -the vulgar. There are, indeed, countries in which the ordinary level of -intelligence sinks so low that the inhabitants come to hate not only -genius, but even talent. - -Originality, though usually of an aimless kind, is observed with some -frequency among the insane--as we shall see later on--and especially -among those inclined to literature. They sometimes reach the divinations -of genius: thus Bernardi, at the Florence Asylum in 1529, wished to show -the existence of language among apes.[88] - -In exchange for this fatal gift, both the one and the other have the -same ignorance of the necessities of practical life which always seems -to them less important than their own dreams, and at the same time they -possess the disordered habits which renders this ignorance dangerous. - -_Fondness for Special Words._--This originality causes men of genius, as -well as the insane, to create special words, marked with their own -imprint, unintelligible to others, but to which they attach -extraordinary significance and importance. Such are the _dignità_ of -Vico, the _individuità_ of Carrara, the _odio serrato_ of Alfieri, the -_albero epogonico_ of Marzolo, and the _immiarsi_, the _intuarsi_, and -the _entomata_ of Dante. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -LATENT FORMS OF NEUROSIS AND INSANITY IN GENIUS. - - Chorea and Epilepsy--Melancholy--Megalomania--_Folie du - doute_--Alcoholism--Hallucinations--Moral Insanity--Longevity. - - -It is now possible to explain the frequency among men of genius, even -when not insane, of those forms of neurosis or mental alienation which -may be called latent, and which contain the germs and as it were the -outlines of these disorders. - -_Chorea and Epilepsy._--Many men of genius, like the insane, are subject -to curious spasmodic and choreic movements. Lenau and Montesquieu left -upon the floor of their rooms the signs of the movements by which their -feet were convulsively agitated during composition; Buffon, Dr. Johnson, -Santeuil, Crébillon, Lombardini, exhibited the most remarkable facial -contortions.[89] There was a constant quiver on Thomas Campbell’s thin -lips. Chateaubriand was long subject to convulsive movements of the arm. -Napoleon suffered from habitual spasm of the right shoulder and of the -lips; “My anger,” he said, one day after an altercation with Lowe, “must -have been fearful, for I felt the vibration of my calves, which has not -happened to me for a long time.” Peter the Great suffered from -convulsive movements which horribly distorted his face. Carducci’s face -at certain moments, writes Mantegazza, is a veritable hurricane; -lightnings dart from his eyes and his muscles tremble.[90] Ampère could -only express his thoughts while walking, and when his body was in a -state of constant movement.[91] Socrates often danced and jumped in the -street without reason, as if by a freak. - -Julius Cæsar, Dostoieffsky, Petrarch, Molière, Flaubert, Charles V., -Saint Paul, and Handel, appear to have been all subject to attacks of -epilepsy. Twice upon the field of battle the epileptic vertigo nearly -had a serious influence on Cæsar’s fate. On another occasion, when the -Senate had decreed him extraordinary honours, and had gone out to meet -him with the consuls and prætors, Cæsar, who at that moment was seated -at the tribune, failed to rise, and received the Senators as though they -were ordinary citizens. They retired showing signs of discontent, and -Cæsar, suddenly returning to himself, immediately went home, took off -his clothes and uncovering his neck, exclaimed that he was ready to -deliver his throat to any one who wished to cut it. He explained his -behaviour to the Senate as due to the malady to which he was subject; he -said that those who were affected by it were unable to speak standing, -in public, that they soon felt shocks in their limbs, giddiness, and at -last completely lost consciousness.[92] - -Convulsions sometimes hindered Molière from doing any work for a -fortnight at a time. Mahomet had visions after an epileptic fit: “An -angel appears to me in human form; he speaks to me. Often I hear as it -were the sound of cats, of rabbits, of bells: then I suffer much.” After -these apparitions he was overcome with sadness and howled like a young -camel. Peter the Great and his son by Catherine were both epileptics. - -It may be noted here that artistic creation presents the intermittence, -the instantaneousness, and very often the sudden absences of mind which -characterize epilepsy. Paganini, Mozart, Schiller, and Alfieri, suffered -from convulsions. Paganini was even subject to catalepsy.[93] Pascal -from the age of twenty-four had fits which lasted for whole days. Handel -had attacks of furious and epileptic rage. Newton and Swift were subject -to vertigo, which is related to epilepsy. Richelieu, in a fit, believed -he was a horse, and neighed and jumped; afterwards he knew nothing of -what had taken place.[94] Maudsley remarks that epileptics often believe -themselves patriarchs and prophets. He thinks that by mistaking their -hallucinations for divine revelations they have largely contributed to -the foundation of religious beliefs. Anne Lee, who founded the sect of -Shakers, was an epileptic: she saw Christ come to her physically and -spiritually. The vision which transformed Saint Paul from a persecutor -into an apostle seems to have been of the same order. The Siberian -Shamans, who profess to have intercourse with spirits, operate in a -state of convulsive exaltation, and choose their pupils by preference -from among epileptic children. - -_Melancholy._--The tendency to melancholy is common to the majority of -thinkers, and depends on their hyperæsthesia. It is proverbially said -that to feel sorrow more than other men constitutes the crown of thorns -of genius. Aristotle had remarked that men of genius are of melancholic -temperament, and after him Jürgen-Meyer has affirmed the same. “_Tristes -philosophi et severi_,” said Varro. - -Goethe, the impassible Goethe, confesses that “my character passes from -extreme joy to extreme melancholy;” and elsewhere that “every increase -of knowledge is an increase of sorrow;” he could not recall that in all -his life he had passed more than four pleasant weeks. “I am not made for -enjoyment,” wrote Flaubert.[95] Giusti was affected by hypochondria, -which reached to delirium; sometimes he thought he had hydrophobia. -Corradi has shown[96] that all the misfortunes of Leopardi, as well as -his philosophy, owe their origin to an exaggerated sensibility, and a -hopeless love which he experienced at the age of eighteen. In fact, his -philosophy was more or less sombre according as his health was better or -worse, until the tendency was transformed into a habit. “Thought,” he -wrote, “has long inflicted on me, and still inflicts, such martyrdom as -to produce injurious effects, and it will kill me if I do not change my -manner of existence.”[97] In his poems Leopardi appears the most -romantic and philanthropic of men. In his letters, on the other hand, he -appears cold, indifferent to his parents, and still more to his native -country. From the publications of his host and protector Ranieri[98] may -be seen how little grateful he was to his friends, and that he was -eccentric to the verge of insanity. Desiring death every moment in -verse, he took exaggerated pains to cling to life, exposing himself to -the sun for hours together, sometimes eating only peaches, at other -times only flesh, always in extremes. No one hated the country more than -he, who so often sang its praises. He hardly reached it before he wished -to return, and stayed with difficulty an entire day. He made day night, -and night day. He suspected every one; one day he even suspected that he -had been robbed of a box in which he preserved old combs. - -The list of great men who have committed suicide is almost endless. It -opens with the names of Zeno Aristotle(?), Hegesippus, Cleanthes, -Stilpo, Dionysus of Heraclea, Lucretius, Lucan, and reaches to -Chatterton, Clive, Creech, Blount, Haydon, David. Domenichino was led to -commit suicide by the contempt of a rival; Spagnoletto by the abduction -of his daughter; Nourrit by the success of Dupré; Gros could not survive -the decadence of his genius. Robert, Chateaubriand, Cowper, Rousseau, -Lamartine on several occasions nearly put an end to their lives. Burns -wrote in a letter: “My constitution and frame were _ab origine_ blasted -with a deep incurable taint of melancholia which poisons my existence.” -Schiller passed through a period of melancholy which caused him to be -suspected of insanity. In B. Constant’s letters we read: “If I had had -my dear opium, it would have been the moment, in honour of _ennui_, to -put an end to an excessive movement of love.”[99] Dupuytren thought of -suicide even when he had reached the climax of fame. Pariset and Cavour -were only saved from suicide by devoted friends. The latter twice -attempted to kill himself. Lessmann, the humorous writer, who wrote the -_Journal of a Melancholiac_, hanged himself in 1835 during an attack of -melancholia. So died, also, the composer of _Masaniello_, Fischer, -Romilly, Eult von Burg, Hugh Miller, Göhring, Kuh (the friend of -Mendelssohn), Jules Uberti, Tannahill, Prévost-Paradol, Kleist, who died -with his mistress, and Majláth, who drowned himself with his daughter. - -George Sand, who seems, however, free from all neurosis, declared that -whether it was that bile made her melancholy, or that melancholy made -her bilious, she had been seized at moments of her life by a desire for -eternal repose--for suicide. She attributed this to an affection of the -liver. “It was an old chronic disorder, experienced and fought with from -early youth, forgotten like an old travelling companion whom one -believes one has left behind, but who suddenly presents himself. This -temptation,” she continues, “was sometimes so strange that I regarded it -as a kind of madness. It took the form of a fixed idea and bordered on -monomania. The idea was aroused chiefly by the sight of water, of a -precipice, of phials.” - -George Sand tells us that Gustave Planche was of strangely melancholy -character. Edgar Quinet suffered at times from unreasonable melancholy, -in this taking after his mother. Rossini experienced, about 1848, keen -grief because he had bought a house at a slight loss. He became really -insane, and took it into his head that he was reduced to extreme misery, -so that he must beg. He believed that he had become an idiot. He could, -indeed, neither compose nor even hear music spoken of. The care of -Sansone, of Ancona, gradually restored him to fame and to his friends. -The great painter Van Leyden believed himself poisoned, and during his -latter years never rose from his bed. Mozart was convinced that the -Italians wished to poison him. Molière had numerous attacks of -melancholia.[100] Voltaire was hypochondriacal.[101] “With respect to my -body,” he wrote, “it is moribund.... I anticipate dropsy. There is no -appearance of it, but you know that there is nothing so dry as a -dropsical person.... Diseases, more cruel even than kings, are -persecuting me. Doctors only are needed to finish me.” “All this” -(travels, pleasures, &c.), said Grimm, “did not prevent him from saying -that he was dead or dying; he was even very angry when one dared to -assure him that he was still full of strength and life.” Zimmermann was -afraid sometimes of dying of hunger, sometimes of being arrested; he -actually died of voluntary starvation, the result of a fixed idea that -he had no money to pay for food. The poet Gray, the “melancholy Gray,” -was of a gloomy and extremely reserved character. Abraham Lincoln was a -victim of constitutional melancholy, which assumed a most dangerous form -on one or two occasions in his earlier years. - -Chopin during the last years of his life was possessed by a melancholy -which went as far as insanity. An abandoned convent in Spain filled his -imagination with phantoms and terrors. One day G. Sand and her son were -late in returning from a walk. Chopin began to imagine, and finally -believed, that they were dead; then he saw himself dead, drowned in a -lake, and drops of frozen water fell upon his breast. They were real -drops of rain falling upon him from the roof of the ruin, but he did not -perceive this, even when George Sand pointed it out. Some trifling -annoyance affected him more than a great and real misfortune. A crumpled -petal, a fly, made him weep.[102] - -Cavour from youth believed himself deprived of domestic affections. He -saw no friends around; he saw above him no ideal to realise; he found -himself alone.[103] His condition reached such a point that, to avoid -greater evils and to leave an insipid life, he wished to kill himself. -He hesitated only because he was doubtful about the morality of suicide. -“But, while this doubt exists, it is best for me to imitate Hamlet. I -will not kill myself: no, but I will put up earnest prayers to heaven to -send me a rapid consumption which may carry me off to the other world.” -At a very youthful age he sometimes gave himself up to strange attacks -of bad temper. One day, at the Castle of Diluzers, at Balangero, he -threw himself into so violent a rage on being asked to study that he -wished to kill himself with a knife and throw himself from the window. -These attacks were very frequent but of brief duration.[104] When the -hopes of war raised by the words of Napoleon III. to Baron Hübner seemed -suddenly to give place in the Emperor’s mind to thoughts of peace, -Cavour was carried away by such agitation that some extreme resolution -was apprehended. This is confirmed by Castelli, who went to his house -and found him alone in his room. He had burnt various papers, and given -orders that no one should be admitted. The danger was plain. He looked -fixedly at Castelli, who spoke a few calm words calculated to affect -him, and then burst into tears. Cavour rose, embraced him convulsively, -took a few steps distractedly about the room, and then said slowly: “Be -at rest; we will brave everything, and always together.” Castelli ran to -reassure his friends, but the danger had been very grave.[105] - -Chateaubriand relates, in his _Mémoires d’outre Tombe_, that one day as -a youth he charged an old musket, which sometimes went off by itself, -with three balls, inserted the barrel in his mouth and struck the stock -against the ground. The appearance of a passer-by suspended his -resolution. - -Gérard de Nerval was never so much inspired as in those movements when, -according to the saying of Alexandre Dumas, his melancholy became his -muse. “Werther, René, Antony,” says Dumas, “never uttered more poignant -complaints, more sorrowful sighs, tenderer words, or more poetic cries.” - -J. S. Mill[106] was seized during the autumn of 1826, at the age of -twenty, by an attack of insanity which he himself could only describe in -these words of Coleridge’s: - - “A grief without a pang, void, dark, and drear, - A drowsy, stifled, unimpassioned grief, - Which finds no natural outlet or relief - In word, or sigh, or tear.” - -I quote these lines the more willingly as they show in their extreme -energy that Coleridge himself was affected by the same malady. To this -state of mind succeeded another in which Mill sought to cultivate the -feelings; among other preoccupations he feared the exhaustion of musical -combinations: “The octave consists only of five tones and two -semi-tones, which can be put together in only a limited number of ways, -of which but a small proportion are beautiful: most of them, it seemed -to me, must have been already discovered, and there could not be room -for a long succession of Mozarts and Webers to strike out, as these had -done, entirely new and surpassingly rich veins of musical beauty. This -source of anxiety may, perhaps, be thought to resemble that of the -philosophers of Laputa, who feared lest the sun should be burnt -out.”[107] - -_Megalomania_ (_Delusions of grandeur_).--The delirium of melancholia -alternates with that of grandiose monomania. - -“The title ‘Son of David,’” writes Renan, “was the first which Jesus -Christ accepted, probably without taking part in the innocent frauds by -which it was sought to make it certain. The family of David had, in -fact, long been extinct.” Later on he declared himself the son of God. -“His Father had given him all power; nature obeyed him; he could forgive -sins; he was superior to David, to Abraham, to Solomon, to the prophets. -It is evident,” Renan continues, “that the title of Rabbi, with which he -was at first contented, no longer satisfied him; even the title of -Prophet or Messenger from God no longer corresponded to his conception. -The position which he attributed to himself was that of a superhuman -being.” He declared that he was come to give sight to the blind, and to -blind those who think they see. One day his ill humour with the Temple -called forth an imprudent expression: “This Temple, made by human -hands,” he said, “I could, if I liked, destroy, and in its place build -another, not made by human hands. The Queen of Sheba,” he added, “will -rise up at the Judgment against the men of to-day and condemn them, -because they came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom; -yet a greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at -the Judgment against the men of to-day and condemn them, because they -repented at the preaching of Jonah; yet a greater than Jonah is here.” - -Dante’s pride, legitimate as it may have been, is proverbial. It is well -known that he placed himself “_sesto fra cotanto senno_,” and declared -himself superior to his contemporaries in style and the favourite of -God:-- - - “_ ... e forse e nato_ - _Chi l’uno e l’altro caccierà di nido...._ - _ ... perchè tanta_ - _Grazia in te luce prima che sei morto...._” - -At the Institute Dumas said with truth of Hugo: “Victor Hugo was -dominated by a fixed idea: to become the greatest poet and the greatest -man of all countries and all ages.” It is this, according to Dumas, -which explains the entire life and all the changes in Victor Hugo, who -began by being a Catholic and monarchist. “He could not submit to be -shut up within a government and a religion where he had not the right to -say anything and the chance to be first. The glory of Napoleon long -haunted Victor Hugo. But the day came when he could no longer tolerate -that any one should have glory equal to his own. The great captain must -give way to the great poet; the giant of action must efface himself -before the giant of thought. Is not Homer greater than Achilles? Victor -Hugo came to believe himself superior to all human beings. He did not -say, ‘I am Genius,’ but he began to believe firmly that the world would -say so. His personages do not possess the characters of reality nor the -proportions of man; they are always above and beyond humanity, sometimes -reversed, not to say upside down; that was because Nature had for him -aspects that were seen by no other. His eye enlarged everything; he saw -herbs as tall as trees; he saw insects as large as eagles.” - -Hegel believed in his own divinity. He began a lecture with these words: -“I may say with Christ, that not only do I teach truth, but that I am -myself truth.”[108] - -“Man is the vainest of animals, and the poet is the vainest of men,” -wrote Heine, who knew.[109] And in another letter: “Do not forget that I -am a poet, and, as such, convinced that men must forsake all and read my -verses.” - -“Every one knows,” wrote George Sand of her friend Balzac,[110] “how the -consciousness of greatness overflowed in him, how he loved to speak of -his works and to narrate them. Genial and ingenuous, he asked advice -from children, but never waited for the answer, or else opposed it with -all the obstinacy of his superiority. He never instructed, but always -talked very well indeed of himself, of himself alone. One evening, -having on a beautiful new dressing-gown, he wished to go out, thus -clothed, with a lamp in his hand, to excite the admiration of the -public.” - -Chopin directed in his will that he should be buried in a white tie, -small shoes, and short breeches. He abandoned the woman whom he tenderly -loved because she offered a chair to some one else before giving the -same invitation to himself.[111] - -Giordano Bruno declared himself illumined by superior light, a messenger -from God, who knew the essence of things, a Titan who would destroy -Jupiter: “And what others see far ahead I leave behind.”[112] And -again:-- - - “_Nam me Deus alter_ - _Vertentis sæcli melioris non mediocrem_ - _Destinat, haud veluti, media de plebe, magistrum._” - -The poet Lucilius did not rise when Julius Cæsar entered the college of -poets because he believed himself his superior in the art of verse. -Ariosto, after receiving the laurel from Charles V., ran like a madman -through the streets.[113] The celebrated surgeon Porta would not suffer -any medical paper to be read at the Lombard Institute without murmuring -and showing his contempt; as soon as a mathematical or philological -paper was brought forward he became quiet and attentive. Comte gave out -that he was the High Priest of Humanity. Wetzel intitled his works, -_Opera Dei Wetzelii_. Rouelle, the founder of chemistry in France, -quarrelled with all his disciples who wrote on chemistry. They were, he -said, ignorant bunglers, plagiaries; this latter term assumed so odious -a significance in his mind that he applied it to the worst criminals; -for instance, to express his horror of Damiens he said he was a -plagiary. - -Many men of genius, while avoiding these excesses, nevertheless believe -that they embody in themselves absolute truth; they modify scientific -conclusions in their own interests, and in accordance with the part they -are themselves able to take. Delacroix, become incapable of drawing -beautiful lines, declared, “Colour is everything.” Ingres said, “Drawing -is honesty, drawing is honour.” Chopin charged Schubert and Shakespeare -with temerity because in these great men he always sought a -correspondence with his own temperament.[114] The Princess Conti having -said to Malherbe, “I wish to show you some of the most beautiful verses -in the world, which you have not yet seen,” he replied immediately with -emotion, “Pardon me, madame, I have seen them; for, since they are the -most beautiful in the world, I must have written them myself.” - -_Folie du doute._--Among men of genius we often find the phenomena which -characterizes that disorder termed by alienists _folie du doute_, one of -the varieties of melancholia. In this form of insanity the subject has -every appearance of mental health; he reasons, writes, and speaks like -other people; everything goes well until he has to execute a definite -action, and in this he finds all sorts of imaginary dangers. Thus I have -treated a woman who when she had to get up in the morning, would -hesitate for hours beside her bed, with one arm in the sleeve of her -chemise, and the other sleeve hanging down, until her husband came to -her help. Sometimes the husband was obliged to give her a few slight -blows to induce her to take action. If she went for a walk and knocked -against a stone, or came across a puddle, she would remain motionless; -her husband had then to carry her for a few instants. In conversation -she seemed the best and most sensible of mothers, but woe to the -unfortunate person who dropped any word she regarded with suspicion, -such as “devil,” “death,” “God”; she immediately seized him and cried -out, until he repeated a certain formula, declaring a dozen times that -the word had not been uttered to injure her. A peasant, affected by the -same disorder, was incapable of attending to his work, unless some one -was there to watch over him; for, said he, “I cannot make up my mind -whether I ought to dig or to hoe, to go to the field or to the hill, and -my uncertainty is so great that I end by doing nothing.” - -When Johnson walked along the streets of London he was compelled to -touch every post he passed; if he omitted one he had to return. He -always went in or out of a door or passage in such a way that either his -right or his left foot (Boswell was not certain which) should be the -first to cross the threshold; when he made any mistake in the movement, -he would return, and, having satisfactorily performed the feat, rejoin -his companions with the air of a man who had got something off his mind. -Napoleon I. could not pass through a street, even at the head of his -army, without counting and adding up the rows of windows. Manzoni, in a -letter (addressed to Giorgio Briano) which has become famous, declared -that he was incapable of giving himself up to politics because he did -not know how to decide on anything; he was always in a state of -uncertainty before every resolution, even the most trifling. He was -afraid of drowning in the smallest puddle, and could never resolve to go -out alone; he confessed on various occasions that, from his youth up, he -had suffered from melancholy.[115] He passed whole days without being -able to apply himself to anything,[116] so that in a month there were -five or six useful days during which he worked five hours, and then he -became incapable of thinking.[117] Ugo Foscolo said that “very active in -regard to some things, he was in regard to others less than a man, less -than a woman, less than a child.”[118] Tolstoi confesses that -philosophic scepticism had led him into a condition approximating to -madness; let us add, to _folie du doute_. “I imagined,” he said, “that -there existed nothing outside me, either living or dead; that the -objects were not objects, but vain appearances; this state reached such -a point that sometimes I turned suddenly round, and looked behind me in -the hope of seeing _nothing_ where I was not.” “The deplorable mania of -doubt exhausts me,” cried Flaubert, “I doubt about everything, even -about my doubts.”[119] “I am embarrassed and frightened at my own -ideas,” wrote Maine de Biran, “every expression stops me and gives me -scruples. I have no confidence in anything that I publish, and am always -tempted to withdraw my works when they have scarcely appeared, to -substitute others which would certainly be worthless. I always call -those happy who are tied down to fixed labour, who are not submitted to -the torment of uncertainty, to the indecision which poisons men who are -masters of their time. I am always trying my strength; I commence, and -recommence again and again. It is my fortune to be useless, to be -wanting in measure, never to feel my existence, never to have confidence -in my capacity. I am never happy wherever I am, because I carry within -my own organism a source of affliction and unrest. I have only -sufficient feeling of my own personality to feel my impotence, which is -a great torture. I am always ready to do a number of things ... and I do -nothing.”[120] The little miseries of existence were tortures for -Carlyle; to have to pack his portmanteau was a grave affair of state; -the idea of ordering coats or buying gloves crushed him. “I have long -renounced the omnibus,” wrote Renan in his _Souvenirs de Jeunesse_, “the -conductors refuse to regard me as a serious traveller. At the railway -station, unless I have the protection of an inspector, I always obtain -the worst place.... I see too well that to do a good turn to one, is -usually to do a bad one to another. The vision of the unknown person I -am injuring stops short my zeal.” - -Renan, indeed, is a most singular instance of these characteristics in -connection with genius, from his earliest years. At mass his childish -eye wandered over the roof of the chapel, and he thought of the great -men told of in books. It was his dream to write books. “My gentleness,” -he writes, “which often arises from indifference, my indulgence, which -is very sincere and which depends on a clear perception of the injustice -of men to each other, the conscientious habits which are a pleasure to -me, the indefinite endurance of _ennui_ which I possess--having, -perhaps, been inoculated in my youth--may be explained by my -surroundings, and the deep impressions I have received. The paradoxical -vow to preserve the clerical virtues without the faith which serves as -basis for them, and in a world for which they are not made, produced, so -far as I am concerned, the most amusing incidents. If ever a comic -writer wishes to amuse the public at my expense, he needs but my -collaboration; I could tell him things far more amusing than he could -invent.” A layman and a sceptic he preserved, involuntarily, the vow of -poverty. “My dream would be to be housed, fed, clothed, and warmed, -without having to think about it, by someone who would take charge of me -and leave me free. The competence which I possess came late, and in -spite of myself.... I always thought about writing; it did not occur to -me it could bring me any money. What was my astonishment when I saw a -gentleman of agreeable and intelligent appearance enter my garret, -compliment me on some articles I had published, and offer to collect -them in a volume. He brought a stamped paper stipulating conditions I -thought astonishingly generous, so that when he asked me to include all -my future writings in the same contract, I consented. The idea came to -me to make some observations, but I paused at sight of the document; the -thought that that beautiful sheet of paper would be lost stopped me. I -did well to stop.” The politeness which he wrongly believes he learnt at -the seminary is not the raw and cold politeness of the priest, but the -special and excessive timidity of genius. He could not, he says, treat -even a dog with an air of authority. But authority is the chief -characteristic of priests. To imagine as he does that men are always -good and deserving could only be, as he himself justly notes, a -continual danger. “Notwithstanding all my efforts to the contrary, I was -predestined to be what I am, a romantic protesting against romanticism, -an utopian preaching materialistic politics, an idealist uselessly -giving himself much trouble to appear _bourgeois_, a tissue of -contradictions.... It is as a great observer Challemel-Lacour has -excellently said, ‘He thinks like a man, feels like a woman, and acts -like a child.’ I do not complain, since this moral constitution has -procured me the most vivid intellectual joys that may be tasted.”[121] - -But the most striking example of this permanent state of doubt is -supplied by another philosopher, the author of a journal of his own -life, Amiel. He was so tormented by doubt that the strength of his -genius was only shown after his death, when in his journal he revealed -with absolute exactness the wound which gnawed him. Let us read a few of -the most remarkable passages:-- - - “As life flees,” he says, “I mourn the loss of reality: thought is - sad without action, and action is sad without thought: the real is - spoilt when the ideal has not added its perfume; but the ideal, - when not made one with the real, becomes a poison. I have never - learnt the art of writing; it would have been useful to me, but I - was ashamed of the useful: on the other hand, I have acquired two - opposed intellectual habits: to note immediately passing - impressions and to analyse them scientifically.... This journal - will be useful to no one, and even for me it will serve rather to - plan out life than to practice it; it is a pillow of idleness.... - And even in style I am unequal. Always energetic and correct: that - results from my existence: I see before me several expressions and - I do not know which I ought to choose. The unique expression is an - act of courage which implies confidence in oneself.... I - discovered very early that it is easier to give up a wish than to - gratify it.... The idea may be modified, but not the action, so I - abhor it, for I fear useless remorse: I thrust aside the idea of a - family, because every lost joy is the stab of a knife, because - every hope is an egg from which may proceed a serpent as well as a - dove.... Action is my cross because it would be my dream; but to be - false to the ideal would soil the conscience and be an unpardonable - error.... It is my passion to injure my interests. When a thing - attracts me I flee from it.”[122] - -Every one may see the glorious kinship to genius of all these forms of -disease. And every one will think of the great poet-alienist who divined -insanity in genius, and left of it a monumental portrait in Hamlet, the -man afflicted by _folie du doute_. - -It is scarcely necessary to add that these great disordered minds must -not be confused with the poor inmates, without genius, of our asylums. -Although, as diseased persons, they belong to the same category, and -have some of the same characters, they must not be identified with them. -While ordinary lunatics are reduced to inaction, or the agitation of -sterile delirium, these disordered men of genius are the more active in -the ideal life because the less apt for practical life. Further, when we -analyse more delicately this form of insanity, or rather of impotence -for practical action, so common among men of genius, we see that it is -distinct from the other forms. In scientific work these men do not lack -precision, or decision, or audacity. But by expending their strength on -theoretical problems, they end by failing with reference to practical -things. By carrying their glance above and beyond, these sublimely -far-sighted persons become, like astronomers, unable to perceive -neighbouring objects. The effects seem partly identical, but the nature -of the phenomena and their causes are absolutely different. - -In his “Dialogue of Nature,” Leopardi, after having shown how the -excellence of genius involves a greater intensity of life, and -consequently a more vivid sense of individual misfortune, makes Nature -address him thus: “Besides, the delicacy of your own intelligence and -the vivacity of your imagination will shut you out, for a great part, -from your empire of yourself. The brutes follow easily the ends that -they propose to themselves, with all their faculties and all their -strength. But men very rarely utilize all their power; they are usually -stopped by reason and imagination, which create for them a thousand -uncertainties in deliberation, a thousand obstacles in execution. Those -who are less apt or less accustomed to consider and balance motions are -the most prompt in taking a resolution, the most powerful in action. But -those who are like you, the elect souls, continually folded on -themselves and outrun, as it were, by the greatness of their own -faculties, consequently powerless to govern themselves, are most often -subjected, either in deliberation or execution, to irresolution, which -is one of the greatest penalties which afflict human life. Add to this -that the excellence of your aptitudes will enable you to surpass, easily -and briefly, all other souls in the most profound sciences and the most -difficult researches; but, nevertheless, it will always be impossible or -extremely difficult for you to learn or to put in practice a great many -things, insignificant in themselves, but absolutely necessary in your -relations with other men. And at the same time you will find these -things learnt and easily applied by minds, not only inferior to yours, -but altogether contemptible.” - -_Alcoholism._--Many men of genius have abused alcoholic drinks. -Alexander died, it is said, after having emptied ten times the goblet of -Hercules, and it was without doubt in an alcoholic attack, while -pursuing naked the infamous Thais, that he killed his dearest friend. -Cæsar was often carried home on the shoulders of his soldiers. Neither -Socrates, nor Seneca, nor Alcibiades, nor Cato, nor Peter the Great (nor -his wife, Catherine, nor his daughter, Elizabeth), were remarkable for -their abstinence. One recalls Horace’s line: - - “_Narratur et prisci Catonis sæpe mero caluisse virtus._” - -Tiberius Nero was called by the Romans Biberius Mero. Septimius Severus -and Mahomet II. succumbed to drunkenness or _delirium tremens_. Among -confirmed drunkards must be counted the Constable de Bourbon and -Avicenna, who, it was said, devoted the second half of his life to -showing the uselessness of the studies to which he had devoted the first -half; so also have been many famous painters, such as the Caracci, Jan -Steen, Barbatelli (on this account nicknamed Pocetta), G. Morland, -Turner; and many poets and novelists, such as Murger, Gérard de Nerval, -Alfred de Musset, Kleist, Poe, Hoffmann, Addison, Steele, Carew, -Sheridan, Burns, Charles Lamb, James Thomson, Majláth, Hartley -Coleridge. Tasso wrote in a letter: “I do not deny that I am mad, but I -believe that my madness is caused by intoxication and love; for I know -that I drink too much.” Coleridge, on account of his lack of will, and -his abuse of alcoholic drinks and opium, never succeeded in executing -any of his gigantic projects; in youth he was offered thirty guineas for -a poem he had improvised, but he never succeeded in getting it on to -paper. His son, Hartley, a distinguished writer, gave himself up to -drink so entirely that he died of it. It was said of him that he “wrote -like an angel and drank like a fish.” Savage, during the last days of -his life almost lived on wine and died in a Bristol prison. Helius, a -German poet of the sixteenth century, affirmed that it was the greatest -of shames to be beaten in drinking. Shenstone said of his comrade in -poetry, Somerville, that he was “forced to drink himself into pains of -the body, in order to get rid of the pains of the mind.” Madame de Staël -and De Quincey abused opium; the latter has left a vivid picture of his -excesses in the _Confessions of an Opium Eater_. Many musical composers -were great drinkers; such were Dussek, Handel, and Glück, who used to -say that he loved money, wine, and fame for an excellent reason: the -first enabled him to obtain the second, and the second, by inspiring -him, procured him fame. But besides wine he liked brandy, and one day he -drank so much that he died of it.[123] One may say the same of Rovani -and of Praga. - -_Hallucinations._--We have already seen that hallucinations are so -closely connected with artistic and genial creations that Brierre de -Boismont associated them with the physiology of great men. Every one -knows the celebrated hallucination of Cellini in his cell, those of -Brutus, of Cæsar, of Napoleon, of Swedenborg, who believed that he had -visited Heaven, conversed with the spirits of the great dead, and seen -the Eternal Father in person; Van Helmont declared that he had seen his -own soul in the form of a brilliant crystal; Kerner was visited by a -spectre. Shelley thought he saw a child rise from the sea and clap its -hands. Clare, after having read some historical episode, imagined that -he was himself spectator and actor. Blake thought he really perceived -the fantastic images reproduced by his pencil. A celebrated professor -was often subject to a similar illusion, and he believed himself changed -into Confucius, Papirius, and Tamerlane. Hobbes confessed that he could -not go in the dark without thinking that he saw visions of the -dead.[124] Bunyan heard voices. - -When Columbus was cast on the shores of Jamaica he had an hallucination -of hearing. He heard a voice reproaching him for giving himself up to -grief and for having but a weak faith in God: “What happens to you -to-day is a deserved punishment for having served the masters of the -world and not God. All these tribulations are engraved on marble, and -are not brought about without reason.” Later, Columbus declared that in -him was accomplished an ancient prophecy announcing the end of the world -on the day on which the universal diffusion of Christianity would be -realized. According to the same prophecy, only 156 years of existence -remained for humanity.[125] - -Malebranche declared that he had distinctly heard within himself the -voice of God. Descartes, after a long seclusion, believed himself -haunted by an invisible person who charged him to follow up the search -for truth.[126] Byron sometimes imagined he was haunted by a spectre; -he afterwards explained this himself by the extreme excitability of his -brain.[127] Dr. Johnson distinctly heard his mother call him “Samuel!” -although she was living in a distant town. Pope, who suffered much from -the bowels, one day asked his doctor about an arm which seemed to -protrude from the wall. Goethe assures us that he one day saw his own -image coming to meet him.[128] When Oliver Cromwell was lying on his -bed, kept awake by extreme fatigue, the curtain opened and a woman of -gigantic proportions appeared and announced that he would be the -greatest man in England.[129] - -_Moral Insanity._--Complete absence of moral sense and of sympathy is -frequently found among men of genius, as well as among the morally -insane. It is an old proverb that “_Quo quisque est doctior eo est -nequior_.” Aristotle, in reply to the question, “Why the most learned -man is of all living beings the most unjust?” replies: “Because he aims -always at pleasures which can only be attained by injustice. And, -besides, knowledge resembles the stone which is good to sharpen -instruments on, but may also serve the murderer’s turn.” And Philip of -Comines says: “_Doctrina vel meliores reddit homines vel pejores pro -cujusque natura_.” And Cardan: “_Sapientes cum calidissimi natura sint, -ac humidissimi, nisi philosophia proficiant, pessimi omnium sunt. -Adiuvant ad scelera perpetranda industria quam ex studiis acquisuerunt, -et melancolia quæ resoluto humore pinguiore gignitur ex superfluis -studiis, atque, vigiliis_,” _&c._ - -“The older I grow,” wrote George Sand, “the more I reverence goodness -because I see that this is the gift of which God is most avaricious. -Where there is no intelligence, that which is called goodness is merely -stupidity. Where there is no strength the pretended goodness is apathy. -Where there is strength and intelligence, goodness can scarcely be -found, because experience and observation have given birth to suspicion -and hate. The souls devoted to the noblest principles are often the most -rough and bitter, because they have become diseased through deceptions. -One esteems them, one admires them still, but one cannot love them. To -have been unhappy without ceasing to be intelligent and good implies a -very powerful organization, and it is such that I seek and love.... I am -sick of great men (forgive the expression); I should like to see them -all in Plutarch. There they do not make one suffer on the human side. -Let them be cut in marble or cast in bronze, and let them be silent. So -long as they live they are wicked, persecuting, fantastic, despotic, -bitter, suspicious. They confuse in the same proud contempt the goats -and the sheep. They are worse to their friends than to their enemies. -God protect us from them; be good--stupid if you will.”[130] - -“I regret,” said Valerius Maximus,[131] “to speak of the youth of -Themistocles, when I see, on the one hand, his father disinheriting him -with ignominy, and, on the other, his mother, from shame of such a son, -hanging herself with grief.” Sallust, who wrote such beautiful tirades -on virtue, passed his life in debauchery. Speusippus, the disciple of -Plato, was killed in the act of adultery.[132] Democritus is said to -have blinded himself because he could not look at a woman without -desiring her. Aristippus, under the mask of austerity, abandoned himself -to debauchery. Anaxagoras denied a deposit confided to him by strangers; -Aristotle basely flattered Alexander. Theognis wrote moral maxims, -particularly on a happy death, and bequeathed his patrimony to a -prostitute (?), leaving his own family destitute. Euripides, Juvenal, -and Aretino remarked that women of letters were nearly always -licentious. Thus Sappho, Philena, and Elephantina were prostitutes, as -was Leontion, philosopher and priestess, who gave herself to all the -philosophers; and Demophila who told little love stories, and put them -in practice. At the Renaissance, Veronica Franco, Tullia of Aragon, and -other prostitutes, were as well known for their licentiousness as for -their poetry. Voigt considers that immorality was a characteristic -feature of the Renaissance period.[133] - -In my _Uomo Delinquente_ I have considered criminal genius. Sallust, -Seneca, and Bacon were accused of peculation; Cremani was a forger, -Demme a poisoner. One may also refer to Casanova, who was declared to -have forfeited his nobility for a crime the nature of which is not -known, and Avicenna, an epileptic, who in old age plunged into -debauchery, and took opium in excess, so that it was said of him that -philosophy had not enabled him to live honestly, nor medicine to live -healthily.[134] - -Among poets and artists criminality is, unfortunately, well marked. Many -among them are dominated by passion which becomes the most powerful spur -of their activity; they are not protected by the logical criticism and -judgment with which men of science are armed. This is why we must count -among criminals Bonfadio, Rousseau, Aretino, Ceresa, Brunetto Latini, -Franco, Foscolo, possibly Byron. Observe that I leave out of the -question ancient times and barbarous countries among which brigandage -and poetry went hand in hand. - -More criminal still seem to have been Albergati, a comic writer -belonging to the highest aristocracy, who killed his wife through -jealousy;[135] Muret, the humanist, condemned in France for sodomy; and -Casanova, so highly gifted for mathematical science and finance, who -stained his fine genius by a life of swindling and turpitude, giving us -in his _Mémoires_ a complete and cynical picture of it. Villon belonged -to an honourable family; he received the name by which he is known -(_villon_, rascal, robber), when he became famous in scoundrelism, to -which he was led, by his own confession, by gaming and women. He began -by stealing objects of little value to give a good dinner to his -mistresses and companions in idleness; it was their wine that he stole. -His chief robbery was inspired by hunger when the woman, at whose -expense he lived, turned him out of doors at night in winter. It is to -this woman whom, in his _Petit Testament_ he bequeaths his heart. He is -supposed to have joined a band of armed robbers, who attacked travellers -on the Rueil road, and being arrested a second time he with difficulty -escaped the halter. - -It has been said of the man of genius, as of the madman, that he is born -and dies in isolation, cold and insensible to family affection and -social conventions. Men of letters, it is true, make much of the -powerful cries of pain in artists and writers who have lost, or been -abandoned by, a loved person. But often, as in Petrarch’s case, this is -only a pretext, an opportunity for literary labours.[136] Very often -such cries were sincere (or could they have been so powerful and -effective?) but they were then intermittent explosions, in opposition to -the habitual state of these men, or else temporary reactions against -their ordinary apathy, from which they were only drawn by personal -vanity, and the passion of æsthetic and scientific researches. - -Bulwer Lytton, from the first days of his marriage ill-treated his wife -by biting and insulting her, so that the courier who accompanied them on -the honeymoon refused to proceed to the end. Later he confessed to the -wrong he had done her, but wrote to her that a common life was -insupportable, and that he must live in liberty. - -It is curious to observe that the writers who have been most chaste in -their lives are least so in their writings, and _vice versa_. Flaubert -wrote in one of his letters, “Poor Bouilhet used to say to me, ‘There -never was so moral a man who loved immorality so much as you.’ There is -truth in that. Is it a result of my pride, or of a certain -perversity?”[137] George Sand and Sallust offer the opposite phenomenon. - -It is not known whether Comte ever forgave an injury. He certainly -always preserved the rancour and the recollection of injuries, and -pursued, even to the grave, the memory of his unfaithful wife. The -amorous worship which he dedicated to Clotilde de Vaux was so little -sincere that he determined beforehand the month, day, and hour when he -should shed tears over her memory.[138] - -Bacon employed all his eloquence for the condemnation of the greatest of -his benefactors, Essex; by cowardly complaisance to the king, he -introduced for the first time into the court of justice an odious abuse, -and submitted Peacham to torture so as to be able to condemn him; he -sold justice at a price, and, as Macaulay concludes, he was one of those -of whom we may say, _scientiis tanquam angeli, cupiditatibus tanquam -serpentes_. - -“Bridget,” confesses A. de Musset, “calumniated, exposed (by her love) -to the insults of the world, had to endure all the disdain and injury -which an angry and cruel libertine can heap on the girl whom he pays.... -The days passed on and my fits of ill-humour and sarcasm took on a -sombre and obstinate character.”[139] - -Byron’s intimate friend, Hobhouse, wrote of him that he was possessed by -a diseased egoism. Even when he loved his wife he refused to dine with -her, so as not to give up his old habits. He afterwards treated her so -badly that, in good faith, and perhaps with reason, she consulted -specialists as to his mental condition. - -Napoleon’s conduct towards his wife, his brothers, and towards those who -trusted in him was that of a man without moral sense. Taine sums up the -diagnosis in one word: he was a _condottiere_. - -“A man’s genius is no sinecure,” said Carlyle’s wife, a most intelligent -and cultivated woman, who, though capable of becoming (as she had hoped -and been assured) her husband’s fellow-worker, was compelled to be his -servant. The idea of travelling in a carriage with his wife seemed to -him out of the question; he must have his brother with him; he neglected -her for other women, and pretended that she was indifferent. Her chief -duty was to preserve him from the most remote noises; the second was to -make his bread, for he detested that of the bakers; he obliged her to -travel for miles on horseback as his messenger, only saw her at -meal-time, and for weeks together never addressed a word to her, -although his prolonged silence caused her agony. It was only after her -death, accelerated by his conduct, that, in a literary form, he showed -his repentance, and narrated her history in affecting language, but, as -his biographer adds, if she had been still alive he would have tormented -her afresh. - -Frederick II. said, like Lacenaire, that vengeance is the pleasure of -the gods, and that he would die happy if he could inflict on his enemies -more evils than he had suffered from them. He experienced real delight -in morally tormenting his friends, sometimes beating them; if a courtier -liked to pomade himself, he soaked his clothes in oil; he bargained with -Voltaire over sugar and chocolate, and deprived him of his money. - -Donizetti treated his family brutally; it was after a fit of savage -anger, in which he had beaten his wife, that he composed, sobbing, the -celebrated air, _Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali_;[140] a remarkable -instance of the double nature of personality in men of genius, and at -the same time of their moral insensibility. - -Houssaye narrates a similar scene, in which A. Dumas was so carried away -during a quarrel, as to tear out his wife’s hair. She, in despair, -wished to retire to a convent; yet after some minutes he gaily wrote a -comic scene, and said to his friends: “If tears were pearls, I would -make myself a necklace of them.” - -Byron used to beat the Guiccioli, and also his Venetian mistress, the -gondolier’s wife, who, however, gave him as good. - -Fontenelle, seeing his companion at table struck by apoplexy, was not -disconcerted; he simply took advantage of the incident to change the -sauce for the asparagus to vinegar; out of deference to his friend’s -taste he had previously ordered butter. - -It is sufficient to be present at any academy, university, faculty, or -gathering of men who, without genius, possess at least erudition, to -perceive at once that their dominant thought is always disdain and hate -of the man who possesses, almost or entirely, the quality of genius. The -man of genius, in his turn, has nothing but contempt for others. He -believes he has all the more right to laugh at others, from being -himself sensitive to the slightest criticism; he is even offended at -praise given to another as blame directed to himself. That is why at -academical gatherings the greatest men only agree in praising the most -ignorant person. We have seen that Chateaubriand was offended when his -shoemaker was praised. Lisfranc called his colleague, Dupuytren, a -brigand, and Roux and Velpeau forgers. - -I have been able to observe men of genius when they had scarcely reached -the age of puberty: they did not manifest the deep aversions of moral -insanity, but I have noted among all a strange apathy for everything -which does not concern them; as though plunged in the hypnotic -condition, they did not perceive the troubles of others, or even the -most pressing needs of those who were dearest to them; if they observed -them, they grew tender, and even at once hastened to attend to them; but -it was a fire of straw, soon extinguished, and it gave place to -indifference and weariness. - -Genius, said Schopenhauer, is solitary. Genius, wrote Goethe, is only -related to its time by its defects. - -This emotional anæsthesia may be found even in philanthropists, who -possess the genius of sentiment, and have made goodness and pity for the -poor the pivot of their actions. It is difficult to explain otherwise -some pages in the Gospel. “You think, perhaps,” said Jesus, “that I have -come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to throw down a sword -there.... In a household of five persons, three will be against two, and -two against three. I have come to bring division between father and son, -between mother and daughter, between daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. -From this time a man’s enemies will be of his own household.”[141] “I -have come to bring fire on to the earth: if it burns already, so much -the better!”[142] “I declare to you,” he added, “whoever leaves house, -wife, brothers, and parents, will receive a hundredfold in this world, -and in the world to come everlasting life.”[143] “If any one comes to me -and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, -sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”[144] “He who -loves his father and his mother more than me is not worthy of me; he who -loves his son or his daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.”[145] -Jesus said to a man, “Follow me.” “Lord;” this man replied, “let me -first go and bury my father.” Jesus answered: “The dead may bury their -dead: go, you, and preach the kingdom of God.”[146] - -Dante, Goethe, Leopardi, Byron, and Heine were reproached with hating -their country. Tolstoi disapproves of patriotism. Schopenhauer said, “In -the face of death I confess that I despise the Germans for their -unspeakable bestiality, and am ashamed to belong to them.” - -_Longevity._--This diseased apathy, this diminution of affection, which -furnishes genius with a breastplate against so many assaults, and which -rapidly destroys fibres at once so delicate and so strong, explains the -remarkable longevity of men of genius, in spite of their hyperæsthesia -in other directions. I have noted this character in 134 cases out of -143. - -Sophocles, Humboldt, Fontenelle, Brougham, Xenophon, Cato the Elder, -Michelangelo, Petrarch, Bettinelli, died at 90; Passeroni, Auber, -Manzoni, Xavier de Maistre at 89; Hobbes at 92; Dandolo at 97; Titian at -99; Cassiodorus and Mlle. Scudéry at 94; Viennet and Diogenes at 91; -Voltaire, Franklin, Watt, John of Bologna, Vincent de Paul, Baroccio, -Young, Talleyrand, Raspail, Grimm, Herschel, Metastasio at 84; Victor -Hugo, Donatello, Goethe, Wellington at 83; Zingarelli, Metternich, -Theodore de Beza, Lamarck, Halley at 86; Bentham, Newton, St. Bernard de -Menthon, Bodmer, Luini, Scarpa, Bonpland, Chiabrera, Carafa, Goldoni at -85; Thiers, Kant, Maffei, Amyot, Villemain, Wieland, Littré at 80; -Anacreon, Mercatori, Viviani, Buffon, Palmerston, Casti, J. Bernouilli, -Pinel at 81; Galileo, Euler, Schlegel, Béranger, Louis XIV., Corneille, -Cesarotti at 78; Herodotus, Rossini, Cardan, Michelet, Boileau, -Garibaldi, Archimedes, Paisiello, Saint Augustine at 75; Tacitus and B. -Disraeli at 76; Pericles at 70; Thucydides at 69; Hippocrates at 103; -and Saint Anthony at 105. - -According to Beard the average life of 500 men of genius is 54, and that -of 100 modern men of genius is 70. The average duration of life of 35 -men of musical genius was 63 years, and 8 months.[147] But this fact -does not exclude degeneration when, as among persons with moral -insanity, it is united with an apathy which renders temperaments -otherwise mobile, insensible to the strongest griefs, and I have shown -in another book[148] that instinctive criminals, living out of prison, -enjoy great longevity. It should be added that longevity is not always -found in genius; many great men of genius, such as Raphael, Pascal, -Burns, Keats, Byron, Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Bellini, Bichat, Pico de -la Mirandola died before the age of forty. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -GENIUS AND INSANITY. - - Resemblance between genius and insanity--Men and women of genius - who have been - insane--Montanus--Harrington--Haller--Schumann--Gérard de - Nerval--Baudelaire--Concato--Mainländer--Comte--Codazzi--Bolyai--Cardan--Tasso--Swift--Newton--Rousseau--Lenau--Széchényi--Hoffmann--Foderà--Schopenhauer--Gogol. - - -The resemblance between insanity and genius, although it does not show -that these two should be confounded, proves at all events that one does -not exclude the other in the same subject. - -In fact, without speaking of the numerous men of genius who at some -period of their lives were subject to hallucinations or insanity, or of -those who, like Vico, terminated a great career in dementia, how many -great thinkers have shown themselves all their lives subject to -monomania or hallucinations! - -In recent times insanity has shown itself in Farini, Brougham, Southey, -Govone, Gounod, Gutzkow, Monge, Fourcroy, Cowper, Rocchia, Ricci, -Fenicia,[149] Engel, Pergolese, Batjusckoff, Mürger, William Collins, -Techner, Hölderlen, Von der West, Gallo, Spedalieri, Bellingeri, -Salieri, Johannes Müller, Lenz, Barbara, Fuseli, Petermann, the -caricaturist Cham, Hamilton, Poe, Uhlrich. - -In France, remarks Martini, many young and original poets have died -insane.[150] Such also seems to have been the fate of Briffault, and of -Laurent attacked by a veritable mania of calumny.[151] Among women -Günderode, Stieglitz (who both committed suicide with great -deliberation), Brachmann, L. E. Landon lived and died insane.[152] - -Montanus, a victim to solitude and a disordered imagination, was -convinced that he had become a grain of wheat. He refused to move for -fear of being swallowed by birds.[153] Harrington is said to have -imagined that diseases took the form of bees and flies, and for this -reason he retired to a cabin armed with a broom to disperse them. Haller -believed that he was persecuted by men and damned by God on account of -the vileness of his soul and his heretical works. He could only soothe -his excessive terror by enormous doses of opium and by converse with -priests.[154] Ampère burnt a treatise on the future of chemistry -believing he had written it by Satanic suggestion. The great Dutch -artist, Van Goes, thought he was possessed. Carlo Dolce, a prey to -religious monomania, vowed only to paint religious pictures. He devoted -his pencil to Madonnas, though his Madonna, indeed, is the portrait of -Balduini. On his wedding-day he alone was missing; after some hours he -was found prostrated before the altar of the Annunciation. Nathaniel -Lee, the dramatist, composed thirteen tragedies during the course of his -disease; one day a feeble dramatic colleague told him that it was easy -to write like a madman. “It is not easy to write like a madman,” he -replied, “but it is very easy to write like a fool.” Thomas Lloyd, who -wrote excellent verse, was a strange mixture of malice, pride, genius, -and insanity.[155] If he was not satisfied with his verses he put them -in his glass to polish them, as he said. Everything that he came across, -even coal, paper, and tobacco, he was accustomed to mix with his food -for hygienic reasons; the carbon purified it, stone imparted mineral -virtues, &c. Charles Lamb in early life had an attack of insanity which -was hereditary in his family; writing of this to Coleridge, he said: “At -some future time I will amuse you with an account, as full as my memory -will permit, of the strange turns my frenzy took. I look back upon it at -times with a gloomy kind of envy, for, while it lasted, I had many, -many hours of pure happiness. Dream not, Coleridge, of having tasted all -the grandeur and wildness of fancy till you have gone mad. All now seems -to me vapid, or comparatively so.” - -Robert Schumann (1810-1856), the precursor of the music of the future, -was the youngest son of a well-to-do bookseller in Zwickau, and met with -no obstacles in the pursuit of his cherished art. When a law student he -met Clara Wieck, the celebrated pianist, and in her found an excellent -and lovable companion; but at the age of twenty-three he became subject -to melancholia; at forty-six he was pursued by turning-tables which knew -everything; he heard sounds which developed into concords and even whole -compositions. For several years he was afraid of being sent to a lunatic -asylum; Beethoven and Mendelssohn dictated musical combinations to him -from their tombs. In 1854 he threw himself into the Rhine; he was saved, -and died two years later in a private asylum at Bonn. The autopsy -revealed osteophytes, thickening of the cranial membranes and atrophy of -the brain.[156] - -Gérard de Nerval was subject to _folie circulaire_, with alternate -periods of exaltation and depression, each of which lasted six months. -In his moments of calm he was a spiritualist; he heard the spirits of -Adam, Moses, and Joshua in a piece of furniture; and practised -cabalistic exorcisms, executing the dance of the Babylonians. During his -stay at an asylum he imagined that it was the superintendent who was a -victim to insanity. “He believes,” he said, “that he is superintending -an asylum, but he is himself the madman and we feign madness in order to -humour him.” With the honey of flowers he traced on paper symbols which -radiated round a fantastic giantess who united the characters of Diana, -Saint Rosalie, and of an actress named Colon with whom he believed he -was in love. In reality he adored her from a great distance, sending her -large bouquets, and buying enormous opera-glasses in order to see her, -and superb canes with which to applaud her; so that it was said of him -that he ruined himself in orgies of opera-glasses and debaucheries of -canes. He had discovered a mediæval bed which was to serve for his -_amours_, and in order to set it in suitable surroundings he obtained an -apartment and luxurious furniture. In days of poverty the furniture was -sold, leaving the bed alone in the room, then in a barn, and at last it -also disappeared, and its proprietor passed his nights in taverns and -low lodging-houses, or writing beneath trees and porches. Later, when he -had ceased to see Colon, she became for him a kind of idol with which he -lived and who in his mystic ideas became confounded partly with the -saints and partly with the stars; one day he declared that she was an -incarnation of Saint Theresa. When he heard that she had declared she -had never loved him and only seen him once, which was true, he said: -“What good if she had loved me?” and he added, quoting a verse of Heine, -“He who loves for the second time without hope is a madman. I am that -madman. The sky, the sun, the stars laugh at it; I also laugh at it, -laugh at it and die of it.” - -One day, at sunset, he was on the balcony of a house. He suddenly saw a -phantom and heard a voice calling him. He ran forward, fell, and was -nearly killed. That was his first attack, characterised by -hallucinations of sight and hearing. - -Towards the end of his life, at the age of forty-six, _folie des -grandeurs_ developed in him; he spoke of his _châteaux_ at Ermenonville, -of his physical beauty which was astonishing, he said, to his -attendants; he bought up coins of Nerva, not wishing that the name of -his ancestors should circulate as money, yet Nerval was only a -pseudonym. Sometimes he gave out that he was a descendant of Folobello -de Nerva whose history he wished to write, and all whose male -descendants presented, according to him, a supernatural sign, the -tetragramma of Solomon, on their breasts. Timid and cautious in his days -of calm, he became bold and noisy when the attack came on, and even -threatened his friends with weapons. In spite of the low temperature he -refused to leave off his summer clothes. “Cold,” he declared, “is a -tonic and the Lapps are never ill.” A few days after, he hanged -himself.[157] - -Baudelaire appears before us, in the portrait placed at - -[Illustration: BAUDELAIRE.] - -the beginning of his posthumous works, as the type of the lunatic -possessed by the _Délire des grandeurs_.[158] He was descended from a -family of insane and eccentric persons. It was not necessary to be an -alienist to detect his insanity. In childhood he was subject to -hallucinations; and from that period, as he himself confessed, he -experienced opposing sentiments; the horror and the ecstasy of life; he -was hyperæsthetic and at the same time apathetic; he felt the necessity -of freeing himself from “an oasis of horror in a desert of _ennui_.” -Before falling into dementia he committed impulsive acts; for instance, -he threw pots from his house against shop windows for the pleasure of -hearing them break. He changed his lodgings every month; asked the -hospitality of a friend in order to complete work he was engaged on, and -wasted his time in reading which had no relation to it whatever. Having -lost his father, he quarrelled with his mother’s second husband, and one -day, in the presence of friends, attempted to strangle him. Sent out to -India, in order, it is said, to be put to business, he lost everything -and only brought back from his voyage a negress to whom he dedicated -exotic poems. He desired to be original at all costs; gave himself to -excess in wine before high personages, dyed his hair green, wore winter -garments in summer, and _vice versa_. He experienced morbid passions in -love. He loved ugly and horrible women, negresses, dwarfs, giantesses; -to a very beautiful woman he expressed a desire that he might see her -suspended by the hands to the ceiling that he might kiss her feet; and -kissing the naked foot appears in one of his poems as the equivalent of -the sexual act. - -He was constantly dreaming of work, calculating the hours and the lines -necessary to pay his debts: two months or more. But that was all, and -the work was never begun.[159] - -Proud, misanthropic, and apathetic, he said of himself: “Discontented -with others and discontented with myself, I desire to redeem myself, to -regard myself with a little pride in the silence and solitude of the -night. Souls of those I have loved, souls of those I have sung, -strengthen me, sustain me, remove from me the lies and the corrupting -vapours of the world; and thou, O Lord my God, grant me grace to produce -some fine lines which will prove to myself that I am not the last of -men, that I am not inferior to those whom I contemn.”[160] - -And he had need of it, for he called Gustave Planche imbecile, Dumas a -_farceur_, Sue stupid, Féval an idiot, George Sand a Veuillot without -delicacy. What he attacked in all these writers was the fame he wished -to possess; that is why he made fun of Molière and Voltaire. - -With the progress of insanity he used to invert words, saying “shut” -when he meant to say “open,” &c. He died of progressive general -paralysis of the insane, of which his excessive ambition was already a -fore-running symptom. - -Concato was the son of a poor tailor, the victim of grave cerebral -affections. He himself presented certain characters of degeneration, -such as pallor and large cheek bones; during many years he was subject -to various forms of insanity. At the age of seventeen he was seized by -the terror of sudden death, and provided himself with nitre to prevent -future cerebral crises. At twenty he resolved to become a monk, although -in childhood he had been so little devout that he had fabricated false -notes of confession. Afterwards he quarrelled with an Austrian officer, -and then became afraid of all sentinels and soldiers. He would never -allow an officer to enter his house with his sword by his side; and even -in old age trembled at the sight of one of the city guards. One night he -dreamt he had committed a homicide, and for many days he was a prey to -strange terrors. He suffered from claustrophobia: woe to whomsoever -tried to lock him up in a carriage or a room! There were some days -during which he considered himself the lowest of men. He was so -irascible that he used to say that, to be in good health, one must be -angry at least once a day. Yet he was one of the greatest of European -physicians.[161] - -Mainländer had a grandfather who, after the death of a son, carried -religious mysticism to the extent of insanity, and died of inflammation -of the brain at the age of thirty-three. A brother, also insane, wished -to embrace Buddhism. As a youth, looking at the sea at Sorrento, he felt -impelled to throw himself in, merely attracted by the purity of the -water. He educated himself and wrote his celebrated book, _Die -Philosophie der Erlösung_, but to realize his theories entirely, he -adopted a rule of absolute chastity, and on the day on which his book -was published hanged himself, the better to confirm a passage which -said: “In order that man may be redeemed it is necessary that he should -recognize the value of not-being, and desire intensely not to be.”[162] - -The great Auguste Comte, the initiator of the positivist philosophy, was -for ten years under the care of Esquirol, the famous alienist; he -recovered, but only to repudiate, without any cause, the wife who had -saved him; later, he--who had wished to abolish all priest-craft--believed -himself the priest and apostle of a materialistic religion. In his -works, amidst stupendous elucubrations, genuinely maniacal ideas may be -found, as, for example, the prophecy that one day women will be -fecundated without the help of the male.[163] - -It is said that mathematicians are exempt from psychical derangements, -but this is not true; it is sufficient to recall not only Newton and -Enfantin, of whom I will speak at length, but the two famous -distractions of Archimedes, the hallucination of Pascal, and the -vagaries of the mathematician Codazzi (not to be confounded with -Codazza). Codazzi was sub-microcephalic, oxycephalic, alcoholic, -sordidly avaricious; to affective insensibility he added vanity so great -that while still young he set apart a sum for his own funeral monument, -and refused the least help to his starving parents; he admitted no -discussion of his judgment even if it only concerned the cut of a coat; -and he had taken it into his head that he could compose melodic music -with the help of the calculus. - -All mathematicians admire the great geometer Bolyai, whose -eccentricities were of an insane character; thus he provoked thirteen -officials to duels and fought with them, and between each duel he played -the violin, the only piece of furniture in his house; when pensioned he -printed his own funeral card with a blank date, and constructed his own -coffin--a vagary which I have found in two other mathematicians who died -in recent years. Six years later he had a similar funeral card printed, -to substitute for the other which he had not been able to use. He -imposed on his heir the obligation to plant on his grave an apple-tree, -in remembrance of Eve, of Paris, and of Newton.[164] Such was the great -reformer of Euclid. - -Cardan, called by his contemporaries the greatest of men and the most -foolish of children--Cardan, who first dared to criticise Galen, to -exclude fire from the number of the elements, and to call witches and -saints insane--this great Cardan was the son, cousin, and father of -lunatics, and himself a lunatic all his life. “A stammerer, impotent, -with little memory or knowledge,” he himself wrote, “I have suffered -since childhood from hypno-fantastic hallucinations.” Sometimes it was a -cock which spoke to him in a human voice; sometimes Tartarus, full of -bones, which displayed itself before him. Whatever he imagined, he could -see before him as a real object. From the age of nineteen to that of -twenty-six, a genius, similar to one which already protected his father, -gave him advice and revealed the future. When he had reached the age of -twenty-six he was not altogether deprived of supernatural aid; a recipe -which was not quite right forgot one day the laws of gravity, and rose -to his table to warn him of the error he was about to commit.[165] - -He was hypochondriacal, and imagined he had contracted all the diseases -that he read of: palpitation, sitophobia, diarrhœa, enuresis, podagra, -hernia--all these diseases vanished without treatment, or with a prayer -to the Virgin. Sometimes his flesh smelled of sulphur, of extinguished -wax; sometimes he saw flames and phantoms appear in the midst of violent -earthquakes, while his friends perceived nothing. Persecuted by every -government, surrounded by a forest of enemies, whom he knew neither by -name nor by sight, but who, as he believed, in order to afflict and -dishonour him, had condemned his much-loved son, he ended by believing -himself poisoned by the professors of the University of Pavia, who had -invited him for this purpose. If he escapes from their hands, he owes it -to the help of St. Martin and of the Virgin. Yet such a man in theology -had audaciously anticipated Dupuis and Renan! - -He declares himself inclined to all vices--wine, gaming, lying, -licentiousness, envy, cunning, deception, calumny, inconstancy; he -observes that four times during the full moon he found himself in a -state of real mental alienation. His sensibility was so perverted, that -he never felt comfortable except under the stimulus of some physical -pain; and in the absence of natural pain, he procured it by artificial -means, biting his lips or arms until he fetched blood. “I sought causes -of pain to enjoy the pleasure of the cessation of pain, and because I -perceived that when I did not suffer I fell into so grave and -troublesome a condition, that it was worse than any pain.” This fact -helps us to understand many strange tortures which madmen have -voluptuously imposed on themselves.[166] He had so blind a faith in the -revelations of dreams, that he printed a strange work _De Somniis_, -conducted his medical consultations, concluded his marriage, and began -his works (for example, that on the _Varietà delle Cose_ and _Sulle -Febbri_) in accordance with dreams.[167] - -He was impotent up to the age of thirty-four. Virility was given to him -in a dream, and to this gift was added, not altogether happily, the -cause of his troubles--his future wife, a brigand’s daughter, whom, -before this dream, as he asserts, he had never even seen. His unhappy -mania even led him to regulate his medical consultations according to -his dreams, as he himself boasts of doing in the case of Borromeo’s son. -It is possible to cite other examples, sometimes comic, sometimes -strange or terrible. I will quote one which unites all these characters: -his dream of the jewel. - -It was in May, 1560, when Cardan was fifty-two years of age. His son had -just been publicly condemned for poisoning. No misfortune could wound -more deeply Cardan’s already sensitive soul. He loved his son with all -a father’s tenderness, as is witnessed by his fine verses, _De Morte -Filii_, in which there is the imprint of real passion. He hoped also for -a grandson who should resemble himself. Drawn more and more into insane -ideas by grief, he saw in this condemnation the hands of persecutors. -“Thus overwhelmed, I sought distraction in vain in study or in play. In -vain I bit myself and struck my arms and legs. It was my third night of -sleeplessness, about two hours before dawn. I saw that there was nothing -else for me but to die or go mad. Therefore I prayed God to snatch me -entirely away from life. And then, against my expectation, sleep took -possession of me, and at the same time I heard a person approaching me, -whose form I could not see, but who said, ‘Why grieve about your son? -Put into your mouth the precious stone which you bear suspended from -your neck, and as long as you carry it there you will not think of your -son.’ On waking up, I asked myself what connection there could be -between forgetfulness and an emerald; but as I had no other resource, I -recalled the sacred words, ‘_Credidit et reputatum ei est ad -justitiam_’; I put the emerald into my mouth, and then, against all -expectation, everything that recalled my son vanished from my memory. It -was so for a year and a half. It was only during my meals, and at my -public lectures, when I was unable to keep the precious stone in my -mouth, that I fell back into my old grief.” This singular cure had its -pretext in the double sense of the Italian word _gioia_, which means at -once “joy” and “jewel.” Cardan had, however, no need of the revelation -of a genius, for in his own works he had already recognized a consoling -virtue in precious stones, due to the bond of this absurd -etymology.[168] - -A megalomaniac, he called himself “the seventh physician since the -creation of the world;” he claimed to know the things which are before -and above us, and those which shall come after.[169] - -Like Rousseau and like Haller, Cardan, during the last days of his -tormented existence, wrote his own life; he also foretold the exact date -of his death, which he looked for, and perhaps himself brought about, in -order that his horoscope should not be made to lie.[170] - -What shall we say of Tasso? For those who do not know Verga’s monograph -(_Lipemania del Tasso_), it will be enough to quote the following -letter: “So great is my grief, that I am considered by others and by -myself as mad, when, powerless to keep my sorrowful thoughts hidden, I -give myself up to long conversations with myself. My troubles are at -once human and diabolical; the human are cries of men, and especially of -women, and also the laughter of beasts; the diabolical are songs, &c. -When I take into my hands a book to give myself up to study, I hear -voices sounding in my ear, and distinguish the name of Paul Fulvius.” In -his _Messaggiero_, which became with him, later on, a real -hallucination, he had already made the often-repeated confession of his -madness, which he attributed to wine and to women. I am thus inclined to -believe that he described himself in the character of Thyrsis, in that -admirable stanza of the _Aminta_, which another monomaniac, Rousseau, -loved so much:-- - - “_Vivrò fra i miei tormenti e fra le cure,_ - _Mie giuste furie, forsennato, errante;_ - _Paventerò l’ombre solinghe e scure_ - _Che il primo error mi recheranno avante;_ - _E del sol che scoprì le mie sventure_ - _A schivo ed in orror avrò it sembiante:_ - _Temerò me medesmo, e da me stesso_ - _Sempre fuggendo, avrò me sempre appresso._”[171] - -One day, certainly under the influence of some hallucination, or in a -maniacal attack, he drew a knife, and was about to attack a serving-man -who entered the ducal chamber; he was imprisoned, says the Tuscan -Ambassador, more to cure him than to punish him. - -The unfortunate poet went from one country to another, but sorrowful -visions everywhere threatened him; and with them came ceaseless remorse, -suspicions of poison, and the terrors of hell for the heresies of which -he accused himself in three letters to the “too-indulgent” inquisitor. - -“I am always troubled by sad and wearisome thoughts,” he confesses to -the physician Cavallaro, “by figures and phantoms; also by a great -weakness of memory, therefore I beg of your lordship to think to -strengthen my memory in the pills that you order for me.” “I am -frenzied,” he wrote to Gonzaga, “and I am surprised that they have not -written to you of all the things that I say in talking to myself: -honours, the good graces of emperors and kings which I dream of, forming -and re-forming them according to my fancy.” This curious letter shows us -how sombre and sorrowful images alternated in him with others that were -joyous, like subjective colours in the retina. - -Some days later he wrote to Cattaneo: “I have here much more need of the -exorcist than of the physician, for my trouble is caused by magic art. I -will tell you about my goblin. The little thief has robbed me of many -crowns; he puts all my books upside down, opens my chests, hides my -keys, so that I do not know how to protect myself against him. I am -always unhappy, but especially at night, and I do not know if my trouble -should be attributed to frenzy.” In another letter: “When I am awake I -seem to see lights sparkling in the air; sometimes my eyes are inflamed -so that I fear I may lose my sight. At other times I hear horrible -noises, hissings, and tinklings, the sound of bells, and, as it were, -clocks all striking the hour at the same time. When I am asleep I seem -to see a horseman throwing himself on me and casting me to the earth, or -else I imagine that I am covered by filthy beasts. All my joints feel -it; my head becomes heavy, and in the midst of so many pains and terrors -sometimes there appears to me the image of the Virgin, beautiful and -young, with her Son, and crowned with a rainbow.” Later he told -Cattaneo how a goblin carried away letters in which he was mentioned, -“and that is one of the miracles which I saw myself at the hospital. -Thus I possess the certainty that these wonders must be attributed to a -magician. I have numerous proofs of it. One day a loaf was taken from -me, beneath my eyes, towards three o’clock.” - -When ill with acute fever he was cured, thanks to an apparition of the -Virgin, to whom he testified his gratitude in a sonnet. He wrote and -spoke to, almost touched, his genius, who often resembled his former -_Messaggiero_, and suggested to him ideas which he had not conceived -before. - -Swift, the inventor of irony and humour, predicted even in youth that he -would die insane, as had been the case with a paternal uncle. He was -walking one day in a garden when he saw an elm almost completely -deprived of foliage at the top. “Like that tree,” he said, “I shall die -at the top.” Proud almost to monomania with the great, he yet led a wild -and vicious life, and was known as the “Mad Parson.” Though a clergyman, -he wrote irreligious books, and it was said that before making him a -bishop it would be desirable to baptise him. His giddiness began, as he -himself tells us, at the age of twenty-three, so that his brain disease -lasted for over fifty years. _Vertiginosus_, _inops_, _surdus_, _male -gratus amicis_, as he defined himself, he almost succumbed to the grief -caused by the death of his beloved Stella, and at the same time he wrote -his burlesque _Directions to Servants_. Some months later he lost his -memory and only preserved his mordant loquacity; he remained for a whole -year without speaking or reading or recognising any one; he would walk -for ten hours a day, eating his meals standing, or refusing food, and -giving way to attacks of rage when any one entered his room. With the -development of some boils his condition seemed to improve; he was heard -to say several times: “I am a fool;” but the interval of lucidity was -short. He fell back into the stupor of dementia, although his irony -seemed to survive reason, and even, as it were, life itself. He died in -1745 in a state of complete dementia, leaving by a will made some years -previously a sum of nearly £11,000 to a lunatic asylum. A _post-mortem_ -examination showed softening of the brain and extreme effusion; his -skull (examined in 1855) showed great irregularities from thickening and -roughening, signs of enlarged and diseased arteries, and an extremely -small cerebellar region. In an epitaph which he had written for himself -he summed up the cruel tortures of his soul now at rest, “_ubi sæva -indignatio ulterius cor lacerare nequit_.” - -Newton, of whom it was truly said that his mind conquered the human -race, was in old age afflicted by mental disorder, though of a less -serious character than that of which we have just read. It was probably -during this illness that he wrote his _Chronology_, his _Apocalypse_, -and the _Letters to Bentley_, so inferior in value to the work of his -earlier years. In 1693, after his house had been burnt a second time, -and after excess in study, he is reported to have talked so strangely -and incoherently to the archbishop that his friends were seriously -alarmed. At this time he wrote two letters which, in their confused and -obscure form, seem to show that he had been suffering from delusions of -persecution. He wrote to Locke (1693): “Being of opinion that you -endeavoured to embroil me with women, and by other means, I was so much -affected with it, as that when one told me you were sickly and would not -live, I answered, ’twere better if you were dead. I desire you to -forgive me this uncharitableness; for I am now satisfied that what you -have done is just, and I beg your pardon for my having hard thoughts of -you for it, and for representing that you struck at the root of -morality, in a principle you laid in your book of ideas, and designed to -pursue in another book, and that I took you for a Hobbist. I beg your -pardon also for saying or thinking that there was a design to sell me an -office or to embroil me. I am your most humble and unfortunate servant, -Is. Newton.”[172] Locke replied kindly, and a month later Newton again -wrote to him: “The last winter, by sleeping too often by my fire, I got -an ill habit of sleeping; and a distemper, which this summer has been -epidemical, put me further out of order, so that when I wrote to you I -had not slept an hour a night for a fortnight together, and for five -days together not a wink. I remember I wrote to you, but what I said of -your book I remember not.” And in a letter to Pepys he says that he has -“neither ate nor slept this twelvemonth, nor have my former consistency -of mind.”[173] - -Those who, without frequenting a lunatic asylum, wish to form a fairly -complete idea of the mental tortures of a monomaniac, have only to look -through Rousseau’s works, especially his later writings, such as the -_Confessions_, the _Dialogues_, and the _Rêveries_. “I have very ardent -passions,” he writes in his _Confessions_, “and while under their -influence, my impetuosity knows no bounds; I think only of the object -which occupies me; the entire universe besides is nothing to me; but -this only lasts a moment, and the moment which follows throws me into a -state of prostration. A single sheet of fine paper tempts me more than -the money to buy a ream of it. I see the thing and am tempted; if I only -see the means of acquiring it I am not tempted. Even now, if I see -anything that tempts me, I prefer taking it to asking for it.” - -This is the distinction between the kleptomaniac and the thief: the -former steals by instinct, to steal; the latter steals by interest, to -acquire: the first is led away by anything that strikes him; the second -is attracted by the value of the object. - -Dominated by his senses, Rousseau never knew how to resist them. The -most insignificant pleasure, he says, so long as it was present, -fascinated him more than all the joys of Paradise. In fact, a monk’s -dinner (Father Pontierre) led him to apostasy, and a feeling of -repulsion caused him to abandon cruelly an epileptic friend on the road. - -It was not only his passions that were morbid and violent; his -intelligence also was affected from his earliest days, as he shows in -his _Confessions_: “My imagination has never been so cheerful as when I -have been suffering. My mind cannot beautify the really pleasant things -that happen to me, only the imaginary ones. If I wish to describe spring -well, it must be in winter.” Real evils had little hold on Rousseau, he -tells us; imaginary evils touched him more nearly. “I can adapt myself -to what I experience, but not to what I fear.” It is thus that people -kill themselves through fear of death. - -On first reading medical books Rousseau imagined that he had the -diseases which he found described, and was astonished, not to find -himself healthy, but to find himself alive. He came to the conclusion -that he had a polypus at the heart. It was, as he himself confesses, a -strange notion, the overflow of an idle and exaggerated sensibility -which had no better channel. “There are times,” he says, “in which I am -so little like myself that I might be taken for a man of quite different -character. In repose I am indolence and timidity itself, and do not know -how to express myself; but if I become excited I immediately know what -to say.” - -This unfortunate man went through a long series of occupations from the -noblest to the most degrading; he was an apostate for money, a -watchmaker, a charlatan, a music-master, an engraver, a painter, a -servant, an embryo diplomatic secretary; in literature and science he -took up medicine, music, botany, theology, teaching. - -The abuse of intellectual work, especially dangerous in a thinker whose -ideas were developed slowly and with difficulty, joined to the -ever-increasing stimulus of ambition, gradually transformed the -hypochondriac into a melancholiac, and finally into a maniac. “My -agitations and anger,” he wrote, “affected me so much that I passed ten -years in delirium, and am only calm to-day.” Calm! When disease, now -become chronic, no longer permitted him to distinguish what was real, -what was imaginary in his troubles. In fact, he bade farewell to the -world of society, in which he had never felt at home, and retired into -solitude; but even in the country, people from the town zealously -pursued him, and the tumult of the world and notions of _amour-propre_ -veiled the freshness of nature. It is in vain for him to hide himself in -the woods, he writes in his _Rêveries_; the crowd attaches itself to -him and follows him. We think once more of Tasso’s lines:-- - - “_e da me stesso_ - _Sempre fuggendo, avrò me sempre appresso._” - -Rousseau doubtless alluded to these lines when he wrote to Corancez that -Tasso had been his prophet. He wrote later that he believed that -Prussia, England, France, the King, women, priests, men, irritated by -some passages in his works, were waging a terrible war against him, with -effects by which he explained the internal troubles from which he -suffered. - -In the refinement of their cruelty, he says in the _Rêveries_, his -enemies only forgot one thing--to graduate their torments, so that they -could always renew them. But the chief artifice of his enemies was to -torture him by overwhelming him with benefits and with praise. “They -even went so far as to corrupt the greengrocers, so that they sold him -better and cheaper vegetables. Without doubt his enemies thus wished to -prove his baseness and their generosity.”[174] During his stay in London -his melancholia was changed into a real attack of mania. He imagined -that Choiseul was seeking to arrest him, abandoned his luggage and his -money at his hotel, and fled to the coast, paying the innkeepers with -pieces of silver spoons. He found the winds contrary, and in this saw -another indication of the plot against him. In his exasperation he -harangued the crowd in bad English from the top of a hill; they listened -stupefied, and he believed he had affected them. But on returning to -France his invisible enemies were not appeased. They spied and -misinterpreted all his acts; if he read a newspaper, they said he was -conspiring; if he smelled the perfume of a rose, they suspected he was -concocting a poison. Everything was a crime: they stationed a -picture-dealer at his door; they prevented the door from shutting; no -visitor came whom they had not prejudiced against him. They corrupted -his coffee-merchant, his hairdresser, his landlord; the shoeblack had no -more blacking when Rousseau needed him; the boatman had no boats when -this unfortunate man wished to cross the Seine. He demanded to be put in -prison--and even that was refused him. - -In order to take from him the one weapon which he possessed, the press, -a publisher, _whom he did not know_, was arrested and thrown into the -Bastille. The custom of burning a cardboard figure at the _mi-carême_ -had been abolished. It is re-established, certainly to make fun of him -and to burn him in effigy; in fact, the clothes placed on it resembled -his.[175] In the country he meets a child who smiles at him; he turns to -respond, and suddenly sees a man whom, by his mournful face (note the -method of recognition), he sees to be a spy placed by his enemies. - -Under the constant impression of this monomania of persecution he wrote -his _Dialogues sur Rousseau jugé par Rousseau_, in which, in order to -appease his innumerable enemies he presented a faithful and minute -portrait of his hallucinations. He began to distribute his defence, in a -truly insane manner, by presenting a copy to any passer-by whose face -did not appear prejudiced against him by his enemies. It was dedicated: -“_A tous les Français aimant encore la justice et la vérité_.” In spite -of this title, or, perhaps, because of it, he found no one who accepted -it with pleasure; several even refused it. - -No longer able to put trust in any mortal he turned, like Pascal, to -God, to whom he addressed a very tender and familiar letter; then in -order to ensure the arrival of his letter at its destination, he placed -it together with the manuscript of the _Dialogues_ on the altar of -Nôtre-Dame at Paris. Then, having found the railing closed, he suspected -a conspiracy of Heaven against him. - -Dussaulx, who saw him often in the last years of his life, writes that -he even distrusted his dog, finding a mystery in his frequent -caresses.[176] The _délire des grandeurs_ was never absent; it may be -seen continually in the _Confessions_, in which he defies the human race -to show a better being than himself. - -After all this testimony, it does not seem to me that Voltaire and -Corancez were altogether wrong in affirming that Rousseau had been mad, -and that he confessed it himself. Numerous passages in the _Confessions_ -and in Grimm’s letters allude to other affections such as paralysis of -the bladder and spermatorrhœa, which probably originated in the spinal -cord, and which certainly aggravated his melancholia. It must also be -remembered that from childhood, Rousseau, like so many other subjects of -degeneration, showed sexual precocity and perversion; it appears that he -had no pleasure in his relations with women unless they beat him naked, -like a child, or threatened to do so.[177] - -Nicolaus Lenau, one of the greatest lyric poets of modern times, ended, -forty years ago, in the asylum of Döbling at Vienna, a life which from -childhood shows a mingling of genius and insanity. - -He was born in 1802 in Hungary, the son of a proud and vicious -aristocrat, and of a melancholy, sensitive, and ascetic mother. At an -early age he manifested tendencies to sadness, to music, and to -mysticism. He studied medicine, law, agriculture, and especially music. -In 1831 Kerner remarked in him strange fits of sadness and melancholy, -and noted that at other times he would spend whole nights in the garden -playing his favourite violin. “I feel myself,” he wrote to his sister, -“gravitating towards misfortune; the demon of insanity riots in my -heart; I am _mad_. To you, sister, I say it, for you will love me all -the same.” This demon induced him to go, almost aimlessly to America. He -returned to find himself fêted and received with gladness by all; but -hypochondria, in his own words, had planted its teeth deep in his heart, -and everything was useless.[178] And, in fact, this unhappy heart had an -attack of pericarditis, from which it recovered only imperfectly. From -that time sleep, once the only medicine for his troubles, ceased to -visit him; every night he is surrounded by terrible visions. “One would -say,” he wrote, in a truly insane fashion, “that the devil is hunting in -my belly. I hear there a perpetual barking of dogs and a funereal echo -of hell. Without joking, it is enough to make one despair.” - -That misanthropy which we have already noted in Haller and Swift and -Cardan and Rousseau took possession of Lenau in 1840 with all the -accompaniments of mania. He is afraid and ashamed of men, disgusted with -them. Germany was preparing bouquets and triumphal arches in his honour, -but he fled, and without any cause went to and fro from one country to -another; he was causelessly angry and impatient, and felt himself -incapable of work; _non est firmum sinciput_, it seemed, as he himself -said; at the same time his appetite became as insane as his brain. He -returned with a strange taste to the mysticism of his childhood, wished -to study the Gnostics, and read over again the stories of sorcerers -which he had found so attractive in his youth, while he drank coffee -enormously and smoked excessively. It was incredible, he observed, how -in moving his body, in lighting or changing a cigar, new ideas arose -within him. He wrote during entire nights, wandered, journeyed, -meditated a marriage, projected great works, and executed none. - -It was the last flickering of a great spirit; in 1844 Lenau complained -more and more of headache, of constant perspiration, of extreme -weakness. His left hand and the muscles of the eyes and cheeks were -paralysed, and he began to write with orthographic errors and quibbles, -as _Wie gut es mir gut_ for _mir geht_; or “I am not delirious, but -lyrical.” Suddenly, on the 12th of October, he had a violent attack of -suicidal mania. He was restrained, and furiously struck and broke -everything, burning his manuscripts. Gradually he became composed and -intelligent again, and even analyzed his attack minutely in that -terrible, chaotic poem the _Traumgewalien_. It was a ray of sunlight in -the dark night; it was, as Schilling well said, genius for the last time -dominating insanity. In fact, his condition was constantly getting -worse; another suicidal attack was followed by that fatal comfort, that -pleasant excitement which marks the commencement of general paralysis. -“I enjoy life,” he said; “I am glad that the terrible visions of old -have been succeeded by pleasant and delightful visions.” He imagined -that he was in Walhalla with Goethe, and that he had become King of -Hungary and was victorious in battle; he made puns on his family name, -Niembsch. In 1845 he lost his sense of smell, which had previously been -very delicate, and ceased to care for violets, his favourite flowers. He -no longer recognised his old friends. Notwithstanding this sad -condition, he was still able to write a lyric marked by extravagant -mysticism, but not without the old beauty. One day when conducted to -Plato’s bust, he said: “There is the man who invented stupid love.” -Another time, hearing some one say, “Here lives the great Lenau,” the -unfortunate man replied: “Now Lenau has become very, very small,” and he -wept for a long time. “Lenau is unhappy” were his last words. He died on -the 21st of August, 1850. The autopsy only revealed a little serum in -the ventricles and traces of progressive pericarditis. - -In this same asylum at Döbling died some years later another great man, -Széchényi,[179] the creator of Danubian navigation, the founder of the -Magyar Academy, the promoter of the revolution of 1848. At the very -apogee of the revolution, when Széchényi was a minister, he was heard -one day begging Kossuth, one of his colleagues in the Ministry, not to -let him be hanged. It was looked upon as a joke, but it was not so. He -foresaw the misfortunes which would fall on his country, and wrongly -judged himself responsible. The monomania of persecution took possession -of him, and threatened to lead him to suicide. He gradually became calm, -but exhibited a morbid loquacity, strange in a diplomatist and -conspirator, and all day long he would stop the lunatics and idiots, -and, what was worse, the enemies of his country whom he met in prison, -and narrate to them the long confession of his imaginary sins. In 1850 -an old passion for chess awoke in him, and took an insane character. It -became necessary to pay a poor student to play with him for ten or -twelve hours at a time. The unfortunate student went mad, but Széchényi -slowly became sane. At the same time he began to lose an aversion for -contact with human beings which had taken possession of him, and which -made it impossible for him even to see his relations. There only -remained of his morbid habits a certain repugnance to the bright country -light, and a great objection to leave his room. On certain days of the -month he consented to receive his much-loved children; with a gesture he -led them tenderly to his table, and read what he had written; but it -required much diplomacy to bring him out into the park. His intelligence -remained clear; it was even more robust than ever. He kept himself -acquainted with the whole German and Magyar literary movement, and he -watched for the smallest sign of better fortune to come to his country. -When he saw an Austrian intrigue hindering the completion of the eastern -railway to which he had devoted himself so vigorously he wrote a letter -to Zichy, in which he shows all his old power, as may be seen from the -following passages: “What has existed once often reappears in the world -under another form and different conditions. A broken bottle cannot be -put together, yet those poor fragments of glass are not lost; they may -be thrown into the furnace and become a vessel for Tokay, the king of -wines, to sparkle in, while the broken bottle may have held but a very -inferior wine.... The greatest praise that can be given to a Hungarian -is to tell him that he has stood firm. You know, my friend, our old -proverb: ‘Stand firm, even in the mire.’ Let us apply that motto; -distrust the reproaches even of our brothers to serve the common cause. -To remain at one’s post, in spite of the mud that fanatical or frivolous -patriots throw in the faces of their brothers and companions in arms, to -remain obstinately there, even when insult strikes one in the face--that -should be the _mot d’ordre_ of the present time.” - -In 1858, when the Austrian Ministry exerted pressure on the Hungarian -Academy to abolish the articles of its statutes which constituted the -culture of the Magyar language, its fundamental task, Széchényi wrote -another letter, which describes his mental condition: “Can I be silent -when I see that noble seed crushed? Can I forget the services which -that powerful benefactor has rendered us? I ask--I, whose misfortune -lies, not in a vague confusion of ideas, but, on the contrary, in the -fatal gift of seeing too clearly, too distinctly, to make any illusion -possible. Ought I not to raise a cry of alarm, seeing our dynasty -possessed by I know not what evil influence, fighting against the most -energetic of its peoples, against that for whom the future reserves the -highest destiny, and not only contemning it but stifling it, depriving -it of its proper character, shaking to its roots the secular tree of the -empire. Founder of this Academy, it is my duty to-day to speak. So long -as my head is on my shoulders, so long as my brain is not entirely -obscured, so long as the light of my eyes remains unveiled by eternal -night, I shall retain my right to decide concerning the rules. Our -Emperor will sooner or later understand that the assimilation of the -races of the empire is merely the Utopia of his ministers; the day will -come when all will detach themselves. Hungary alone, which has no racial -affinity with the other European nations, will seek to accomplish its -own destiny beneath the ægis of the royal dynasty.” - -That was in 1858. In 1859, even before the outbreak of war, he -prophesied defeat, and showed its results: “There are crises,” he said, -“which lead to cure when the sick person is not incurable.” He published -at London a book in which, in a strange and humorous, but at the same -time terrible way, he traced the history of Hungary’s sufferings under -Bach’s iron rule, sketched the future of his country, and counselled a -policy of concord, parallel but not servile to that of Austria. “In -truth,” he wrote himself, “this book is miserable; but do you know how -the Margaret Island was formed? According to an old legend, the Danube -once occupied its site; some carrion once, no one knows how, settled on -to a sand-bank and became attached there. Whatever the river swept down, -froth, leaves, branches, trees, all were piled up there, and at last a -magnificent island arose. My work is something like that carrion. Who -knows what may arise out of it at last?” - -A few months later Hübner succeeded Bach, and the Liberal system was -inaugurated. Széchényi was wild with joy; from his humble room he -encouraged the minister, sent him plans of reform, inspired or wrote -papers on the renewal of Austria, not forgetting Hungary. The dream was -soon dissipated; Hübner was succeeded by Thierry, a bad disciple of -Bach, armed with the old and superannuated systems of Austria; all -reform was abandoned. The unfortunate Széchényi resisted sorrowfully; he -called Rechberg, begged him to inform the Emperor of his mistake while -there was still time, and submitted programmes for an Austrian -constitution and a Hungarian constitution, internal affairs to be -treated separately, and external affairs conjointly. Rechberg, far less -foreseeing than this inspired madman, said, shaking his head: “One can -easily see that this project comes from a lunatic asylum.” Worse still, -Thierry, suspecting a vulgar conspirator in the great Magyar, sent a -troop of police to visit the asylum, threatened to imprison him, and -deprived him of his papers. - -The unhappy man, whose madness was merely an irresistible need to serve -his country at all costs, had only one remorse; he feared he had not -sufficiently served his country, and henceforth all hopes were closed. -He sought in vain to stifle his poignant grief by playing desperately at -chess. At last he shot himself with a revolver. That was on the 8th of -April, 1860. In 1867, Francis Joseph was crowned King of Hungary, thus -realizing the dreams of the Döbling lunatic; and Rechberg, who had -laughed at them, was called upon to put them in practice. - -E. T. A. Hoffmann, that strange poet, artist, and musician, whose -drawings ended in caricature, his tales in extravagance, and his music -in a mere medley of sound, but who was, nevertheless, the real creator -of fantastic poetry, was a drunkard. Many years before his death he -wrote in his journal: “How is it that, awake or asleep, my thoughts are -always running, in spite of myself, on this miserable theme of madness? -Disorderly ideas seem to rise out of my mind like blood from opened -veins.” He was so sensitive to atmospheric variations that he -constructed a meteorological scale out of his subjective emotions. For -many years he was subject to a real monomania of persecution, with -hallucinations in which the fantasies of his stories were converted into -realities. - -The famous Sicilian physiologist Foderà often declared that he could -furnish bread for 200,000 men with a single oven of very simple -construction, and that, with forty soldiers he could overcome any army, -even 1,000,000 strong. When about fifty years of age he fell violently -in love with a young girl who lived opposite him. One fine day, being in -the street, he gazed up rapturously at the charming maiden, who, to free -herself from her wearisome adorer, emptied a vessel of dirty water on -his head. Foderà, however, regarded this act as a manifestation of love, -and returned home full of joy. In the courtyard he saw a fowl, which, as -he declared, had an extraordinary resemblance to the beloved maiden; he -immediately bought it, covered it with kisses, allowed the precious -creature to do anything, to soil his books, and his clothes, and even to -perch on his bed.[180] - -The most complete type of madness in genius is presented to us by -Schopenhauer.[181] He himself considered that he inherited his -intelligence from his mother, a literary woman full of vivacity, but -heartless; while his character came from his father, a banker, who was -misanthropic and eccentric to monomania. From childhood his hearing was -defective, and he believed--and it is probably true--that he inherited -his deafness, his very large head, and his brilliant eyes, from his -father. He lived for some time in England under the care of a clergyman. -He learnt to know the English language and literature, and also learnt -to despise the bigotry of his hosts. Notwithstanding constant change of -scene involved in his travels, he was never cheerful, and gave free -course to his discontent with himself and his surroundings. “From my -youth,” he says, “I have always been melancholy. Once, when I was -perhaps eighteen, I - -[Illustration: SCHOPENHAUER.] - -thought to myself, in spite of my youth, that the world could not be the -work of a God, but rather of a devil. During my education I certainly -had to suffer too much from my father’s temperament.” He was frightened -by imaginary diseases. In Switzerland the Alps aroused in him sadness -rather than admiration. His mother, like all those who came in contact -with him, experienced the unhappy effects of his character, for when, in -1807, he wished, at the age of nineteen, to come and see her at Weimar, -she wrote to him, “I have always told you that it would be very -difficult for me to live with you; the more nearly I observe you, the -more this difficulty increases, so far at least as I am concerned. I do -not hide from you that, so long as you remain what you are now, I would -support any sacrifice rather than submit to it. I do not misunderstand -the foundation of goodness in you; what separates me from you is not -your heart, not your inner, but your outer, self, your views, your -judgments, your manner of behaving; in short, I cannot harmonize with -you in anything that concerns your external self. Even your ill-humour, -your lamentations over the inevitable, your sombre face, your -extravagant opinions, which you give forth like oracles, and tolerate no -opposition to, oppress me, shock my serenity, and are no use to -yourself. Your disagreeable discussions, your lamentations over the -stupidity of the world and human misery, give me wretched nights and bad -dreams.”[182] - -He became more and more estranged from his mother, alleging that she had -not respected his father’s memory, that she had dissipated the common -fortune by her extravagance, and had thus reduced him to the necessity -of working for his living. This effort was entirely repugnant to his -nature. In this he yielded to a feeling of anguish, which, by his own -confession, bordered on madness. “If there is nothing to cause me -misery, I am tormented by the thought that there must be something -hidden from me. _Misera conditio nostra._”[183] - -In 1814 Schopenhauer left Weimar to complete his great work. He was -convinced that he could and must open a new and only way to lead men of -mind and heart to truth; he felt in himself something more than mere -science, something demoniacal (_dämonisches_). - -In 1813 he had already said: “Beneath my hand, and still more in my -head, a work, a philosophy, is ripening, which will be at once an ethic -and a metaphysic, hitherto so unreasonably separated, just as man has -been divided into body and soul. The work grows, and gradually becomes -concrete, like the fœtus in its mother’s womb. I do not know what will -appear at last. I recognize a member, an organ, one part after another. -I write without seeking for results, for I know that it all stands on -the same foundation, and will thus compose a vital and organic whole. I -do not understand the system of the work, just as a mother does not -understand the fœtus that develops in her bowels, but she feels it -tremble within her. My mind draws its food from the world by the medium -of intelligence and thought; this nourishment gives body to my work; and -yet I do not know why it should happen in me and not in others who -receive the same food. O Chance! sovereign of this world, let me live in -peace for a few years yet, for I love my work as a mother loves her -child. When it is ripe and brought to the light, then exercise your -rights, and claim interest for the delay. But if, in this iron century, -I succumb before that hour, may these unripened principles and studies -be received by the world as they are, until perhaps some related mind -appears who will collect and unite the members.” - -All the characteristic symptoms of the various steps that lead up to -insanity, the rapid passage from profound grief to excessive joy, may be -found in Schopenhauer. In a moment of tranquil reflection on himself, in -1814, after having found that men were “a soup of bread dipped in water -with a little arsenic,” and after having declared that “their egoism is -like that which binds the dog to his master,” he wrote: “And now do not -except yourself; examine your loves and your friendships; observe if -your objective judgments are not in great part subjective and impure.” -And in another page: “Just as the most beautiful body contains within it -fæcal and mephitic gases, so the noblest character offers traits of -badness, and the greatest genius presents traces of pettiness and -excessive pride.” - -The same alternations may be found throughout his life; sometimes, a -keen and contemptuous critic, he shows haughty presumption; at other -times he descends to the lowest literary platitudes; sometimes he -wandered about the delightful suburbs of Dresden lost in the -contemplation of nature; at other times he wallowed in prosaic love -adventures, from which distinguished friends were obliged to save him, -and this while he was elaborating his great work, _Die Welt als Wille -und Vorstellung_, which was to astonish the world. “He thus,” remarks -Von Sedlitz, “gave the example of a _mania puerperii spiritualis_, such -as sometimes takes possession of pregnant women.” Schopenhauer himself -told Frauenstedt that at the time when he was writing his great work he -must have been very strange in his person and behaviour, as people took -him for a madman. One day when he was walking in a conservatory at -Dresden, and, while contemplating the plants, talked aloud to himself -and gesticulated, an attendant came up and asked him who he was. “If you -can tell me who I am,” replied Schopenhauer, “I shall be very much -obliged to you.” And he walked away leaving the astonished attendant -fully persuaded that he was a lunatic. With such a disposition it is not -surprising that Schopenhauer, like many prophets, believed that he was -impelled by a demon or spirit. “When my intelligence had touched its -apogee, and was, under favourable conditions, at its point of greatest -tension, it was capable of embracing anything; it could suddenly bring -forth revelations and give birth to chains of thought well worthy of -preservation.”[184] In 1816 he wrote: “It happens to me among men as to -Jesus of Nazareth when he had to awake his disciples always asleep.” -Even in old age he spoke of his great work in such a way as to exclude -all doubt as to the inspiration which had produced it, such a work only -being possible under the influence of inspiration. At that age he gazed -with astonishment at his work, especially at the fourth book, as at a -work written by some other person. It is worth while recalling here the -doubling of personality so common in men of genius. - -After he had handed his book over to the publisher he set out for Italy, -without awaiting its publication, with the proud faith that he had given -a revelation to the world. His _délire des grandeurs_ at this period -increased, and the mental disturbance he underwent revealed itself -later. He wrote: “In enchanting Venice, Love’s arms held me long -enfettered, until an inner voice bade me break free and lead my steps -elsewhere.” And again: “If I could only satisfy my desire to look upon -this race of toads and vipers as my equals, it would be a consolation to -me.” While oscillating between mental exaltation and depression he heard -of the collapse of his banking-house. It is easy to understand the -grief which this news caused him; he was reduced to the necessity of -living by philosophy, instead of for philosophy, as he had desired to -do. He twice sought to become a _Privatdozent_ in Berlin, but he was -unsuccessful in these attempts. His violent attacks on his -contemporaries displeased his hearers, and his passionate disputations, -and his tenacity in holding strange opinions, which he gave forth as -oracles, rendered precarious his relations with friends and men of -learning. - -The invasion of cholera, at the beginning of 1831, completed his -troubles. On the last night of 1830 he had already had a dream, which he -looked upon as a prophecy, foretelling his death in the new year. “This -dream,” he wrote in his _Cogitata_, “influenced me in my departure from -Berlin immediately the cholera began in 1831. I had scarcely reached -Frankfort-on-the-Main, when I had a very distinct vision of spirits. -They were, as I think, my ancestors, and they announced to me that I -should survive my mother, at that time still living. My father, who was -dead, carried a light in his hand.” That this hallucination was -accompanied by real brain affection is proved by the fact that at that -time he “fell into deep melancholy, not speaking to any one for weeks -together.” The doctors were alarmed, and induced him to go to Mannheim -for change of scene. More than a year later he returned to Frankfort, -when the acute period of his illness had apparently passed. Signs of it -remained, however, in his peculiar bearing, his habit of gesticulating -and talking aloud to himself as he walked through the streets of the -city, or sat at table in the restaurant, and in his fury against “such -philosophasters as Hegel, Schleiermacher, and similar charlatans, who -shine like so many stars in the firmament of philosophy, and rule the -philosophic market.” He accused them of depriving him of the praise and -fame he deserved, by deliberately keeping silence concerning his work. -This was a fixed idea with him, like the idea of his own infallibility, -even after he seemed to return to a relatively normal condition, thanks -to the fame which, after a delay of thirty years, at length crowned his -name and his works. - -His _délire des grandeurs_, his melancholy accompanied by morbid rage, -born of the idea of persecution, had really shown themselves in him from -childhood. At six years of age he believed that his parents wished to -abandon him. As a student he was always morose. One of the things which -caused him most trouble was noise, especially when produced by the whips -of drivers. “To be sensitive to noise,” he wrote, “is one of the -numerous misfortunes which discount the privilege of genius.” “_Qui non -habet indignationem_,” he wrote, “_non habet ingenium_.” But his -indignation was excessive, a morbid rage. One day when his landlady was -chattering in the anteroom he came out and shook her so violently that -he broke her arm, and was fined for damages. He was genuinely -hypochondriacal. He was driven from Naples by the fear of small-pox, -from Verona by the idea that he had been poisoned by snuff, from Berlin -by the dread of cholera, and previously by the conscription. In 1831, he -had a fresh attack of restlessness; at the least sound in the street he -put his hand to his sword; his fear became real suffering; he could not -open a letter without suspecting some great misfortune; he would not -shave his beard, but burnt it; he hated women and Jews and philosophers, -especially philosophers, and loved dogs, remembering them in his will. -He reasoned about everything, however unimportant; about his great -appetite, about the moonlight, which suggested quite illogical ideas to -him, &c. He believed in table-turning, and that magnetism could heal his -dog’s paws and restore his own hearing. One night the servant dreamt -that she had to wipe some ink stains; in the morning he spilt some, and -the great philosopher deduced that “everything happens necessarily.” - -He was contradiction personified. He placed annihilation, _nirvana_, as -the final aim of life, and predicted (which means that he desired), one -hundred years of life. He preached sexual abstinence as a duty, but did -not himself practise it. He who had suffered so much from the -intolerance of others, insulted Moleschott and Büchner, and rejoiced -when the Government deprived them of their professorial chairs. - -He lived on the first storey, in case of fire; would not trust himself -to his hairdresser; hid gold in the ink-pot, and letters of change -beneath the bed-clothes. “When I have no troubles,” he said (like -Rousseau), “it is then that I am most afraid.” He feared to touch a -razor; a glass that was not his own might communicate some disease; he -wrote business documents in Greek or Latin or Sanskrit, and disseminated -them in books to prevent unforeseen and impossible curiosity, which -would have been much easier avoided by a simple lock and key. Though he -regarded himself as the victim of a vast conspiracy of professors of -philosophy, concerted at Gotha, to preserve silence concerning his -books, he yet dreaded lest they should speak of them; “I would rather -that worms should gnaw my body than that professors should gnaw my -philosophy.” Lacking all affection, he even insulted his mother, and -drew from her example conclusions against the whole female sex, “long of -hair and short of sense.” Yet, while despising monogamy, he recommended -tetragamy, to which he saw but one objection--the four mothers-in-law. -The same lack of affection made him despise patriotism, “the passion of -fools, and the most foolish of passions;” he took part with the soldiers -against the people, and to the former and to his dog he left his -property. He was always preoccupied with himself, not only with the self -that was the creator of a new system, but in hundreds of his letters he -speaks with strange complaisance of his photograph, of his portrait in -oils and of a person who had bought it “in order to place it in a kind -of chapel, like the image of a saint.” - -No one has, for the rest, maintained more openly than Schopenhauer, the -relationship of genius to insanity. “People of genius,” he wrote, “are -not only unpleasant in practical life, but weak in moral sense and -wicked.” And elsewhere: “Such men can have but few friends; solitude -reigns on the summits.... Genius is closer to madness than to ordinary -intelligence.... The lives of men of genius show how often, like -lunatics, they are in a state of continual agitation.” - - * * * * * - -Nicolaï Vasilyevitch Gogol (born 1809), after suffering from an unhappy -love affair, gave himself up for many years to unrestrained onanism, and -became eventually a great novelist. Having known Poushkin he was -attracted to the short story, then he fell under the influence of the -Moscow school, and became a humourist of the highest order. In his _Dead -Souls_ he satirises the Russian bureaucracy with so much _vis comica_ as -to show the need of putting an end to a form of government which is a -martyrdom both for the victims and the executioners. - -On the publication of his historical Cossack romance, _Taras Bulba_, he -reached the summit of his fame. His admirers compared him to Homer; even -the Government patronized him. Then a new idea began to dominate him; he -thought that he painted his country with so much crudity and realism -that the picture might incite to a revolution which would not be kept -within reasonable limits, and might overturn society, religion, and the -family, leaving him the remorse of having provoked it. This idea took -possession of his mind and dominated it, as it had formerly been -dominated by love, by the drama, and by the novel. He then sought by his -writings to combat western liberalism, but the antidote attracted fewer -readers than the poison. Then he abandoned work, shut himself up in his -house, giving himself up to prayer to the saints, and supplicating them -to obtain God’s pardon for his revolutionary sins. He accomplished a -pilgrimage to Jerusalem, from which he returned somewhat consoled, when -the revolution of 1848 broke out, and his remorse was again aroused. He -was constantly pursued by visions of the triumph of Nihilism, and in his -alarm he called on Holy Russia to overthrow the pagan West, and to found -on its ruins the orthodox Panslavist empire. In 1852, the great novelist -was found dead at Moscow of exhaustion, or rather of tabes dorsalis, in -front of the shrine before which he was accustomed to lie for days in -silent prayer. - - - - -PART II. - -_THE CAUSES OF GENIUS._ - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -METEOROLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON GENIUS. - - The influence of weather on the insane--Sensitiveness of men of - genius to barometrical conditions--Sensitiveness to thermometrical - conditions. - - -_The Influence of Weather on the Insane._--A series of clinical -researches, which I carried on for six consecutive years, has shown me -with certainty that the mental condition of the insane is modified in a -constant manner by barometrical and thermometrical influences.[185] When -the temperature rose above 25°, 30°, and 32° C., especially if the rise -was sudden, the number of maniacal attacks increased from 29 to 50. On -the days on which the barometer showed sudden variations, especially of -elevation--and more particularly two or three days before and after the -variation--the number of maniacal attacks rapidly increased from 34 to -46. This meteoric sensibility, as I term it, increased in an inverse -ratio to the integrity of the nervous tissues, being very great in -idiots and slightest in monomaniacs. The study of 23,602 lunatics has -shown me that the development of insanity generally coincides with the -increase of monthly temperature and with the great barometrical -perturbations in September and March; the onset of heat, acts more -efficaciously, however, than the intense heat which follows; and the -heat which has become habitual in August acts much less harmfully. The -minimum number of outbreaks of insanity is found in the coldest months. -(_See_ Plate.) - -This coincidence is seen best in the French lunatics studied by -Esquirol.[186] The French figures present with most clearness the effect -of thermometrical influences, because in France the entry of lunatics -into asylums, being little impeded by red-tapeism, follows closely on -the outbreak. - - --------+----------------+---------++--------+----------------+---------- - | INSANE. | || | INSANE. | - Month. +-------+--------+ Tempera-|| Month. +-------+--------+ Tempera- - | Italy.| France.| ture. || | Italy.| France.| ture. - --------+-------+--------+---------++--------+-------+--------+--------- - June | 2,704 | 55 | 21° 29C.|| October|1,637 | 44 | 12° 77C. - May | 2,642 | 58 | 16° 75C.|| Sept. |1,604 | 48 | 19° 00C. - July | 2,614 | 52 | 23° 75C.|| Dec. |1,529 | 35 | 1° 01C. - August | 2,261 | 45 | 21° 92C.|| Feb. |1,420 | 40 | 5° 73C. - April | 2,237 | 50 | 16° 12C.|| Jan. |1,476 | 42 | 1° 63C. - March | 1,829 | 49 | 6° 60C.|| Nov. |1,452 | 47 | 7° 17C. - --------+-------+--------+---------++--------+-------+--------+-------- - -Now, a similar influence may be noted in those to whom nature, -benevolently or malevolently, has conceded the power of intellect more -generously than to others. There are few among these who do not confess -that their inspiration is strangely subject to the influence of weather. -Those who associate with them, or who read their correspondence, know -that they suffer so greatly from this cause that they often complain to -every one, and struggle, with the help of various artifices, against the -malignant influences which impede the free flight of their thought. - -_Sensitiveness to Barometrical Conditions._--Montaigne wrote: “_Si la -santé me sied et la clarté d’un beau jour, me voilà honnête homme_.” -Diderot wrote, “_Il me semble que j’ai l’esprit fou dans les grands -vents_.” Giordani foretold storms two days beforehand.[187] Maine de -Biran, a very spiritualistic philosopher, wrote, in his _Journal de ma -Vie Intime_, “I do not know how it is that in bad weather I feel my -intelligence and will so unlike what they are in fine weather;” and -again, “There are days in which my thought seems to break through the -veils which surround it. In some conditions of the weather I feel -delight in good, and adore virtue; at other times I am indifferent to -everything, even to my duties. Are our sentiments, our affections, our -principles, related to the physical condition of our organs?”[188] The -study of his _Journal_ shows us the justice of his doubts. Let us take -1818. In April we find two periods of good inspiration and four of bad, -although the weather was fine; in May he was constantly sad, and in -November only cheerful during ten days. - -“_1815, May._--I am suffering from the nervous disposition which I -experience in spring; and though wishing to do too much, I do -nothing.... - -“_23 May._--I am happy because of the air that I breathe and the birds -that are singing; but inspiration passes away through the senses. Each -season has not merely special forms of sensation, but a certain way of -understanding life which is peculiar to it.... - -“_17 May._--Irresistible pleasure of thought: inspiration.... - -“_4, 16, 17 October._--Empty of ideas; sad.... - -“_1816, 25 January._--Sad and idle. My life is useless.... - -“_24 April._--I am another man. Every day seems a feast day. At this -time of the year something seems to lift the soul to another region, and -to give it strength to surmount all impediments.... - -“_1817, 13 April._--Excited.... - -“_7 May._--Working on Condillac.... - -“_10, 18 July._--Marvellous activity.... - -“_12 October._--Am transformed; thought turns to commonplace -triviality.... - -“_22, 23, 28 November._--Sterile agitation. Alteration of all my mental -faculties.... - -“_1818, 1 April._--Northerly wind. Am weary, sad, suffering, stolid.... - -“_1820, 31 March._--At this time of the year it always happens to me -that body and mind are alike heavy; I have the consciousness of my -degradation.... - -“_1821, May._--All this month I am sad, and yield to external causes -like a marionette.... - -“_21 October._--I feel myself newborn. I was returning to work, but the -weather has changed; the wind has turned to the south; it is strong, and -I am another man. I feel inert, with a distaste for work, and inclined -to those sad and melancholy fantasies which are always so fatal to -me....” - -Alfieri wrote, “I compare myself to a barometer. I have always -experienced more or less facility in writing, according to the weight of -the air; absolute stupidity in the great solstitial and equinoxial -winds, infinitely less perspicacity in the evening than in the morning, -and a much greater aptness for creation in the middle of the winter or -of summer than in the intermediate seasons. This has made me humble, as -I am convinced that at these times I have had no power to do otherwise.” -Monod says that the phases of Michelet’s intellectual life followed the -course of the seasons.[189] Poushkin’s poetic inspiration was greatest -during dark and stormy nights. - -We catch a glimpse in these facts of an appreciable influence of -barometrical conditions upon men of genius as upon the insane. - -_Heat._--Thermometrical influence is much clearer and more evident. -Napoleon, who defined man as “a product of the physical atmosphere and -the moral atmosphere,” and who suffered from the faintest wind, loved -heat so much that he would have fires even in July. Voltaire and Buffon -had their studies warmed throughout the year. Rousseau said that the -action of the sun in the dog-days aided him to compose, and he allowed -the rays of the mid-day sun to fall on his head. Byron said that he -feared cold as much as a gazelle. Heine wrote in one of his letters, “It -snows; I have little fire in the room, and my letter is cold.” -Spallanzani, in the Ionian Islands, found himself able to study for -three times as many hours as in misty Pavia.[190] Leopardi confesses in -his letters, “My temperament is inimical to cold. I wait and invoke the -reign of Ormuzd.” Giusti wrote in the spring, “Inspiration is becoming -favourable.... If spring aids me as in all other things....”[191] -Paisiello could only compose beneath six quilts in the summer and nine -in the winter. Similar facts are told of Varillas, Méry, and Arnaud. -Sylvester tells how, when on board the _Invicta_, beneath the vivifying -rays of a powerful sun, the method of resolving a multiple equation -occurred to him, and he succeeded, without pen or pencil.[192] Lesage, -in his old age, became animated as the sun advanced in the meridian, -gradually gaining his imaginative power, together with his cheerfulness; -as the day declined, his mental activity gradually diminished, until he -fell into a lethargy, which lasted to the following day.[193] - -Giordani could only compose in the sun, or in the presence of abundant -light and great heat.[194] Foscolo wrote in November: “I keep near the -fire; my friends laugh at me, but I am seeking to give my members heat -which my heart will concentrate and sublime within.”[195] And in -December he writes: “My natural infirmity, the fear of cold, has -constrained me to live near the fire, and the fire has inflamed my -eyelids.” Milton confessed in his Latin elegies that in winter his muse -was sterile; he could only write from the spring equinox to that of -autumn. In a letter he complains of the cold of 1678, and fears that, if -it lasts, it will hinder the free development of his imagination. Dr. -Johnson, who tells us this in his _Life of Milton_, may be believed on -this point, for imagination never smiled upon him, only the cold and -tranquil intelligence of criticism, and he adds the commentary that all -this must be the result of eccentricity of character, he, Johnson, never -having experienced any effects from the variations of the weather. -Poushkin often said that he found himself most disposed to composition -in autumn; the brilliant spring sunshine produced on him an impression -of melancholy. Salvator Rosa laughed in youth, as Lady Morgan tells us -in her _Life_, at the pretended influence of the weather on works of -genius; but in old age he became incapable of painting or thinking, -almost of living, except in the heat of spring. In reading Schiller’s -correspondence with Goethe one is struck by the singular influence which -the gentle and imaginative poet attributed to the weather. In November, -1817, he wrote: “In these sad days, beneath this leaden sky, I have need -of all my elasticity to feel alive, and do not yet feel capable of -serious work.” And in December: “I am going back to work, but the -weather is so dull that it is impossible to preserve the lucidity of the -soul.” In July, 1818: “Thanks to the fine weather I am better; the lyric -inspiration, which obeys the will less than any other, does not delay.” -In December he complains that the necessity of completing _Wallenstein_ -unfortunately coincides with an unfavourable period of the year, “so -that,” he writes, “I am obliged to use all my strength to preserve -mental clearness.” And in May, 1799: “I hope to make progress in my work -if the weather continues fine.” - -All these examples allow us to suspect, with some probability, that -heat, with rare exceptions, aids in the productions of genius, as it -aids in vegetation, and also aids, unfortunately, in the stimulation of -mania. - -If historians, who have squandered so much time and so many volumes in -detailing minutely to us the most shameless exploits of kings, had -sought with as much care the memorable epoch in which a great discovery -or a masterpiece of art was conceived, they would no doubt have found -that the hottest months and days have always been most fruitful for -genius, as for nature generally. - -Let us endeavour to find more precise proofs of this little-suspected -influence. - -Dante wrote his first sonnet on the 15th of June, 1282; in the spring of -1300 he wrote the _Vita Nuova_; on the 3rd of April he began his great -poem.[196] Darwin had the earliest ideas of his great work first in -March, then in June.[197] Petrarch conceived the _Africa_ in March, -1338. Michelangelo’s great cartoon, the work which so competent a judge -as Cellini considered his most wonderful masterpiece, was imagined and -executed between April and July, 1506. Manzoni wrote his _5 Maggio_ in -summer. Milton’s great poem was conceived in the spring. Galileo -discovered Saturn’s ring in April, 1611. Balzac wrote _La Cousine Bette_ -in August and September, _Père Goriot_ in September, _La Recherche de -l’Absolu_ in June to September. Sterne began _Tristram Shandy_ in -January, the first of his sermons in April, the famous one on errors of -conscience in May.[198] Giordano Bruno composed his _Candelajo_ in July; -and in his witty dedication he attributed it to the heat of the -dog-days. Voltaire wrote _Tancred_ in August. Byron wrote the fourth -canto of _Childe Harold_ in September, his _Prophecy of Dante_ in June, -his _Prisoner of Chillon_ during the summer in Switzerland. Giusti wrote -of _Gingillino_ and _Pero_: “Here are the only leaves that April has -drawn out of my head after fourteen months of idleness.” Schiller, it -appears from his letters to Goethe, conceived _Don Carlos_ and -_Wallenstein_ in the autumn, as well as _Fiesco_ and _Wilhelm Tell_; -_Wallensteins Lager_ and _Letters on Æsthetics_ in September; _Kabale -und Liebe_ in winter; the _Magician_, the _Glove_, the _Ring of -Polycrates_, the _Cranes of Ibycus_, and _Nadowessir’s Song_ in June; -the _Jungfrau von Orleans_ in July. Goethe wrote _Werther_ in autumn; -_Mignon_ and other lyric poems in May; _Cellini_, _Alexis_, -_Euphrosyne_, _Metamorphosis of Plants_, and _Parnass_ in June and July; -the _Xenien_, _Hermann und Dorothea_, _Westöstlichen Divan_, and -_Natürliche Tochter_ in winter. In the first days of March, 1788, which, -he wrote, were worth more to him than a whole month, he dictated, -besides other poems, the beginning of _Faust_.[199] Salorno’s hymn to -Liberty was written in May. Rossini composed the _Semiramide_ almost -entirely in February, and in November the last part of the _Stabat -Mater_.[200] Mozart composed the _Mitridate_ in October; Beethoven his -ninth symphony in February.[201] Donizetti composed _Lucia di -Lammermoor_, perhaps entirely, in September; in any case, the famous _Tu -che a Dio spiegasti l’ale_ belongs to that date; the _Figlia del -Reggimento_ was also composed in autumn; _Linda de Chamounix_ in spring; -_Rita_ in summer; _Don Pasquale_ and the _Miserere_ in winter.[202] -Wagner composed _Der Fliegende Holländer_ in the spring of 1841. Canova -modelled his first work, Orpheus and Eurydice, in October.[203] -Michelangelo conceived his _Pietà_ between September and October, -1498,[204] the design of the Libreria in December, the model in wood of -the tomb of Pope Julius in August.[205] Leonardo da Vinci conceived the -equestrian statue of the Sforza and began his book _Della luce e delle -Ombre_ in April; for we find in his autograph manuscript these words: -“On April the 23rd, 1492, I commenced this book and recommenced the -horse.” On the 2nd of July, 1491, he designed the pavilion of the -Duchess’s Bath; on the 3rd of March, 1509, St. Christopher’s Canal.[206] -The first idea of the discovery of America came to Columbus between May -and June, in 1474, in the form of a search for the western passage to -India.[207] Galileo discovered the sun’s spots contemporaneously with, -or before, Scheiner in April, 1611;[208] in December, 1610, and even in -September (since he speaks of his observation having been made three -months previously), he discovered the analogy between the phases of -Venus and those of the moon; in May, 1609, he invented the -telescope;[209] in July, 1610, he discovered two stars, afterwards found -to be the most luminous points of Saturn’s ring, a discovery which, -according to his custom, he expressed in verse:-- - - “_Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi._” - -In January he found Jupiter’s satellites; in November, 1602, the -isochronism of the oscillations of the pendulum.[210] - -Kepler discovered the law which bears his name in May, 1618; the -discovery of Zucchi regarding Jupiter took place in May; that of Tycho -Brahe in November. Fabricius discovered the first changing star in -August, 1546. Cassini discovered the spots which indicate the rotation -of Venus in October and April (1666-67), and in October, December, and -March (1671, 1672, 1684) four satellites of Saturn. Herschel discovered -two in March, 1789. In June, 1631, Hevelius conceived the first ideas of -selenography.[211] A satellite of Saturn was discovered by Huygens on -the 25th of March, 1665; another by Dawes and Bond on the night of the -19th of September, 1848. Two satellites of Uranus were discovered by -Herschel in 1787; one of them, considered as doubtful by Herschel, was -again discovered by Struve and Lassel in October, 1847; the last, Ariel, -was discovered by Lassel on the 14th of September, 1847; on the 8th of -July in the same year he had also seen Neptune’s satellite for the first -time.[212] Uranus was discovered by Herschel in March, 1781. The same -astronomer observed the moon’s volcanoes in April. Bradley discovered in -September (1728) the aberration of light, Enke’s and Vico’s fine -observations on Saturn took place in March and April (1735-38). Of the -comets discovered by Gambart, three were in July, two in March and in -May, one in January, April, June, August, October, December.[213] The -last three comets discovered in 1877 were perceived in October, -February, and September; in August Hall observed the satellites of Mars. -Schiaparelli’s discovery on falling stars dates from August, 1866. - -We read in Malpighi’s journal that in July he made his great -discoveries in the suprarenal glands. It is curious to observe how some -one month predominates in certain years: for example, January in 1788 -and 1790, and June in 1771, during which he made thirteen -discoveries.[214] - -The first idea of the barometer came to Torricelli in May, 1645, as may -be seen by his letters to Ricci; in March, 1644, he had made the -discovery, of great moment at that time, of the best way of making -glasses for spectacles. The first experiments of Pascal on the -equilibrium of fluids were made in September, 1645.[215] In March, 1752, -Franklin began his experiments with lightning conductors, and concluded -them in September. - -Goethe declared that it was in May that his original ideas on the theory -of colours arose, and in June that he made his fine observations on the -metamorphoses of plants.[216] Hamilton discovered the calculus of -Quaternions on the 16th of October, 1843. - -Volta invented the electric pile in the beginning of winter, 1799-1800. -In the spring of 1775 he invented the electrophore. In the first days of -November, 1784, he discovered the production of hydrogen in organic -fermentations. His invention of the eudiometer took place in the spring, -about May. In April of the same year (1777) Volta wrote to Barletta the -famous letter in which he divined the electric telegraph. In the spring -of 1788 he constructed his great conductor. - -Luigi Brugnatelli found out galvanoplasty in November, 1806, as is shown -by a letter which the advocate Zanino Volta found in the correspondence -of his grandfather. Nicholson discovered the oxydation of metals by -means of the Voltaic pile, in the summer of 1800. - -From the examination of Galvani’s manuscripts it appears that his -studies on intestinal gases began in December, 1713. His first studies -on the action of atmospheric electricity on the nerves of cold-blooded -animals were undertaken, as he himself writes, “at the 20th hour of the -26th of April, 1776.” In September, 1786, he began his experiments on -the contractions of frogs, whence the origin of galvanism. In November, -1780, he stated his experiments on the contractions of frogs by -artificial electricity.[217] - -We see by Lagrange’s manuscripts, published by Boncompagni, that he had -the first idea of the Calculus of Variations on the 12th of June, 1755; -on the 19th of May (1756) he conceived the idea of the _Mécanique -Analitique_; in November, 1759, he found a solution of the problem of -vibrating cords.[218] - -From the manuscripts of Spallanzani, which I have been able to examine -in the Communal Library at Reggio, it appears that his observations on -moulds began on the 26th of September, 1770. On the 8th of May, 1780, -Spallanzani started, to use his own words, “the study of animals which -are torpid through the action of cold;” in April and May, 1776, he -discovered the parthenogenesis of certain animals. The 2nd of April, -1780, was the richest day in experiments, or rather deductions, on the -subject of ovulation. “It becomes clear,” he wrote on this same day, -after having made forty-three observations, “that the ova are not -fecundated in the womb; that the sperm cells after emission remain apt -for fecundation for a certain time, that the vesicular fluid fecundates -as well as the seminal, that wine and vinegar are opposed to -fecundation.” “Impatience,” adds this curious manuscript, which enables -us to assist at the incubation of these wonderful experiments, “will not -allow me to draw any more corollaries.” On the 7th of May, 1780, he -discovered that an infinitely small amount of semen sufficed for -fecundation. A letter to Bonnet shows that Spallanzani had, during the -spring of 1771, the idea of studying the action of the heart on the -circulation. In March, 1773, he undertook his studies on rotifera, and -in his manuscripts for May, 1781, may be found a plan of 161 new -experiments on the artificial fecundation of frogs. - -Géoffroy Saint-Hilaire had his first ideas on the homologies of -organisms in February. Davy discovered iodine in December. Humboldt made -his first observations on the magnetic needle in November, 1796; in -March, 1793, he observed the irritability of organic fibres.[219] The -prolegomena of the _Cosmos_ was dictated in October.[220] In July, 1801, -Gay-Lussac discovered fluoric acid in fish-bones; he completed the -analysis of alum in July.[221] In September, 1846, Morton used sulphuric -ether as an anæsthetic in surgery. In October, 1840, Armstrong invented -the first hydro-electric machine.[222] - -Matteucci made his experiments with the galvanoscope in July, 1830; on -torpedoes in the spring of 1836; on electro-motor muscles in July, 1837; -on the decomposition of acids in May, 1835, he determined in May, 1837, -the influence of electricity on the weather; in June, 1833, he concluded -his experiments on heat and magnetism.[223] - -The reader who has had the patience to follow this wearisome catalogue -to the end, may convince himself that many men of genius have, as it -were, a specific chronology; that is to say, a tendency to make their -most numerous observations, to accomplish their finest discoveries, or -their best æsthetic productions, at a special season or in one month -rather than another: Spallanzani in the spring, Giusti and Arcangeli in -March, Lamartine in August, Carcano, Byron, and Alfieri in September, -Malpighi and Schiller in June and July, Hugo in May, Béranger in -January, Belli in November, Melli in April, Volta in November and -December, Galvani in April, Gambart in July, Peters in August, Luther in -March and April, Watson in September. - -A more general kind of specific chronology, a sort of intellectual -calendar, is presented when we sum up various intellectual -creations--poetry, music, sculpture, natural discoveries--of which the -date of conception can be precisely fixed. This may be seen from the -following table:-- - - ----------+----------+-----------------+--------------+-------- - | | | Physical, | - | Literary | | Chemical, | - Month. | and | Astronomical | and | Total. - | Artistic |Discoveries.[224]| Mathematical | - | Works. | | Discoveries. | - ----------+----------+-----------------+--------------+-------- - January | 101 | 37 | -- | 138 - February | 82 | 21 | 1 | 104 - March | 104 | 45 | 5 | 154 - April | 135 | 52 | 5 | 192 - May | 149 | 35 | 9 | 193 - June | 125 | 24 | 5 | 154 - July | 105 | 52 | 5 | 162 - August | 113 | 42 | -- | 155 - September | 138 | 47 | 5 | 190 - October | 83 | 45 | 4 | 132 - November | 103 | 42 | 5 | 150 - December | 86 | 27 | 2 | 115 - ----------+----------+-----------------+--------------+-------- - -One observes at once that the most favourable month for æsthetic -creations is May; then come September and April; the minimum is -presented by the months of February, October, and December. The same may -be observed partially with astronomical discoveries; but here April and -July predominate, while for physical discoveries as well as for æsthetic -creations, the months of May, April, and September stand first. Thus the -advantage belongs to the months of early heat more than to the months -of - -[Illustration: RELATION to average monthly temperature to admission of -lunatics to asylum, and to production of works of genius.] - -great heat, as with insanity also; in the same way the months of -greatest barometric variation have an advantage over very hot and very -cold months. - -If we now group these data according to seasons, which will allow us to -include other data in which the exact month cannot be stated, we shall -find that the maximum of artistic and literary creation falls in spring, -388; then comes summer, with 347; then autumn, 335; and lastly, winter, -with 280. - -The majority of great physical, chemical, and mathematical discoveries -took place in spring, 22; then autumn, 15; very few in summer, 10; and -only five in winter. I have separated astronomical discoveries from -physical, and other discoveries, because their precise dates are less -doubtful and therefore more important. We find 135 in autumn; 131 in -spring; 120 in summer; and only 83 in winter. Taking these 1,871 great -discoveries altogether, we find spring coming first, with 541; then -autumn, with 485; with 477 in summer; and 368 in winter. - -It is evident, then, that the first warm months distinctly predominate -in the creations of genius, as well as in organic nature generally, -although the question cannot be absolutely resolved on account of the -scarcity of data, as regards both quantity and quality. It was, however, -in the spring that the discovery of America was conceived, as well as -galvanism, the barometer, the telescope, and the lightning conductor; in -the spring, Michelangelo had the idea of his great cartoon, Dante of his -_Divina Commedia_, Leonardo of his book on light, Goethe of his _Faust_; -it was in the spring that Kepler discovered his law, that Milton -conceived his great poem, Darwin his great theory, and Wagner the -_Fliegende Holländer_, the first of his great music dramas. - -It may be added that in the few cases in which we may follow, day by -day, the traces of the works of great men, we usually find that their -activity increases in the warm months and decreases in the cold months. -Thus in Spallanzani’s journals, and especially during the years 1777-78 -and 1780-81, in which he was undertaking his investigations into moulds, -digestion, and fecundation, I found 50 days of observation in March, 65 -in April, 143 in May, 41 in June, 33 in August, 24 in September; while -there were only 17 in December, 10 in November, 18 in January, 17 in -July, and 2 in February. - -If we examine the curious journal of his own observations, which -Malpighi kept day by day for thirty-four years, we find, grouping the -observations according to months, July coming first with 71 days, -followed by June with 66, May 42, October 40, January 36, September 34, -April 33, March 31, August 28, November 20, December 13.[225] Out of -over four hundred observations less than a fifth took place in the -winter months. - -It appears from Galvani’s manuscripts, as examined by Gherardi, that -between the years 1772 and 1781 his investigations on irritability, -muscular movement, the structure of the ear, the tympanic bone, and the -organ of hearing, all belong to the month of April, while his work on -cataract belongs to March, and that on the hygiene of sight to January. -There seems, therefore, to be here a remarkable predominance for April, -though there is less certainty than in the preceding cases. - -I imagine the objections that may be made against these conclusions; the -scarcity of data, their doubtfulness, the boldness of bringing within -the narrow circle of statistics those sublime phenomena of intellectual -creation which seem the least susceptible of calculation. Such -objections may have weight with those who believe that statistics can -only deal with large numbers--perhaps more remarkable for quantity than -for quality--and who thrust aside _a priori_ all reasoning on the data, -as though figures were not facts, subject like all other facts to -synthesis, and had not their true value as materials for the thinker. -The facts I have brought forward, though not large, are at all events to -be preferred to mere hypotheses, or to the isolated statements of -authors, the more so as they are in harmony with these latter, and may -at least serve as an encouragement to a new series of fruitful -psychometeoric researches. - -It may be said also that the creations of genius cannot furnish great -columns of figures. - -It is very true, however, that in regard to many of them the -chronological coincidence is connected with accidental circumstances -entirely, independent of the psychic condition. Thus naturalists have -greater facilities for observation and experiment in warm months; thus, -also, the length and equability of equinoctial nights, the difficulty of -making examinations on foggy days, the weariness and discomfort -experienced on days that are very hot or very cold, largely account for -the predominance of discoveries in spring and autumn. - -Yet these are not the only determining circumstances. In the case of -anatomists, for example, bodies may be had at all seasons, and -principally in winter; and, again, the long and clear winter nights, in -which the influence of refraction is less, ought to be as favourable to -the astronomers of temperate climates as the warm summer nights of -northern climates which give us, however, a greater number of -astronomical discoveries. - -It is well known, also, that accidental circumstances influence even the -phenomena of death, birth, murder, when closely considered -statistically. If, however, all these phenomena conduce to the same -result, we are led to infer a similar cause common to all, and this can -only be found in meteorological influences. - -I have grouped together æsthetic creations and scientific discoveries -because they are associated by that moment of psychic excitation and -extreme sensibility which brings together the most remote facts, the -fecundating moment which has rightly been called generative, a moment at -which poets and men of science are nearer than is generally supposed. -Was there not an audacious imagination in Spallanzani’s experiments, in -Herschel’s first attempts, in the great discoveries of Leverrier and -Schiaparelli, born of hypothesis, which calculation and observation -transformed into axioms? Littrow, speaking of the discovery of Vesta, -observes that it was not the result of chance nor of genius alone, but -of genius favoured by chance. The star discovered by Piazzi had -glimmered in Zach’s eyes, but he, with less genius than Piazzi, or in a -moment of less perspicacity, attached no importance to it. The discovery -of the solar spots only needed time, patience, and good fortune, -remarked Secchi; but it needed genius to discover their true theory. -How many learned natural philosophers, observes Arago, in going down a -river must have observed the fluttering of the vane at the mast-head, -without discovering, like Bradley, the law of aberration. And how many -artists, one might add, must have seen hideous heads of porters, without -conceiving Leonardo’s Judas, or oranges without creating the cavatina of -Mozart’s _Don Giovanni_. - -There is, however, one last objection which seems more serious. Nearly -all great intellectual creations, and all discoveries of modern physics, -are the results of the slow and continuous meditations of men of science -and their predecessors; so that they form a kind of compilation, the -chronology of which is not easy to define, because the date at which we -are arrested indicates the moment of birth rather than of conception. -This objection, however, may be applied to nearly all human phenomena, -even the most sudden. Thus, fecundation is a phenomenon which depends on -the good nutrition of the organism, and on heredity; insanity, death -itself, though apparently produced by sudden, even casual, -circumstances, are yet related on one side to the weather and on the -other to organic conditions; so that often, one may say, the precise -date is fixed at birth. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -CLIMATIC INFLUENCES ON GENIUS. - - Influence of great centres--Race and hot climates--The distribution - of great masters--Orographic influences--- Influence of healthy - race--Parallelism of high stature and genius--Explanations. - - -Buckle thought that most artists, unlike men of science, were produced -in volcanic countries.[226] Jacoby, in an excellent monograph,[227] -finds the greatest number of superior intelligences where the urban -population is densest. It seems impossible to deny that race (the Latin -and Greek races, for example, abound in great men), political and -scientific struggles, wealth, literary centres have a great influence on -the appearance of men of genius. Who would maintain that the political -struggles and great liberty of Athens, Siena, and Florence have not -contributed to produce in ancient times a more powerful display of -genius than at other epochs and in other countries? - -But when we recall the preponderating influence of meteorological -phenomena on works of genius it becomes clear that a still more -important place must be reserved for atmospheric and climatic -conditions. - -_The Influence of Great Centres, of Race, and of Hot Climates._--It is -worth while to study the distribution of great artists in Europe, and -especially in Italy. - -For musicians I have used the works of Fétis[228] and Clément[229]; for -painters and sculptors I have referred to Ticozzi’s two -dictionaries.[230] Here are the results:-- - - -MUSICIANS IN EUROPE. - - _Country._ _Number._ _To one million inhabitants._ - - Italy 1210 40.7 - Belgium 98 16.7 - Germany 650 13.8 - France 405 10.7 - Holland 31 7.7 - Greece 15 7.5 - Switzerland 20 7.0 - Denmark 14 6.6 - Austria 239 6.5 - England 149 4.6 - Portugal 17 3.6 - Spain 62 3.5 - Ireland 7 1.4 - Russia 34 0.4 - Sweden 9 0.2 - -The countries which have furnished the greatest number of musicians -after Italy are Belgium, Germany, and France, the countries which have -the greatest density of population; the poorest in musicians are -Ireland, Russia, and Sweden, with a very slight density, especially the -two last. The influence of volcanic soil and of Latin race does not -clearly appear, when one notes the feeble proportions given by Spain and -Greece compared to Germany. - -If, however, we study the distribution of musicians in the various -regions of Italy, we see immediately that the hot and non-insular -districts stand first; then Emilia and Venetia; Piedmont, the Marches -and Umbria stand low, and Sardinia is completely absent. We do not, -however, obtain a sufficiently clear view of the orographic influences -until we take the provinces separately.[231] - -We then see in a remarkable manner how the most populous centres come to -the front, including nearly all the provinces containing large towns, -except Piedmont, Sardinia, and Sicily. It is sufficient to mention -Naples, Rome, Venice, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Lucca, Parma, and Genoa. -Here, evidently, we see the influence of healthy, warm, maritime, and, -above all, elevated regions; often this influence even struggles against -that of civilization and of great centres. Large cities prevail in the -proportion of 7 out of 9. In the second line we see other important -towns emerge, or great maritime centres, especially if volcanic: -Palermo, Bari, Catania, and especially mountainous countries, Bergamo, -Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Perugia, Siena. The racial influence is not -clear here; the Berber and Semitic races do not, however, seem to favour -art, especially in hot regions, and we may thus explain the paucity of -musicians among the Sardinians, Calabrians, and Sicilians. The -Greco-Roman and Etruscan races seem better endowed on the other hand, -whence the predominance of Naples, Rome, Lucca, and Bologna. The action -of earthquakes, which, according to Buckle, has a large part in artistic -creation, is not very apparent. If Naples and Aversa are placed in the -first rank (which could be explained by race and climate), it is not so -with Calabria, where earthquakes are so numerous. - -_The Distribution of Great Masters._--It must be remarked that quantity -does not always correspond to quality; it is sufficient to see that the -regions that produced a Bellini and a Rossini appear to be the most -sterile centres. Yet the appearance of a single great genius is more -than equivalent to the birth of a hundred mediocrities. - -If we take account of the proportion of great composers, we see that the -most favoured regions are hot and maritime, especially Naples, closely -followed by Rome, Parma, Milan, and Cremona. Here the influences of -density and of the school come in the third line, after that of climate. - -Thus, in searching Clément’s book, and Florimo’s,[232] we find that out -of 118 great composers, 44, or more than a third, belong to Italy; and -that among these last, 27, or more than half, are supplied by Sicily -(Scarlatti, Pacini, Bellini), and by Naples and neighbouring places, -especially Aversa (Jomelli, Stradella, Piccinni, Leo, Feo, Vinci, -Fenaroli, the inventor of _opéra-bouffe_, Speranza, Contumaci, Sala, -Caffaro, Duni, Sacchini, Carafa, Paisiello, Cimarosa, Zingarelli, -Mercadante, Durante, the two Ricci and Petrella), no doubt owing to the -influence of Greek race and warm climate. Of the other 17, a few belong -to Upper Italy: Donizetti, Verdi, Allegri, Frescobaldi, the two -Monteverdi, Salieri, Marcello, Paganini (these last three to the -sea-coast); and all the others to Central Italy; Palestrina and Clementi -to Rome, and Spontini, Lulli, and Pergolese, to Perugia and -Florence.[233] - -If we compare the regions which have produced the greatest composers and -relatively few minor masters, we find that Pesaro, Catania, Arezzo, and -Alessandria come first. The coincidence of musical geniuses and -mediocrities, both in large numbers, is found at Naples, Rome, Parma, -Florence, Milan, Cremona, and Venice, with an evident influence here -also of warm maritime climate, of the Greco-Etruscan race and of great -centres (5 out of 7). - -In painting we find that the large towns predominate both for number and -celebrity, with the exception of Sardinia and Sicily. Bologna, Florence, -Venice, and Milan come first as regards number; Florence, and in the -second line Verona, Naples, Rome, and Venice, both for number and -celebrity; and we still find that, after large towns, mountainous -countries give the highest figures as regards number. It is sufficient -to name Perugia, Arezzo, Siena, Udine, Verona, Vicenza, Parma, -Brescia.[234] - -Almost the same relations are observed in regard to sculptors and -architects. We see the great centres of civilization and hilly regions -in the first rank; Florence especially, then Milan, Venice, Naples, -Como, Siena, Verona, Massa, and in the third line Arezzo, Perugia, -Vicenza, Bergamo, Macerata, Catania, and Palermo.[235] - -To summarize: We see that the chief part is played by warm climate, -great centres of civilization, mountainous and maritime regions; some -influence must also be attributed to the influence of the Greek and -Etruscan races. There is no constant relation between the regions which -have produced great geniuses and those which have yielded second-rate -geniuses, with the exception of Naples and Florence. For the last city -we must bear in mind the influence of its commune, which excited and -nourished individual energies, and to this chief cause we must add -artistic disposition, race, and beauty of climate, as with Athens. -Certainly, Florence enjoyed unquestioned supremacy in painting and -sculpture; it is enough to recall the names of Donatello, Michelangelo, -Verrochio, Baldinelli, Coccini, Cellini, Giotto, Masaccio, Andrea del -Sarto, Salviati, Allori, Bronzino, Pollaiolo, Fra Angelico. - -_Orographic influence._--After the influence of heat and of great -centres, comes that of the slighter pressure of the air in hilly but not -too mountainous regions. - -This climatic influence alone can explain why we find so many poets, and -especially _improvvisatori_, even women, among the shepherds and -peasants of the Tuscan hills, especially about Pistoja, Buti, -Valdontani. It is enough to recall the shepherdess mentioned by Giuliani -in his book _Sulla Lingua parlata in Toscana_, and that singular -Frediani family with a father, grandfathers, and sons, who were poets; -one of them is still alive and composes verses worthy of the poets of -ancient Tuscany. Yet peasants of the same race, inhabiting the plain, so -far as I know, offer nothing similar. - -All flat countries--Belgium, Holland, Egypt--are deficient in men of -genius; so also with those, like Switzerland and Savoy, which, being -enclosed between very high mountains, are endemically afflicted with -cretinism and _goître_; marshy countries are still poorer in genius. The -few men of genius possessed by Switzerland were born when the race had -conquered the goitrous influence through admixture of French and Italian -immigrants--Bonnet, Rousseau, Tronchin, Tissot, De Candolle, Burlamagni, -Pestalozzi, Sismondi. Urbino Pesaro, Forlì, Como, Parma, have produced -men of genius in greater number and of greater fame than Pisa, Padua, -and Pavia, three of the most ancient and important university towns of -Italy; it is enough to name Raphael, Bramante, Rossini, Morgagni, -Spallanzani, Muratori, Falloppio, Volta. - -But, to come to more definite examples, we find that Florence, enjoying -a mild temperature and in special degree a city of the hills, has -furnished Italy with her most splendid cohort of great men: Dante, -Giotto, Machiavelli, Lulli, Leonardo, Brunellesco, Guicciardini, -Cellini, Fra Angelico, Andrea del Sarto, Nicolini, Capponi, Vespucci, -Viviani, Lippi, Boccaccio, Alberti, Dati, Alamanni, Rucellai, -Ghirlandajo, Donati; Pisa, on the other hand, with scientific conditions -at least as favourable as Florence, being the seat of a flourishing -university, only offers us--if we except a few soldiers and statesmen of -no great number and worth who were unable, even with powerful allies, to -prevent her fall--Pisa only offers us Nicola Pisano, Giunta, and Galileo -who, although born there, was of Florentine parentage. Now Pisa only -differs from Florence by being situated on a plain. - -In Lombardy, the regions of mountain and lake, like Bergamo, Brescia, -and Como, have produced more great men than the flat regions. I will -mention Bernardo Tasso, Mascheroni, Donizetti, Tartaglia, Ugoni, Volta, -Parini, Appiani, Mai, Cagnola; while Lower Lombardy can only bring -forward Alciato, Beccaria, Oriani, Cavalleri, Aselli, and Bocaccini. -Verona, a town of the hills, has produced Maffei, Paolo Veronese, -Catullus, Pliny, Fracastoro, Bianchini, Sammicheli, Cagnola, Tiraboschi, -Brusasorsi, Lorgna, Pindemonte; and not to speak of artists, economists, -and thinkers of the first order (it is enough to name Trezza), I note -that, in a very accurate document,[236] it appears that in 1881, there -were 160 poets at Verona, many rising considerably above mediocrity. On -the other hand, the wealthy and learned Padua has only given to Italy -Livy, Cesarotti, Pietro d’Abano, and a few others. - -Genoa and Naples, which unite the advantages of a climate at once warm, -maritime, and hilly, have produced men of genius at least as remarkable -as those yielded by Florence, if not in such great number; such are -Columbus, Doria, Mazzini, Paganini, Vico, Caracciolo, Pergolese, -Genovesi, Cirillo, Filangeri. - -In Spain, the influence of a warm climate is evident. The whole of -Catalonia, including Barcelona, though inhabited by a serious race, has -not produced artists, having yielded only a single poet, an imitator of -Petrarch. Seville, on the contrary, has produced Cervantes, Velasquez -and Murillo; Cordova has yielded many men of genius, such as Seneca, -Lucan, Morales, Mina, Gongora and Céspedes, at once painter, sculptor, -and poet. - -In the United States, Beard remarks,[237] the influence of a dry and -changeable climate favours in the North a remarkable spirit of progress, -the love of knowledge, the agitation of public life and a great desire -for novelty; while in the South, the moist and but slightly varying -climate develops eminently conservative tendencies, so that -manufacturers in Georgia have great difficulty in finding a market there -for new stuffs or machines; these are refused, not because they are not -good or useful, but because they are new. - -In Germany it has been observed that regions enjoying a mild and healthy -climate, by reason of protecting mountains, have produced the greatest -poets and in greatest number. The regions of the Main and the Neckar are -renowned for their mild climate, luxuriant vegetation, and fertility, -and the greatest German poets come from these regions. The Main gave us -the greatest of German poets, Goethe, and many other _dii minorum -gentium_, genial and noteworthy poets, although beneath that giant, men -such as Klinger, Börne, Rückert, Bettina von Arnim (_née_ Brentano), &c. -In the favoured region of the Neckar were born Schiller and Victor von -Scheffel, and throughout the Swabian land, we meet with many other great -poets and thinkers, such as Wieland, Uhland, Justinus Kerner, Hauff, -Schubart, Mörike, G. Schwab, - -[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE RELATION OF GENIUS TO STATURE IN FRANCE. - -B = predominately Belgic Departments; C = Celtic; I = Iberian; A = -Arabic.] - -Schelling, Müller, Hölderlin, and others. That hilly regions are richer -than others in poets is shown in Germany by Hanover (Klopstock, -Stolberg, Iffland, Bürger, Leisewitz, Bodenstedt, Hoffmann von -Fallersleben, the two Schlegels, &c.); by the Rhine province (Heine, -Jacobi, J. Müller, Brentano); Saxony, one of the districts possessing a -mild climate, which has yielded the largest number of poets (Körner, -Gellert, Kästner, Rabener, and, above all, Lessing); and Thuringia -(Kotzebue, Rückert, G. Freytag, Heinse, Musäus, Gotter). On the other -hand, the flat regions of Germany or those with a severe climate, have -produced few poets.[238] As exceptions must be mentioned, Herder -(Mohrungen in East Prussia), M. von Schenkendorf (Tilsit), E. M. Arndt -(Rügen), Luther (Eisleben), Paul Gerhardt (Gräfenhainichen), the two -Humboldts, Paul Heyse, Tieck, Gutzkow (Berlin), Immermann (Magdeburg), -Wilhelm Müller, Max Müller, Moses Mendelssohn (Dessau). Westphalia, -again, is mountainous, but poor in poets. - -_The Influence of Healthy Race and High Stature._--The regions which -have furnished few artists, or none, are those which suffer from malaria -or _goître_: Calabria, Sassari, Grosseto, Aosta, Sondrio, Avellino, -Caltanisetta, Chieti, Syracuse, Lecce. If we compare the distribution of -great artists in Italy with the distribution of high stature, we find a -singular coincidence of maximum and minimum points. The stature is very -low in the regions I have just mentioned, and very tall at Florence, -Lucca, Rome, Venice, Naples, Siena, and Arezzo, not because there is any -direct correspondence of intelligence to stature, but because, as I have -elsewhere shown,[239] although stature reveals ethnic influences, it is -also the surest index of public health, while mortality statistics have -no exact relation to health, because they do not sufficiently show the -results of morbid influences, such as _goître_ and cretinism, which, -although they arrest the physical and mental growth, do not increase the -mortality. - -If we examine the results furnished by the conscription in Italy, we -find that those regions which, from the excellence of their climate, and -apart from ethnic influences, yield the greatest number of individuals -of high stature, and the smallest number of rejected individuals, are -the most fruitful in men of genius; such are Tuscany, Liguria, and -Romagna. On the other hand, the regions which are poorest in men of high -stature and men fit for military service--Sardinia, Basilicata, and the -valley of Aosta--yield a smaller number of men of genius. It is -necessary to except Calabria and Valtellina where many are found, -notwithstanding shortness of stature, but they appear in parts of the -country which, from their exposed or elevated position, escape miasmatic -influences and are proofs of the rule rather than exceptions to it. - -This influence can be very well shown in France if we compare the list -of men of genius produced in the eighteenth century (as brought together -by Jacoby) with the statistics of stature given by Broca and -Topinard,[240] and with the mortality of each province as furnished by -Bertillon.[241] - -We observe at once an evident parallelism between genius and height, -with only 11 exceptions out of 85, and some of these 11 may be explained -by the agglomerated population of great capitals (Seine, Rhône, -Bouches-du-Rhône) which favour the development, or rather the -manifestation, of genius, as we have already seen to be the case in -Italy; thus the exceptions in Var, Hérault, Bouches-du-Rhône may be -explained by relatively great density of population, and by the southern -climate, which favours genius in spite of miasmatic influences. At the -same time, if we may agree with Jacoby concerning the favourable -influence of great urban agglomerations, such as Paris, Lyons, -Marseilles, it must be added that it does not appear so clearly in other -centres; thus Nord, Haut-Rhin, Pas-de-Calais, Loire, although possessing -a dense population, do not yield a corresponding number of men of -genius, standing only in the third rank, the Loire, indeed, only in the -fourth.[242] - -If we compare the geographical distribution of men of genius with that -of mortality, we note more numerous failures of correspondence (27) with -the height; this is because the statistics of mortality do not indicate -the influence of cretinism which exists in Ariège, the Basses and -Hautes-Alpes, Puy-de-Dôme, the Pyrénées, and the Ardennes, clearly -showing itself in short stature and military exemption for _goître_, -and, as in Valtellina in Italy, accompanied by a scarcity of intellect. -At the same time, all the regions showing high mortality, especially -such as are malarious--the Landes, Sologne, Morbihan, Corrèze--offer a -feebler proportion of men of genius, with the exception of the great -centres; the contrary is found in more healthy districts. - -Orographic conditions appear to have great influence. The sunny and -fertile land of Languedoc, all mountainous regions not too much affected -by _goître_--Doubs, Côte-d’Or, Ardennes--or those in which it has not -succeeded in depressing the stature, that is to say, has been unable to -produce endemic cretinism (Jura) give us, when we have put aside all -influence of density, race, and temperature, a most notable proportion -of men of genius. This may be clearly seen in the table on the following -page in which the high figures of _goître_, stammering, and deaf-mutism, -correspond with low stature in Corrèze, Puy-de-Dôme, Ardèche, Ariège, -the Basses-Alpes, and the Pyrénées. - -We have seen in Var, Vaucluse, and Hérault that a southern climate, -perhaps on account of its greater fertility, produces a great number of -men of genius; but countries that are cold, but at the same time healthy -and mountainous--Jura, Doubs, Meurthe--give still - - -------------------+---------------+------------------+--> - |Stature 1831-60|Progressive degree| - Mountainous | Progressive | of great talent | - Departments. | degree of | among 1,000 | - | exemptions. | inhabitants. | - -------------------+---------------+------------------+--> - Haute-Vienne | 86 | 54 | - Hautes-Alpes | 81 | 49 | - Corrèze | 85 | 50 | - Puy-de Dôme | 84 | 51 | - Ardèche | 80 | 58 | - Ariège | 60 | 79 | - Lozère | 74 | 76 | - Basses-Alpes | 71 | 22 | - Aveyron | 65 | 44 | - Basses-Pyrénées | 51 | 61 | - Pyrénées-Orientales| 50 | 57 | - Hautes-Pyrénées | 37 | 72 | - Vosges | 25 | 46 | - Ardennes | 8 | 30 | - Jura | 3 | 10 | - Côte-d’Or | 2 | 5 | - Doubs | 1 | 2 | - -------------------+---------------+------------------+--> - - <------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------ - | Goîtrous | Cretins | Deaf-mutes | Stammerers - Mountainous |among 1,000 |among 1,000 |among 1,000 |among 1,000 - Departments. |inhabitants.|inhabitants.|inhabitants.|inhabitants. - | | | | - <-------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------ - Haute-Vienne | 17 | 2.0 | 0.61 | 2.23 - Hautes-Alpes | 111 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.8 - Corrèze | 17 | 4.3 | 1.5 | 2.4 - Puy-de Dôme | 44 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 1.9 - Ardèche | 29 | 6.8 | 1.3 | 3.9 - Ariège | 82 | 4.5 | 0.7 | 4.1 - Lozère | 29 | 6.8 | 2.10 | 3.4 - Basses-Alpes | 76 | 6.3 | 0.6 | 7.5 - Aveyron | 17 | 4.9 | 1.5 | 2.0 - Basses-Pyrénées | 21 | 3.2 | 0.6 | 2.9 - Pyrénées-Orientales| 24 | 3.5 | 1.8 | 2.0 - Hautes-Pyrénées | 62 | 6.2 | 0.7 | 4.0 - Vosges | 56 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 2.5 - Ardennes | 17 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 5.2 - Jura | 58 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 3.0 - Côte-d’Or | 11 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 1.7 - Doubs | 22 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 1.0 - <------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------ - - -higher figures, and the same isothermal line passes through the -Seine-Inférieure and the Seine-et-Oise, both rich in men of genius; and -the Vosges, in which they are almost entirely absent, the same line, -again, passes through Calvados and Ain, which are very rich in genius, -and Saône-et-Loire and Cher, which are deficient in genius. - -The nature of the soil has no influence whatever in the production of -genius, for we find the highest figures in the Côte-d’Or, the Meuse, and -the Moselle, where the soil is calcareous, and the lowest figures in the -Nord and Deux-Sèvres, where the soil is of the same character; other -high figures are the Doubs, the Jura, and the Meurthe, where the soil is -jurassic, while the same soil offers very low figures in the -Hautes-Alpes, the Charente, and the Saône-et-Loire. - -The influence of race is also very slight; the descendants of the -Burgundians produced numerous men of genius in the Jura and the Doubs, -very few in the Saône-et-Loire. The Haute-Garonne, with the same race, -produces ten times as many men of genius as Ariège, twice as many as -Gers, five times as many as the Landes. In Guienne, the Gironde gives -twice as many as Lot, and in Languedoc, Hérault gives seven times more -than Lozère. - -_Explanation._--The relation that we have found between genius and -climate has been caught sight of long since by the people and the -learned, who agree in admitting a frequency of genius in regions which, -being hilly, offer mild temperature. The Tuscan proverb says, -“Mountaineers, great boots, and keen heads.” Vegetius wrote that climate -influences not only the strength of the body, but also that of the mind. -“_Plaga cœli non solum ad robur corporum sed etiam animorum facit_” -(lib. i. cap. 2). Athens, the same author remarks, was chosen by Minerva -for its subtle air which produces men of sagacity. Cicero said -repeatedly that the keen air of Athens gave birth to wise men; the thick -air of Thebes only to torpid natures; and Petrarch, in his -_Epistolarium_, which is a kind of summary of his life, remarks with -great emphasis that all his chief works were composed, or at all events -meditated, among the mild hills of Vaucluse. Michelangelo said to -Vasari: “Giorgio, if anything good has come out of my brain, I owe it to -the subtle air of your Arezzo.” Zingarelli, when asked how he had -composed the melody of _Giulietta e Romeo_, replied: “Look at that sky, -and tell me if you do not feel capable of doing as much.” Muratori, in a -letter to an inhabitant of Siena, wrote: “Your _air_ is admirable, -really producing fruitful minds.” Macaulay remarks that Scotland, though -one of the poorest countries in Europe, stands in the first rank for -richness in men of genius; it is sufficient to name Michael Scot, -Napier, the inventor of logarithms, Buchanan, Ben Jonson, and, one may -perhaps add, Newton. On plains, on the other hand, men of genius are -rare. Of ancient Egypt, a country of plains, Renan writes: “No -revolutionary, no reformer, no great poet, no artist, no man of science, -no philosopher, not even a great minister, can be met in the history of -Egypt.... In this sad valley of eternal slavery, for thousands of years -they cultivated the fields, carried stones on their backs, and were good -officials, living well without glory. There was the same level of moral -and intellectual mediocrity everywhere.”[243] And the same may be said -in our days. - -At first it seems surprising to see a condition of degeneration, such as -genius may be called, developing at spots of maximum salubrity. But if -there are anærobic microbes, some are ærobic; many forms of -degeneration, such as goître, malaria, and leprosy, have a special -habitat. It is evident that we have to reckon with the dynamogenic -influence of light, with the stimulating action of the ozonized air of -the hills, and of a warm temperature. We may understand this the better -since we have already seen that heat augments the creative power of men -of genius, and the need of the brain for oxydated blood in order to work -is well known. This is confirmed by the fact that in mountains above an -elevation of three thousand metres, no man of genius has ever been -produced. The great Mexican and Peruvian civilizations flourished on the -high tablelands, but, as Nibbi has well shown, they were not born -there;[244] in fact, the Mexican civilization is owing to the Toltecas, -who came from the east, and the pretended great men of Mexico, including -its sixty presidents, were not born on the tableland. The same may be -said of many men who were not quite justly termed illustrious, such as -Echeveria in painting, Moizzos and Cervantes in botany, and -Ixtlihcochitl.[245] Some men of true genius, as Garcilasso dela Vega and -Alvares de Vera, were born something below three thousand metres at -Quito and Bogota.[246] - -There is here again a parallelism between genius and insanity. Those who -live in mountainous regions are more liable to insanity than the -inhabitants of the plains, a fact which has long been embodied in -proverbs concerning the air of Monte Baldo, and the madmen of Collio and -Tellio. We may recall also the epidemics of Monte Amiata (Lazzaretti), -of Busca and Montenero, of Verzegnis; and we may remember, too, that the -hills of Judea and of Scotland have produced prophets and half-insane -persons gifted with second sight. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE INFLUENCE OF RACE AND HEREDITY ON GENIUS AND INSANITY. - - Race--Insanity--The influence of sex--The heredity of - genius--Criminal and insane parentage and descent of genius--Age of - parents--Conception. - - -_Race._--We have seen that in Italy the Greek and the Etruscan racial -elements combine with the temperate and mountainous climate to produce -men of genius; the influence of race calling forth genius even where the -climate is not happy. We cannot otherwise explain the genius produced at -Modena, Mantua, and Lucca, which possess the Etruscan origin, although -not the delicious climate, of Florence. The Jews, again, offer us an -eloquent example. - -I have elsewhere shown (_Uomo Bianco e l’Uomo di Colore_ and _Pensiero e -Meteore_) how, owing to the bloody selection of mediæval persecutions, -and owing also to the influence of temperate climate, the Jews of Europe -have risen above those of Africa and the East, and have often surpassed -the Aryans. It is not only a difference in general culture, but we find -more precocious and extended mental work applied to different sciences. -It is certainly thus in music, the drama, satirical and humorous -literature, journalism, and in various branches of science. This has -been statistically proved by various writers, as by Jacobs in a very -careful study on the ability of the Jews in Western Europe and of Jews -in general.[247] - - In 100,000 celebrities-- - -------------------+------------+----------- - | Europeans. | Jews. - -------------------+------------+----------- - Actors | 21 | 34 - Agriculture | 2 | -- - Antiquaries | 23 | 26 - Architects | 6 | 6 - Artists | 40 | 34 - Authors | 316 | 223 - Divines | 130 | 105 - Engineers | 13 | 9 - Engravers | 3 | -- - Lawyers | 44 | 40 - Medicals | 31 | 49 - Merchants | 12 | 43 - Military | 56 | 6 - Miscellaneous | 4 | 3 - Metaphysics | 2 | 18 - Musicians | 11 | 71 - Natural Science | 22 | 25 - Naval | 12 | -- - Philologists | 13 | 123 - Poets | 20 | 36 - Political Economy | 20 | 26 - Science | 51 | 52 - Sculptors | 10 | 12 - Sovereigns | 21 | -- - Statesmen | 125 | 83 - Travellers | 25 | 12 - -------------------+------------+----------- - -“The two lists are approximately equal in antiquaries, architects, -artists, lawyers, natural science, political economy, science, -sculptors. Jews seem to have superiority as actors, chess-players, -doctors, merchants (chiefly financiers), in metaphysics, music, poetry, -and philology.... Of course, Jews have no Darwin. It took England 180 -years after Newton before she could produce a Darwin, and as Britishers -are five times the number of Jews, even including those of Russia, it -would take, on the same showing, 900 years before they produce another -Spinoza, or, even supposing the double superiority to be true, 450 years -would be needed.” - -Jews have given to the world musicians like Meyerbeer, Halèvy, Gutzkow, -Mendelssohn, Offenbach, Rubinstein, Joachim, Benedict, Moscheles, Cowen, -Sullivan, Goldmark, Strauss; poets, novelists, humourists, &c., like -Heine, Saphir, Camerini, Revere, Jung, Weill, Fortis, Gozlan, Moritz -Hartmann, Auerbach, Börne, Ratisbonne, Kompert, Grace Aguilar, Franzos, -Massarani, Lindau, Catulle Mendes; linguists like Ascoli, Benfey, Munk, -Fiorentino, Luzzato, Oppert, Bernhardi, Friedland, Weil, Lazarus, -Steinthal; physicians like Valentin, Hermann, Haidenhain, Schiff, -Casper, Stilling, Gluge, Traube, Fraenkel, Kuhn, Cohnheim, Hirsch, -Liebreich, Bernstein, Remak, Weigert, Meynert, Hitzig, Westphal, Mendel, -Leidesdorf, Benedikt; philosophers like Spinoza, Maimon, Sommerhausen, -Moses Mendelssohn; naturalists like Cohn; economists like Ricardo, -Lassalle, Karl Marx; jurists and statesmen like Stahl, Gans, -Beaconsfield, Crémieux. Even in sciences in which the Semite formerly -showed no ability, such as mathematics and astronomy, we find such men -as Goldschmidt, Beer, Sylvester, Kronecker, and Jacobi. - -It must be observed that a very large proportion of these men of genius -have been radically creative; revolutionary in politics, and in -religion, and in science. Jews, indeed, initiated Nihilism and Socialism -on the one hand, Mosaism and Christianity on the other. Commerce owes to -them the bill of exchange, philosophy owes to them Positivism, -literature the Neo-humourism. - -Jacobs shows that this abundance of Jewish men of genius of the first -order is allied with a deficiency in men of the second order of -intellect. He explains the superiority by the higher level of education -among the Jews, their devotion to family life, the almost complete -absence of priests and dogmas, the facilities which the study of Hebrew -offers for investigations in philosophy and for that kind of music which -forms part of their religious ceremonies. It is difficult, however, to -find a relationship between this rhythmical caterwauling and the sublime -notes of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn; and Jews possess more than enough of -priests and dogmas. I would add that if the Jews have not yet produced -men like Newton, Darwin, and Michelangelo, it is because they have not -yet accomplished their ethnic evolution, as they show by the obstinacy -with which they cling to their ancient beliefs. - -It is strange that among the factors of Jewish superiority in genius -Jacobs does not mention the neurotic tendency, the existence of which, -as we shall see, he has himself shown. This would also well explain the -deficiency of Jews in intellect of medium quality in which the morbid -element is always less marked. - -_Insanity._--It is curious to note that the Jewish elements in the -population furnish four and even six times as many lunatics as the rest -of the population. Jacobs, who, as we have seen, does not suspect the -correlation between genius and insanity, gives a remarkable proof of it -by pointing out that while Englishmen have 3,050 per million afflicted -with mental disease, Scotchmen have 3,400, and Jews 3,900, the -proportion of insanity in the three races being related to the -proportion of genius. And while, according to Galton, there are 256,000 -of the mediocre class among a million Englishmen, Jacobs reckons that -there are only 239,000 among Scotchmen, and 222,000 among Jews. - -Servi found 1 lunatic to 391 Jews in Italy, nearly four times as many as -among Catholics.[248] This fact has been made still clearer by -Verga[249] who in 1870 found the proportions of lunatics among Catholics -to be 1 in 1775, as against 1 in 384 among Jews. Mayr[250] (in 1871) -gives the proportion of lunatics in Germany as follows:-- - - Per 10,000 Christians. Per 10,000 Jews. - Prussia 8.7 14.1 - Bavaria 9.8 25.2 - All Germany 8.6 16.1 - -This is a singular proportion or disproportion in a population among -which the aged who supply so large a number of cases of senile dementia -are numerous, but where alcoholism is rare. This fatal privilege has not -attracted the attention of the leaders of that anti-Semitic movement -which is one of the shames of contemporary Germany.[251] They would be -less irritated at the success of this race if they had thought of all -the sorrows that are the price of it, even at our epoch; for if the -tragedies of the past were more bloody, the victims are not now less -unhappy, struck at the source of their glory, and because of it, -deprived even of the consolation of being able, as formerly, to -contribute to the most noble among the selections of species. - -This is not true of the Jews alone. Beard, in his _American -Nervousness_, remarks that the neurotic tendency which dominates North -America makes of that country a land of great orators. - -The influence of race is as visible in genius as in insanity. Education -counts for little, heredity for much. “By education,” said Helvetius, -“you can make bears dance, but never create a man of genius.”[252] - -_Influence of Sex._--In the history of genius women have but a small -place. Women of genius are rare exceptions in the world. It is an old -observation that while thousands of women apply themselves to music for -every hundred men, there has not been a single great woman composer. Yet -the sexual difference here offers no obstacle. Out of six hundred women -doctors in North America not one has made any discovery of importance; -and with few exceptions the same may be said of the Russians. In -physical science, it is true, Mary Somerville emerges; and in literature -we have George Eliot, George Sand, Daniel Sterne, and Madame de Staël; -in the fine arts, Rosa Bonheur, Lebrun, Maraini; Sappho and Mrs. -Browning opened new paths for poetry; Eleonora d’Arborea, it is said -(but the assertion is contested), initiated at the beginning of the -fifteenth century legal reforms of almost modern character; Catherine of -Siena influenced the politics and religion of her time; Sarah Martin, a -poor dressmaker, influenced prison reform; Mrs. Beecher Stowe played a -large part in the abolition of slavery in the United States. But of all -these, none touch the summits reached by Michelangelo, or Newton, or -Balzac. Even J. S. Mill, who was very partial to the cause of women, -confessed that they lacked originality. They are, above all, -conservators. Even the few who emerge have, on near examination, -something virile about them. As Goncourt said, there are no women of -genius; the women of genius are men. - -Pulcheria, Marie dei Medici, Louise, mother of Francis I., Maria -Christina, Maria Théresa, Catherine II., Elizabeth, displayed eminent -political ability as rulers; as in the field of democracy Madame Roland, -Fonseca, G. Sand, Madame Adam; Mill affirms that when an Indian state is -ruled with vigour and vigilance, three times out of four the ruler is a -woman. At the same time it is noted that when women rule, men command, -just as when men rule, women command. In any case their number is too -limited to compare them with masculine rulers. As in politics, so -admirable examples of valour were given by Caterina Sforza and Joan of -Arc, Annita Garibaldi, Enrichetta Castiglioni, and many others. - -These facts become more notable because unexpected and exceptional. It -may be said that the disparity would be much less if the predominance of -men, depriving women of the vote in politics and of action in war, had -not taken away from women the opportunity of manifesting their -capacities. But if there had been in women a really great ability in -politics, science, &c., it would have shown itself in overcoming the -difficulties opposed to it; nor would arms have been lacking, nor allies -in the enemy’s camp. In revolutions (except in religion) women have -always been in a small minority, not being found, for example, in the -English Revolution, or in that of the Low Countries, or of the United -States. They never created a new religion, nor were they ever at the -head of great political, artistic, or scientific movements. - -On the contrary, women have often stood in the way of progressive -movements. Like children, they are notoriously misoneistic; they -preserve ancient habits and customs and religions. In America there are -tribes in which women keep alive ancient languages which the men have -lost; in Sardinia, Sicily, and some remote valleys of Umbria, many -ancient prejudices and pagan rites, perhaps of a prehistoric -character--superstitious cures, for instance--are preserved by women. As -Goncourt remarks, they only see persons in everything; they are, as -Spencer observes, more merciful than just. - -_The Heredity of Genius._--According to Galton[253] and Ribot,[254] -genius is often hereditary, especially in the musical art which -furnishes so large a contingent to insanity. Thus Palestrina, Benda, -Dussek, Hiller, Eichhorn, had sons who were very distinguished in music. -Andrea Amati was the most illustrious of a family of violinists at -Cremona; Beethoven’s father was a tenor at the Elector of Cologne’s -chapel, and his grandfather had been a singer and then _maestro_ at the -same chapel; Bellini was the son and nephew of musicians; Haydn had a -brother who was an excellent organist and composer of religious music; -in Mendelssohn’s family there were several musical amateurs; Mozart was -the son of a _maestro_ of the chapel of the Prince Archbishop of -Salzburg; Palestrina had sons who died young but who left praiseworthy -compositions preserved among their father’s works. - -The Bach family perhaps presents the finest example of mental heredity. -It began in 1550, and passed through eight generations, the last known -member being Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst, Kapellmeister to the Queen of -Prussia, who died in 1845. During two centuries this family produced a -crowd of musicians of high rank. The founder of the family was Veit -Bach, a Presburg baker, who amused himself with singing and playing. He -had two sons who were followed by an uninterrupted succession of -musicians who inundated Thuringia, Saxony, and Franconia during two -centuries. They were all organists or church singers. When they became -too numerous to live together and had to disperse, they agreed to -reunite on a fixed day once a year. This custom was preserved up to the -middle of the eighteenth century, and sometimes one hundred and twenty -persons of the name of Bach met at the same spot. Fétis counts among -them twenty-nine musicians of eminence.[255] - -Among musicians may be named the Adams, the Coustons, the Sangallos; -among painters, the Van der Weldes, the Coypels, the Van Eycks, the -Murillos, the Veroneses, the Bellinis, the Caraccis, the Correggios, the -Mieris, the Bassanos, the Tintorettos, the Caliaris, the Vanloos, the -Teniers, the Vernets, and especially the Titians who produced a race of -painters, as shown in the following genealogy taken from Ribot’s -excellent book:-- - - Tiziano Vecellio. - X - ------------------------------------------ - X X - | | - +------------+ | - | | | - | X | - | | | - | -----------------+ X - | Francesco | | - | TIZIANO -+---------------+--- - --+--------- ----------- | | - Mario X | Fabricio Cesare - | | | - | | +-----------+ - | | | | - | | Pomponio Orazio - | | - Tizianello Tomaso. - -Among poets may be noted Bacchylides, the nephew of Simonides and uncle -of Æschylus who again had sons and nephews who were poets; Manzoni, the -nephew of Beccaria; Lucan, the nephew of Seneca; Tasso, the son of -Bernardo; Ariosto, with a brother and nephew poets; Aristophanes, with -two sons who wrote comedies; Corneille, Racine, Sophocles, Coleridge, -who had sons and nephews who were poets; the Dumas, father and son; the -brothers Joseph and André Chenier, Alphonse and Ernest Daudet. - -In the natural sciences we find the two Plinies, uncle and nephew, the -families of Darwin, Euler, De Candolle, Hooker, Herschel, Jussieu, -Saussure, Geoffroy St. Hilaire. Among philosophers we find the -Scaligers, the Vossius, the Fichtes, and the brothers Humboldt, Schlegel -and Grimm; among statesmen the Pitts, Foxes, Cannings, Walpoles, Peels, -and Disraelis; among archæologists, the Viscontis. Aristotle, himself -the son of a scientific physician, had sons and nephews who were men of -science. Cassini, an astronomer, had a son, who was a celebrated -astronomer, a grandson who was a member of the Academy of Sciences at -the age of twenty-two, and a more remote relation who was a -distinguished naturalist and philologist. - -Here is the genealogical tree of the Bernouilli family:-- - - Jacques Bernouilli - | - +---------------+---------------+ - | | | - Jacques Jean Nicolas - | - +------------+------------+ - | | | - Nicolas Daniel Jean - | - +------+------+ - | | - Jean Jacques - -All the members of this family were distinguished in some science; at -the beginning of this century there was a Bernouilli who was a chemist -of some distinction; and in 1863 there still lived at Bâle Christophe -Bernouilli, a professor of the natural sciences. - -Galton, in a work of great value, but in which he often commits the -mistake (from which I also cannot free myself) of confusing talent with -genius, calculates a proportion of 425 men of ability to a million among -the male population over fifty years of age, and the more select part of -them as 250 to a million. Dealing with 300 families, containing 1000 -eminent men, he concludes that the percentage of eminent kinsmen in -these families would be as follows:-- - - 48 sons - 41 brothers - 31 fathers - 14 grandsons - 22 nephews - 18 uncles - 13 cousins - 17 grandfathers - 3 great-grandfathers - 5 great-uncles - -The probabilities of kinsmen of illustrious men rising to eminence -are--15½ to 100 in the case of fathers; 13½ to 100 in the case of -brothers; 24 to 100 in the case of sons. - -Galton remarks that these figures vary, according as we are concerned -with artists, diplomatists, soldiers, &c. - -I am not, however, inclined to believe that this immense accumulation of -fact authorizes us to accept a hereditary influence in genius as -complete as in insanity. In the first place, in insanity the hereditary -influence is exercised in a more intense and decisive manner, as 48 to -80; and then if Galton’s law applies to judges and statesmen, among whom -adulation and the fetishistic adoration of a party or a caste can raise -the son or grandson of a great man far above his merits, it is quite -otherwise with artists and poets, who present an exaggerated hereditary -action in brothers and sons and especially nephews, but very little in -grandparents and uncles. And while in the heredity of genius the -masculine sex prevails over the feminine in the proportion of 70 to 30, -in the heredity of insanity there is scarcely any difference between the -two sexes.[256] - -Many men of genius have been thought to inherit from their mothers: such -are Cicero, Condorcet, Cuvier, Buffon, Goethe, Sydney Smith, Cowper, -Napoleon, Cromwell, Chateaubriand, Scott, Byron, Lamartine, Saint -Augustine, Gray, Swift, Fontenelle, Ballanche, Manzoni, Kant, -Wellington, Foscolo. On the other hand, Bacon, Raphael, Weber, Schiller, -Milton, Alberti, Tasso, are said to inherit from their fathers. Yet, it -may be asked, what was the celebrity of these fathers and mothers that -one can feel assured they transmitted any genius to their children? -Among most men of genius, also, there can be no heredity because of the -predominance of sterility and of degeneration, of which the aristocracy -furnishes us with a remarkable proof.[257] - -With a few exceptions, then, such as the Darwins, the Cassinis, the -Bernouillis, the Saint Hilaires, the Herschels, men of genius only -transmit to their descendants a slight tendency magnified in our eyes by -the _prestige_ of a great name:-- - - “_Rare volte risurge per li rami_ - _L’umana probitate._”[258] - -Who thinks of Tizianello beside Titian, of Nicomachus beside Aristotle, -of Orazio Ariosto beside his great uncle; or of the worthy professor -Christophe beside his great ancestor Jacques Bernouilli? - -Insanity, on the other hand, is often completely transmitted, or even -with greater intensity, to succeeding generations. Cases of hereditary -insanity in children and grandchildren, the form of insanity often being -the same as in the ancestor, are very numerous. All the descendants of a -Hamburg noble, whom history registers as a great soldier, were struck by -insanity at the age of forty.[259] At Connecticut Asylum eleven members -of the same family have arrived in succession.[260] - -A watchmaker, having recovered from an attack of insanity caused by the -revolution of 1789, finally poisoned himself: later on his daughter -became insane, and fell into a state of dementia; one of his brothers -struck a knife into his own abdomen; another became a drunkard and died -on the roadside; a third refused food and perished from starvation; his -sister, who was of good health, had a son who was an epileptic lunatic, -a daughter who became insane after her confinement and rejected food, an -infant who refused to be suckled, and two others who died of cerebral -diseases. - -In a family studied by Berti, in four generations of about eighty -individuals descended from an insane melancholiac we find ten subject to -insanity, nearly always melancholia, nineteen who were neurotic, three -who had special ability and three with criminal tendencies. The disorder -was aggravated in the later generations and developed at an earlier age. -In the third and fourth branches, the insane and neurotic appeared in -every generation; in the others, the hereditary influence passed over -one generation in the men and two in the women. - -The history of the so-called “Jukes” family[261] shows that such an -influence may be still more powerfully developed, especially in -association with alcoholism. From the head of the family, Max Jukes, a -great drunkard, descended, in 75 years, 200 thieves and murderers, 280 -invalids attacked by blindness, idiocy, or consumption, 90 prostitutes -and 300 children who died prematurely. The various members of this -family cost the state more than a million dollars. - -These are not isolated facts. But in what families can we find genius so -fatally and progressively fruitful? - -Flemming and Demaux, again, have shown that not only do drunkards -transmit to their descendants, tendencies to insanity and crime, but -that even habitually sober parents, who at the moment of conception are -in a temporary state of drunkenness, beget children who are epileptic or -paralytic, idiotic or insane, very often microcephalic, or with -remarkable weakness of mind which at the first favourable occasion is -transformed into insanity.[262] Thus a single embrace, given in a moment -of drunkenness, may be fatal to an entire generation. - -What analogy can we find here with the rare and nearly always incomplete -heredity of genius? - -_The Criminal and Insane Parentage and Descent of Genius._--The -parallelism of genius to insanity is, however, still present. We find -that many lunatics have parents of genius, and that many men of genius -have parents or sons who were epileptic, mad, or, above all, criminal. -It is sufficient to study the history of the Cæsars, of Charles V., of -Peter the Great. We see a progressive degeneration in crime and insanity -in relations or children, rather than any conservation or increase of -genius. This fact confirms _a posteriori_ the degenerative character of -genius; and at the same time reveals the relationship which it generally -has with moral insanity. Commodus, son of the virtuous Marcus Aurelius, -was a monster of cruelty. The son of Scipio Africanus was an imbecile, -the son of Cicero a drunkard. Luther’s son was insubordinate and -violent; William Penn’s was a debauched scoundrel. Themistocles, -Aristides, Pericles, Thucydides were unhappy in their children. - -Cardan had two sons who were criminals; one, of great ability, was -condemned to death for poisoning; the other, given up to gaming, -drinking, and thieving, was successively imprisoned at Pavia, Milan, -Cremona, Bologna, Piacenza, Naples. When arrested he would promise -reformation, but as soon as he was free he at once returned to his old -habits, and even calumniated his father and attempted to get him -imprisoned.[263] Cardan’s father was eccentric and stammered; he did not -dress like other people, and pursued various strange studies; he had -lost some part of his skull in consequence of a wound received in youth, -and he believed that he was guided by a spirit. His mother was -irascible; when pregnant with him she attempted to abort.[264] - -It appears that Aretino’s mother was a prostitute. Petrarch had a lazy -and vicious son, “the most refractory to letters that man of letters -ever had;” he died at the age of twenty-four.[265] Rembrandt brought up -his son Titus, with great care, to be an artist; but in spite of all -efforts he could make nothing of him. Walter Scott’s son, a cavalry -officer, was ashamed of his father’s literary celebrity, and boasted -that he had never read one of his novels. Mozart’s son, when asked by -Bianchini if he liked music, replied by throwing a handful of gold on -the table: “That is the only music I like!” Sophocles’ son tried to -represent his old father as imbecile. Frederick the Great’s father was -morally insane and a drunkard; Peter the Great had a son who was a -drunkard and maniacal; Richelieu’s sister imagined that her back was -made of crystal; his brother thought he was God the Father; Niccolini’s -sister thought she was damned because of her brother’s heresy, and -attempted to kill him; Hegel’s sister was insane, as also was Diderot’s; -Lamb’s sister killed her mother during a maniacal attack. Gray’s father -was a worthless scoundrel, who used to beat his wife, by whose exertions -the children were supported. Thomas Campbell’s only son was hopelessly -imbecile. - -Charles V.’s mother suffered from melancholia; his grandchildren and -great-grandchildren were also insane: Don Carlos, brutal, cruel, and -turbulent; Philip III., subject to convulsions; Charles II., an imbecile -epileptic, with whom the race was extinguished; and Alexander Farnese, a -bastard grandson of eccentric genius.[266] - -The drunkenness of Beethoven’s father was notorious. Byron’s mother was -half-mad; his father, known as “mad Jack Byron,” was dissolute and -eccentric, and is said to have committed suicide. It has been said of -Byron that if ever there was a case in which hereditary influence could -justify eccentricity of character it was his, for he was descended from -individuals in whom everything seemed calculated to destroy harmony of -character and domestic peace. Alexander had a dissolute and perverse -mother, a drunken father. Plutarch’s grandfather was much given to wine, -of which he delighted to celebrate the virtues; and Cimon’s was a -drunkard and debauched. Kerner had a maternal uncle who was mad; his -sister was melancholic and had two children, of whom one was insane, the -other a somnambulist.[267] The sons of Tacitus, Carlini, Bernardin de -Saint-Pierre, Mercadante, Donizetti, Volta, Manzoni, a daughter of -Victor Hugo, the father and brothers of Villemain, the sister of Kant, -the brothers of Zimmermann, Perticari, and Puccinotti were all insane. -D’Azeglio, who had a grandfather and a brother more than eccentric, -records a saying current at Turin: “_I Taparei a l’an nen le grumele a -port_.”[268] - -The origins of Renan’s neurosis, of which I have already spoken, he has -himself indicated in speaking of his religious and prematurely -sacerdotal education, that education of the seminary which when it once -takes hold of a man never more leaves him, and which is so productive of -insanity. The alienist will find other sources of neurosis and atavism -in the little town of Tréguier in which Renan was born. On account of -the frequency of consanguineous marriages and of the preponderance of -the ecclesiastical element, the place swarmed with the insane and -semi-insane. “These inoffensive lunatics,” he writes, “were a sort of -institution, a municipal affair. We said, ‘our lunatics,’ as at Venice -they say ‘_nostre carampane_.’ One met them nearly everywhere; they -saluted you, greeted you with some nauseous pleasantry, which yet raised -a smile. They were liked, and they were useful. I shall always remember -the good lunatic Brian, who imagined that he was a priest, and passed -part of the day in church, imitating the ceremonies of the mass; all the -afternoon the cathedral was filled with a nasal murmur; it was the poor -lunatic’s prayer, well worth any other.”[269] A still greater influence -on Renan’s psychosis must be attributed to the insanity in his own -family. His paternal uncle, semi-insane, passed his days and nights at -inns telling stories and legends to the peasants with whom he was a -great favourite; one night he was found dead on the roadside. His -grandfather, an ardent and honest patriot, lost his reason in 1815, -through grief, and used to walk about with an enormous tricoloured -cockade, exclaiming: “I should like to know who would dare to snatch -from me this cockade!” He himself, a seven-months’ child, remained for a -long time small and weak, and for this reason was the more easily -disturbed by a sacerdotal education, which inflames, like a hot iron, -even the most tranquil spirits. - -In Schopenhauer, also, the insane and neurotic hereditary tendency was -well marked. On his father’s side he was descended from an old family of -Dantzig merchants; his great-grandfather was a man of very strong and -energetic character; his grandfather, a man of quiet business habits, -seems to have brought the property into the family, but the grandmother -had an aunt and a grandmother who were insane. Schopenhauer’s father -seems to have been a skilled man of business; a republican, he possessed -the native arrogance of a democratic patrician; inclined to deafness -from childhood, he had attacks of rage from which even the domestic dog -and cat fled terrified. With the increase of his deafness he became more -irritable, and suffered, if not from actual insanity, at least from -morbid fears. It was suspected that he committed suicide. He presented -various characters of degeneration: large ears, very prominent eyes, -thick lips, a short, up-turned nose; he was, however, of considerable -height. Schopenhauer’s mother, married at the age of nineteen, was witty -and ambitious, and, as he himself said, very frivolous. His brother was -imbecile from childhood. - -This influence of insane heredity can to-day be controlled by -statistics. The Prussian statistics for 1877 show that among 10,676 -lunatics, morbid heredity may be traced in 6,369.[270] They are divided -as follows:-- - - Father or Grandparents Sisters or - mother or uncles brothers - per cent. per cent. per cent. - Insanity 89·0 86·0 76·1 - Serious Neurosis 12·4 6·7 13·1 - Crime 1·0 0·1 0·1 - Alcoholism 18·0 3·1 3·3 - Suicide 1·7 2·7 2·3 - Extraordinary talent 6·3 1·3 3·6 - -This seems to show that a considerable number of lunatics are descended -from men of ability. The number of brothers and sisters of lunatics -endowed with ability, surpassing that of suicidal, alcoholistic, or -criminal brothers confirms the influence. In twenty-two cases of -hereditary insanity Aubonel and Thoré observed two cases of sons of -ability.[271] - -These facts were not unknown to old observers. Tassoni, a very original -writer, in his _Pensieri Diversi_ (1621) discusses the question: “How it -happens to wise fathers to have very foolish children, and to very -foolish fathers to have very wise children.” Among the former he -mentions the sons of Scipio Africanus, Anthony, Cicero, Agrippa -Posthumus, Claudius the son of Drusus, Caligula, of Germanicus, -Commodus, of Marcus Aurelius, Lamprocles, of Socrates, Arrhidaeus, of -Philip. Among many opinions, more or less extravagant, of learned men of -his time, he reports one to the effect that “in great men the vital -spirits assemble at the brain to fortify and give vigour to the powers -of the intelligence; it happens in consequence that the blood and sperm -remain cold and languid, and the children of such men, especially the -males, are inclined to stupidity.” - -_Age of Parents._--This is one of the hereditary influences which often -escape from view, and are at present not clearly seen. Marro has shown -the great influence of the advanced age of the parents on the -intelligence or the insanity of the children. Very great is the number -of men of genius, and even of talent, issued from aged fathers: -Frederick II., Napoleon I., Sciacci, Bizzozzero, Rochefort, Dumas -_père_, A. Jussieu, Balzac, J. Cassini, C. Vernet, Beaconsfield, Horace -Walpole, William Pitt, Racine, Adler, Auriac, Béclard, Schopenhauer. -From young fathers I have, on the other hand, only found Victor Hugo, De -Girardin, Arneth, Barral, Bertillon, Ségur. This influence may explain -the longevity of men of genius. - -_Conception._--De Candolle speaks of the influence which strong passion -on the part of the parents at conception may have on the offspring, and -recalls the considerable number of bastards of genius. Erasmus boasted -that he was not the fruit of wearisome conjugal duty. Isaac Disraeli -wrote in his “Memoirs of Toland” that birth outside marriage creates -strong and resolute characters. Among illegitimate sons were: -Themistocles, Charles Martel, William the Conqueror, the Duke of -Berwick whom Montesquieu called the perfect man, Leonardo da Vinci, -Boccaccio, A. Dumas, Cardan, D’Alembert, Savage, Prior, De Girardin, La -Harpe, Alexander Farnese, Dupanloup.[272] Newton was conceived after his -parents had spent two years of forced continence. It will be seen from -these and other facts how far we are yet from having exhausted the -numerous sources of hereditary genius. - -Those who recall how many men of genius have been born of consumptive -and drunken parents, and who know how these two forms of degeneration -are often transformed in the children into moral insanity, will perceive -that there can be other hereditary causes of genius which escape -ordinary observers, and are, therefore, little known. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE INFLUENCE OF DISEASE ON GENIUS. - -Spinal diseases--Fevers--Injuries to the head and their relation to -genius. - - -Gérard de Nerval in his book, _Le Rêve et la Vie_, after having -confessed that he often wrote in a state of morbid exaltation, adds that -the old saying _Mens sana in corpore sano_ is false, for many powerful -minds have been allied to weak and diseased bodies. - -Conolly treated a man whose intelligence was aroused by the use of -blisters, and another whose ability was called forth during the initial -period of phthisis and gout. Cabanis, Tissot, and Pomme observe that -certain febrile conditions provoke extraordinary mental activity. -Sylvester remarks that during the nocturnal fever of what he describes -as a fortunate attack of bronchitis he was enabled to reach the solution -of a mathematical problem.[273] - -A man of genius, Maine de Biran, who was always ill, well expresses the -influence of infirmities on genius, “The feeling of existence,” he -writes, “is not found among the majority of men because with them it is -continuous; when a man does not suffer he does not think of himself; -disease alone and the habit of reflection enable us to distinguish -ourselves.” - -It has frequently happened that injuries to the head and acute diseases, -those frequent causes of insanity, have changed a very ordinary -individual into a man of genius. Vico, when a child, fell from a high -staircase and fractured his right parietal bone. Gratry, a mediocre -singer, became a great master, after a beam had fractured his skull. -Mabillon, almost an idiot from childhood, fell down a stone staircase -at the age of twenty-six, and so badly injured his skull that it had to -be trepanned; from that time he displayed the characteristics of genius. -Gall, who narrates this fact, knew a Dane who had been half idiotic, and -who became intelligent at the age of thirteen, after having rolled head -foremost down a staircase.[274] Wallenstein was looked upon as a fool -until one day he fell out of a window, and henceforward began to show -remarkable ability. Some years ago, a cretin of Savoy, having being -bitten by a mad dog, became very intelligent during the last days of his -life. Cases have been recorded in which ordinary persons have displayed -extraordinary intelligence after diseases of the spinal cord.[275] “It -is possible that my disease [of the spinal cord] may have given a morbid -character to my later compositions,” wrote with true divination the -unfortunate Heine. And the remark does not apply to his later writings -only. “My mental excitement,” he wrote, some months before his condition -had become aggravated, “is the effect of disease rather than of genius. -I have written verses to appease my suffering a little.... In this -horrible night of senseless pain my poor head is flung backwards and -forwards, shaking with pitiless gaiety the bells on my jester’s -cap.”[276] Béclard turned from mere theories to experiment, after a -stroke of apoplexy.[277] Pasteur’s greatest discoveries were made after -a stroke of apoplexy. Bichat and Schroeder van der Kolk have observed -that men with anchylosis of the neck possess remarkably bright -intelligence. It is a common saying that the hump-backed are keen and -malicious. Rokitansky sought to explain this by the resulting curve of -the aorta, after giving origin to the vessels which supply the brain, -the volume of the heart and the arterial pressure in the head being thus -augmented. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -THE INFLUENCE OF CIVILIZATION AND OF OPPORTUNITY. - -Large Towns--Large Schools--Accidents--Misery--Power--Education. - - -However clearly such laws as we have examined may seem to be -ascertained, the conclusions deduced from them must be accepted with a -certain reserve; since there exists a series of factors, almost -impossible to seize, which intercept and confound all these influences, -not excepting even the orographic. - -We have already seen how great agglomerations of individuals, whatever -the climate and race, are sufficient to increase the number of artists -and of talents. But might not this be a purely factitious effect, as, -for instance, when individuals who have left their birthplace for some -great capital (as often happens in the case of infants and invalids), -are looked upon as natives of the latter? This becomes certain, if we -remember the pernicious influence of great towns, and consider with -Smiles, that the life of large towns is not favourable to intellectual -work, that men who have had a great influence on their age have been -brought up in solitude, and that all the great men of England, and even -of London, were born in the country, though this fact is often ignored -on account of their having fixed their residence in the capital. Carlyle -says that a man born in London seems but the fraction of a man. We read, -in the _Lives of the Engineers_, that all great English engineers have -been country-bred. - -The establishment of a school of painting, even when it is the result of -an importation, makes an artistic centre of a place which was not so -previously, and, if the establishment goes back to a very distant time, -the number of artists becomes very large. Let us look, for example, at -Piedmont, where, assuredly, a military education reinforced by climate -and race, and, to a still greater degree, by clerical influence, -retarded for a long time the development of the fine arts, and -especially of music. Up to 1460, celebrated painters were not numerous -in Piedmont, and the only ones to be found there were of foreign origin, -such as Bono and Bondiforte. But Bondiforte, who had been sent for from -Milan, was immediately followed by Sodoma, Martini, Giovannone, -Vercellese. Ferro di Valduggia was followed by Lanini, and Tansi by -Valduggia, in the same way as Viotti’s example attracted thither, within -a short time, five celebrated violinists. - -Scarcely had a few distinguished painters--such as Macrino and Gaudenzio -Ferrari, shown themselves at Novara, at Alba, and at Vercelli, than -others were immediately seen to appear; and, in our own day, wherever -military influence has been entirely superseded by social, this province -has furnished, in proportion to its size, as many artists as the rest, -or even more, and those of quite equal standing--_e.g._, Gastaldi, -Mosso, Pittara, &c. - -Had any one undertaken, 300 years ago, to draw up the statistics of -Scotch thought, he would scarcely have found a single name to include in -his list. Yet Scotland, delivered from the leaden mantle of religious -intolerance, has become, as we have seen, one of the richest centres in -Europe for bold and original thinkers. - -On the other hand, Greece, placed in ancient times by race and nature in -the first rank, as regards intellectual creation, no longer shows any -trace of her superiority. Nature and the race have not changed, but -slavery, political struggles, and hard living have exhausted all her -strength; for a nation does not afford itself the luxury of art and high -thinking till its existence is assured and easy. - -Thus the influences of agglomeration might often have been disguised by -the influence of national well-being. - -Not that the action of race and climate disappears, but its -manifestations remain latent. The mighty intellect due to the Tuscan -race and climate, reveals itself at the present day--after the -enervating influence of the Medici, the priests, and the linguistic -pedants, has done its work--in the improvisations of Pistoian peasant -women, and the subtle epigrams of the Florentine populace. Genius (such -as that of Pacini, Carrara, Betti, Giusti, Guerrazzi, Carducci) is no -longer endemic, but occurs sporadically. - -It appears to me that, in many cases, social influences are more -apparent than real--analogous rather to the peck of the chicken which -cracks the egg-shell than to the spermatozoid which generates the -embryo. - -We see that Florence, like Athens, supplied at the epoch of republican -agitations the _maximum_ of Italian genius. But similar agitations in -South America and in France (1789) did not yield as many great men; but -simply a number of men who, being useful in the emergency of the time, -passed for great.[278] One might even be inclined to suspect that the -numerous great men who appeared at Florence were themselves the cause of -her revolutions.[279] - -The same assertion holds good of opportunity. Opportunity appears, -sometimes, to have assisted the development of genius. Thus Mutius -Scaevola, having been reproached by Servius Sulpicius with ignorance of -his country’s laws, became a great jurisconsult. - -It has often happened that stonecutters in the quarries of Florence, in -the old Republican times, have become celebrated sculptors, like Mino da -Fiesole, Desiderio da Settignano, and Cronaca. Canova and Vincenzo Vela -were also quarrymen, and Hugh Miller, from working as a mason, became a -highly-esteemed geologist. - -Andrea del Castagno, a shepherd of Mugello, one day, when overtaken by a -storm, took refuge in an oratory, where a house-painter was daubing a -picture of the Virgin. From thenceforth he felt an irresistible desire -to imitate him, and practised drawing figures in charcoal whenever he -could; so much so, that his fame soon spread among the peasants, and, -afterwards, by the assistance of Bernadino de’ Medici, who enabled him -to study, he became a celebrated painter. - -Vespasiano de’ Bisticci, a Florentine paper-maker, whose profession -involved the handling of many books, and contact with a great number of -literary and learned men, took to literature himself. - -More frequently, however, opportunity is only the last drop which makes -the vessel run over. This is so true that the cases in which genius has -manifested itself in spite of adverse circumstances and even violent -opposition, are innumerable. It is sufficient to recall Boccaccio, -Goldoni, Muratori, Leopardi, Ascoli, Cellini, Cavour, Petrarch, -Metastasio, and, finally, Socrates, who was obliged to cut and carve -stones. All our recent great musicians--Wagner, Rossini, Verdi--were -misunderstood in their youth. - -Long ago, it was said, “He to whom Nature would not tell it, would not -be told by a thousand Athens and a thousand Romes.”[280] - -Circumstances, then, and a certain degree of civilization gain -acceptance and toleration for genius and its discoveries which, under -other conditions, would have either passed unnoticed, or met with -ridicule, and even persecution. - -History shows that great discoveries are rarely absolute novelties, and -that they have long existed as toys or curiosities. “Steam,” says -Fournier, “was a plaything for children in the time of Hero of -Alexandria, and Anthemius of Tralles. The human mind and the needs of -our race have to work by experience, a million times over, before -deducing all the consequences of a fact.[281] - -In 1765, Spedding offered _portable gas_, prepared and ready for use, to -the corporation of Whitehaven, and was refused. At a later date came -Chaussier, Minkelers, Lebon, and Windsor, who had no other merit than -that of appropriating his discovery. - -Coal had been known ever since the fifteenth century; in 1543 Blasco de -Garay appears to have propelled a vessel by steam and paddles in the -port of Barcelona; the screw-steamer was invented before 1790. When -Papin experimented with steam navigation, he met with nothing but -derision, and was treated as a charlatan. When the screw was at last -applied, Sauvage, who had invented it, never saw it in action, except -from the prison where he was confined for debt. - -Daguerreotypy was guessed at in Russia during the sixteenth century, and -again, in Italy, by Fabricius, in 1566. It was afterwards discovered -anew by Thiphaigne de la Roche. Galvanism was also discovered by Cotugno -and by Duverney. - -The theory of Natural Selection itself does not belong exclusively to -Darwin. Existing species, it was already said by Lucretius, have only -been able to maintain themselves by their cunning, strength, or -swiftness; others have succumbed. And Plutarch, remarking that horses -which have been pursued by wolves are swifter than others, gives this -reason--that, the slower ones of the band having been overtaken and -devoured, only the more agile survived. - -Newton’s law of attraction was already foreshadowed in works of the -sixteenth century--more particularly in those of Copernicus and -Kepler--and was nearly completed by Hooke. - -It has been the same with magnetism, chemistry, and even criminal -anthropology. Civilization, therefore, does not _produce_ men of genius, -and discoveries; but it assists their development, or, more correctly -speaking, determines their acceptance. - -It may therefore be admitted that genius can exist in any age and any -country; but, as in the struggle for existence the greater number of -beings are only born to become the prey of others, so many men of -genius, if they do not meet with the favourable moment, either remain -unknown or are misunderstood. - -While there are some civilizations which assist the development of -genius, others are injurious to it. In those parts of Italy, for -instance, where civilization is most ancient, and where it has been -frequently renewed, becoming stronger at each renewal, though the -temper of the people is more open, the formation of genius is of rare -occurrence. In general, when the average culture of a nation is of -earlier date, novelties are less eagerly received. On the contrary, in -countries where civilization is recent, as in Russia, new ideas are -accepted with the greatest favour. - -When the repetition of the same observation renders a new truth less -difficult to accept, then genius is not only recognized as useful and -even necessary, but received with acclamations. The public, perceiving -the coincidence between a given civilization and the manifestation of -genius, thinks that the two are connected, confusing the slight -influence which determines the hatching of the chicks with the act of -fecundation--which, on the contrary, depends on race, atmospheric -influences, nutrition, &c. - -This, too, is what takes place in our own day. Hypnotism exists to prove -how many times, even under our very eyes, a scientific notion may be -renewed, and each time taken for a new discovery. Every age is not -equally ripe for inventions without precedents, or with too few; and -those which are not ripe, are incapable of perceiving their inaptitude -for adopting them. In Italy, for twenty years, the man who had -discovered pellagrozeine was looked upon by the authorities as a madman. -At the present day the academic world, always composed of intelligent -mediocrities, laughs at criminal anthropology, is mildly sarcastic -towards hypnotism, and looks on homœopathy as a joke. Perhaps even my -friends and myself, in laughing at spiritualism, are misled by the -misoneism latent in us all, and, like hypnotised persons, are utterly -unable even to perceive that such is the case. - -Misery is often the stimulus of genius. It was necessity rather than -natural inclination which drove Dryden to become an author. Goldsmith, -when he had knocked at every door in vain, took to writing. And so again -and again. - -It is true also that extreme misery frequently ruins genius. It placed -immense difficulties in the way of Columbus. George Stephenson’s steam -engine would have been an abortion, if he had not been enabled at great -sacrifice to educate his son. Meyerbeer, who produced so laboriously, -and whose genius cannot be explained apart from his Italian journeys and -life, would have been in a deplorable condition without wealth. - -Many men of genius, on the other hand, have been spoilt by wealth and -power. Jacoby has shown that unlimited power hastens degeneration, and -tends to produce megalomania and dementia in those who possess it. - -The influence of education has been investigated less than it deserves. -Without the school, many believe there would be no genius. What, it is -said, would have become of Metastasio, if he had not been picked up and -educated? Giotto would merely have amazed the shepherds of his native -valleys by daubing the walls of some chapel. Paganini would have been -unheard of. Pitré, in his admirable book, _Usi e costumi della Sicilia_, -writes at length of certain wonderful poetasters, who narrate fantastic -lays of knighthood to the people of Palermo, yet they can neither read -nor write. Who knows what they would do if they were educated? - -Those who have been among the mountains know the works produced by -certain shepherds. They are made with coarse instruments, yet they -reveal marvellous taste and delicacy. Such men give us the impression of -so many aborted Michelangelos; they are men of genius who have lacked -the opportunity of manifesting themselves. - -But these facts do not neutralize others which show the pernicious -influence of the school on genius. Hazlitt well said that whoever has -passed through all the grades of classical instruction without having -become a fool, may consider himself to have escaped by miracle. Darwin -feared to send his sons to school. Who can describe the martyrdom of the -child of genius compelled to spend his brains over a quagmire of things -in which he will succeed the less the more he is attracted in other -directions? He rebels, and then begins a fierce struggle between the -pupil of genius and the professor of mediocrity, who cannot understand -his fury and his instincts, and who represses and punishes them. Balzac, -who proved this, and was driven away from school after school, has -minutely analyzed this bitterness of the college in his wonderful study, -_Louis Lambert_. One shudders on thinking of the youth of such lofty and -serene intelligence, treated with contempt as stupid and idle, and his -discourse on will which had cost him so much labour destroyed unread by -an ignorant master. And so, also, it was with Vallès. Verdi was -unanimously rejected at the Conservatorio of Milan in 1832, even as a -paying pupil. Rossini was regarded as an idiot by his fellow-pupils, and -by his teacher, as also was Wagner. Coleridge has written with -bitterness of his schooldays, when, he says, his nature was always -repressed. Howard was considered so stupid at school that he was sent to -a druggist’s. Pestalozzi was looked upon as a silly and incapable boy, -whose spelling and writing were incorrigibly bad. Crébillon as a youth -was regarded as roguish and lazy, and when he left the university he was -labelled: _Puer ingeniosus, sed insignis nebulo_. Cabanis as a boy -showed very early signs of uncommon intelligence, but the severe -discipline of school only served to make him a dissembler, and he was -finally expelled. Diderot was regarded as the shame of his house. Verdi, -Rossini, Howard, Cabanis, would not allow themselves to be defeated, but -how many, discouraged, have lost faith in themselves! It is useless to -say that this struggle for existence results in the survival of the -fittest; for even the weakest men of genius are worth more than -mediocrities, and it is a sin to lose a single one. We are not here -dealing with a phenomenon like that presented by the struggle of lower -organisms. The case is even opposed, since their great sensibility -renders men of genius more fragile. The persecutions of the school, -tormenting these beings when they are in their first youth and most -sensitive, cause us to lose those who, being more fragile, are better. -Here, therefore, the struggle for existence suppresses the strongest, or -at all events the greatest. The worst of this is that there is no -remedy. Teachers are not men of genius, and in any case they cannot, and -should not, look to anything but the manufacture of mediocrity. At all -events, let no obstacles be put in the way of genius. - - - - -PART III. - -_GENIUS IN THE INSANE._ - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -INSANE GENIUS IN LITERATURE. - -Periodicals published in lunatic -asylums--Synthesis--Passion--Atavism--Conclusion. - - -The connection which, as we have seen, exists between genius and -insanity is confirmed by the over-excitement of the intelligence, and -the temporary appearance of real genius frequently observed among the -insane. - -“It seems,” writes Charles Nodier, “as if the divergent and scattered -rays of the diseased intellect were suddenly concentrated, like those of -the sun in a lens, and then lent to the speech of the poor madman so -much brilliancy that one may be permitted to doubt whether he had ever -been more learned, clear, or persuasive while in full possession of his -reason.”[282] - -“Madness,” writes Théophile Gautier,[283] “which creates such enormous -gaps, does not always suspend all the faculties. Poems written during -complete dementia often observe the rules of quantity extremely well. -Domenico Theotocopuli, the Greek painter, whose master-pieces are -admired in the Spanish churches, was insane. We have seen in England, -scenes of lions and stallions fighting, the work of an insane patient, -done on a board with a red-hot iron, which looked like some of -Géricault’s sketches rubbed in with bitumen.” - -Under the influence of insanity, “an ignorant peasant will make Latin -verses; another will suddenly speak in an idiom which he has never -learnt, and of which he will not know a word after his recovery. A woman -will sing Latin hymns and poems entirely unknown to her; a child, -wounded in the head, constructs syllogisms in German, and is unable, -when no longer ill, to utter a single expression in that language.”[284] - -Winslow knew a gentleman, incapable in his normal condition of doing a -simple addition sum, who became an excellent mathematician during his -attacks of mania. In the same way, a woman who wrote poetry while in the -asylum, after her cure became once more a peaceable and prosaic -housekeeper. - -A monomaniac at the Bicêtre lamented his detention in the following -striking verse:-- - - “_Ah! le poète de Florence_ - _N’avait pas, dans son chant sacré_ - _Rêvé l’abîme de souffrance_ - _De tes murs, Bicêtre exécré._”[285] - -Esquirol gives an account of a maniac who invented, during the acute -period of his malady, a new kind of cannon which was afterwards adopted. - -Morel had under his care a madman, subject to intermittent states in -which all his faculties were more or less blunted, if not actually lost, -who, during his lucid intervals, composed fine comedies. - -John Clare, who wrote nonsense as soon as he began to express himself in -prose, in some of his tender and melancholy elegies rose to a rare -perfection of style and the choicest ideas.[286] - -Leuret says, in speaking of mania, “It has happened to me more than once -to form too favourable an idea of the intellectual capacity of some -persons, when I could only judge of it by what they said or did during -an attack of mania. A patient whose conversation and flashes of wit had -struck me, sometimes turned out, after his recovery, to be a very -ordinary man, far inferior to the opinion I had conceived of him.”[287] - -Marcé has recorded the case of a young married woman of cultivated mind, -but merely ordinary intelligence, who, during the course of an attack of -mania, in which ideas of jealousy predominated, “wrote to her husband -letters which, for their eloquence and the passionate energy of their -style, might easily be placed beside the most fervent passages of the -_Nouvelle Héloise_. When the attack was over her letters became simple -and modest, and no one, on comparing them with the others, would have -believed that the two sets came from the same pen.”[288] - -Excessive activity of the intellect, writes Dagonet, is also sometimes -observed in the depressive forms of mental aberration, but much less -frequently than in the expansive forms. As a proof of this, it is -sufficient to cite the following letter, written by a patient affected -with melancholic delusion, to her husband, a country schoolmaster. The -letter was full of mistakes in spelling; the woman who wrote it had no -education, and in her normal condition, no eloquence; but disease had -transformed her by developing her intellectual faculties:-- - -“Why did not the Master of the universe open the tomb to me in my -brilliant youth? Why, at the same time, did He not remove me from you, -since you do not love me, and I am making you unhappy? - -“Why did I become a mother? To be unhappy--more than unhappy--to leave -the children who are so dear to me.... Why do you hate me? Though I -stood with my feet in boiling oil, I should still say, I love you!... - -“Why did you not let me die? You would be happy,--and I--my troubles -would be over.... My dear children would come and play by my grave. I -should still be near them--I should still, in the darkness of the grave, -hear them say, ‘There is our mother!’”[289] - -If this woman had fed her mind on the works of Chateaubriand she could -not have expressed herself with more poetry or imagination. - -“It has been known,” says Tissot, “that a young man, whose tutor had -never been able to teach him anything, and who, as the saying is, could -not put a noun and an adjective together, spoke Latin fluently, after -some days of malignant fever, and developed ideas which till then had -not struck him.”[290] - -Among other examples of what Lecamus calls learned frenzies, he cites -Mademoiselle Antheman who, during her delirium, was of “smiling -countenance and agreeable humour. Having lost the use of her right hand -through paralysis, she painted and embroidered with her left, with -incredible dexterity; and the productions of her mind were no less -surprising than those of her hands. She recited verses which showed the -greatest possible vivacity and delicacy, though they were the first she -had ever composed.”[291] - -“I am going to try,” says Gérard de Nerval, in his book entitled _Le -Rêve et la Vie_, “to transcribe the impressions of a long illness which -ran its course entirely in the mysteries of my mind. I do not know why I -make use of the term illness, for never--as far as I am concerned--did I -feel better. Sometimes I thought my strength and activity were doubled; -it seemed that I knew and understood everything, imagination gave me -infinite delight. In recovering what men called reason, shall I have to -regret the loss of this?” - -What mental practitioner has not heard similar words over and over again -from the mouth of unhappy patients who, after recovering their reason, -regretted their past state, that new life, that _vita nuova_, which -Gérard defines as “_L’épanchement du songe dans la vie réelle!_” - -Increase of intellectual activity, says Dr. Parchappe, is frequently met -with in insanity; it is even one of the most salient characteristics of -this disease in its acute period. The annals of science--adds the same -author--contain a certain number of well-authenticated facts, which have -contributed to confirm the superstition of a supernatural heightening -of the intellectual faculties, and which explain, up to a certain point, -how the love of the marvellous, in credulous observers, by exaggerating -and distorting analogous facts, has been able to gain credit for the -wonderful tales which abound in the history of religious sects at all -epochs, and more especially in the history of diabolical possessions in -the Middle Ages.[292] - -Van Swieten (Comment., 1121) relates that he had seen a woman who, -during her attacks of mania, only spoke in verse, which she composed -with admirable facility, although in health she had never shown the -least poetic talent. - -Lorry cites the case of a lady of rank, of very ordinary intellect, who -was subject to attacks of melancholy, during which her intelligence was -so far developed as to enable her to discuss the most difficult -questions with eloquence. - -A young girl of the people, aged fourteen, attacked with insanity in -consequence of a religious revival, talked on theological subjects as if -she had devoted herself to this study; she spoke like a preacher, of God -and of Christian duties, and gave sagacious answers to the objections -which were made.[293] - -“I have had occasion,” writes Morel,[294] “to remark, in some -hypochondriac, hysteric, and epileptic patients, an extraordinary -intellectual activity at the critical periods of the disease. It is not -rarely observed that the attacks of exacerbation to which they are -subject are preceded by an abnormal manifestation of the intellectual -forces. A young hypochondriacal patient, confided to my care, often -astonished those who saw him by the facility of his elocution, and the -brilliancy with which he expressed his ideas. At certain times he would -compose, in the course of a single night, a piece of music or a play -which possessed remarkable traits, and some beauties of the first order. -But, knowing the patient, I was never mistaken in my prognostications -from this state of things. I knew that, after three or four days of -excitement, this young man would fall into a dull stupor and become a -prey to a torpid apathy which prevented him from feeling the instinct -of his greatest natural necessities. The case ended in complete -dementia.” - -“In the case of a hysterical patient, with a predominance of exalted -religious ideas, I have also observed remarkable phenomena of -intellectual reminiscence. She had heard a great number of sermons, and -read still more. I have heard her repeat word for word what she had read -or what had been delivered in her presence. We were able to follow her, -book in hand, when, under the influence of a nervous excitement which -quickened her memory, she recited sermons by well-known Christian -orators. She was quite unable to repeat this phenomenon in her ordinary -condition; but, as in the preceding case, we knew what view to take of a -fact of this nature--not to mention that it resembled a large number of -other cases, by means of which, at different times, the public credulity -has been exploited. In this woman the phenomenon always preceded a -crisis of exacerbation followed by stupor. - -“Let us now pass to the extreme concentration of the attention in a -hypochondriacal patient relating her own sensations. The following -extracts are from a diary left to me by the patient in question. It -summarizes all that is experienced by this class of patients. - -“_September 6, 1852_, 9 p.m. This evening, on going to bed, sharp pain -in the sacral regions and in the thighs. Tearing pains in the left ear -and eye while falling asleep. I was overpowered by the feeling of fear. -I seemed to be rolling into bottomless abysses, and to have, as it were, -an iron hook fixed in my skull and heart, and dragging them out. - -“_September 7, 1852_, 7 a.m. Lancinating pain in the eyes, acute -suffering in the eyelids. Pressure on the temples, principally on the -left, eyes constantly watering, larynx contracted; a horrible, -never-ceasing devouring hunger, which seems to make me start. I am -seized by an anger which makes me seem mad in the eyes of others. If I -could still cry out, that would relieve me; I am boiling over with -anger, and I look wild. It is as though I had a little saw inside my -head. Always this motion of sawing--of a wheel which keeps turning and -carries me with it. My bones feel to me like dead wood which burns like -logwood. - -“_September 8, 1852._ The whole day without having been able to do -anything. My forehead seemed encircled with a tight iron band. I went to -bed with a feeling of deep depression. Fear overpowers me--sometimes a -feeling of hatred--a very little excusable jealousy of those who can act -freely and work. I have in my back something like little strings pulling -in all directions, making music like an accordion. It is torturing. The -strongest man would fall dead with terror, if he could see the reality -of a person in my state of health.... And they laugh at me.... The -doctors refuse to believe in my sufferings. There are moments when all -that I have ever seen in my life is before my eyes at once. I feel -myself lifted into the air or up to the roofs; I feel a horror of -myself. It is like an old painting by Rembrandt etched in _aqua fortis_. - -“_Dreams._--Dead horses, headless, dismembered--horrors of all kinds.... -Then there are members of my family who appear to me; but everything I -see is distorted and reduced in size; there is, as it were, a _camera -obscura_ in me, and the reflector shows me everything in miniature. I -admit that I may be insane--but you, too, must admit at least that I am -very ill,” &c. - -It is known, says Paulhan,[295] that with some dementia patients, -certain faculties remain intact; they can, for instance, play at cards -or draughts, though their mind in general may be quite disorganized. The -same is found to be the case with idiots. Griesinger saw, in the -Earlswood Asylum, a young man who had made, all by himself, a remarkable -model of a man-of-war. This individual’s intelligence was very limited; -he had no idea whatever of numbers. “It more frequently happens,” adds -the author, “that complete idiots execute fairly good work in drawing or -painting. In such cases, it is, of course, only a mechanical talent.” - -Esquirol reports the case of a general suffering from mania, whose -“delusions persist throughout the summer, with some lucid intervals, -during which the patient writes comedies and vaudevilles which betray -the incoherence of his ideas.... In spite of the confusion of his mind, -the general conceives an idea for the perfecting of a certain weapon, -draws designs, and manifests the desire of getting a model constructed.” -One day, he went to the foundry, and, on his return, was seized with -agitation and delirium. A while later, he paid a second visit to the -foundry, and “the model having been executed, gave an order for fifty -thousand. This order was the only act which gave the founder reason to -suspect the general’s malady. His invention was afterwards officially -adopted.” Thus, in the midst of general incoherence, an important series -of ideas was maintained and carried out to the end. - -A writer not practised in mental disease, Esquiros whom we have already -had occasion to quote, mentions the following facts, which are very -significant:-- - -“Dr. Leuret,” he says, “related to us the history of a patient in the -Bicêtre who, during his malady, had shown a remarkable talent for -writing, though when in good health he would have been quite incapable -of doing as much. ‘I am not quite cured,’ he said to the physician, who -thought him convalescent. ‘I am still too clever for that. When I am -well, I take a week to write a letter. In my natural condition I am -stupid; wait till I become so again.’ The same observer also cites the -case of a merchant whose affairs were in danger. During his illness, -this man found means to re-establish them; the result of each of his -attacks was the perfecting of some mechanism, or the invention of some -means for facilitating his industry; and at the end of this invaluable -insanity, he was found to have recovered both his reason and his -fortune. - -“We have been shown at Montmartre, in Dr. Blanche’s establishment, -traces of charcoal-drawings on a wall. These half-effaced figures, one -of which represented the Queen of Sheba, and the other some king, were -the work of a distinguished young author, who has since recovered his -reason. This illness had developed a new talent, which was non-existent, -or at least played a most insignificant part, while he was in health. - -“It is said that Marion Delorme met, in a madhouse, with the first man -who conceived the idea of applying the forces of steam to the needs of -industry, Salomon de Caus. Talents created by disease forsake the -individual, for the most part, at the same time as the disease -itself.”[296] - -I had under treatment at Pavia, a peasant lad, aged twelve, who composed -extremely original musical melodies, and bestowed on his companions in -misfortune nicknames which fitted so well that they always kept them. -With him was a little old man afflicted with rickets and _pellagra_ who, -when asked whether he was happy, replied, like a philosopher of ancient -Greece, “All _men_ are happy, even the rich, if they are only willing.” - -Many of my pupils still remember B----, by turns musician, servant, -porter, keeper of a cookshop, tinman, soldier, public letter-writer, but -always unfortunate. He left us an autobiography, which, apart from a few -orthographical mistakes in spelling, would be quite worth printing; and -he asked me for his discharge in terms which, for an uneducated working -man, were wanting neither in beauty nor in originality. - -Not long ago I heard a poor hawker of sponges, when insane, thus -conjecture and sum up the cardinal idea of the circulation of life: “We -do not die. When the soul is worn out it melts, and is turned into -another shape. In fact, when my father had buried a dead mule, we -afterwards saw mushrooms growing in great numbers on the same spot, and -the potatoes in the same place, which were formerly very small, grew to -twice their usual size.” - -Thus a vulgar mind, enlightened by the energy of mania, stumbles on -theories which the greatest thinkers arrive at with difficulty. - -G. B., a maniac, nephew of a celebrated author, said to me one day, when -I hesitated before permitting him to ride a somewhat skittish horse, “No -fear, doctor--_similia similibus_.” - -M. G., a merchant, suffering from melancholia, said to some one who had -called him “Count” by mistake, “What count? I have kept plenty of -_accounts_--I know no others!” - -“Why will you not shake hands with me?” I asked Madame M----, a sufferer -from moral insanity, one morning, “Are you angry with me?” “_Pallida -virgo cupit, rubicunda recusat_,” she replied. Another time I asked her, -“Do you hope to leave this establishment soon?” She answered, “I shall -leave it when those outside have recovered their reason.” - -V----, a thief, and insane, made his escape during a walk which had been -permitted him. When overtaken and reproached with having betrayed the -confidence reposed in him, he replied, “I only wanted to try whether my -knees were stiff or not.” - -B. B., a maniac woman, over seventy years of age, who had lost all her -teeth, made obscene remarks. When remonstrated with for using -expressions so unbecoming to her age, she said, “Old! old! Why, do you -not see that I have not yet cut my teeth?” - -N. B., who became a poet through insanity, writes with much subtlety, -but his verses do not scan. His companion, G. R., once told us that he -lengthened the feet on purpose, so that, being well _planted_, they -should not be able to escape his memory.[297] - -_Synthesis._--The most original and general characteristic of the poets -who are the product of insanity is precisely the forcing of the mind to -a state so at variance with previous conditions of life and culture. In -many, it is true, the only result of this effect is a continuous flow of -epigrams, plays upon words, and assonances--puns, in short, such as are -praised in society as evidences of wit; though it is no wonder that they -should abound in lunatic asylums, being, as they are, the very negative -of truth and logic. This tendency, or, at least, the tendency to -alliteration and rhyme, is evident in all their works, even those -written in prose. Yet, on the other hand, we not rarely meet with -improvised philosophers, who in their utterances reproduce parts of the -systems of the Positivists, of Epicurus and Comte; the brain, quickened -by insanity, being able to seize upon those salient points of truth from -which the systems named took their rise, and that because these men have -less hatred of novelty, and more originality, than normal people. - -Their most salient characteristic--originality heightened to the point -of absurdity--is due to the overflowing of the imagination which can no -longer be restrained within the bounds of logic and common sense. It is -natural that the mind which has been most injured, or is by nature the -most deficient, should exceed most in this respect. We need only refer -now to the pretended metamorphosis and journeyings of the soul of P---- -of Siena, and the writings of M---- of Pesaro, who had carried his -passion for the Greek language so far as to invent a new idiom, in which -gravel was called _lithiasis_, the sea, _equor_, convictions, _agonies_, -the world, a _vase_.[298] - -Their more rapid association of ideas, and livelier imagination, often -enable them to solve problems which more cultivated, but normal, -intellects can scarcely attack with success. - -Another peculiarity characteristic of them, but which, be it noted, is -often found also in the writings of criminals, is the tendency to speak -of themselves or their companions, and to write autobiographies, -abandoning themselves without restraint to the torrent of ambition or -love. But with insane persons the form of expression is much less -artificial than that used by criminals, in whose writings one finds more -coherence but less creative power and originality. - -The use of assonances in place of reasoning is entirely peculiar to the -insane, as also the use of special words, or words used in a peculiar -sense, and the exaggerated importance attributed to the most trifling -things. - - “_C’est le travail des fous d’épuiser leurs cervelles_ - _Sur des riens fatigants, sur quelques bagatelles_,” - -said Hécart in his _Gualana_, which, by the way, is only the work of a -mattoid. - -Many of them, though fewer than among the mattoids, mingle drawing with -poetry, as though neither art by itself were sufficient for the impetus -of their ideas. Their style lacks the polish which comes of much -elaboration, but abounds in incisive and vigorous sentences, so that it -often equals, and even surpasses, the productions of calmer and more -refined art. - -_Passion._--This should not cause surprise any more than the tendency to -versification in individuals who, before losing their reason, were -ignorant of prosody, when it is remembered that poetry--as Byron well -said and demonstrated in his own person--is the expression of passion -under excitement, and grows in vigour and effectiveness as the -excitement increases. - -That rhythm can relieve and express abnormal psychic excitement much -better than prose can be deduced from the poetic inspirations of -drunkards, as well as from the spontaneous affirmations of insane poets. - - “_Je vous-écris en vers, n’en soyez point choqué,_ - _En prose je ne sais exprimer ma pensée_,” - -an insane criminal wrote to Arboux, clearly explaining this -tendency.[299] - -A lunatic at Pesaro gave this reason for some of his verses: “Poetry is -a spontaneous emanation from the mind--poetry is the cry of the soul -pierced by a thousand griefs.”[300] - -_Atavism._--Vico had already guessed, and Buckle, at a later date, has -admirably explained that, among primitive peoples, all thinkers and -sages were poets. In fact, the earliest histories were put into a fixed -form and handed down by the bards of Gaul, or by the Toolkolos of Tibet; -likewise in America,[301] the Deccan,[302] Africa,[303] and -Oceania.[304] Ellis writes that the Polynesians have recourse to their -ballads as to historical documents when any question arises regarding -the deeds of their ancestors. And as in ancient India, so also in -mediæval Europe, the sciences were explained in verse. Montucla speaks -of a mathematical treatise of the thirteenth century written in verse; -an Englishman versified the Institutes of Justinian, and a Pole wrote a -rhyming work on heraldry. - -History, properly so called, though written in prose was in the Middle -Ages no less fabulous and full of fantastic absurdities and puns than -poetry. Troyes was derived from Troy, Nuremberg from Nero, the Saracens -from Sara; Mahomet was a cardinal; Naples was built on a foundation of -eggs; after certain victories of the Turks there were children born with -22 or 23 instead of 32 teeth. Turpin, the Macaulay of those times, -relates in his chronicle that the walls of Pampeluna fell as soon as the -followers of Charlemagne had begun to pray. Ferrante was 20 cubits in -height, and had a face a cubit in length. In short, the history of those -days was the same as the fairy tales still told at rustic firesides, -from which we can gather nothing but the uniform quality of human -imbecility which becomes more fantastic the more ignorant it is. - -A tendency to revert to ancestral conditions appears even in the prose -of the mattoid or insane. Thus Tanzi and Riva,[305] speaking of some -works by monomaniacs write as follows:-- - -“For the demonomaniacs of a hundred years ago--belated representatives -of mediæval mysticism, who typify the ancient form of _paranoia_--are -now substituted the modern paranoiacs; new alchemists who, with their -pseudo-scientific delusions, and their vainglorious phrases, revive in -our day the style and thoughts of Trithemius, Agrippa, Paracelsus, and -other men of the sixteenth century who were strange, but learned and -venerated students of occult science and magic. Paranoia follows the -path of humanity through the centuries, undergoing, with a certain -delay, all its changes, though often separated from it only by a slight -interval. As an example of this latter kind we may take the following -passage from an extremely long autobiography, written by a paranoiac, in -which the acute and accurate account of his own adventures is found in -company with insane statements like the following:-- - -“‘It ought to be known that the aristocracy, or persons descended from -them, secrete a certain, as yet undefined, substance which produces -electricity. In this way it is easy to understand how there can be -communication between one nobly-born person and another--if one thinks -for a moment of the telegraph and its electric batteries. In this manner -two nobles, being placed in communication, act upon each other as -electric batteries, transmitting every movement and thought by means of -a thread, as if the idea and way of thinking were so many strokes on the -part of the manipulator of the telegraphic instrument. The system, as -may be understood, is infinitesimal, for thought, transmitted from one -side, forms on the other as many infinitesimal points as there are atoms -forming the idea.’” - -MM. Riva and Tanzi observe that many of the ancient alchemists expressed -themselves in precisely the same way. - -“So,” they continue, “nothing could be easier than to recognize a born -paranoiac in the King of Bavaria,[306] misanthropic, vain, ambitious, -mystical, romantic, voluble, subject to hallucinations, eccentric in his -acts, his habits, his judgment and his conduct, perverted in his -æsthetic tastes, in love, in the ethical sentiments, exaggerated and -unbalanced in everything. He was so profoundly impressed with the stamp -of mediæval atavism that political journalism--hitting the mark with -unconsciously scientific correctness--designated him as a Sir Percival -come to life again.” - -The pathologic and atavistic origin of many of the literary productions -of the insane explains the frequent inequalities of the style, which is -as feeble and slovenly when the excitement ceases, as it was at first -splendid and vigorous, and the abrupt transition from stanzas worthy of -a classic author to the scribbling of an idiot. This origin also -accounts for the extreme contradictions to be found in the writings of -one and the same author--as is seen in Farina and Lazzaretti--their -fondness for aphorisms and detached periods, the abrupt and disconnected -character of their style--which is both primitive and childish--and the -monotonous repetition of certain words or phrases, recalling the verses -of the Bible or the suras of the Koran. It also explains their -propensity for continually dwelling on the same subject, nearly always -connected with matters out of the line of their own studies, and (what -is more important) of no advantage to themselves or others. Their works -are nearly always autobiographical. - -_Conclusion._--Summing up what has been said, there is a special -organization in all the writings of madmen, even the absurdest--a true -finality, as Paulhan calls it. - -“I understand by this,” he says, “that, as soon as one psychic element -exists, it tends to call forth others. It is not the totality of the -mind--if it is not itself co-ordinated--which determines the appearance -of phenomena, but the elements. That is to say, what is already -systematized in the mind tends to acquire a more complete -systematization. If it is a sensation, it will tend to awaken -particular, precise, and appropriate ideas or acts; if it is a general -tendency--a pre-established mental organization--it will tend to make -the mind interpret in such or such a manner the sensations which reach -it. - -“As every psychic element is systematic, and as, when finality is not to -be found in the totality of a psychic organism, or of a series of -actions, or a theory, or an argument, or a passion (and in this case all -these facts are not really psychic elements), it exists in the elements. -This tendency on the part of the elements to systematic association, -exercising itself without higher control, without general direction, -ends in producing numerous discords in the totality of psychic -operations. The result is somewhat as though all the musicians in an -orchestra were to play different tunes in as many different keys. - -“When, in the constitution of society, an association is dissolved, a -law of finality is broken and the elements (the human beings who formed -the association) are restored to individual life. They then enter upon -new forms of social activity. If, for example, a factory is closed, the -men and women who worked there and were united by a systematic -association, go to work again, each on his or her own account, either -separately, or in new associations, in which some of them may chance to -meet again. The same thing takes place with the psychic elements, -wherever, from one cause or another, the bond which united them is -broken; they enter into new associations where they work, each on its -own account, at the risk of producing nothing but incoherence. This -isolated activity of the elements is met with in a striking manner in -mental disease. - -“The pun is a form of this disorder. On analyzing it, we find that it -consists essentially in this: A sound employed in a particular complexus -(consisting of the sound, the ideas, and the systematized images -constituting the signification of the sound), itself forming part of a -more complex system, separates itself at least partially from these two -systems, and becomes associated with other systems of ideas and images. -The association through a resemblance between certain parts of the -words--for example, by means of rhyme--is an essentially analogous fact. -Here it is a sound which, systematically associated with other sounds, -allies itself at the same time with different sounds, in order to form -simultaneously, or at short intervals, systems which do not harmonise -together. Among the latter class may be reckoned the greater number of -_lapsus linguæ_ and _lapsus calami_. - -“Examples of this abound. M. Regnard has cited several pieces of verse -written by madmen, which show in a high degree the mode of elementary -systematic association. Sometimes one observes a remnant of intellectual -co-ordination, as in the following lines, in which, however, incoherence -is also abundantly manifested:-- - - “‘_J’aime le feu de la fougère_ - _Ne durant pas, mais pétillant;_ - _La fumée est âcre de goût._ - _Mais des cendres de: là Fou j’erre_ - _On peut tirer en s’amusant_ - _Deux sous d’un sel qui lave tout,_ - _De soude, un sel qui lave tout._’[307] - -At other times sense disappears altogether, as in these lines, also -quoted by M. Regnard, and composed by a patient whose mania was that of -self-conceit, and who had been insane for twenty-five years:-- - - “‘_Magnan! à mon souhait, médecin_ Magnan _ime,_ - _Adore de mon sort la force qui ... t’anime_. - - * * * * * - - _Admirant son beau crâne ... autre remord de Phèdre,_ - _Nargue Legrand du Saulle et sois un Grand du Cèdre._’[308] - -A good example of this phenomenon is afforded by the patient, observed -by Trousseau, who wrote down more than five hundred pages of words -connected with one another by assonance or sense: _Chat_, _chapeau_, -_peau_, _manchon_, _main_, _manches_, _robe_, _rose_, _jupon_, _pompon_, -_bouquet_, _bouquetière_, _cimetière_, _bière_, _&c._[309] - -“One need not be either insane or imbecile to make puns and associate -words together on account of superficial resemblances. In this case, -instead of being a permanent dissociation of the more complex systems, -it is a momentary dissociation which gives rise to the phenomenon. -Nothing is more natural--when one feels the need of unbending one’s -mind--than to restore to themselves the psychic elements retained in -complex systems not necessary to life, and to allow them a liberty which -they sometimes abuse. To continue the above comparison--which may be -carried a long way--the workmen in the factory are not always at work; -they have their moments of rest and recreation, and then usually occupy -themselves with less complex systems.”[310] - -Those most prone to these rhythmic manifestations are, in my opinion -(which is borne out by Adriani and Toselli), chronic maniacs, alcoholic -maniacs, and paralytics in the early stage--in whom, however, there is -apt to be more rhyme than verse, and more verse than sense. Melancholy -patients would take the next place, owing to the small number of these -found in asylums; they seem to find in versification a relief from their -habitual silence, or a defence against imaginary persecutions. This is -a much more important fact than would appear at first sight, when -connected with another, already well known, viz., that all great -thinkers and poets are constitutionally inclined to melancholy. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -ART IN THE INSANE. - - Geographical distribution--Profession--Influence of the special - form of - alienation--Originality--Eccentricity--Symbolism--Obscenity--Criminality - and moral insanity--Uselessness--Insanity as a - subject--Absurdity--Uniformity--Summary--Music among the insane. - - -Though the artistic tendency is very pronounced, and might almost be -called a general characteristic, in some varieties of insanity, few -authors have paid sufficient attention to it. - -The only exceptions are Tardieu, who, in his _Études Médico-Légales sur -la folie_, remarks that the drawings of the insane are of great -importance from the point of view of forensic medicine; Simon,[311] who, -in speaking of drawing among megalomaniacs, observes that the -imagination appears in them in inverse proportion to the intellect; and -Frigerio, who some time later gave a survey of the subject in an -excellent essay, published in the _Diario del Manicomio di Pesaro_.[312] -Since then I have been able to make a completer examination of this -subject, thanks to the curious documents supplied to me by MM. Riva, -Toselli, Lolli, Frigerio, Tamburini, Maragliano, and Maxime du Camp. - -By comparing their observations with my own, I find a total of 108 -mental patients with artistic tendencies, of which:--46 were towards -painting, 10 sculpture, 11 engraving, 8 music, 5 architecture, 28 -poetry. - -The prevailing psychopathic forms in these 108 cases were:--In 25, -sensorial monomania and that of persecution; 21 dementia, 16 -megalomania, 14 acute or intermittent mania, 8 melancholia, 8 general -paralysis, 5 moral insanity, 2 epilepsy. - -It is evident that those which predominate are the congenital and least -readily curable forms (monomania and moral insanity), together with -dementia, and those forms which it accompanies, or in which it is latent -(megalomania and paralysis). - -Let us now consider the special characteristics of these insane artists. - -_Geographical distribution._--In the districts where the artistic -tendency is more marked among the sane, the number of insane artists is -also higher. In fact, I have found very few of the latter at Turin, -Pavia, or Reggio, while at Perugia, Lucca, and Siena they abound. - -_Profession._--Only in a few cases could the tendency be explained by -profession or habits acquired before the appearance of the disease. We -find among the insane artists mentioned above--8 ex-painters or -sculptors, 10 ex-architects, carpenters, or cabinet makers; 10 former -schoolmasters or priests, 1 telegraphist, 2 students, 6 sailors, -soldiers, or officers of engineers. - -Among modern painters affected with insanity, we may note Gill, Cham, -Chirico, Mancini, and others. - -In some cases, former tendencies were accentuated by insanity. Thus, a -mechanician made drawings of machines, two sailors constructed models of -ships, a major-domo traced, on the floor, pictures of tables prepared -for a banquet, with pyramids of fruit. At Reggio, a cabinet-maker carved -some very fine foliage and ornaments; a naval officer at Genoa at first -carved models of ships, and afterwards was continually occupied in -depicting--though he had never learnt to paint--scenes at sea which, he -said, consoled him for being debarred from his favourite element. - -Sometimes these men were inspired by insanity with a strange energy in -their work, “just as if,” as MM. de Paoli and Adriani wrote to me, “they -had been paid for it. They cover the walls, the tables, and even the -floor, with painting.” One of them, a painter, who had formerly only -reached mediocrity, attained such perfection through his malady, that a -copy of one of Raphael’s Madonnas, executed by him during one of his -attacks, gained a prize medal at the Exhibition. - -Mignoni, the celebrated painter of Reggio, who became an inmate of the -asylum at that town on account of dementia and megalomania, remained -idle there for fourteen years. At last, at the suggestion of Dr. Zani, -he resumed his brush, and covered the walls of the asylum with excellent -frescoes. One of them represented the story of Count Ugolino so vividly, -that one of the patients began to throw meat at it, so that the father -and children might not die of hunger, and the grease spots are still to -be seen.[313] - -Of eight painters, whose history Adriani has related to me, four kept -their former skill while under the influence of acute or intermittent -mania; in two others, it was so far weakened that one of them, after his -recovery, sincerely deplored the work done during his illness. - -_Influence of the special form of Insanity._--In many cases, the choice -of subject is inspired by the malady. A melancholiac was continually -carving a figure of a man with a skull in his hand. A woman affected -with megalomania was always working the word DIO (God) into her -embroidery. Most monomaniacs habitually allude to their imaginary -misfortunes by means of special emblems. - -A monomaniac, who laboured under the delusion that he was being -persecuted, drew his enemies pursuing him on one side of the picture and -Justice defending him on the other. - -Alcoholic maniacs often make an excessive use of yellow in their -pictures. One painter, in whom alcohol had completely destroyed the -sense of colour, became very skilful in the rendering of white, and, -between his drunken fits, became the best painter of snow-scenes in -France. - -An artist of note, C----, when affected with general paralysis, lost his -sense of proportion, _e.g._, he began to sketch a tree which, if drawn -in its entirety, would have reached beyond the frame of the picture. He -collected the poorest oleographs and admired them, and coloured -everything green. - -It is more usual, however, for insanity to transform into painters -persons who have never been accustomed to handle a brush, than for it to -improve skilled artists. Sometimes the disease, while suppressing some -qualities of value to art, causes the appearance of others which did not -previously exist, and gives to all a peculiar character. - -Insanity changed Luke Clennell from a painter to a poet,[314] while -Melmour, a physician who fell into a state of dementia after the loss of -his wife, who died on their wedding-day, took to literature and lost his -previous aptitudes. - -“Exaggeration pushed to its extreme--to the improbable, or even the -impossible,” says Regnard, “is one characteristic of paralytics. One of -these madmen painted a man touching the stars with his head and the -earth with his feet.”[315] - -Daudet, in _Jack_, speaks of insane artists whose pictures seemed to -represent earthquakes or the inside of a ship during a storm. - -Individuals, who previously had not the remotest idea of art, are -impelled by disease to paint, especially at the periods of strongest -excitement. B----, a mason, became a painter while in the Pesaro asylum. -His attacks of mania were always announced by an outbreak of his -tendency to draw caricatures of the hospital staff, whom he condemned, -in effigy, to the strangest punishments. For instance, he painted the -cook, a stout and ruddy man, in the attitude of an _Ecce Homo_, behind a -grating which prevented him from touching the most appetising viands. -This was the penalty for having refused B---- one of his favourite -dishes. - -The grotesque apotheosis of himself, painted by the pederast and -megalomaniac, R----, in which he excretes and fecundates eggs which -symbolise worlds, is characteristic of the boundless vanity and -unbridled imagination of megalomaniacs and paralytics. - -Among the pictures executed by the patients at San Servolo, the most -curious is one by a lunatic who, in his lucid intervals, paints fairly -well, though with excessive minuteness of detail; but during his attacks -this minuteness is so far exaggerated as to become grotesque. - -Nothing but an intense religious monomania could have inspired the -singular self-crucifixion of the Venetian shoemaker, Matteo Lovat. I -have been able to procure an authentic picture of this strange -performance which is reproduced below. Shortly afterwards Lovat died in -an asylum.[316] - -[Illustration] - -One patient, G----, was a poor peasant woman, utterly uneducated, in -whose family _pellagra_ and insanity were both hereditary. In the long -isolation required by her state, she developed great skill (quite -unknown before her illness) in embroidering on linen, with coloured -threads pulled from her clothing, an extraordinary number of figures, -which were faithful representations of her delusions. Her autobiography -is, so to speak, traced in this embroidery; in every piece of work she -has represented herself, sometimes struggling with the nurses or the -nuns, sometimes herding cows, or occupied with other rustic work. -Elsewhere she would depict tables spread for meals, with an infinite -variety of accessories. But the most singular thing is that the outlines -are drawn with a clearness which would be the envy of a professional -caricaturist; no shading whatever, four stitches, representing nose, -eyes, and mouth, were arranged with so much artistic judgment as to show -clearly the individual expression of each face. - -Another artist in the same line, though of less striking gifts, is a -certain I----, suffering from moral insanity, who shows numerous -degenerative symptoms. She, too, embroiders figures of men and women -with considerable skill, but always in harmony with her perverted sexual -tendencies.[317] - -_Originality._--Disease often develops (as we have already seen in the -case of insane authors) an originality of invention which may also be -observed in mattoids, because their imagination, freed from all -restraint, allows of creations from which a more calculating mind would -shrink, for fear of absurdity, and because intensity of conviction -supports and perfects the work. - -At Pesaro there was a woman who drew, or embroidered, by a method -peculiar to herself, unravelling cloth, and fastening the threads on -paper by means of saliva. - -Another embroideress, formerly given to drink, executed butterflies -which seemed to be alive. She had applied to white embroidery the -methods of coloured work, and was able to produce marvellous effects of -light and shade. - -At Macerata a patient, with a number of pipe-stems, constructed a model -of the front of the asylum; another had the idea of representing a song -in sculpture. At Genoa, a dementia patient carved pipes out of coal. - -One Zanini, at Reggio, constructed a boot which was unique of its kind, -so that, as he said, no one else should be able to put it on. This -exceptional foot-gear was open on one side, and tied up with string, its -edges were ornamental, and worked with hieroglyphics. - -M. L---- of Pesaro was constantly making requests to leave the asylum. -When told that there was no means of transporting him to his home, he -set about constructing one for himself. This was a four-wheeled cart, -with an upright pole, at the top of which was a pulley with a rope -running through it. One end of the rope was fastened to the axle of the -fore-wheels, the other to that of the hind-wheels. An elastic cord was -attached to the rope for a distance of four or five centimetres, and by -pulling this, first at one end and then at the other, a person standing -on the cart was able to make the wheels go round.[318] - -In many arabesques drawn by a megalomaniac, one can trace, carefully -hidden among the curves, sometimes a ship, sometimes an animal, a human -head, or a railway train, or even landscapes and towns; though the -essential character of arabesques is the absence of the human figure. - -The best asylums of Italy have sent to the exhibitions of Siena and -Voghera, models in relief of their respective buildings, admirably -executed by some of the patients. That of the asylum at Reggio could be -taken to pieces, and showed the inside arrangements, staircases, rooms, -with their furniture, &c., all carefully finished. Even the trees, I am -told, were copied accurately from nature. - -A canon, who had no technical knowledge of architecture, began, after an -attack of melancholia, to construct with cardboard and papier-mâché, -models of temples and amphitheatres, which excited great admiration. - -Dr. Virgilio has made me a present of some portraits of Italian -specialists, nearly all of them exceedingly lifelike, the work of a -melancholia patient. The note of originality only comes out in some -accessory introduced into each picture, such as a fly, or a butterfly, -repeated persistently in every copy, or in the way in which the artist’s -name is worked into the painting, in vertical lines so as to form some -sort of decorative ornament. - -A work of extreme though useless skill and originality is the -self-crucifixion of Lovat, already mentioned. - -“The monomaniac, King Louis of Bavaria, was the first who entirely -understood Wagner. His prodigality in spending money, and the creation -of the theatre at Bayreuth--one of his most original conceptions--have -been known for years, but the greatest manifestation of his genius is -known only to a few. Three castles, three palaces of splendid and -indescribable beauty, rose from the earth, as if by enchantment. He -superintended even the minutest details himself. King Louis’s madness -was a dream with his eyes open. By himself, in the space of ten years, -he accomplished more than any twenty sovereigns, aided by the artistic -genius of the best ages. Certainly no one, at the present day, could -produce another such hall, 75 mètres in length (without counting the two -rooms at either end, which would bring the length up to 100 mètres), a -gallery illuminated by 17 great windows, 33 rock-crystal chandeliers, 44 -candelabra, and who knows what else!”[319] - -_Eccentricity._--But even originality ends by degenerating, in all, or -nearly all, into mere eccentricity, which only seems logical when one -enters into the idea of the delusion. - -Simon remarks that, in manias of persecution, and in paralytic -megalomania, the greater the mental disturbance the livelier the -imagination, and the more grotesque the fancies engendered by it. He -mentions the case of a painter, who declared that he could see the -interior of the earth, filled with houses of crystal, illuminated by -electric light, and pervaded by sweet odours. He described the city of -Emma, whose inhabitants have two noses and two mouths--one for ordinary -food, the other for sweet things--a silver chin, golden hair, three or -four arms, and only one leg resting on a little wheel.[320] - -These bizarre creations arise in great part from the strange -hallucinations to which the patients are subject. We may see an example -of this in the four-legged and seven-headed beasts painted by Lazzaretti -on his banners. A melancholiac made himself a cuirass of stones, to -defend himself against his enemies. Another would continue all day -drawing the map of the stains left by damp on the walls of his room. -Later on it was discovered that he believed those lines to represent the -topography of the regions which God had given him to rule over on earth. - -This is one of the reasons why, sometimes, greater excellence in art is -found in cases of dementia, than in those of mania or melancholia. - -_Symbolism._--Another characteristic trait of art in the insane is the -mingling of inscriptions and drawings, and, in the latter, the abundance -of symbols and hieroglyphics. All this closely recalls Japanese and -Indian pictures, and the ancient wall-paintings of Egypt, and is due in -part to the same cause at work in these--the need of helping out speech -or picture, each powerless by itself to express a given idea with the -requisite energy. - -This cause is very evident in a case communicated to me by Dr. Monti, in -which an architectural design, though well and accurately drawn, was -rendered incomprehensible by the numerous inscriptions, often in rhyme, -which had been crowded into it by its author, an aphasiac, who had -suffered from dementia for fifteen years. - -In some megalomaniacs this happens through the fancy they have for -expressing their ideas in a language different from that of ordinary -human beings. Such was the case of the master of the world, fully -treated of elsewhere, by M. Toselli and myself.[321] - -The patient in question was a peasant named G---- L----, 63 years of age, -with an easy and confident bearing, prominent cheek-bones, spacious -forehead, and expressive and penetrating look. Cranial capacity 1544, -index 82, temperature, 37° 6´. - -In the autumn of 1871 he became noted for vagrancy and excessive -loquacity; he stopped the most notable persons of the village in public -places, complaining of injustice which he alleged himself to have -suffered; he destroyed the vines, devastated the fields, and rushed -about the streets, threatening terrible vengeance. - -Gradually he began to identify himself with the Deity, and believe -himself ruler of the universe, and preached in the Cathedral of Alba on -his lofty destiny. In the asylum he remained calm as long as he was able -to believe that his power was recognized by every one, but at the first -show of opposition he threatened--in the character of ruler and -personification of the elements, calling himself sometimes the son, -sometimes the brother, or at others the father of the sun--to convulse -the world with earthquakes, overthrow kingdoms and empires, and erect -his throne on the ruins. He was tired, he said, of keeping up so many -armies, and providing for so many idle persons; it would be but just if -the authorities and the rich were at least to send him a large sum of -money, to redeem themselves from what he called “the debts of death.” In -return for this payment he would allow them to live for ever. The poor -ought all to die, as useless persons, and it was preposterous that he -had to support so many madmen in his own palace. He therefore suggested -to the doctor that it would be well to cut their heads off; yet he -waited on them with the greatest unselfishness when they were ill, an -inconsistency which is among the characteristics of paranoia. - -He usually bestowed his scanty earnings on some rogue whom he entrusted -with letters and commissions for the other world, addressed to the sun, -the stars, the weather, Death, the lightning, and other powers, whose -help he was in the habit of invoking, and with whom he held confidential -conversations at night. He was quite pleased when some calamity had -desolated the country, this being the beginning of the judgments -threatened by him, and a sign that the weather, the sun, or the -lightning, had obeyed him. - -He kept in a trunk some roughly-fashioned crowns which, he said, were -the true royal and imperial crowns of Italy, France, and other states. -Those worn by the actual sovereigns of these states were no longer of -any value, having been usurped by wretched men, doomed to speedy -destruction, unless they paid him their _debts of death_, in letters of -exchange to the amount of several hundred millions. - -But his most characteristic eccentricities were the writings in which -his delusion was manifested. Although able to read and write, he scorned -the use of the ordinary kind of writing, and, in a character of his own, -scrawled letters, orders, and cheques, to the Sun, to Death, or to the -civil and military authorities. He always had his pockets full of these -documents. His writing consisted mainly of large capital letters, mixed, -at intervals, with signs and figures indicating objects or persons. The -words are usually separated by one or two large dots, and he only wrote -some of the letters of each word (nearly always the consonants) without -any respect for the laws of syllabation. In some of his writings, the -alphabet almost entirely disappears. - -For instance, in order to demonstrate his effective power, he sketched a -series of rough figures representing the elements and powers which were -his familiar spirits,--the army ready, at a sign from him, to make war -on all terrestrial powers contending with him for the dominion of the -world. These are--1. The Eternal Father. 2. The Holy Spirit. 3. St. -Martin. 4. Death. 5. Time. 6. Thunder. 7. Lightning. 8. Earthquake. 9. -The Sun. 10. The Moon. 11. Fire (his minister of war). 12. A very -powerful man who has lived ever since the beginning of the world, and is -G. L.’s brother. 13. The Lion of Hell. 14. Bread. 15. Wine. The whole is -followed of his usual signature--a two-headed eagle. Each of these -powers is also indicated by letters placed beneath the figures, thus, -the 1st=P. D. E.; the 2nd=L. S. P. S., &c. - -This mixture of letters, hieroglyphics, and figurative signs, -constitutes a kind of writing recalling the phonetico-ideographic stage -through which primitive peoples (the Mexicans and Chinese certainly) -passed, before the discovery of alphabetic writing. - -Among the savages of America and Australia, writing consists in a more -or less rough kind of painting; _e.g._, to indicate, “would that I had -the swiftness of a bird,” they depict a man with wings instead of -arms.[322] These characters are not so much writing as aids to memory -still further connected together and vivified by traditional songs or -stories. - -Some tribes, however, have attained to a somewhat less imperfect mode, -which resembles our _rebus_; for instance, the Maya of America, to -signify a physician, painted a man with a herb in his hand and wings to -his feet; an evident allusion to the rapidity with which he is obliged -to hasten to those who require him. Rain is represented by a -bucket.[323] - -The ancient Chinese represented _malice_ by means of three women, -_light_ by the sun and moon, and the verb _to listen_ by an ear between -two doors. - -This primitive writing shows us that the rhetorical tropes and figures -of which our pedants are so proud, are expressions of poverty rather -than wealth on the part of the intellect. In fact, they are frequently -found in the speech of idiots and of educated deaf-mutes. - -After having used this system for a considerable time, some more -civilised races, such as the Chinese and Mexicans, took another step -forward. They classified the more or less picturesque figures referred -to above, and succeeded in forming ingenious combinations which, without -directly representing the idea, indirectly suggested a reminiscence of -it, as in our charades. Besides this, to prevent any uncertainty on the -reader’s part, they placed either before or after these signs a sketch -of the object to be expressed--a scanty remnant of the actual -picture-writing of a previous age. This certainly took place at a time -when--the language once being fixed--it was observed how some people, in -writing down a given sign, recalled the sound of the words which it -suggested. Thus Itzicoatl, the name of a Mexican king, was written by -drawing a serpent (Coatl, in Mexican) and a lance (Itzli); thus, too, in -Chinese, the character _tschen_ represents _boat_, _lance_, and -_table_.[324] - -Our megalomaniac, by reviving this custom, affords one more proof that, -in the visible manifestation of their thoughts, the insane frequently -revert (as also do criminals) to the prehistoric stage of civilization. -In the present case, it is quite easy to understand by what mental -process G---- came to use this mode of writing. Under the megalomaniac -delusion, believing himself lord of the elements, superior to all known -or imaginable forces, he could not make himself properly understood with -the common words of ignorant and incredulous men; neither could ordinary -writing suffice to express ideas so new and marvellous. The lion’s -claws, the eagle’s beak, the serpent’s tongue, the lightning-flash, the -sun’s rays, the arms of the savage, were much worthier of him, and more -calculated to inspire men with fear and respect for his person. - -Nor is this an isolated case. One quite analogous to it is described by -Raggi in his excellent study of the writings of the insane. Prof. -Morselli has furnished me with another and still more interesting -instance. - -“The patient A. T----” he writes, “was a joiner and cabinet-maker; he -had a certain skill in wood-carving, and his furniture was much sought -after.[325] About seven years ago he was attacked with mental disease, -apparently melancholia, and tried to commit suicide by throwing himself -from the roof of the town hall. He is now subject to attacks of -excitement with systematized delusions. His predominant ideas are -political--republican and anarchist--on a certain groundwork of -ambition. He fancies himself changed into some great criminal; sometimes -he is Gasperone, sometimes Il Passatore, at others Passanante. He is -always drawing or carving, and his work generally takes the form of -trophies or allegorical figures. - -“The most curious of all these is a piece of carving which represents a -man dressed as a soldier, provided with wings, and standing on an -inlaid pedestal covered with allegorical inscriptions. This figure has a -trophy on its head, and other objects are carved on or around it, each -of which expresses emblematically some one of T----’s delusions. For -instance, the wings recall the fact that, when his first attack came on, -he was in the square at Porto Recanati, selling his carvings, among -which were several figures of angels, at a soldo a-piece. The ‘Medal of -the order of the Pig’ is a token of contempt, wherewith he would like to -decorate all the rich and powerful of the earth. The helmet, with a -lantern hanging to the vizor (a reminiscence of Offenbach’s _Brigands_), -symbolises the gendarmes who escorted him to the asylum. The cigar -placed crosswise (note the position) represents his disdain for kings -and tyrants; and the position of the leg recalls a fracture of that limb -sustained by him in his attempt at suicide. - -“The inscriptions on the pedestal are scraps of verse or extracts from -newspapers which T---- is always quoting, and to which he attaches some -mysterious significance. They always, however, refer to the state of -slavery to which he is reduced (_i.e._, his detention in the asylum), -and the vengeance he will one day wreak on his captors. - -“The most remarkable thing, however, is the trophy resting on the head -of the figure, which is the graphic expression, so to speak, of a -song[326] either written by him or adapted from other popular poetry. -Each phrase of the song has its symbol in the trophy. Thus the word -_poison_ in the first verse is represented by the cup; the _two daggers_ -are likewise present; the _end of life_ and the _tomb_ are figured by a -kind of sarcophagus or closed chest; _love_ by two sprays of flowers. -The _bell_ of the second stanza is easily recognisable; the _funereal -music_ are the two trumpets crossed, lower down. The _cross_ of the -third stanza, and the _priest_ (represented by a clerical hat) are not -forgotten. It is curious that the _gallows_ should be wanting to -complete this trophy. The _spoon_ and _fork_, by the by, are T----’s -favourite implements. They denote that he eats and drinks in slavery, -or, as he says, in a convict-prison; and for this reason, he always -wears a set, carved in wood by himself, in the button-hole of his coat, -or in his cap.” - -We may once more remind the reader that savages hand down their history -by associating picture-signs with poetry. - -A most interesting example of elaborate symbolic faculty in a -monomaniac, combined with higher artistic power than is usually found -among the insane, has been recorded with very full illustrations by Dr. -William Noyes.[327] This patient studied art at Paris under Gérome and -returned to America to become an illustrator of books and magazines. He -developed systematic religious delusions, and frequently worked them out -in very beautiful and artistic shapes, nine of which, all executed in -the asylum at which he was confined, are here reproduced. The circular -design is one of a series of twelve charts (one for each of the tribes -of Israel) illustrating the progress of the Holy Spirit. They were all -delicately coloured in water colours, the fine shading making it very -difficult to give in black and white an adequate idea of the beauty of -the original. - -[Illustration] - -“In the centre is the dove representing the Holy Spirit, and surrounding -it are seven different crosses [St. Andrew, St. Colomba, St. George, St. -Michael, The Prophet, St. Evangeli, Royal Priesthood], and a close study -will show the seven crosses, most ingeniously worked together. It is -probable that in looking at the design closely for the first time one -will suddenly see a new cross take shape before his eyes, and this -indeed is what the patient says occurs with him. In describing the -crosses he will say, for example, that in drawing the cross of St. -Andrew the lines suddenly took a new shape and he found he had also -made a cross of St. Michael. This to him is a matter of deep -significance, and he feels that, his work is directly controlled by a -higher power, and that the work of his fancy is really inspired. - -“Outside these central crosses are the names of three ancient deities -who were each characterized by some special attribute, and under these -the parts of the body that the artist conceives these deities especially -to have represented, and then comes the name of the Biblical personage -in whom these elements were finally exemplified and embodied. To the -left of the dove is Venus, representing Blood, exemplified in Moses; -above is Osiris, representing Flesh, embodied in Adam; and to the right -Psyche, representing Water, typified in Noah. These three are but the -gross and material parts of Man, representing indeed necessary steps in -his progress through life, but secondary and subordinate to the higher -part of his nature represented by Truth and the Spirit--which receive -their ultimate embodiment in _Christ_. - -“The Lion denotes Might, and the Eagle signifies Emulation; but it is -uncertain just what symbolism is connected with the serpent twining -round the cross, and the open book crossed by a sword and pen, unless -indeed this last may mean the Bible with the emblems of peace and war -lying quietly within it, and it seems not unlikely that the serpent is -emblematic of the Betrayal. For the rest of the design, however, we need -make no inferences, as it corresponds closely with his description. - -“Outside of the circle enclosing the crosses are the seals, sealing the -Holy Spirit. In the large light triangles, or rather rays of the sun, -are given the names of the twelve apostles, forming the Seal of the -Prophet. Above these, in the same space, are the signs of the zodiac in -the extreme points of the triangle, with the names of the parts of the -body underneath, that these signs correspond to in the ancient -mythology; this forms the Seal of the Zodiac. Between these large light -coloured triangles are the twelve holy stones, represented as ovals, and -with their names plainly distinguished in the cut, making the Seal of -the Holy Stones. In the small triangles directly above the Holy Stones -are given the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, but the colour of -these in the chart (vermilion) is such that the lettering does not come -out in the photographic negative. This gives the Seal of the Twelve -Tribes. Directly beneath the Holy Stones, filling in the space between -the bottom of each large triangle, is the Seal of the Germ, coloured -dark green, and running down on each side of the top of these large -triangles are small triangles, coloured dark red and forming the Seal of -the Aceldama or Bloody Seal. On the circumference are the names of the -constellations of the zodiac, and directly under these the names of the -corresponding months of the year, and under these again are the -mythological representations of the constellations, Leo (July) being at -the top, and then in order to the right come Virgo (August), Libra -(September), Scorpio (October), Sagittarius (November), Capricornus -(December), Aquarius (January), Pisces (February), Aries (March), Taurus -(April), Gemini (May), Cancer (June). This gives the last sealing of the -Seed, the Seal of the Sun. - -“It will be seen that beginning at the circumference at any point and -going toward the centre there is a complete astronomical representation -of the season of the year, first the name of the constellation, then in -succession the month, the constellation depicted pictorially, the sign -of the zodiac and the part of the human body corresponding in the old -astronomy to this sign of the zodiac.” - -Of the four designs reproduced together, the first, the Shechinah, or -Light of Love, represents that miraculous light or visible glory which -was to the Jews a symbol of the Divine presence; the second represents -the angel Sandalphon with the Holy Grail at the side and the letters -Alpha and Omega at top (the design must be inverted to make out the -Omega); the third, Sub Rosa, and the fourth, Imp and Frogs, are graceful -fancies which sufficiently explain themselves, as does the Witch. - -While working on these sketches, he made at the same time the design for -a book-plate, representing Cupid learning the alphabet, and the entire -design, he says, is full of symbolism--a favourite word with him. Cupid -has his finger on _Alpha_, signifying the beginning of his education; -above the book is Cupid’s target, with a heart for - -[Illustration: SHECHINAH.] - -[Illustration: SANDALPHON.] - -[Illustration: SUB ROSA.] - -[Illustration: IMP AND FROGS.] - -the centre, that he has pierced with an arrow, while the full quiver -stands to the right. The curious fish under the _Veritas_ represents the -ΙΧΘΥΣ of the early Christians, while three crosses, symbolic -of the Christian religion, are in the upper left-hand corner, brought -out by heavy shading of the cross lines. On the book of knowledge is -perched the dove, emblematic of purity, while the olive branch at the -left of the book and the palm under the Fool’s Bauble give still other -religious symbols. The lamp of knowledge is burning brightly in front of -Cupid, while at his feet are the square, compass, triangle, and pencils, -symbolizing the designer’s profession. - -_Minuteness of Detail._--In some insane artists, especially monomaniacs, -we find an opposite characteristic--the exaggeration of particular -details--the general effect being lost in obscurity through their -excessive efforts after verisimilitude. Thus, in a landscape exhibited -among those rejected from the Turin _salon_, not only was a general view -of the country given, but every separate blade of grass could be -distinguished. In another picture, intended to be very imposing, the -strokes of the brush produced the effect of pencil shading. - -[Illustration: THE WITCH.] - -_Atavism._--Both minuteness and symbolism are themselves atavistic -phenomena; but, in addition to them, there may be noted (in a large -number of cases) a - -[Illustration: ARABESQUES BY PARANOIAC ARTIST.] - -total absence of perspective, while the rest of the execution shows -clearly enough that the author is not wanting in artistic sense. One -would take him to be a true artist, but one brought up in China or -ancient Egypt. Here we have evidently a kind of atavism explicable by -arrested development of some one organ, and a corresponding backwardness -in the products of that organ. A French captain, suffering from -paralysis, drew figures stiff as Egyptian profiles. A megalomaniac of -Reggio executed a coloured bas-relief, in which the disproportionate -size of the feet and hands, the extreme smallness of the faces, and the -stiffness of the limbs, completely recall the work of the thirteenth -century. Another patient, at Genoa, carved bas-reliefs on pipes and on -vases, exactly similar to those of the Neolithic Age. - -Raggi has sent me some flints carved by a monomaniac entirely ignorant -of archæology, which, in the choice of figures and emblems, recall the -style of Egyptian and Phœnician amulets. In these instances we see the -influence of similar psychical conditions at work. - -_Arabesques._--In some few patients, M. Toselli has called my attention -to a singular predilection for arabesques and ornaments which tend to -assume a purely geometric form, without loss of elegance. This is the -case with monomaniacs; in cases of dementia and acute mania there -prevails a chaotic confusion, which, however, does not always imply -absence of taste. I have seen an instance of this in a kind of ship, the -work of a dementia patient, composed of an enormous number of little -slips of wood, brilliantly coloured, very thin, and intertwined in an -infinite variety of ways, the general effect being very graceful. - -_Obscenity._--In some work done by erotomaniacs, paralytics, and -demented patients, the salient characteristic, both of the drawings and -of the verses, is the most shameless indecency. Thus a cabinet-maker -would carve virile members at every corner of a piece of furniture, or -at the summits of trees. This, too, recalls many works of savages and of -ancient races, in which the organs of sex are everywhere prominent. A -captain at Genoa was fond of drawing scenes in a brothel. In many the -obscene character is marked by the most singular pretexts, as though it -were demanded by artistic requirements. A monomaniac priest used to -sketch his figures nude, and then artfully drape them by means of lines -which revealed the generative organs. He defended himself against -criticism by saying that his figures could only appear indecent to those -who were in search of evil. - -M---- illustrated his strange and often beautiful verses with -innumerable daubs, representing animals of monstrous forms struggling -with men and women, or monks and nuns, naked, in the most shameless -attitudes. - -In others the indecency is, if possible, still more evident, especially -in cases of paralytic dementia. I remember an old man who used to draw a -vulva on the address of his letters to his wife, surrounding it with -obscene couplets in dialect. - -It is a curious coincidence that two artists--one at Turin and the other -at Reggio--who were both megalomaniacs, should both have had sodomitic -instincts, which they combined with the delusion of being deities, and -lords of the world, which they had created and emitted from their -bodies. One of them (who, nevertheless, had a real artistic sense) -painted a full-length picture of himself, naked, among women, ejecting -worlds, and surrounded by all the symbols of power. This repeats, and at -the same time explains, the Ithyphallic divinity of the Egyptians. - -_Criminality and Moral Insanity._--In this connection it is important to -notice that the greater number of these artists show, in addition to -their other forms of mania, a marked tendency to moral insanity, -especially in the form of unnatural vice. The painter who produced the -picture of “Delirium” was a pederast. The man who constructed the -marvellous model of the Reggio Asylum, already alluded to, was neither -draughtsman, sculptor, nor engineer. He was a madman, and, in addition, -a thief, with unnatural tendencies. This man, whenever the fancy took -him, escaped from the asylum, wandered about for some days, began to -steal when he had exhausted the small amount of money he had about him, -and when imprisoned declared himself a lunatic, and so got acquitted -and sent back to Reggio, when, after a short interval, he would repeat -the same line of conduct. - -Dr. Tamburini told me that he, too, had been struck by the co-existence -of artistic faculty and moral insanity in these patients. - -_Uselessness._--A characteristic common to many is the complete -uselessness of the work to which they devote themselves; and here I -recall once more Hécart’s dictum:-- - - “_C’est le travail des fous d’épuiser leurs cervelles_ - _Sur des riens fatigants, sur quelques bagatelles._”[328] - -A Genevan, affected by persecutory monomania, spent years in -embroidering on egg-shells and lemons. Though her work was most -beautiful, it could be of no advantage to her, for she kept it jealously -concealed; and I myself, though she was very fond of me, never saw any -of it till after her death. - -Here we have, as in the case of artists of genius, the love of truth and -beauty for their own sake alone, only that the aim is reversed. - -Sometimes the work done, though very useful in itself, is of no -advantage to the artist, and has no connection with his profession. Thus -a captain, who had become insane, presented me with the model of a bed -for violent patients, which, I believe, would be extremely useful in -practice. Two other patients, together, made, out of a piece of -beef-bone, some very neat match-boxes, ornamented with carvings in -relief, which could be of no profit to themselves, since they refused to -part with them for money. - -There are, however, some exceptions. A melancholiac patient, with -homicidal and suicidal tendencies, manufactured himself a very -serviceable knife, fork, and spoon--metal ones not being allowed -him--out of the bones which remained over from his dinner. A café-keeper -at Colligno, a megalomaniac, compounded excellent liqueurs out of the -scraps left over from meals, though of the most different kinds of food. -A criminal lunatic constructed himself a key out of a number of small -pieces of wood joined together. I do not count among these examples -those who have prepared themselves real cuirasses of iron and stone--a -piece of work in relation to the special delusion of persecutions, and -implying an amount of labour out of proportion to the advantage -obtained. - -[Illustration: DELIRIUM.] - -_Insanity as a subject._--Many choose insanity as the subject of their -paintings. Professor Virgilio has furnished me with a very curious -portrait of an insane patient at the moment of attack--the eyes rolling, -the hair on end, the arms extended. Under his feet is the epigraph: -“_Delira_” (“He is raving”). This is the work of an alcoholic pederast. - -I think that a sane artist would have some difficulty in painting a -closer likeness of delirium. This reminds me how frequently I have -found, among the poets of asylums, the tendency to describe insanity; -and it has been a favourite theme with great poets who have suffered -from ill-health--Tasso, Lenau, Barbara, Musset. Mancini, immediately -after his recovery, painted a woman offering for sale the picture -executed by a madman; and Gill, in the hospital of Sainte-Anne, painted -a raving maniac with terrible truth to nature.[329] - -_Absurdity._--One of the most salient characteristics of insane art is, -as might be expected, absurdity, either in drawing or colouring. This is -especially noteworthy in some maniacs, owing to the exaggerated -association of ideas, through which the connecting links (which would -serve to explain the author’s conception) are totally lost. Thus, an -artist painted a “Marriage at Cana,” with all the figures of the -apostles exceedingly well drawn; but in place of the figure of Christ -was a large bunch of flowers. - -Paralytic patients draw objects without any sense of proportion; their -hens are the size of horses, and their cherries of melons; or, while -striving after perfection in the design, the execution is merely -childish. One, who believed himself a second Horace Vernet, drew horses -by means of four straight strokes and a tail.[330] Another drew all his -figures upside down. Other dementia patients, owing to the same amnesia -which is apparent in their speech, leave out the most essential points -of their conception, like M---- at Pesaro, who made an excellent drawing -of a general, seated, but forgot the chair. (Frigerio.) - -_Imitation._--There are some who are very successful in imitation, but -can produce nothing original; they will, for instance, copy the _façade_ -of the asylum, or heads of animals, with the minute accuracy of detail -which characterizes primitive art. In this branch I have seen successful -work done by cretins and idiots, the latter drawing in exactly the same -manner as primitive man. - -_Uniformity._--Many continually repeat the same idea; thus one, -mentioned by Frigerio, filled sheets of paper with a bee gnawing the -head of an ant; another, who believed that he had been shot, would paint -nothing but fire-arms; a third confined himself to arabesques. - -_Summary._--These traits explain the instances of partial perfection to -be found in dementia patients; for a repetition of the same movement -tends to bring it nearer and nearer to perfection. At other times, as we -have seen in the extempore poets and authors of the asylum, it is the -tenacity and energy of the hallucinations which makes a painter of a man -who was never one before. Blake was able to picture to himself, as -living and present, persons already dead, angels, &c. This was the case, -also, with the strange insane poet, John Clare, who believed himself a -spectator of the Battle of the Nile, and the death of Nelson; and was -firmly convinced that he had been present at the death of Charles I. In -fact, he described these events with such remarkable fidelity and -accuracy, that it is scarcely probable he could have done it so well had -he been in full possession of his reason--the more so, as he was -entirely without culture.[331] This explains why insane painters and -poets are so numerous. It is easy to reproduce clearly what one sees -clearly. Moreover, the imagination is most unrestrained when reason is -least dominant; for the latter, by repressing hallucinations and -illusions, deprives the average man of a true source of artistic and -literary inspiration. - -For the same reason, too, art itself, may, in its turn, encourage the -development of mental disease. Vasari relates that one Spinelli, a -painter of Arezzo, having attempted to paint the deformity of Lucifer, -the latter appeared to him in a dream and reproached him with having -made him so ugly. The painter was so affected by this apparition as to -fall seriously ill; and it continued to haunt him for years.[332] - -_Music in the Insane._--Musical ability is often diminished in those -who, previous to their illness, cultivated this art with passion. Dr. -Adriani observed that musicians, under his care for insanity, almost -entirely lost their powers. They could still play any piece, but it was -done quite mechanically and without expression. Other dementia patients -would play the same piece, sometimes even a few phrases, over and over -again. - -Donizetti, in the last stage of dementia, no longer recognized his -favourite melodies. His last works show traces of that fatal influence -which critics have also observed in Schumann’s symphony of the “Bride of -Messina,” composed during his attacks of insanity.[333] - -These facts, however, do not contradict our assertion that insanity -awakens new artistic qualities in persons not previously gifted in that -way; they only show that (as we have seen in the case of professional -painters) it can give no additional power or skill to those who already -possessed them when attacked by disease. - -A megalomaniac--formerly a syphilitic patient--under the care of Dr. -Tamburini, sang beautiful airs when under excitement, at the same time, -instead of playing an accompaniment, she improvised, on the pianoforte, -two distinct motives which had no connection with each other or the air -she was singing. This fact confirms the observations of Luys as to the -independent action of the cerebral hemispheres. - -A young man attacked by _pellagra_, who recovered in my hospital, -composed expressive and original melodies. - -M. Raggi told me that he had had under his care a melancholic patient -who, during her attacks, played without enthusiasm, and even with -repugnance, but, when the fit passed off, would spend whole days at the -piano, and execute the most difficult _partitions_ with a truly artistic -enthusiasm. In the same way, a paralytic showed, through the whole -course of his illness, a genuine musical mania, during which he imitated -all instruments, and agitated himself, in frantic enthusiasm, at the -_piano_ passages. - -Raggi also observed a paralytic dementia patient who, after breaking his -thigh-bone by a leap from a window, rendered every bandage which could -be devised useless by singing, for days together, motives from _Il -Trovatore_ at the top of his voice, and accompanying his singing with -abrupt rhythmical movements of the pelvis. A fancy for monotonous -chanting also showed itself in another paralytic, who believed himself -to be a great admiral. - -In maniacs, acute and joyous notes predominate, and, still more, the -repetition of the rhythm. - -Every one who has paid even a short visit to an asylum has noticed the -frequency of singing and shouting and “high and thin voices, and with -them a sound of hands.”[334] Nor is it hard to understand this, if we -remember how Spencer and Ardigò have shown that the law of rhythm is the -most general form under which, in the whole of nature, energy is -manifested, from the crystal to the star, or to the animal organism. -Man, therefore, only follows a general organic law in giving way to this -impulse, which he does the more readily the less he is controlled by -reason. This explains the number of poets of the new school who are -found in asylums. This is the reason why savage nations have a natural -inclination for music; and a missionary told Spencer that many to whom -he taught the Psalms, with music, in the evening, could repeat them by -heart on the following day. - -Savages, in speaking, make use of a sort of monotonous chant analogous -to our recitative. Primitive poetry was always sung, whence all the -different words connected with singing applied to poetry and poets. The -mysterious magic formulas and recipes of the ancients[335] were also -sung, or chanted, whence the word “enchantment.” Even at the present -day, in the neighbourhood of Novi and Oulx, I have heard peasant-women, -in making inquiries of one another, modulate their voices in true -musical rhythm. Modern _Improvvisatori_ do not seem able to produce -their verses except when singing, and agitating all their muscles. - -It must be remembered that, according to the observations of Herbert -Spencer,[336] “the act of singing employs and exaggerates the signs of -the natural language of passion. Mental excitement is transformed into -muscular energy. An infant will laugh and bound in its nurse’s arms at -the sight of a brilliant colour, or the hearing of a new sound.” Strong -sensations or painful emotions cause us to gesticulate; in short, they -excite the muscular system, which is acted upon in proportion to the -intensity of the sensations. Slight pain calls forth a groan, greater -pain a cry: the pitch of the voice varies with the force of the emotion, -so that, in the strongest emotions, it rises to the octave, or higher; -and singing is always involuntarily accompanied by tremors and -agitations of the muscles. - -What could be more natural than that, in the conditions in which the -emotions are most energetic, and so frequently atavistic, as is the case -in insanity, these tendencies should be reproduced on a larger scale? - -This, too, explains why so many morbid men of genius should be -musicians: Mozart, Schumann, Beethoven, Donizetti, Pergolese, Fenicia, -Ricci, Rocchi, Rousseau, Handel, Dussek, Hoffmann, Glück, Petrella.[337] -Musical creation is the most subjective manifestation of thought, the -one most intimately connected with the affective emotions, and having -less relation to the external world than any other, which causes it to -stand more in need of the fervent but exhausting emotions of -inspiration. - -Perhaps the study of these peculiarities of art in the insane, besides -showing us a new phase in this mysterious disease, might be useful in -æsthetics, or at any rate in art-criticism, by showing that an -exaggerated predilection for symbols, and for minuteness of detail -(however accurate), the complication of inscriptions, the excessive -prominence given to any one colour (it is well known that some of our -foremost painters are great sinners in this respect), the choice of -licentious subjects, and even an exaggerated degree of originality, are -points which belong to the pathology of art. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -LITERARY AND ARTISTIC MATTOIDS. - - Definition--Physical and psychical characteristics--Their literary - activity--Examples--Lawsuit mania--Mattoids of genius--Bosisio--The - _décadent_ poets--Verlaine--Mattoids in art. - - -We have just been considering, in madmen, the substantial character of -genius under the appearance of insanity. There is, however, a variety of -these, which permits the appearance of genius and the substantial -character of the average man; and this variety forms the link between -madmen of genius, the sane, and the insane properly so called. These are -what I call semi-insane persons or mattoids. - -This variety constitutes, in the world of mental pathology, a particular -species of a genus distinguished by Maudsley as “odd, queer, strange” -persons of insane temperament, and previously by Morel. Legrand du -Saulle, and Schüle (_Geisteskrankheit_, ii., 1880) regard them as -_hereditary neurotics_, Raggi as _neuropathics_, and now many as -_paranoiacs_--a terminology which produces a hopeless confusion. - -The graphomaniac, representing the commonest variety, has true negative -characteristics--that is to say, the features and cranial form are -nearly always normal (Bosisio, Cianchettini, F----, P----, &c.). His -characteristics are not the result of heredity; at most, he is the son -of a man of genius (Flourens, Broussais, Spandri, Knester, &c.). This -form of aberration is most frequently found in men; I only know of one -exception in Europe--Louise Michel--and it appears more especially in -great cities, worn out with civilization. The mattoid shows far fewer -signs of degeneracy than the insane properly so called:--Of 33 mattoids -only 21 showed degenerative characters, and of these last 12 had 2, 2 -were found to have 3, there were 2 with 4, and only 1 with 6. - -Another negative characteristic is the survival of family affection, and -even of that for the human race in general, sometimes reaching such a -point as to become exaggerated altruism; though, in many cases, vanity -enters largely into the composition of this virtue. Thus Bosisio thinks -of and provides for the well-being of posterity, and even of the dead. -Thus D---- loves his wife and grandchildren, and constantly works for -his family; Cianchettini supported a deaf and dumb sister; Sbarbaro, -Lazzaretti, Coccapieller, adored their wives. - -In prison, a few days ago, I had occasion to perform the operation of -blood-transfusion, and wasted much time in trying to find a healthy -individual from whom to take the blood. All refused; but a consumptive -mattoid, as soon as he heard of the matter, volunteered for the -operation, and was overwhelmed with shame when I would not make use of -him. - -They have an exaggerated conviction of their own personal merit and -importance, with the peculiar characteristic that this opinion shows -itself rather in writing than in words or actions, so that they do not -show irritation at the contradictions and evils of practical life. - -Cianchettini compares himself to Galileo and to Jesus Christ; but sweeps -the barrack-stairs. Passanante proclaims himself President of the -Political Society while working as a cook. Mangione classified himself -as a martyr to Italy and to his own genius; yet he condescended to act -as a broker. Caissant claimed to be a cardinal, but, in the meantime, he -was a clever parasite, and made large profits through his very insanity. -The shepherd Bluet believed himself to be an apostle and count of -Permission, and, like the author of _Scottatinge_, deigned to address -himself to none but royal personages. Yet he did not refuse to carry on -the trade of a horse-breaker. - -Stewart, the eccentric author of the _New System of Physical -Philosophy_, who travelled all over the world to discover the polarity -of truth, asserted that all the kings of the earth had entered into an -alliance to destroy his works. He therefore gave the latter to his -friends, with the request to wrap them up well, and bury them in remote -localities,--never revealing the latter, except on their death-beds. -Martin Williams--brother of that Jonathan Williams, who, in an attack of -insanity, set fire to York Minster, and of John Williams who struck out -a new line in painting--published many works to prove the theory of -perpetual motion. After having convinced himself by means of thirty-six -experiments of the impossibility of demonstrating it scientifically, it -was revealed to him in a dream that God had chosen him to discover the -great cause of all things, and perpetual motion; and this he made the -subject of many works.[338] - -These persons would not come under the heading of mattoids, if, in their -writings, the earnestness and persistence in one idea which make them -resemble the monomaniac and the man of genius, were not often associated -with the pursuit of absurdity, continual contradictions, and the -prolixity and utility of insanity. One tendency overpowers all -others--one which we find predominant in insane genius: viz., personal -vanity. Thus, out of 215 mattoids, we find forty-four prophets. - -Filopanti, in the _Dio Liberale_, places his father Berillo, a -carpenter, and his mother Berilla among the demigods. He discovered -three Adams, and gives a minute narrative, year by year, of the actions -of each. Cordigliani prepared to insult the Chamber of Deputies in order -to obtain an annuity from the Government, and thought this action much -to his own credit. Guiteau thought he was saving the Republic by the -murder of the President, and had himself called a great lawyer and -philosopher. In the same way Passanante, after having preached the -abolition of capital punishment, condemns the guilty members of the -Assembly to death; and, after having given orders to “respect the forms -of government,” insults the monarchy, makes an attempt at regicide, and -proposes to “abolish all misers and hypocrites.” - -A physician, S----, prints a statement that blood-letting exposes to an -excess of light, another announces in two thick volumes, that _diseases -are elliptical_. - -Critics have said, referring to the works of Démons, that his Dialectic -Quintessence and sextessence are a true quintessence of absurdity.[339] -Gleizes affirms that flesh is atheistical. Fuzi (a theologian) asserts -that the menstrual blood has the property of quenching conflagrations. - -Hannequin, who used to write in the air with his fingers, and had an -_aromal trumpet_, by means of which he communicated with the spirits -dispersed through the air, declares that in the future age many men -shall become women and demigods. - -Henrion, at the Académie des Inscriptions, advanced the theory that Adam -was forty feet in height, Noah twenty-nine, Moses twenty-five, &c. - -Leroux, the celebrated Paris Deputy, who believed in metempsychosis and -the cabbala, defined love as “the ideality of the reality of a part of -the totality of the Infinite Being,” &c., and wished to insert the -principle of the _triad_ in the preamble of his Constitution. - -Asgill maintained that men might live for ever, if only they had faith. - -It is true that, here and there, some new and vigorous notion emerges -from the chaos of such minds, because the only symptom of genius -developed in them by psychosis is a less degree of aversion to novelty, -or, to employ my own terminology, of misoneism.[340] Thus, for example, -amid the most absurd opinions, Cianchettini has some very fine passages: - -“All animals have the instinct of self-preservation, with the minimum of -fatigue, of escaping from troublesome thoughts, and of enjoying the -delights of life; and to obtain these things, liberty is indispensable -to them. - -“All animals, except man, gratify and always have gratified these -instincts, and perhaps will always continue to do so. Mankind alone, -constituted as a society, find themselves fettered, and in such a Way -that no one has ever succeeded, not merely in bringing them into a state -of peace and liberty, but even in showing how they may attain this end. - -“Well--I propose to demonstrate this proposition. And, as a locked door -cannot be opened without breaking it, save by means of a key or a -pick-lock; so, as man has lost his liberty by means of the tongue, -nothing but the tongue, or its equivalents, can set him free without -injury to his nature.” - -Amid the doggerel jargon of the _Scottatinge_, I find this beautiful -line on Italy-- - - “_Padrona e schiava sempre, ai figli tuoi nemica._”[341] - -We shall see, in Passanante’s biography, that sometimes, in his writings -and still more in his speeches, he struck out vigorous and original -ideas which, in fact, led many persons into error as to the nature and -reality of his disease. I may mention the sentence, “Where the learned -lose themselves, the ignorant man may triumph,”--and another, “History -learnt from the people is more instructive than that which is studied in -books.” Bluet distinguishes “the maid from the virgin, in that the first -has the will for evil without the power, and the second has neither the -power nor the will.” - -It is natural that mattoids should repeat in their conceptions the ideas -of stronger politicians and thinkers, but always in their own way, and -always exaggerated. Thus Bosisio exaggerates the delicate consideration -of our lovers of animals, and anticipates the ideas of Mlle. Clémence -Royer and Comte on the necessity for the application of the Malthusian -theory. In the same way, Detomasi, a dishonest broker, discovered a -practical application (except for the morbid eroticism which he added to -it) of the Darwinian system of natural selection. Cianchettini wishes to -put Socialism into practice. - -But the stamp of insanity is evident, not so much in the exaggeration of -their ideas, as in the disproportion of the latter among themselves; so -that, from some well-expressed and even sublime conception, we pass -suddenly to one which is more than mediocre and paradoxical, nearly -always opposed to the received ideas of the majority, and at variance -with the position and education of the author. In short, we have that by -means of which Don Quixote, instead of extorting our admiration, makes -us smile. Yet his actions, in another age, and even in a different man, -would have been admirable and heroic. In any case, among mattoids, -traits of genius are rather the exception than the rule.[342] - -Most of them show a deficiency rather than an exuberance of inspiration; -they fill entire volumes, without sense or savour; they eke out the -commonplaceness of their ideas and the poverty of their style with a -multitude of points of interrogation and exclamation, with repeated -signatures, with special words coined by themselves, as is the habit of -monomaniacs; thus Menke already observed that some mattoids contemporary -with himself had invented the words _derapti felisan_. Berbiguier -created the word _farfiderism_. A monomaniac, Le Bardier, wrote a work -entitled _Dominatmosfheri_ intended to show farmers how to obtain double -harvests, and sailors to avoid storms. He entitled himself -_Dominatmosfherifateur_.[343] Cianchettini invented the _travaso_ of the -idea; Pari invented _cafungaia_, and _morbozoo_, and we owe to Wahltuch, -_alitrologia_ and _anthropomognotologia_, and to G---- _lepidermocrinia_ -and _glossostomopatica_. - -We often find an eccentric handwriting, with vertical lines cut by -horizontal ones and transverse furrows, even with unusually-formed -letters, as in Cianchettini. - -They frequently introduce drawings into their sentences, as if to -heighten their force, thus returning (as we have already seen to be the -case with megalomaniacs) to the ideographic writing of the ancients, in -which the figure served as a determining symbol. - -Wahltuch published two books on Psychography, a new kind of philosophic -system which, however, has found a serious commentator in a sane -philosopher--which speaks volumes for the seriousness of some -philosophers. According to this system, ideas are represented by so many -images impressed on each of the cerebral convolutions. Thus the symbol -of Physics is a lighted candle; that of alitrology, or the faculty of -judgment, is the nose (or the sense of smell); of ethics, a ring; and of -motion, a fishing-hook. The author, despairing (and with good reason) of -making himself understood in words, philosophises with his pencil, and -has crammed his book with diagrams of brains covered with such -figurative signs. - -In order to prove the applicability of these principles to literature, -he has presented us with a tragedy--_Job_--in which the characters have -their heads covered with similar signs, and chant verses worthy of the -system, _e.g._, “O that I could separate the two united conceptions of -myself and impiety. I am just. Satan is impious.”[344] - -The Jesuit missionary, Paoletti, wrote a book against St. Thomas, and -illustrated it with a drawing of the vessels used in the Tabernacle, so -as to determine the future condition of the sons of Adam with regard to -predestination. The Divine and human wills are figured as two balls -revolving in opposite directions, and finally meeting at a common -centre. - -The titles of all their works show an exuberance which is really -singular. I possess one of eighteen lines, not counting a note included -in the title-page itself, and intended to explain it. A socialistic work -published in Australia, by an Italian, and in pure Italian, has a title -arranged in the shape of a triumphal arch. - -It is precisely in the title-page that nearly all of them at once betray -the taint of madness. This example--from the work of the mattoid -Démons--will suffice: “The demonstration of the fourth part of nothing -is something; everything is the quintessence extracted from the quarter -of nothing and that which depends on it, containing the precepts of the -holy, magic, and devout invocations of Démons, to discover the origin of -the evils which afflict France.” - -Many have the crotchet of mixing up with their sentences accumulated -series of numbers, which is also sometimes done by paralytics. In a mad -production of Sovbira’s, entitled “666,” all the verses are accompanied -by the number 666. The strange thing is that, at the same time, a -certain Porter, in England, had published a work on the number 666, -declaring it the most exquisite and perfect of numbers.[345] Lazzaretti, -too, had a singular partiality for this number. Spandri, Levron, and -C---- have a similar preference for the number 3. A special -characteristic found in mattoids, and also, as we have already seen, in -the insane, is that of repeating some words or phrases hundreds of times -in the same page. Thus, in one of Passanante’s chapters, the word -_riprovate_ occurs about 143 times. - -Some have had special paper manufactured for their works, like Wirgman, -who had it made with different colours on the same sheet, at an enormous -increase of expense, so that a volume of four hundred pages cost him -over £2,200 sterling. Filon had every page of his book of a different -colour. - -Another characteristic is that of employing an orthography and -caligraphy peculiar to themselves, with words in large type or -underlined. They will sometimes write even private letters in double -column, or with vertical lines traversed by horizontal and sometimes by -diagonal ones. They sometimes underline one letter in preference to -others in the same word (Passanante), or they write in detached verses -like those of the Bible, or introduce points after every two or three -words, as in the MS. (in my possession) of a certain Bellone, or -parentheses, even one within the other, as Madrolle used to do, or notes -upon notes, even in the title-page, as in the case of Cas---- and of -La----. The latter (a University professor) in a work of twelve pages -has nine consisting of notes alone. - -Hepain invented a _physiological_ language, which consists in the main -of our own letters reversed, and of numbers used in their places. - -Many have a caligraphy quite peculiar to themselves, close, continuous, -with lengthened letters, and always extremely legible. - -Many (like some of the insane, whom they surpass in this point) -continually intersperse their conversation with puns and plays on words. -A certain Jassio wished to prove the analogy of the _hand_ and the -_week_ in which God created the world, by means of a pun on the words -_main_ and _semaine_. Hécart, who had himself said that it is the -peculiarity of the insane to occupy themselves with useless trifles, -wrote the biography of the madmen of Valenciennes, and the strange book -entitled _Anagrammata, poëme en VII. chants, XCVe édition_ (as a -matter of fact, it was the first), _rev. corr. et augmentée; à -Anagrammatopolis, l’an XIV. de l’ère anagrammatique_ (Valenciennes, -1821, 16º). The book is almost entirely composed of inversions of words. -The following is an example: - - “_Lecteur; il_ sied _que je vous_ dise - _Que le_ sbire _fera la_ brise; - _Que le_ dupeur _est sans_ pudeur, - _Qu’on peut_ maculer _sans_ clameur.... - - _La_ nomade _a mis la_ madonne - _A la_ paterne _de_ Pétronne - _Quand le grand_ Dacier _était_ diacre - _Le_ caffier _cultivé du_ fiacre.” - -And so on for twelve thousand lines, concluding with this: - - “_Moi je vais poser mon repos._” - -Here it is as well to note that, on the margin of a copy of the -_Anagrammata_ belonging to the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris is the -following confession, in the author’s handwriting, “Anagrams are one of -the greatest inanities of which the human mind is capable; one must be a -fool to amuse one’s self with them, and worse than a fool to make them.” -This is a correct diagnosis of his case. - -Filopanti, in the _Dio Liberale_, explains Luther’s propaganda by a -caprice on the part of the Deity, who caused Mars to become a monk. The -latter thus became Martin, and then Martin Luther. - -The origin of Gleizes’ vegetarian mania was a dream, in which he heard a -voice crying in his ears, “_Gleizes_ means _église_.” He thus thought -himself suddenly appointed by God to preach his doctrine to mankind. Du -Monin has the plague decapitated, “Take away this head from hence; I -fear that this head will deprive my people of their heads by a new -mischief.”[346] - -But a still more prevalent characteristic is the singular copiousness of -their writings. Bluet left behind no less than 180 books, each more -foolish than the other. We shall see how Mangione, who, in addition, was -crippled in one hand and could not write, deprived himself of food to -defray the cost of printing, and sometimes spent more than one hundred -scudi per month to enable him to gratify his taste for authorship. We -know how many reams of paper Passanante covered, and how he attached -more importance to the publication of a foolish letter of his than to -his own life. Guiteau used so much paper as to incur a considerable debt -which he was unable to pay. The list of George Fox’s works is so long -that the bibliographer Lowndes does not venture to give it. Howerlandt’s -_Essay on Tournay_ consists of 117 volumes. - -Sometimes they content themselves with writing and printing their -vagaries, and make no attempt to diffuse them among the public, though -they assume that the latter must be acquainted with them. - -In these writings, apart from their morbid prolixity, let it be noted -that the aim is either futile, or absurd, or in complete contradiction -with their social position and previous culture. Thus two physicians -write on hypothetic geometry and astrology; a surgeon, a veterinary -surgeon and an obstetric practitioner, on aerial navigation; a captain -on rural economy; a sergeant on therapeutics; and a cook on high -political questions. A theologian writes a treatise on menstrua, a -carter on theology. Two porters are the authors of tragedies, and a -custom-house officer of a work on sociology. - -As to the subjects chosen, an examination of 186 insane books in my -collection gives the following result: - - 51 deal with Personal Topics - 36 are works on Medicine - 27 “ “ Philosophy - 25 contain Lamentations - 7 are Dramatic - 7 “ Religious - 6 “ Poetry - 4 are on Astronomy - 4 “ “ Physics - 4 “ “ Politics - 4 “ “ Political Economy - 3 “ “ Rural “ - 2 “ “ Veterinary Medicine - 2 “ “ Literature - 2 “ “ Mathematics - 1 is on Grammar - 1 “ a Dictionary - --- - 186 - -I do not count miscellaneous works, such as controversial treatises, -essays on mechanics, studies in magnetism, funeral orations, eccentric -theological works, researches in literary history, proclamations, -matrimonial advertisements, &c. - -Some statistics compiled by Philomneste give a list of such books known -in Europe, which are thus classified: - - Theology 82 - Prophecy (esoteric mysticism) 44 - Philosophy 36 - Politics 28 - Poetry and Drama 9 - Languages and Grammar 8 - Erotic Literature 5 - Hieroglyphics 3 - Astronomy 2 - Aeronautics 2 - Chemistry 1 - Physics 1 - Zoology 1 - Strategy 1 - Chronology 1 - Hygiene 1 - Pedagogy 1 - Archæology 1 - -While poetry prevails among the insane, theology and prophecy -predominate in the mattoids, and so on in diminishing proportions for -the more abstract, uncertain and incomplete sciences, as we see by the -scarcity of the naturalists and mathematicians. It is well to note the -small number of atheists--three only, amid such a swarm of theologians -and philosophers (162). Spiritualism, on the other hand, is so much in -favour, that Philomneste gave up the task of cataloguing the works which -treated of it. - -All topics are welcome to mattoids, even those most foreign to their -profession or occupation; but they are found to choose by preference the -most grotesque and uncertain subjects, or questions which it is -impossible to solve. Such are the quadrature of the circle, -hieroglyphics, exposition of the Apocalypse, air-balloons, and -spiritualism. They are also fond of treating the subjects most talked -of--what one might call the questions of the day. Speaking of Démons, -who has already been mentioned, Nodier said, “He was not a -monomaniac--very much the contrary; he was a many-sided madman, always -ready to repeat any strange thing that came to his ears, a -chameleon-like dreamer, who insanely reflected the colours of the -moment.”[347] Thus, at the time of our great national deficits, -projectors appeared by the dozen, with proposals to restore the Italian -finances, either by means of assignats, or by the spoliation of the Jews -or the clergy, by forced loans, &c. Later on, came the social and -religious problem (Passanante, Lazzaretti, Bosisio, Cianchettini); at -the present moment the question most under discussion is that of the -_pellagra_. - -Thus we have, among others, Pari, who has discovered the cause of the -disease in certain fungi, which fall from the roofs of dirty huts into -the peasants’ food, and make them ill. The proof is evident: photograph -the section of a hut, and place it under the microscope, and you will -find, on comparison, that fungi are more numerous than in town houses -where _pellagra_ is unknown. - -But why do these fungi produce the _pellagra_? The reason is very -simple. These fungi contain the substance _fungina_, which burns at 47° -(_sic_). Now, when the outside temperature is at 13° and the body at 32° -(_sic_) the two quantities of caloric are added together, and we burn! -This is why sufferers from the _pellagra_ appear scorched by the sun! - -It is noteworthy that in nearly all--Bosisio, Cianchettini, Passanante, -Mangione, De Tommasi, B----,--the convictions set forth in their written -works are exceedingly deep and firmly fixed. They show as much absurdity -and prolixity in their writings as they do common sense and prudence in -their verbal answers--even rebutting objections with a single -monosyllable, and explaining their own eccentricities with so much good -sense and sometimes acuteness that the unlearned may well take their -fancies for wisdom; while, later on, they relieve their insane impulses -by covering reams of paper. - -“The guardian is the true sentinel of the people and government, -liberty, the circulation of the press”--was a sentence of Passanante’s, -which at first seems a mere play on words, but he explained it to -experts in these terms: “The liberty of the press, the free circulation -of journals constitute a surveillance over the rights of the people.” -When I asked Bosisio why he was so eccentric as to wear sandals and walk -about bare-headed and half-naked in the heat of July, he replied, “To -imitate the Romans, and to keep the head healthy, and, lastly, to call -public attention to my theories by some visible sign. Would you have -stopped to speak to me if I had not been dressed like this?” - -Moreover, mattoids--the reverse being the case both with genius and with -insanity--are united by common interest and sympathy, and, above all, by -hatred to the common enemy, the man of genius. They form a kind of -free-masonry,--all the more powerful that it is irregular--founded on -the common need of resisting the ridicule which inexorably attacks them -on every side, on the need of extirpating, or at least opposing, their -natural antithesis, genius. Though hating one another, they are firmly -united; and though they do not enjoy one another’s triumphs, they -rejoice in common over the victims who never fail to fall to the lot of -one or the other. For, as we have seen, the vulgar, called upon to -choose between the mattoid and the man of genius, never hesitate to -sacrifice the latter. Even at the present day, many practitioners who -take the dosimetricians seriously, laugh at homœopathy; and the academic -multitudes who laugh at Schliemann and Ardigò never treated the -archæological discoveries of Father Secchi in the same way. This is also -shown by the emphatic and senseless addresses presented to Coccapieller -and Sbarbaro by many individuals who were still more insane than their -idols.[348] - -This explains why, in spite of the fact that universal suffrage was -introduced under the Roman Republic of 1849, the populace never thought -of electing Ciceruacchio to the parliament. Ciceruacchio was a rough -workingman, but he was sane. - -One characteristic which further distinguishes mattoids from criminals -and from many of the actually insane is an extreme abstemiousness, which -sometimes equals the excesses of the early Cenobites. Bosisio lived on -polenta without salt; Passanante on bread only; Lazzaretti often on -nothing but a few potatoes; Mangione on peas, beans, rice, &c., at -thirteen sous a day. This may be explained by their finding sufficient -support and comfort in their own grotesque lucubrations,[349] as is the -case with ascetics and great thinkers; and besides, being usually poor, -they prefer to spend their small means in securing the triumph of their -ideas rather than in satisfying their stomachs; all the more so, as -nearly all of them (Cianchettini, Bosisio, F----, for instance) were -scrupulously honest, and almost excessively methodical, keeping account -even of scraps of waste-paper, which they catalogued with singular -order. - -In short, such men, certainly insane in their writings, and sometimes as -much so as any patient in an asylum, are scarcely so in the ordinary -acts of life, in which they show themselves full of good sense, -shrewdness, and even of a sense of order; so that they are quite the -reverse of men of real genius--especially those inspired by madness, -whose ability in literature is nearly always in inverse proportion to -their aptitude for practical life. This is how it happens that many -authors of medical eccentricities are practitioners of great repute. -Three such are directors of hospitals. The author of the _Scottatinge_ -is a captain and commissariat officer. Another, the inventor of almost -prehistoric machines, and author of works which are more than humorous, -fills an office which exposes him to continual contact with cultivated -men who have never suspected him of madness. Five are professors, two of -whom are attached to a university; three are deputies, two senators, one -is a counsellor of state, one counsellor of prefecture, and another -counsellor of the Court of Cassation. Three are provincial counsellors, -and five, priests; and nearly all of them are of advanced age and -respected in their vocations. Frecot was mayor of Hesloup, Leroux and -Asgill were members of parliament. Mattoid theologians--Simon Morin, -Lebreton, Geoffroi Vallee, Vanini--have unfortunately been taken so -seriously as to be burned alive or hanged. Joris’s bones were burned -with his writings under the gallows at Bâle. Kehler was beheaded for the -sole offence of having corrected Joris’s proofs. We shall see, in the -following chapter, how many others--Smith, Fourier, Kleinov, Fox--found -fanatical followers. - -That calmness, in spite of obstinate persistence in a delusion, -which distinguishes them from more ordinary insane patients, may -also be observed in monomaniacs--in even their most prominent -characteristic--and is not rarely found in some of the stages of -inebriety. - -But, precisely as in the ordinary insane, so also in mattoids, the calm -sometimes suddenly ceases, and gives place to impulsive forms of mania -and delusion, especially under the stimulus of hunger or irritated -passion, or during the return of the various neuroses which accompany -and often generate the disease, as in the cases of Cordigliani and -Mangione. - -This is why it is important to note that many are subject to symptoms -which indicate the pre-existence of disturbance at the nervous centres. -Giraud and Spandri have convulsive movements of the face, lowering of -the right eyebrow, and ptosis on the right side. Anæsthesia was found in -Lazzaretti, Mangione, and De Tommasi; delusions of short duration in -Cordigliani. P----, a young man of distinguished abilities, became -mattoid only after an attack of typhus fever. Kulmann became a prophet -at eighteen, after suffering from disease of the brain. These impulsive -outbursts make such cases extremely important to alienist -physicians--who, finding no similar cases in any of the better-known -forms of mental disease, often erroneously infer imposture, or soundness -of mind--and still more to politicians who, by not at once placing such -men (at first, it is true, far more ridiculous than dangerous) in -asylums, expose themselves to perils perhaps greater than those -threatened by actual madmen, who betray themselves at once, thus making -it possible to take measures for rendering them harmless. - -There is a much more dangerous variety of these graphomaniacs--those -whose disease was formerly known as “lawsuit mania.” These individuals -feel a continual craving to go to law against others, while considering -themselves the injured party. They display an extraordinary activity, -and a minute knowledge of the law, which they always try to interpret to -their own advantage, heaping up petition on petition, memorial on -memorial, in such quantities as is difficult to imagine. Many attach -themselves to some person, to obtain whose influence they are -continually scheming; then they apply to the King or the Parliament. -They are apt to succeed at first, especially with members of Parliament, -or at least to be considered merely as over-zealous suitors. At last, -however, when their persistence has wearied every one out, they convert -their forensic and literary violence into deeds, certain that everything -will be pardoned them in consideration of the justice of their -cause--nay, that their action will have the effect of deciding the suit -in their favour. This result, to tell the truth, sometimes ensues, -thanks to the institution of the jury. Thus G----, having lost his -cause, shot at and wounded Count Colli, but was acquitted through the -singular eloquence he displayed before the jury. Ten years later, he -forced his way, armed, into an apartment which he had already sold, and -which, nevertheless, he insisted on having back. - -As the erotomaniac falls in love with an ideal person, and imagines -himself loved by one who has never even seen him, so they can see no -aspect of the case but their own; and the lawyers and judges who do not -support them become enemies on whom they concentrate the fiercest -hatred, and whom they look on as the cause of every misfortune that may -befall them. It is not rare to find them constituting themselves judges -in their own cause, pronouncing sentence, on their own responsibility, -on their adversaries, and sometimes going the length of executing the -same. A certain B----, from whom the parish priest had taken a field by -a perfectly legal and regular contract, took it into his head that he -had the right to assault all the priests of his village, “because,” he -said, “Catholicism is in opposition to the Government.” For the same -reason he tried to burn down the church; and all this, after a series of -lawsuits and proclamations, very just, it may be conceded, in principle, -but certainly not in application. - -These persons have, too, a similar kind of handwriting, with very much -lengthened letters; and they likewise abuse the alphabet. Their theme, -however, is confined to their immediate circle, and they show more -violence in dealing with it; they only touch by rebound, as it were, on -social and religious questions. - -Yet the personal litigations of many of these suitors are mixed up with -political differences; and this is the kind from which most danger is to -be expected in our day. These are usually individuals whose scant -education and extreme poverty do not allow them to air their ideas in -print, so that they have to relieve their feelings by deeds of violence. -Such was Sandon, who caused such annoyance to Napoleon and to Billault, -and was a genuine political mattoid; such, too, were Cordigliani, -Passanante, Mangione, and Guiteau. Krafft-Ebing speaks of a man who had -founded a Club of the Oppressed, for the assistance of those who could -get no justice from the Courts, and forwarded its rules to the king. - -_Mattoids of Genius._--Not only is there an imperceptible gradation -between sane and insane, between madmen and mattoids, but also between -these last (who are the very negation of genius) and men of real genius. -So much so, that among my collection there are certain individuals I -find a difficulty in classifying. Such, for instance, is Bosisio, of -Lodi. - -L. Bosisio, of Lodi, fifty-three years of age, has one cousin, a -_crétin_. His mother is sane and intelligent; his father intelligent, -but given to drink. He had two brothers who died of meningitis. As a -young man he became a revenue officer; left his native town in 1848, and -when nearly dying of hunger at Turin, threw himself from a balcony and -broke his legs. Having obtained promotion in 1859, he fulfilled his -duties in a satisfactory manner up to the year 1866, when--though still -showing intelligence and accuracy in the duties of his office--he began -to perform eccentric actions, especially inexplicable in a member of the -bureaucracy. Thus, one day, he bought all the birds for sale in the -village of Bussolengo, and then opened their cages and set them at -liberty. He took to reading newspapers all day long, and began to send -energetic protests to the Government, petitioning them to put a stop to -the disforesting of the country, the massacre of birds, &c. Being -dismissed from his post, with a meagre pension, he suddenly gave up all -the luxuries of life, and took no food but polenta without salt. He left -off, one at a time, all his clothes except shirt and drawers, and spent -all his scanty means in the purchase of books and papers, and in -publishing works on the regeneration of posterity, which he distributed -gratuitously--_Criticism on My Times_, _The Cry of Nature_, “§ 113 of -the _Cry of Nature_.” - -To any one who studies these books, and, still more, to one who hears -him talk, it is evident that he has worked out in his own head a system -not entirely illogical. We suffer loss, he says, through the grape -disease, through the diseases among the silkworms and crabs, through -floods. All these things are caused by injury done to the globe through -the destruction of forests and the extermination of birds, and (this is -where we first perceive his madness) the torture inflicted on it by the -railways which pass over its surface. In economical matters, we are -doing equally ill; by raising ruinous loans we are compromising the -future of that posterity whose champion he has appointed himself. - -“Add to this,” he continues, “that the ancient Romans took much -exercise, had not the luxury that we have, and did not take coffee. All -these things compromise posterity, because they ruin the germs of -humanity. And what ruins them far more is the ill-treatment of women, -marriages for the sake of money, and certain forms of ill-judged -charity. Unhappy children, crippled or consumptive, are kept alive, who, -if killed in time, would not reproduce themselves; and, in the same way, -if, instead of keeping sickly individuals alive in hospitals, at great -trouble and expense, people were to help the strong and healthy when -they fall ill, the race would be improved. And thieves and -murderers--are they, too, not sick men who ought to be exterminated, if -the race is not to be ruined? How deadly and bestial is human greed! -Everything is neglected for the sake of satisfying the appetites, -without a thought for the fate of the generations who are to succeed -us.... The ill-omened mania for procreation, which is inexorably -precipitating all nations into an abyss whence one can see no outlet, -and which arrested the attention of Malthus, reminds me of the story of -Midas, who asked of a god that everything which he touched might turn to -gold. The divinity consented; but his first transports of joy were -followed by grief and despair, and his very food being changed into -gold, he saw himself condemned by himself to die of hunger.” - -I think there could be no better example than this to prove the -existence of an active and powerful mind, unsound on a single given -point. Any one who knows the writings of Clémence Royer and Comte will, -in fact, find nothing insane in these ideas of Bosisio’s, except his -refusal to eat salt (which he scarcely justifies by adducing the example -of savages who are strong and healthy without it), his notion of -railways ruining the globe, and his very airy fashion of dress. For this -last whim, however, he gives a tolerably good reason, by alleging the -example of Roman simplicity, and by the assertion (not altogether -without foundation) that the wearing of a hat tends to promote baldness. -Moreover, he observed, very justly, that without those eccentric habits -he would be unable to gain a hearing and promulgate his ideas. - -A truly morbid symptom, however, is to be found in the fact that he -based all his conclusions on the information gained from political -journals--poor material, indeed, for study. However, he justified -himself thus: “What can I do? They are modern studies, and I cannot do -without them, much as I dislike them, as I have no other means of -gaining information about mankind.” But the point where his insanity -comes out most clearly is in the importance attached by him to the -slightest fact gathered up in these sweepings of the political world. If -a child falls into the water at Lisbon, or a lady sets her skirts on -fire, he immediately infers from these facts the degeneracy of the race. -The student of hygiene must be astonished at seeing a man retain robust -health (and Bosisio walks his twenty miles a day) on unsalted polenta. -The psychologist cannot refuse to recognize in this case that madness -acts like leaven on the intellectual powers, and excites the psychic -functions so as almost to reach the level of genius, though not without -traces of disease. It is certain that if Bosisio had been a student of -law or medicine, instead of a poor exciseman, and had been grounded in -the culture which he only gained at haphazard, and under the influence -of mental disease, he might have become a Clémence Royer or a Comte, or -at least another Fourier; for his philosophic system is, in the main, -similar to that of the latter, except for the peculiarities engrafted on -it by mental aberration. - -But, when we think of the integrity of his life, the method and order to -be perceived in all his affairs, can we dismiss him merely as a man of -unsound mind? And, when we remember the relative novelty of his ideas, -can we confuse him with the many absurd mattoids already described? -Certainly not. - -Let us suppose that Giuseppe Ferrari, instead of a superior culture, had -only received Bosisio’s education; we should certainly have had, in -place of a savant justly admired by the world, something similar to -Bosisio. Certainly, indeed, those systems of historical arithmetic, with -kings and republics dying on a fixed day, at the will of the author, can -only belong to the world of mental alienation. - -The same thing might be said of Michelet, if one thinks of his fancy -natural history, his academic obscenities, his incredible vanity,[350] -and the later volumes of his _History of France_ which are nothing but a -tangled thicket of scandalous anecdotes and grotesque paradoxes.[351] -So, too, of Fourier and his disciples, who predict with mathematical -exactness that, 80,000 years hence, man will attain to the age of 144; -that in those days we shall have 37 millions of poets (unhappy world!); -likewise 37 millions of mathematicians equal to Newton; of Lemercier, -who, along with some very fine dramas, wrote some in which speeches are -assigned to ants, seals, and the Mediterranean; and of Burchiello, who -asks painters to depict for him an earthquake in the air, and describes -a mountain giving a pair of spectacles to a bell-tower! The same is true -of the heir of Confucius, the astronomer who created the _Dio -Liberale_; of the pseudo-geologist who has discovered a secret of -embalming bodies which might be known to any assistant demonstrator of -anatomy, and who believes that the world can be purified by cremation. - -In Italy, a man has for many years been a professor in one of the great -universities who, in his treatises, created the nation of the _cagots_, -and suggested a certain instrument for resuscitating the apparently -drowned, which would have been enough to suffocate a healthy person. -Another talked of baths at a temperature of--20°, and the advantages of -sea-water owing to the exhalations of the fish! Yet his volumes contain -some very fine things, and have reached a second edition, and none of -his colleagues ever suspected that his mind was not perfectly sound. How -is he to be classified? He occupies a middle place between the madman, -the man of genius, and the graphomaniac, with which last he has in -common the sterility of his aims, and his calm and persistent search -after paradoxes. - -Italy, for the rest, as I have shown in _Tre Tribuni_,[352] has had, and -idolized, for a brief quarter of an hour, two mattoids of considerable -gifts, Coccapieller and Sbarbaro, who, in the midst of immoralities, -trivialities, contradictions, and paradoxes, had a few traits of -genius,[353] explicable by a less degree of misoneism, and a greater -facility in adopting new ideas. - -_Décadent Poets._--Some acquaintance with this new variety of literary -madmen will explain to us the existence, in the seventeenth century, of -the French _précieux_, and, at the present day, that of the -_Parnassiens_, _Symbolistes_, and _Décadents_. - -“I have read their verses,” says Lemaître,[354] “and not even seen as -much as the turkey in the fable, who, if he did not distinguish very -well, at least saw something. I have been able to make nothing of these -series of words, which--being connected together according to the laws -of syntax--might be supposed to have some sense, and have none, and -which spitefully keep your mind on the stretch in a vacuum, like a -conundrum without an answer.... - - “‘_En ta dentelle où n’est notoire_ - _Mon doux évanouissement,_ - _Taisons pour l’âtre sans histoire_ - _Tel vœu de lèvres résumant._ - - _Toute ombre hors d’un territoire_ - _Se teinte itérativement_ - _A la lueur exhalatoire_ - _Des pétales de remuement._’.... - -“One of them, however, has explained to us what they intended doing, in -a pamphlet modestly entitled, _Traité du Verbe_, by Stéphane Mallarmé. -By this it appears that they have invented two things--the symbol, and -‘poetic instrumentation.’ - -“The invention of the symbolists seems to consist in _not saying_ what -feelings, thoughts, or states of mind they express by images. But even -this is not new. A SYMBOL is, in short, an enlarged comparison of which -only the second term is given--a connected series of metaphors. Briefly, -the symbol is the old ‘allegory’ of our fathers.[355] - -“Now, here is the second discovery made by our wild-eyed symbolists. Men -have suspected, ever since Homer’s time, that there are relations, -correspondences, affinities, between certain sounds, forms, and colours, -and certain states of mind. For instance, it was felt that the repeated -sound of a had something to do with the impression of freshness and -peace produced by this line of Virgil-- - - “‘_Pascitur in silva magna formosa juvenca._’ - -It was known that sounds may, like colours, be striking or subdued; -like feelings, sad or joyful. But it was thought that these resemblances -and relations are somewhat fugitive, having nothing constant or -sharply-defined, and that they are, at least, hinted at by the sense of -the words which compose the musical phrase. - -“Now, attend to this! For these gentlemen, _a_ = black, _e_ = white, _i_ -= blue, _o_ = red, _u_ = yellow. - -“Again, black = the organ, white = the harp, blue = the violin, red = -the trumpet, yellow = the flute. - -“Again, the organ expresses monotony, doubt, and simplicity; the harp, -serenity; the violin, passion and prayer; the trumpet, glory and -ovation; the flute, smiles and ingenuousness. - -“It is difficult to make out to what degree the young _symbolards_ still -take account of the sense of words. That degree, however, is, in any -case, very slight, and, for my part, I cannot well distinguish the -passages where they are obscure from those where they are only -unintelligible. - -“In short, a poetry without thoughts, at once primitive and subtle, -which does not (like classic poetry) express a connected series of -ideas, nor (like the poetry of the _Parnassiens_) the physical world in -its exact outlines, but states of mind in which we can scarcely -distinguish ourselves from surrounding objects, where sensation is so -closely united to sentiment; where the latter grows so rapidly and -naturally out of the former, that it is quite sufficient for us to note -down our sensations at random just as they present themselves, to -express _ipso facto_ the emotions which they successively give rise to -in the mind. - -“Do you understand?... Neither do I. One would have to be drunk in order -to understand this.” - -I can only conceive that the poetry, an attempt to define which has here -been made, could be that of a solitary, a nerve-sufferer, and almost a -madman. This poetry thus flourishes on the borderland between reason and -madness. - -Yet these mattoids have their man of genius--Verlaine. Let us hear -Lemaître on this subject:-- - -“I imagine he must be almost illiterate. He has a strange head--the -profile of Socrates, an enormous forehead, a skull knobbed like a -battered basin of thin copper. He is not civilized, he ignores all -received codes of morality. - -“One day he disappears. What has become of him? It would be in character -for him to have been publicly cast out from regular society. I see him -behind the grate of a prison, like François Villon--not for having, like -him, become an accomplice of thieves and rogues, for the love of a free -life, but rather for an error of over-sensitiveness--for having avenged -(by an involuntary stab, given, as it were, in a dream) a love -reprobated by the laws and customs of the modern and Western world. But, -though socially degraded, he remains innocent. He repents as simply as -he sinned--with a Catholic repentance, all terror and tenderness, -without reasoning, without pride of intellect. In his conversion, as in -his sin, he remains a purely emotional being.... - -“Then, it may be, a woman took pity on him, and he let himself be led -like a little child. He reappears, but continues to live apart. No one -has ever seen him on the Boulevards, or in a theatre, or at the Salon. -He is somewhere at the other end of Paris, in the back-room of a -wine-merchant’s shop, drinking blue wine. He is as far from us as if he -were an innocent satyr in the great forests. When he is ill, or at the -end of his resources, some doctor, whom he knew formerly, when in jail, -gets him into the hospital; he stays there as long as he can and writes -verses; he hears queer, sad songs whispered to him out of the folds of -the cold white calico curtains. He is not a _déclassé_, for he never had -a class. His case is rare and peculiar. He finds means to live, in a -civilized society, as he could live in a state of the freest nature. - -“It may be that he has sometimes felt for an instant the influence of -some contemporary poets, but these have done nothing for him, save to -awaken and reveal to him the extreme and painful sensibility which is -his whole being. In the main, he is without a master. He moulds language -at his will, not, like a great writer because he knows it, but, like a -child, because he is ignorant of it. He gives wrong senses to words in -his simplicity. Little as we might expect it, this poet, whom his -disciples regard as such a consummate artist, writes on occasion (if we -may dare to speak out), like a pupil of the technical schools, or a -second-rate chemist subject to lyric outbursts. After this, it is -amusing to see him while posing as the impeccable artist, the sculptor -of strophes, the gentleman who distrusts imagination, write, with the -keenest sense of enjoyment:-- - - “‘_A nous qui ciselons les mots comme des coupes_ - _Et qui faisons des vers émus très froidement...._ - _Ce qu’il nous faut, à nous, c’est, aux lueurs des lampes,_ - _La science conquise et le sommeil dompté._’ - -Yet this writer, so wanting in ordinary technical skill, has yet -written--I cannot tell how--verses of a penetrating sweetness, a languid -charm which is peculiarly his own, and which perhaps arises from a union -of these things--charm of sound, clearness of feeling, and partial -obscurity in the words. Thus, when he tells us that he is dreaming of an -unknown woman, who loves him, who understands him, and weeps with him, -he adds:-- - - “‘_Son nom? Je me souviens qu’il est doux et sonore,_ - _Comme ceux_ des aimés que la vie exila. - - _Son regard est pareil au regard des statues,_ - _Et pour sa voix lointaine, et calme, et grave, elle a_ - L’inflexion des voix chères qui se sont tues.’ - -“I am also very fond of the _Chanson d’Automne_, though certain words -(_blême_ and _suffocant_) are not perhaps used with entire accuracy, and -scarcely correspond with the “languor” described just before. - - “_Les sanglots longs_ - _Des violons_ - _De l’automne_ - _Blessent mon cœur_ - _D’une langueur_ - _Monotone._ - - _Tout suffocant_ - _Et blême, quand_ - _Sonne l’heure,_ - _Je me souviens_ - _Des jours anciens,_ - _Et je pleure._ - - _Et je m’en vais_ - _Au voit mauvais_ - _Qui m’emporte_ - _De ça, de là,_ - _Pareil à la_ - _Feuille morte._’ - -“He celebrates the Virgin in an exceedingly fine hymn:-- - - “‘_Je ne veux plus aimer que ma mère Marie._ - - * * * * * - - _Et, comme j’étais faible et bien méchant encore,_ - _Aux mains lâches, les yeux éblouis des chemins,_ - _Elle baissa mes yeux, et me joignit les mains_ - _Et m’enseigna les mots par lesquels on adore._ - - * * * * * - - _Et tous ces bons efforts vers les croix et les claies,_ - _Comme je l’invoquais, Elle en ceignit mes reins._’ - -“His piety inspires him with some very sweet lines:-- - - “‘_Écoutez la chanson bien douce_ - _Qui ne pleure que pour vous plaire._ - _Elle est discrète, elle est légère:_ - _Un frisson d’eau sur de la mousse!..._ - - _Elle dit, la voix reconnue,_ - _Que la bonté c’est notre vie,_ - _Que de la haine et de l’envie_ - _Rien ne reste, la mort venue...._ - - _Accueillez la voix qui persiste_ - _Dans son naïf épithalame._ - _Allez, rien n’est meilleur à l’âme_ - _Que de faire une âme moins triste!..._ - - _Je ne me souviens plus que du mal que j’ai fait._ - - _Dans tous les mouvements bizarres de ma vie,_ - _De mes “malheurs,” selon le moment et le lieu,_ - _Des autres et de moi, de la route suivie,_ - _Je n’ai rien retenu que la grâce de Dieu._’ - -“But, even in the _Poëmes Saturniens_, we already meet with pieces of an -oddity difficult to define--pieces which seem to belong to a poet who is -slightly mad, or perhaps to one who is only half awake, and whose brain -is darkened by the fumes of his dreams, or of drink; so that external -objects only appear to him through a mist, and the indolence of his -memory prevents him from getting hold of the right words. Take this for -an example:-- - - “‘_La lune plaquait ses teintes de zinc_ - _Par angles obtus;_ - _Des bouts de fumée en forme de cinq_ - _Sortaient drus et noirs des hauts toits pointus._ - - _Le ciel était gris. La bise pleurait_ - _Ainsi qu’un basson._ - _Au loin un matou frileux et discret_ - _Miaulait d’étrange et grêle façon._ - - _Moi, j’allais rêvant du divin Platon_ - _Et de Phidias,_ - _Et de Salamine et de Marathon,_ - _Sous l’œil clignotant des bleus becs de gaz._’ - -“That is all. What is it? It is an impression--the impression of a -gentleman who walks about the streets of Paris at night, and thinks -about Plato and Salamis, and thinks it funny to think of Plato and -Salamis ‘_sous l’œil des becs de gaz_.’ Why should it be funny? I cannot -tell. - - “‘_Aimez donc la raison: que toujours vos écrits_ - _Empruntent d’elle seule et leur lustre et leur prix._’ - -“One might almost say that Paul Verlaine is the only poet who has never -expressed anything but sentiment and sensation, and has expressed them -for himself, and for no one else,[356] which dispenses him from the -obligation of showing the connection between his ideas, since he knows -it. This poet has never asked himself whether he should be understood, -and he has never wished to prove anything. This is why (_Sagesse_ -excepted) it is almost impossible to give a _résumé_ of his collections, -or to state their main idea in a succinct form. One can only -characterise them by means of the state of mind of which they are most -frequently the rendering--semi-intoxication, hallucination which -distorts objects, and makes them resemble an incoherent dream; -uneasiness of the soul which, in the terror of this mystery, complains -like a child; then languor, mystic sweetness, and a lulling of the mind -to rest, in the Catholic conception of the universe accepted in all -simplicity. - -“There is something profoundly involuntary and illogical in the poetry -of M. Paul Verlaine. He scarcely ever expresses movements of full -consciousness or entire sanity. It is on this account, very often, that -the meaning of his song is clear--if it is so at all--to himself alone. -In the same way, his rhythms, are sometimes perceptible by no one but -himself. I do not refer here to the interlaced feminine rhymes, -alliterations, assonances within the line itself, of which none has made -use more frequently or more successfully than he. - -“But there are two sides to him. On one, he looks very artificial. He -has an _Ars Poetica_ of his own, which is entirely subtle and -mysterious, and which, I think, he was very late in discovering:-- - - “‘_De la musique avant toute chose,_ - _Et pour cela préfère l’impair_ - _Plus vague et plus soluble dans l’air,_ - _Sans rien en lui qui pèse ou qui pose._ - - _Il faut aussi que tu n’ailles point_ - _Choisir tes mots sans quelque méprise:_ - _Rien de plus cher que la chanson grise_ - _Où l’indécis au précis se joint...._ - - _Car nous voulons la nuance encor,_ - _Pas la couleur, rien que la nuance!_ - _Oh! la nuance seule fiance_ - _Le rêve au rêve, et la flute au cor...._’ - -“On the other side, he is quite simple:-- - - “‘_Je suis venu, calme orphelin,_ - _Riche de mes seuls yeux tranquilles,_ - _Vers les hommes des grandes villes:_ - _Ils ne m’ont pas trouvé malin._’ - -“Or, elsewhere:-- - - “‘_J’ai peur d’un baiser_ - _Connue d’une abeille._ - _Je souffre et je veille_ - _Sans me reposer,_ - _J’ai peur d’un baiser._’” - -Thus far Lemaître. - -It will be seen that the _décadents_ correspond exactly to the diagnosis -of literary mattoids, in all their old vacuity, but with the appearance -of novelty. At the same time, there are among them, real men of genius -who--amid the (frequently atavistic) oddities of mattoidism--have struck -an original note. - -All these cases show us that the gradations and transitions between -sanity and insanity are far from being as hypothetical as Livi asserts -them to be. Moreover, all this is in perfect harmony with the eternal -evolution which we see going on in the ample realm of nature, which, as -has been well said, never proceeds by leaps, but by successive and -gradual transformations. - -Now, it is natural that, as these gradations exist in this very strange -form of literary insanity, they should also be found in the forms of -criminal insanity, and that, in consequence, many of those asserted to -be guilty or mad, are only half responsible, although no human thought -can trace the limits with entire certainty. - -It is well to observe here, what a different appearance madness assumes, -according to the age in which it occurs. Had Bosisio lived in the Middle -Ages, or in Spain or Mexico at a later period, the kind-hearted -liberator of birds, the martyr for posterity, would have become a St. -Ignatius or a Torquemada--the Positivist atheist an ultra-Catholic, -commanded by a cruel Deity to immolate human victims; but Bosisio was an -Italian, living in 1870. - -This case affords an excellent explanation of the occurrence, in remote -times, and among savage or slightly civilized nations, of numerous -outbreaks of epidemic insanity; and shows that many historical events -may have been the result of mania on the part of one or more persons. -Cases in point are those of the Anabaptists, the Flagellants, the -witch-mania, the Taeping revolution. - -Mental aberration gives rise in some men to ideas which, though bizarre, -are sometimes gigantic and rendered more efficacious by a singular force -of conviction, so as to sweep along the feeble-minded multitude, who are -all the more attracted by any singularity in dress, attitudes or -abstinence (which such disease alone can suggest and render possible), -that these phenomena are made inexplicable to them (and therefore worthy -of veneration) by their ignorance and barbarism. The ignorant man always -adores what he cannot understand. - -Our poor sufferer from hallucinations wanted nothing but a favourable -epoch to impress his ideas on the multitude--neither muscular strength, -nor a certain vigour of thought, nor extraordinary endurance under -privations, nor disinterestedness, nor conviction. At another epoch, -Italy would have found her Mahomet in Bosisio. - -_Mattoids in Art._--At the competition opened at Rome for designs for a -proposed monument to Victor Emmanuel--the subject being an international -one--mattoids came forward in crowds. In fact, we find, in Dossi’s -curious book, not less than 39 out of 296 (13 per cent.), a number which -would be raised to 25 per cent. if we add 38 more, who, in addition to -their eccentricity, gave tokens of being imbecile. - -The most general characteristic of these productions is their stupidity. -One of them proposes a square stone box without a roof (similar to the -“magnaneries” or roofless stone buildings used in the South of France -for silkworms), which he calls a “Right Quadrangular Tower”--destined to -receive the late king’s remains, and protect them against the -inundations of the Tiber. Tr----’s monument--“destined to live for -centuries”--consists of a column surrounded by obelisks, by four flights -of steps, and four triangles, each surrounded by twelve small spires. -Each of the latter is to support a bust, each of the columns a statue of -some great Italian; with regard to six statues, the artist reserves the -right of changing them at the death of our illustrious men--Sella, -Mamiani, &c. This is a case for saying, “Perish the astrologer!” Another -competitor--two, in fact--have projected rooms to serve as public -lavatories at the base of their columns. There is a curious coincidence -and emulation of hatred in nearly all; most of them make use of -celebrated monuments, whose destruction is, of course, a _sine quâ non_ -to the erection of theirs. - -But, if wanting in every sign of genius, these designs are not -deficient in allegorical symbols of the most grotesque type, or in -inscriptions. Some of them, indeed, are nothing but a mass of irrelevant -inscriptions, relating to everything in the world, except the poor _Re -Galantuomo_ himself--but more particularly to the supposed genius of the -artist. - -Here we find that the main characteristic of such minds--vanity, -heightened to the point of disease--makes each of them think his own -production a masterpiece. Canfora declares that he is “neither engineer -nor architect, but _inspired by God alone_.” A. B. does not send in his -design to the Committee, because it is too grand; and another ends by -saying, “How mighty is the thought of the artist!” - -Nearly all are absolutely ignorant of the art in which they claim to -excel. Thus Dossi found among the projectors, teachers of mathematics -and of grammar, doctors in medicine and in law, military men, -accountants, and others who themselves asserted that they had never -before handled pencil or compasses. At the same time, their far from -humble social position bears out what I consider to be one of the -principal points: viz., that we have before us (as might be suspected) -idiots, or persons actually insane, but men quite respectable outside -their special artistic mania. Such should be M----, a member of the -Russian Archæological Society, of the Hellenic Syllage, -Architect-in-chief of Roumelia and the palaces of the Sultan, Knight and -Commander of various Orders, &c., &c. - -When we compare these stupid abortions with the pictures inspired by -insanity (I am not now speaking of those painters who, like various -poets and musicians, in losing their reason, lost artistically more than -they gained--especially in right proportion and the harmony of colour), -we shall often find the absurd and disproportionate; but also, at the -same time, a true, even excessive originality, mingled with a savage -beauty _sui generis_, which, up to a certain point, recalls the -masterpieces of mediæval, and, still more, of Chinese and Japanese, art, -so extraordinarily rich in symbols. We shall see, in short, that art -suffers here, not from a defect, but from an excess of genius, which -ends by crushing itself. - -In conclusion, it is very evident that the insane artist is as superior -to the mattoid in the practice of his art, as he is inferior to him in -practical life; that, in short, in the region of art, the mattoid -approaches nearest to the imbecile, and the lunatic to the man of -genius. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LUNATICS AND MATTOIDS. - - Part played by the insane in the progressive movements of - humanity--Examples--Probable causes--Religious epidemics of the - Middle Ages--Francis of Assisi--Luther--Savonarola--Cola da - Rienzi--San Juan de Dios--Campanella--Prosper - Enfantin--Lazzaretti--Passanante--Guiteau--South Americans. - - -All this helps us to understand why the great progressive movements of -nations, in politics and religion, have so often been brought about, or -at least determined, by insane or half-insane persons. The reason is -that in these alone is to be found, coupled with originality (which is -the special characteristic of the genius and the lunatic, and still more -of those who partake of the character of both), the exaltation capable -of generating a sufficient amount of altruism to sacrifice their own -interests, and their lives, for the sake of making known the new truths, -and, often, of getting them accepted by a public to which innovations -are always unwelcome, and which frequently takes a bloody revenge on the -innovator. - -“Such persons,” says Maudsley, “are apt to seize on and pursue the -bypaths of thought, which have been overlooked by more stable -intellects, and so, by throwing a side-light on things, to discover -unthought-of relations. One observes this tendency of mind even in those -of them who have no particular genius or talent; for they have a novel -way of looking at things, do not run in the common groove of action, or -follow the ordinary routine of thought and feeling, but discover in -their remarks a certain originality and perhaps singularity, sometimes -at a very early period of life. - -“Notable, again, is the emancipated way in which some of them discuss, -as if they were problems of mechanics, objects or events round which -the associations of ideas and feelings have thrown a glamour of -conventional sentiment. In regard to most beliefs, they are usually more -or less heterodox or heretical, though not often constant, being apt to -swing round suddenly from one point to a quite opposite point of the -compass of belief.... Inspired with strong faith in the opinions which -they adopt, they exhibit much zeal and energy in the propagation of -them.”[357] They are careless of every obstacle, and untroubled by the -doubts which arise in the minds of calm and sceptical thinkers. Thus -they are frequently social or religious reformers. - -It should be understood that they do not _create_ anything, but only -give a direction to the latest movements prepared by time and -circumstances, as also--thanks to their passion for novelty and -originality--they are nearly always inspired by the latest discoveries -or innovations, and use these as their starting-point in guessing at the -future. - -Thus Schopenhauer wrote at an epoch in which pessimism was beginning to -be fashionable, together with mysticism, and only fused the whole into -one philosophic system. Cæsar found the ground prepared for him by the -Tribunes. - -When, says Taine, a new civilization produces a new art, there are ten -men of talent who express the idea of the public and group themselves -round one man of genius who gives it actuality; thus De Castro, Moreto, -Lopez de la Vega, round Calderon; Van Dyck, Jordaens, De Vos, and -Snyders round Rubens. - -Luther summed up in himself the ideas of many of his contemporaries and -predecessors; it is sufficient to mention Savonarola. - -The spherical shape of the earth had already been maintained by St. -Thomas Aquinas, and by Dante, before the discoveries of Columbus, which -are also antedated by those of the Canary Islands, Iceland, and Cape -Verde. - -If the new ideas are too divergent from prevalent popular opinion, or -too self-evidently absurd, they die out with their author, if, indeed, -they do not involve him in their fall. - -Arnold of Brescia, Knutzen,[358] Campanella, tried to shake off the -dominion of the clergy, and take away the temporal power of the Pope; -they were persecuted and crushed. - -“The insane person,” says Maudsley, “is in a minority of one in his -opinion, and so, at first, is the reformer, the difference being that -the reformer’s belief is an advance on the received system of thought, -and so, in time, gets acceptance, while the belief of the former, being -opposed to the common sense of mankind, gains no acceptance, but dies -out with its possessor, or with the few foolish persons whom it has -infected.”[359] - -Of late years there has arisen in India, owing to the efforts of Keshub -Chunder Sen, a new religion which deifies modern rationalism and -scepticism; but here, also, the madness of Keshub evidently outran the -march of the times; for the triumph of a similar religion is not -probable, even among us, with our much greater progress in knowledge. -Thus, too, Buddhism, finding the ground contested by the caste system in -India, took no firm hold there, while it extended itself in China and -Tibet. Keshub was induced to take up this line of action by a form of -madness analogous to that which we shall also see in B---- of Modena. In -fact, this strange rationalist believes in revelation, and in 1879 he -declaimed, “I am the inspired prophet,” &c.[360] - -The same thing may be said of politics. Historical revolutions are never -lasting, unless the way has been prepared for them by a long series of -events. But the crisis is often precipitated--sometimes many years -before its time--by the unbalanced geniuses who outrun the course of -events, foresee the development of intermediate facts which escape the -common eye, and rush, without a thought of themselves, on the opposition -of their contemporaries, acting like those insects which, in flying from -one flower to another, transport the pollen which would otherwise have -required violent winds, or a long space of time to render it available -for fertilization. - -Now, if we add the immovable, fanatical conviction of the madman to the -calculating sagacity of genius, we shall have a force capable, in any -age, of acting as a lever on the torpid masses, struck dumb before this -phenomenon, which appears strange and rare even to calm thinkers and -spectators at a distance. Add further, the influence which madness, in -itself, already has over barbarous peoples at early periods, and we may -well call the force an irresistible one. - -The importance of the madman among savages, and the semi-barbarous -peoples of ancient times, is rather historical than pathological. He is -feared and adored by the masses, and often rules them. In India, some -madmen are held in high esteem, and consulted by the Brahmins--a custom -of which many sects bear traces. In ancient India the eight kinds of -_demonomania_ bore the names of the eight principal Indian divinities; -the Yakshia-graha have deep intelligence; the Deva-graha are strong, -intelligent, and esteemed and consulted by the Brahmins; the -Gandharva-graha serve as choristers to the gods. But, in order to know -what a point the veneration of the insane may reach, and how little -modern India has changed in this respect, it is quite sufficient to -observe that there exist at present in that country 43 sects which show -particular zeal towards their divinity, sometimes by drinking urine, -sometimes by walking on the points of sharp stones, sometimes by -remaining motionless for years exposed to the rays of the sun, or by -representing to their own imagination the corporeal image of the god, -and offering up to him, also in imagination, prayers, flowers, or -food.[361] - -The existence of endemic insanity among the ancient Hebrews (and, by -parity of reasoning, among their congeners, the Phœnicians, -Carthaginians, &c.--the same words being used for _prophet_, _madman_, -and _wicked man_) is proved by history and language. The Bible relates -that David, fearing that he would be killed, feigned madness,[362] and -that Achish said, “Have I need of madmen that ye have brought this -fellow to play the madman in my presence?” This passage is evidence of -their abundance, and also of their inviolability, which was certainly -owing to the belief, still common among the Arabs, which causes the word -_nabi_ (prophet) to be constantly used in the Bible in the sense of -_madman_, and _vice versa_. Saul, even before his coronation, was -suddenly seized with the prophetic spirit, so much to the surprise of -the bystanders that the event was made the occasion of a proverb--“Is -Saul also among the prophets?” One day, after he had become king, the -spirit of an evil deity weighed upon him, and he prophesied (here -_raged_) in the house, and attempted to transfix David with a -lance.[363] In Jeremiah xxix. 26, we read “The Lord hath made thee -priest, ... for every man that is mad and maketh himself a prophet, that -thou shouldst put him in prison and in the stocks.” In 1 Kings xviii. we -see the prophets of the groves, and of Baal crying out like madmen, and -cutting their flesh. In the First Book of Samuel we find Saul as a -prophet rushing naked through the fields.[364] Elsewhere we see prophets -publicly approaching places of ill-fame, cutting their hands, eating -filth, &c. The Medjdub of the Arab, and the Persian Davana are the -modern analogues.[365] - -“_Medjdubim_,” says Berbrugger, “is the name given to these individuals -who, under the influence of special circumstances fall into a state -which exactly recalls that of the Convulsionnaires of St. Medard. They -are numerous in Algeria, where they are better known under the names of -Aïssawah or Ammarim.” Mula Ahmed, in the narrative of his journey -(translated by Berbrugger) speaks of “Sidi Abdullah, the Medjdub, who -brought the best influence to bear on the Hammis, his thievish and -vicious fellow-citizens. He would remain for three or five days like a -log, without eating, drinking, or praying. He could do without sleep for -forty days at the end of which, he was seized with violent convulsions” -(p. 278). Further on, he speaks of one Sidi Abd-el-Kadr, who wandered -from place to place, forgetful of himself and his family--an -indifference probably due to his sainthood. Drummond Hay shows us how -far respect for the insane is carried in Morocco, and among the -neighbouring nomadic tribes: “The Moor tells us that God has retained -their reason in heaven, whilst their body is upon earth; and that when -madmen or idiots speak, their reason is, for the time, permitted to -return to them, and that their words should be treasured up as those of -inspired persons.”[366] - -The author himself and an English consul were in danger of being killed -by one of these novel saints, who, naked, and often armed, insist on -acting out the strangest caprices which enter their heads; and those who -oppose them do so at their peril. - -In Barbary, says Pananti,[367] the caravans are in the habit of -consulting the mad santons (Vasli), to whom nothing is forbidden. One of -them strangled every person who came to the mosque; another at the -public baths violated a newly married bride, and her companions -congratulated the fortunate husband on the occurrence. - -The Ottomans[368] extend to the insane the veneration which they have -for dervishes, and believe that they stand in a special relation to the -Deity. Even the ministers of religion receive them into their own houses -with great respect. They are called _Eulya_, _Ullah Deli_--“divine -ones,” “sons of God”--or, more accurately, “madmen of God.” And the -various sects of Dervishes present phenomena analogous to those of -madness. Every monastery[369] has its own species of prayer or dance--or -rather its own peculiar kind of convulsion. Some move their bodies from -side to side, others backwards and forwards, and gradually quicken the -motion as they go on with their prayer. These movements are called -_Mukabdi_ (heightening of the divine glory), or _Ovres Tewhid_ (praise -of the unity of God). The Kufais are distinguished above all other -orders by exaggerated sanctity. They sleep little, lying, when they do, -with their feet in water, and fast for weeks together. They begin the -chant of Allah, advancing the left foot and executing a rotatory -movement with the right, while holding each other by the forearm. Then -they march forward, raising their voices more and more, quickening the -motion of the dance, and throwing their arms over each other’s -shoulders, till, worn out and perspiring, with glazing eyes and pale -faces, they fall into the sacred convulsion (_haluk_). In this state of -religious mania (says our author) they submit to the ordeal of hot iron, -and, when the fire has burnt out, cut their flesh with swords and -knives. - -In Batacki, when a man is possessed by an evil spirit, he is greatly -respected; what he says is looked on as the utterance of an oracle, and -immediately obeyed.[370] - -In Madagascar, the insane are objects of veneration. In 1863 many people -were seized with tremors, and impelled to strike those who came near -them. They were also subject to hallucinations and saw the dead queen -coming out of her grave. The king ordered these persons to be respected, -and for a space of at least two months, soldiers were seen beating their -officers, and officials their superiors. - -In China the only well-defined traits of insanity are to be found in the -only Chinese sect which was ever conspicuous, in that sceptical nation, -for religious fanaticism. The followers of Tao[371] believe in -demoniacal possession, and endeavour to gather the future from the -utterances of madmen, thinking that the possessed person declares in -words the thought of the spirit. - -In Oceania, at Tahiti, a species of prophet was called _Eu-toa_--_i.e._, -possessed of the divine spirit. The chief of the island said that he was -a bad man (_toato-eno_). Omai, the interpreter, said that these prophets -were a kind of madmen, some of whom, in their attacks, were not -conscious of what they were doing, nor could they afterwards remember -what they had done.[372] - -With regard to America, Schoolcraft, in that enormous medley entitled -_Historical and Statistical Information of the Indian Tribes_[373] -(1854), says that the regard for madmen is a characteristic trait of the -Indian tribes of the north, and especially of Oregon, who are considered -the most savage. Among these latter, he mentions a woman who showed -every symptom of insanity--sang in a grotesque manner, gave away to -others all the trifles she possessed, and cut her flesh when they -refused to accept them. The Indians treated her with great respect. - -The Patagonians[374] have women-doctors and magicians who prophesy amid -convulsive attacks. Men may also be elected to the priesthood, but they -must then dress as women, and cannot be admitted unless they have, from -their childhood, shown special qualifications. What these are is shown -by the fact that epileptics are appointed as a matter of course, as -possessing the divine spirit. - -In Peru, besides the priests, there were prophets who uttered their -improvisations amid terrible contortions and convulsions. They were -venerated by the people, but despised by the higher classes.[375] - -All revolutions in Algeria and in the Soudan[376] are due to lunatics or -neurotics who make, of their own neurosis and the religious societies to -which they attach themselves, instruments for invigorating religious -fanaticism and getting themselves accepted as inspired messengers of -God. Such were the Mahdi, Omar, and a madman who headed the great revolt -of the Taepings in China.[377] - -Phenomena which present such complete uniformity must arise from like -causes. These seem to me to be reducible to the following: - -1. The mass of the people, accustomed to the few sensations habitual to -them, cannot experience new ones without wonder, or strange ones without -adoration. Adoration is, I should say, the necessary effect of the -reflex movement produced in them by the overwhelming shock of the new -impression. The Peruvians applied the word _Huacha_ (divine) to the -sacred victim, the temple, a high tower, a great mountain, a ferocious -animal, a man with seven fingers, a shining stone, &c. In the same way -the Semitic _El_ (divine) is synonymous with _great_, _light_, _new_, -and is applied to a strong man, as well as to a tree, a mountain, or an -animal. After all, it is quite natural that men should be struck by the -phenomenon of one of their fellow-creatures completely changing his -voice and gestures, and associating together the strangest ideas--when -we ourselves, with all the advantages of science, are often puzzled to -understand the reasons for his actions. - -2. Some of these madmen possess (as we have seen, and shall see again, -in the Middle Ages and among the Indians) extraordinary muscular -strength. The people venerate strength. - -3. They often show an extraordinary insensibility to cold, to fire, to -wounds (as among the Arab Santons, and among our own lunatics), and to -hunger. - -4. Some, affected either by theomania or ambitious mania, having first -declared themselves inspired by the gods, or chiefs and leaders of the -nation, &c., drew after them the current of popular opinion, already -disposed in their favour. - -5. The following is the principal reason. Many of these madmen must have -shown a force of intellect, or at any rate of will, very much superior -to those of the masses whom they swayed by their extravagances. If the -passions redouble the force of the intellect, certain forms of madness -(which are nothing but a morbid exaltation of the passions) may be said -to increase it a hundred-fold. Their conviction of the truth of their -own hallucinations, the fluent and vigorous eloquence with which they -give utterance to them--and which is precisely the effect of their real -conviction--and the contrast between their obscure or ignoble past, and -their present position of power or splendour, give to this form of -insanity, in the mind of the people, a natural preponderance over sane -but quiet habits of mind. Lazzaretti, Briand, Loyola, Molinos, Joan of -Arc, the Anabaptists, &c., are proofs of this assertion. And it is a -fact that, in epidemics of prophecy--such as those which prevailed in -the Cevennes, and, recently, at Stockholm--ignorant persons, -servant-maids, and even children, excited by enthusiasm, are fired to -deliver discourses which are often full of spirit and eloquence. - -A maid-servant said, “Can you put a piece of wood in the fire without -thinking of hell?--the more wood, the greater the flames.” Another -prophetess, a cook, cried out, “God pronounces curses on this wine of -wrath (_i.e._, brandy), and the sinners who drink of it shall be -punished according to their sin, and torrents of this wine of wrath -shall flow in hell to burn them.” A child of four said, “May God in -heaven call sinners to repentance! Go to Golgotha--there are the festal -robes!”[378] - -6. Mania, among barbarous people, often takes the epidemic form, as -among the savage negroes of Juidah, among the Abipones and among the -Abyssinians in those affections analogous to the tarantula which are -called _tigretier_. Thus, in Greece, an instance is recorded of an -epidemic madness among the people of Abdera, who had been deeply moved -by the recital of a tragedy; and those Thyades who appeared at Athens -and Rome--worshippers of Bacchus, thirsting for luxury and blood, and -seized with sacred fury--were affected by erotico-religious insanity. -But this is more especially seen in the Middle Ages, when mental -epidemics were continually succeeding one another. - -The strangest forms of madness were thus communicated, like a true -contagion, from whole villages to whole nations, from children to old -men, from the credulous to the most resolute sceptics. Demonomania, more -or less associated with nymphomania and convulsions, &c., produced -sometimes witches, sometimes persons possessed with devils, according as -it was boasted of and displayed, or suffered with horror, by its -victims. It showed itself in the most obscene hallucinations (especially -of commerce with evil spirits, or the animals which represented them), -in an antipathy to sacred things, or those believed to be such (_e.g._, -the bones said to be relics), or in an extraordinary development, -sometimes of muscular, sometimes of intellectual, power, so that they -spoke languages of which they had previously only the slightest -knowledge, or recalled and connected the most remote and complicated -reminiscences. This form of insanity was sometimes associated with -erotic ecstasies, or partial anæsthesia, and often with a tendency to -biting, to murder, or to suicide. Sometimes there was a shuddering -horror, oftener gloomy hallucinations; but always a profound conviction -of their truth. - -When the prophetic enthusiasm became epidemic in the Cevennes, women, -and even children, were reached by this contagion, and saw Divine -commands in the sun and in the clouds. Thousands of women persisted in -singing psalms and prophesying, though they were hanged wholesale. Whole -cities, says Villani, seemed to be possessed of the devil. - -At Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1374, there spread, from epileptics and choreics -to the people in general--affecting even decrepit old men and pregnant -women--a mania for dancing in the public squares, crying, “_Here Sant -Johan, so so, vrisch und vro!_” This was accompanied by religious -hallucinations, in which they saw heaven opened, and within it, the -assembly of the blessed. The subjects also had an antipathy to anything -red, unlike tarantula subjects who are madly attracted to red. The mania -extended to Cologne, where 500 persons were seized with it; thence to -Metz, where there were 1,100 dancers, Strasburg, and other places. Nor -did it cease speedily, for it recurred periodically in subsequent years; -and on the day of St. Vitus (probably chosen as a patron on account of -the Celtic etymology of his name) thousands of dances took places near -his relics. In 1623 these pilgrimages still continued.[379] - -Most curious is that epidemic mania for pilgrimages, developed among -children in the Middle Ages. When men’s minds were cast down with grief -for the loss of the Holy Land, in 1212, a shepherd-boy of Cloes, in -Vendôme, thought himself sent by God, who had appeared to him in the -shape of an unknown man, accepted bread from him, and entrusted him with -a letter for the king. All the sons of the neighbouring shepherds -flocked to him; 30,000 men became his followers. Soon there arose other -prophets of eight years old, who preached, worked miracles, and led -hosts of delirious children to the new saint at Cloes. They made their -way to Marseilles, where the sea was to withdraw its waves in order to -let them pass over dry-shod to Jerusalem. In spite of the opposition of -the king and their parents, and the hardships of the journey, they -reached the sea, were put on board ship by two unscrupulous merchants, -and sold as slaves in the East. - -The first impulse towards the epidemic form caused by mania was the -veneration for individuals affected by it, which rendered them liable to -be taken as models; but the principal cause is just that isolation, that -ignorance, which is the accompaniment of barbarism. It is, above all, -the advance of civilization, the greater contact of a greater number of -persons, which gives definite form to the sense of individuality, -sharpening it by means of interest, diffidence, ambition, emulation, -ridicule; but, above all, by the continual variety of sensations and -consequent variety of ideas. Thus it seldom happens that great masses of -people are equally predisposed towards, and impressed by, the same -movement. In fact, though epidemics of mental alienation have shown -themselves, even in the most recent times, it has always been among the -most ignorant classes of the population, and in districts remote from -the great centres of communication; always, moreover, in mountainous -countries (certainly through atmospheric influences, as well as on -account of greater isolation)[380]--as in Cornwall, Wales, Norway, -Brittany (the barking women of Josselin), in the remotest colonies of -America, in the distant valley of Morzines in France, and the Alpine -gorge of Verzegnis in Italy, where Franzolini has so well described it. -Thus, at Monte Amiata (where, later on, we shall find Lazzaretti), the -chroniclers record that one Audiberti lived in an extraordinary state -of filth, and was for this reason venerated as a saint. Not far from -this place, Bartolomeo Brandano, a tenant of the Olivetan monks, who -lived towards the end of the sixteenth century--perhaps overcome by the -sufferings of his country during the occupation by the Spanish army--was -seized by religious monomania, and believed himself to be John the -Baptist. He assumed the dress of the saint, and, covered with a -hair-shirt reaching to his knees, with bare feet, a crucifix in his -hand, and a skull under his arm, he travelled through the district of -Siena, preaching, prophesying, working miracles, and finding proselytes. -He then went to Rome, and, on the square of St. Peter’s, preached -against the Pope and the Cardinals. But Clement VII., instead of having -him hanged, sent him to the Tordinona prison, where it was usual at that -time to seclude the insane, when they were not burnt at the stake as -being possessed of demons. When he came out of prison he returned to -Siena, and several times insulted Don Diego Mendoza, commander of the -Spanish army; but Don Diego, unable to tell whether he were a saint, a -prophet, or a madman, had him seized and taken to the prison of -Talamone, so that the governor might decide the question. The Siennese -governor would have nothing to do with him, and said, “If he is a saint, -saints are not sent to the galleys; if he is a prophet, prophets are not -punished; and if he is mad, madmen are exempt from the laws.” Brandano -was thus liberated in a short time, and, after having preached a sermon -to the prisoners, he went away, and returned to his prophecies and his -exorcisms. - -Even recently, in the remote village of Busca, in Piedmont, two saints -have arisen, one of whom had been a convict for twenty years,[381] and -the other already had a congregation of over 300 members. Not far from -there, in the Alpine village of Montenero, there appeared, in 1887, the -epidemic delirium of the second coming of Christ, in expectation of -which event more than 3,000 inhabitants assembled, in spite of the snow. -About the same time a vagabond Messiah was arrested at Vezzola, in the -Abruzzi. - -The retrograde metamorphosis of the intellectual faculties passes -through slighter gradations in the barbarian than in the civilized man. -The former is much less able to distinguish illusions from realities, -hallucinations from desires, and the possible from the supernatural, and -also to keep his imagination in check. - -The Norwegian preaching epidemic of 1842 was termed _Magdkrankheit_--the -maid-servants’ disease--because it attacked servants, hysterical women -in general, and children of the lower classes. The Redruth epidemic was -diffused entirely among persons “whose intellect is of the very lowest -class”;[382] whereas when, in recent years, the craze of magnetism, and -the still more foolish one of table-rapping, appeared, they never -presented any other characteristic than that of widely diffused errors, -and mental alienation in this direction could only boast of isolated -victims. - -It is not long since the Haytian negroes looked on certain trees which -had been hung with cloths as images of saints; and the Nubians see their -gods in the grotesque forms of splintered rocks. The slightest cause -predisposes the barbarian to terror; and from terror to superstition is -but a short step. This last, which disappears before the logic and the -sarcasm of civilized people, is the most important factor in the -development of insanity. Ideler,[383] speaking of the Stockholm epidemic -of 1842, mentions it as a historical fact that, in the places where the -disease first appeared, people’s minds had for a long time past been -disturbed and excited by sermons and devotional exercises; and that, in -these places, the number of those affected had perceptibly increased. - -This is the explanation of ancient and modern prophets, and their sudden -power which has left traces on the history of nations. - -Many unhappy persons affected by ambitious mania, or theomania, are -looked upon as prophets, and their delusions taken for revelations; and -this is the origin of a number of sects which have intensified the -struggle between religion and liberty both in the Middle Ages and in -modern times. - -Picard, for example, imagined himself to be a son of God, sent on earth -as a new Adam, to re-establish the natural laws, which consisted, -according to him, in going naked, and in the community of women. He met -with believers and imitators, and founded the sect of the Adamites, who -were exterminated by the Hussites in 1347, but were afterwards revived -under the name of Turlupins. - -In the same way, the Anabaptists, at Münster, at Appenzell, and in -Poland, believed that they saw luminous forms of angels and dragons -fighting in the sky, that they received orders to kill their brothers or -their best-beloved children (homicidal mania), or to abstain from food -for months together, and that they could paralyze whole armies by their -breath or by a look. Later on, those sects of Calvinists and Jansenists -which caused the shedding of so much blood, had--as Calmeil has -demonstrated--an analogous origin. This is also the origin of the belief -in wizards and demoniacs. - -If we glance over the lists of literary madmen and _illuminati_ given by -Delepierre, Philomneste, and Adelung, the number of followers found by -many of them makes us laugh and sigh in the same breath at the extent of -human folly. Let us mention, for example, Kleinov, who, in the middle of -the eighteenth century, claimed to represent the King of Zion, whose -sons his followers asserted themselves to be; and Joachim of Calabria, -who declared that the Christian era was to end in 1200, when a new -Messiah was to appear with a new gospel. Swedenborg, who believed that -he had spoken with the spirits of the various planets for whole days, -and even for months together, who had seen the inhabitants of Jupiter -walking partly on their hands and partly on their feet, those of Mars -speaking with their eyes, and those of the Moon with their stomachs, -incredible as it may seem, has believers and followers even up to the -present time.[384] - -Irving, in 1830, asserted that he had received, by divine inspiration, -the gift of unknown tongues, and founded the sect of the Irvingites. - -John Humphrey Noyes, of the United States, believed himself to have the -gift of prophecy, and founded the sect of “Perfectionists” established -at Oneida, who considered marriage and property as theft, did not -recognize human laws, and believed every action, even the commonest, to -be inspired by God. - -At the beginning of the century that prophetess of monarchy, Julie de -Krüdener, possessed great influence. She was hysterical, and so far -erotic as to throw herself on her knees in public before a tenor; -afterwards, impelled by disappointment in love towards the ancient -faith, she believed herself chosen to redeem humanity, and found in this -belief the vigour of a burning eloquence. She went to Bâle and turned -the city upside down by preaching the speedy coming of the Messiah. -Twenty thousand pilgrims responded to her call; the Senate became -alarmed and banished her. She hastened to Baden, where four thousand -people were waiting on the square to kiss her hands and her dress. A -woman offered her ten thousand florins to build a new church; she -distributed them to the poor “whose reign was at hand.” She was exiled -from Baden, and returned to Switzerland, followed by crowds. Though -persecuted by the police, she passed from town to town, followed by -acclamations and blessings. She said that her works were dictated to her -by angels. Napoleon, who had treated her with contempt, became, for her, -the “dark angel,” Alexander of Russia, the angel of light. Her influence -became the inspiration of the latter; so much so, that the idea of the -Holy Alliance seems to be due to her alone.[385] - -Loyola, when wounded, turned his thoughts to religious subjects, and, -terrified by the Lutheran revolt, planned and founded the great Company. -He believed that he received the personal assistance of the Virgin Mary -in his projects, and heard heavenly voices encouraging him to persevere -in them. - -Analogous phenomena may be observed in the lives of George Fox and the -early Quakers.[386] - -_Francis of Assisi._[387]--The son of a religious woman, Francis of -Assisi was forced to devote himself to business after receiving only the -elements of education from the priests of S. Giorgio. Being rich, and -able to spend money as he pleased, he became the life and soul of the -joyous companies of young men, whose custom it was to go about the city -by day and night, singing and diverting themselves. He seemed to be the -son of a great prince rather than of a merchant. The citizens of Assisi -called him “the flower of youths,” and his companions deferred to him as -to their leader. He excelled in singing, his biographers praise his -sweet and powerful voice; and he was also dexterous in feats of arms. -When taken prisoner, in a skirmish between the burghers of Perugia and -those of Assisi, he encouraged his companions in prison, and exhorted -them to cheerfulness both by word and example. His naturally refined and -noble disposition was shown both in his person and manners, and in a -liberality which delighted in giving to the poor. - -It is said that, in his twenty-fourth year, a severe illness confined -him for a long time to his bed. At the beginning of his convalescence, -he left the house, leaning on a stick, and stood still to gaze at the -beautiful country which surrounds Assisi, but could find no pleasure in -it, as he had once done. From that day forward, he was sad and -thoughtful. He often left his companions, and retired to a cave, where -he spent hours in meditation. - -In order to relieve his sufferings, he had recourse to prayer, and -prayed so fervently that one day he thought he saw before him Christ -nailed to the cross, and felt “the passion of Christ impressed even upon -his bowels, upon the very marrow of his bones, so that he could not keep -his thoughts fixed upon it without being overflowed with grief.” He was -then seen wandering about the fields with his face bathed in tears; and -when asked whether he felt ill, he replied, “I am weeping for the -passion of my Lord Jesus.” His friends said to him, “Think of choosing -a wife,” and he replied, “Yes, I am thinking of a lady--of the noblest, -the richest, the most beautiful, that was ever seen!” Who was the lady -of his thoughts, he revealed on the day when, laying aside the dress of -his rank, he threw a beggar’s mantle over his shoulders, to the -unbounded anger of his father, who in vain tried to imprison him, and to -the great scandal of every one. By many, we read in the _Fioretti_, he -was thought a fool; and as a madman he was mocked and driven away with -stones, by his relations and by strangers; and he suffered patiently all -mockery and harsh treatment, as though he had been deaf and dumb. - -Francis of Assisi, however, was original and great, not through those -qualities which he had in common with the vulgar herd of -ascetics--abstinences, mortifications, prayers, ecstasies, visions--but -on account of something which was, without his knowing it, the very -negation of asceticism--the affirmation and the triumph of the gentlest -and sweetest feelings of humanity. The ascetic abhorred, condemned, and -fled from nature, life, all human affections, in order to steep himself -in solitary contemplation: Francis, by example and precept, preached the -love of nature, concord, mutual affection between human beings, and -work. The ascetic called everything beautiful in the world the work of -Satan: Francis brought about a true revolution by calling it the work of -God, praising and thanking God for it. It was a new kind of loving and -passionate Pantheism which inspired him with the _Song of the Sun_, in -which all creatures, animate and inanimate, are joined in fraternal -embrace, in which the beautiful and radiant sun, the bright and precious -moon and stars, the wind, the clouds, the clear sky--water, “useful, -humble, precious, and chaste,”--fire, shining, joyous, “hardy and -strong,” Mother Earth, who sustains and feeds us, together with man, who -up to that time had been taught to despise everything that might -distract him from the selfish thought of his fate in the next world--all -these are called upon to sing the glory of the Lord _who is good_, to -bless Him for having made the universe so rich, varied, and beautiful, -so worthy to be loved.[388] - -If we think of this bold and far-reaching change, we shall no longer -smile in reading the _Song_; remembering, too, that it was the first -attempt made by the Italian people to express their religious feelings -in the vulgar tongue. - -For such a song to burst from the impassioned heart of Francis, the -germs of universal love which he cherished there must already have come -to perfect growth. He must have freed himself entirely from the ancient -terror, which, in the common superstitious belief, peopled woods, -mountains, air and water, with hidden enemies. As also, in order to -bring men back to mutual love, in an age when “those whom one wall and -one ditch confined, gnawed one another,” he had, through the natural -tendency to extremes, to include, not only Brother Sun and Sister Moon, -but even Brother Wolf. - -Having composed the _Song_, Francis was so well pleased with it that he -adapted to it a musical melody, taught it to his disciples, and thought -of choosing among his followers some who should go about the world -singing the praises of God, and “asking, as their only recompense that -their listeners should repent, should call themselves just ‘God’s -jesters’--_Joculatores Domini_.” Thus he gave the first and most -vigorous impulse to religious poetry in the vulgar tongue. - -_Luther._--Luther[389] attributed his physical pains and his dreams to -the arts of the devil, though all those of which he has left us a -description are clearly due to nervous phenomena. He often suffered, -_e.g._, from an anguish which nothing could lighten, caused, according -to him, by the anger of an offended God. At 27, he began to be seized -with attacks of giddiness, accompanied by headaches and noises in the -ears, which returned at the ages of 32, 38, 40, and 52, especially when -he was on a journey. At thirty-eight, moreover, he had a real -hallucination, perhaps favoured by excessive solitude. “When, in 1521,” -he writes, “I was in my Patmos, in a room which was entered by no one -except two pages who brought me my food, I heard, one evening, after I -was in bed, nuts moving inside a sack, and flying of themselves against -the ceiling and all round my bed. Scarcely had I gone to sleep, when I -heard a tremendous noise, as if many berries were being thrown over; I -rose, and cried, ‘Who art thou?’ commended myself to Christ,” &c. - -In the church at Wittenberg, he had just begun explaining the Epistle to -the Romans, and had reached the words, “The just shall live by faith,” -when he felt these ideas penetrate his mind, and heard that sentence -repeated aloud several times in his ear. In 1507, he heard the same -words when on his journey to Rome, and again in a voice of thunder, as -he was dragging himself up the steps of the Scala Santa. “Not seldom,” -he confesses, “has it happened to me to awake about midnight, and -dispute with Satan concerning the Mass,” and he details the many -arguments adduced by the Devil. - -_Savonarola._--But the illustration in every respect most apposite (if -it did not seem almost a national blasphemy to say so) is that offered -us by Savonarola. Under the influence of a vision, he believed himself, -even from his youth, sent by Christ to redeem the country from its -corruption. One day, while speaking to a nun, it seemed to him that -heaven suddenly opened; and he saw in a vision the calamities of the -Church, and heard a voice commanding him to announce them to the people. - -The visions of the Apocalypse and of the Old Testament prophets passed -in review before him. In 1491 he wished to leave off treating of -politics in his sermons. “I watched all Saturday, and the whole night, -but at daybreak, while I was praying, I heard a voice say, ‘Fool, dost -thou not see that God will have thee go on in the same way?’” - -In 1492, while preaching during Advent, he had a vision of a sword, on -which was written, “_Gladius Domini super terram_.” Suddenly, the sword -turned towards the earth, the air was darkened, there was a rain of -swords, arrows, and fire, and the earth became a prey to famine and -pestilence. From this moment, he began to predict the pestilence which, -in fact, afterwards came to pass. - -In another vision, becoming ambassador to Christ, he makes a long -journey to Paradise, and there holds discourse with many saints and with -the Virgin, whose throne he describes, not forgetting the number of the -precious stones with which it is adorned.[390] - -We shall see how a similar scene was described by Lazzaretti. Savonarola -was continually meditating on his dreams; and he tried to distinguish -which among his visions were produced by angels, and which were the work -of demons. Scarcely ever is he touched by a misgiving that he may -possibly be in error. In one of his dialogues he declares that “to feign -one’s self a prophet in order to persuade others, would be like making -God Himself an impostor. Might it not be,” continues the objector, “that -you were deceiving yourself? No,” is the reply, “I worship God--I seek -to follow in His footsteps; it cannot be that God should deceive -me.”[391] - -Yet, with the contradiction peculiar to unhinged minds, he had written a -short time before, “I am not a prophet, neither the son of a prophet; it -is your sins that make me a prophet perforce.” Moreover, in one page he -says that his prophetic illumination is independent of grace, whereas, a -few pages back, he had declared that the two were one and the same -thing. - -Villari justly remarks that “this is the singularity of his character, -that a man who had given to Florence the best form of republic, who -dominated an entire people, who filled the world with his eloquence and -had been the greatest of philosophers--should make it his boast that he -heard voices in the air, and saw the sword of the Lord!” - -“But,” as the same author well concludes, “the very puerility of his -visions proves that he was the victim of hallucinations; and a still -stronger proof is their uselessness, even hurtfulness, as far as he -himself was concerned. - -“What need was there, if he wished to cheat the masses, to write -treatises on his visions, to speak of them to his mother, to write -reflections on them on the margins of his Bible? Those things which his -admirers would have been most eager to hide, those which the simplest -intelligence would never have allowed to get into print, these very -productions he continued to publish and republish. The truth is that, -as he often confessed, he felt an inward fire burning in his bones, and -forcing him to speak; and as he was himself swept away by the force of -that ecstatic delirium, so he succeeded in carrying with him his -audience, who were moved by his words in a way we find it hard to -understand when we compare the impression produced with the text of the -sermons themselves.” - -This helps us to understand how--exactly in the same manner as -Lazzaretti--he propagated his divine madness among the people, not only -epidemically, by the contagion of ideas, but producing actual insanity -in persons, who, being nearly or quite without education, preached and -wrote extempore in consequence of their madness. Thus Domenico -Cecchi[392] was the author of a work entitled _Sacred Reform_, which -contains the very just suggestions of relieving the Great Council from -minor business, taxing church property, imposing a single tax, and -creating a militia, also that of fixing the amount of girls’ dowries. In -his preface, he writes: “I set myself with my fancy to make such a work, -and I can make no other, and by day and night methinks I have made such -efforts that I might call them miraculous; but it has come to pass that -I myself stand amazed thereat.” - -A certain Giovanni, a Florentine tailor, seized with morbid enthusiasm, -wrote _terzine_ in which he extolled the future glories of Florence, and -produced verses worthy of Lazzaretti,[393] and prophecies like the -following, “Yet it must needs be that the Pisan shall descend, with -irons on his feet, into the sewer, since he has been the cause of so -much woe.” - -If I were asked whether, in our asylums, we often meet with types -analogous to these, I should reply that there is, perhaps, not an asylum -in Italy which has not received one of these strange lunatics. - -_Cola da Rienzi._--In 1330, Rome was sinking into chaos. Historians have -left us an appalling picture of the disorders of the time, the absence -of any regular government, and the lawless tyranny of the robber -barons. - -The general conditions of the age were favourable to popular movements. -King Robert, the protector of the barons was dead; and Todi (1337), -Genoa (under Adorno, in 1367), and Florence (1363), had initiated a -democratic _régime_, which ushered in the terrible _Ciompi_ revolution -of 1378. A premature thrill of revolt ran through Europe, and was felt -even in feudal and monarchical France, where the movement was organized, -for a short time, at Paris, under Marcel.[394] - -Under these circumstances, Cola--a young man, born in the Tiber -district, in 1313, the son of an innkeeper and a washerwoman, or -water-seller, who though at first little better than a field-labourer, -had studied as a notary, and acquired a considerable knowledge of the -history and antiquities of his country--saw his brother murdered by the -wretches who formed the government, or rather the misgovernment of Rome. - -Then he--who, as the anonymous historian tells us, always had “a -fantastic smile” on his lips, and already, when meditating on ancient -books and the ruins of Rome, had often wept, exclaiming, “Where are the -good Romans of the old time? Where is their justice?”--was seized, as he -afterwards acknowledged,[395] by an irresistible impulse to put into -action the ideas which he had acquired from books. - -In his capacity of notary, he devoted himself to the protection of -minors and widows, and assumed the curious title of their Consul, just -as there were, in his time, consuls of the carpenters, cloth-workers, -and other guilds. - -In 1343, in one of the numerous small revolutions of the period, the -people had attempted to overthrow the Senate, creating the government of -the Thirteen, under the papal authority. On that occasion, Cola was sent -as spokesman of the people, to Avignon, where he vividly depicted the -evils prevalent in Rome, and, by his bold and powerful eloquence, amazed -and won over the cool-headed prelates, from whom he attained the -appointment of notary to the Urban Chamber, in 1344. - -On his return to Rome, he continued to exercise this office with -exaggerated zeal, and got himself called Consul no longer _of the -widows_, but _of Rome_. He excelled others in courtesy, was also -inflexible in the administration of justice, and never failed to involve -himself in long harangues against those whom he called the dogs of the -Capitol. - -One day, in a moment of exaggerated fanaticism, he cried to the barons, -in full assembly, “Ye are evil citizens--ye who suck the blood of the -people.” And, turning to the officials and governors, he warned them -that it was their place to provide for the good of the State. The result -of this was a tremendous buffet dealt him by a chamberlain of the House -of Colonna. He then took matters more calmly, and began to depict the -former glories and present miseries of Rome, by means of paintings, in -which the homicides, adulterers, and other criminals were represented by -apes and cats, the corrupt judges and notaries by foxes, and the -senators and nobles by wolves and bears. - -On another day, he exhibited the famous table of Vespasian, and invited -the public, including the nobles, to a dramatic explanation of it. He -appeared, arrayed in a German cloak with a white hood, and a hat also -white and surrounded by many crowns, one of which was divided in the -midst by a small silver sword. The interpretation of these grotesque -symbols, which already indicate his madness (the continual use of such -being, as already stated, characteristic of monomaniacs, till they end -by sacrificing to their passion for symbols the very evidence of the -things which they wish to represent), is unknown. Thus, -applying--somewhat after his own fashion--the decree of the Senate which -granted to Vespasian the right of making laws at his pleasure, of -increasing or diminishing _the gardens of Rome and of Italy_ (if he had -been a scholar, he would have said the area of the Roman district), and -of making and unmaking kings, he called on them to consider into what a -state they had fallen. “Remember that the jubilee is approaching, and -that you have made no provision of food or other necessaries. Put an end -to your quarrels,” &c. - -But along with these, he delivered other discourses which were, to say -the least, eccentric; _e.g._, “I know that men wish to find a crime in -my speeches, and that out of envy; but, thanks to heaven, three things -consume my enemies--luxury, envy, and fire.”[396] These two last words -were greatly applauded; I do not understand them, however, especially -the last. I believe that they were applauded, precisely because the -audience did not understand them, as happens to many street orators, -with whom resonant and meaningless words supply the place of ideas, and -are even greeted with greater enthusiasm. - -The fact is, that, among the upper classes, he passed for one of those -persons of unsound mind who were then in great request for the amusement -of society.[397] The nobles, especially the Colonna, disputed the -pleasure of his company with each other, and he would tell them of the -glories of his future government. “And when I am king or emperor, I will -make war on all of you. I will have such an one hanged, and such another -beheaded.” He spared none of them, and mentioned them by name, one by -one, to their faces; and, all the time, both to nobles and commons, he -continued to speak of the good state, and of how he was going to restore -it. - -Here I insert a parenthesis. It has been said (by Petrarch in -particular) that he feigned madness, and was a second Brutus; but when -we see his love for pomp, luxury, strange symbols, and garments, -gradually increasing as he advanced in his political career, and after -his rise to power, we no longer have any doubt as to the reality of his -madness. - -He continued to put forth new symbolical pictures, among others one with -this inscription: “_The day of justice is coming--Await this moment_.” -Be it noted that this picture represented a dove bringing a crown of -myrtle to a little bird. The dove stood for the Holy Spirit (as we shall -see, one of the favourite objects of his delirium) and the bird was -himself, who was to crown Rome with glory. At last, on the first day of -Lent, 1347, he affixed to the door of San Giorgio another placard: -“_Before long, the good State of Rome shall be restored_.” - -Not being feared by the nobles, who thought him mad, he was able to -conspire secretly, or rather to keep up the ferment of public opinion, -by taking apart, gradually, one by one, the men who seemed to him best -adapted for the purpose, and assigning them their posts on Mount -Aventine, towards the end of April, on a day when the governor was to be -absent. - -In this assembly, the only one which, up to that time, had been held in -secret, the mode of bringing about the Good State was deliberated on. -Here he showed the eloquence of a man who speaks from conviction, and of -things which are too true not to produce a deep impression. He described -the discord of the great, the debasement of the poor, the armed men -roaming about in quest of plunder, wives dragged from their -marriage-beds, pilgrims murdered at the gates, priests drowned in -sensual orgies, no strength or wisdom among those who held the reigns of -power. From the nobles there was everything to fear and nothing to hope. -Where were they, in the midst of all these disorders? They were leaving -Rome, to enjoy a holiday on their estates, while everything was going to -wreck and ruin in the city. - -As the members of the popular party were hesitating for want of funds, -he gave them a hint that these might be obtained from the revenues of -the Apostolic Chamber, reckoning 10,000 florins for the tax on salt -alone, 100,000 for the hearth-tax, figures which Sismondi (chapter -xxxviii.) declares to be absolutely erroneous. He also gave them to -understand that he was acting in accordance with the wishes of the Pope -(_which was false_), and that he was able with the consent of the -latter, to seize upon the revenues of the Holy See. - -On May 18, 1347, in Colonna’s absence, he had proclamation made through -the streets, by sound of trumpet, that all citizens were to assemble in -the night of the day following, in the church of Sant’ Angelo, to take -measures for the establishment of the Good State. On the 19th, Rienzi -was present at the meeting, in armour, guarded by a hundred armed men, -and accompanied by the Papal Vicar, and by three standards covered with -the most extraordinary symbols--one of them representing Liberty, one -Justice, and one Peace. - -Among the measures which he caused to be adopted by this improvised -assembly were some which would be well suited to our own times; the -following, for instance:-- - -All lawsuits were to be terminated within fifteen days. - -The Apostolic Chamber was to provide for the support of widows and -orphans. - -Every district of Rome was to have a public granary. - -If a Roman were killed in the service of his country, his heirs to -receive a hundred _lire_ if he were a foot soldier, and a hundred -_florins_ if a horseman. - -The garrisons of cities and fortresses to be formed of men chosen from -among the Roman people. - -Every accuser who could not make good his accusation, to be subject to -the penalty which his victim would have incurred. - -The houses of the condemned not to be destroyed (as was then the case in -all communities), but to become the property of the municipality. - -Cola received from this popular assembly entire lordship over the city; -he associated the Papal Vicar with himself as a harmless assistant, -entitled himself Tribune, and performed an actual miracle in restoring -peace where there had been chaos. He saw the proud barons--even the -rebellious and powerful prefect of Vico--prostrate at his feet. He -executed severe justice upon the most powerful nobles as well as the -populace. Members of the Orsini, Savelli, and Gaetani families were -hanged by him, for violation of the laws; and, what is more, even -priests, such as the monk of St. Anastasius who was accused of several -murders. - -By means of the so-called Tribunal of Peace, he reconciled with each -other 1800 citizens, who had previously been mortal enemies. He -abolished, or, more accurately speaking, tried to abolish, the servile -use of the title _Don_, which is still rampant among us in the south; he -prohibited dicing, concubinage, and fraud in the sale of -provisions--which last was the measure which conduced most to his -popularity. Finally, he created a true citizen militia, a real national -guard. - -He caused the escutcheons of the nobles to be erased from all palaces, -equipages, and banners, saying that there was to be in Rome no other -lordship than the Pope’s and his own. - -He re-established a tax on every hearth, in all the towns and villages -of the Roman district, and was obeyed even by the Tuscan communities, -who might have claimed exemption. The collectors were not sufficient for -the work. All the governors, except two, submitted; and he finally -appointed a kind of justice of the peace, to decide even criminal cases. - -He did even more. He was the first to conceive, what even Dante had not -thought of, an Italy neither Guelf nor Ghibelline, under the headship of -the Roman municipality, in which like Marcel of Paris, he attempted to -assemble a true national Parliament.[398] He was the first man in Italy -to think of this, and was only understood by thirty-five communes. - -At Avignon, finally, he was able to achieve what I consider his greatest -enterprise: to get himself pardoned, after a course of speech and action -so hostile to the Papal Court, by those who never pardon--the clergy of -that ferocious and implacable age; and not only pardoned, but sent back, -though for a short period and in an inferior capacity, to a position -fraught with the greatest dangers to that order. - -But all these miracles, alas! lasted for a few days only. The man who in -his political ideas surpassed not only his contemporaries, but many -modern thinkers, and preceded Mazzini and Cavour in the idea of unity, -was in fact a monomaniac, as is recorded by the historians, Re and -Papencordt; if he was great in conception, he was uncertain and -incapable in practical matters. This was fully shown, _e.g._, when, -though he had his greatest enemy, the prefect of Vico, in his hands, he -let him go, keeping his son as a hostage; and when he failed to profit -by his unexpected victory over the barons. - -Always incapable of taking any resolution which was not merely -theoretical, he believed that everything he did was done by the grace of -the Holy Spirit,[399] under whose auspices we have seen that he began -his enterprize. - -He was still further confirmed in his delusion by a heresy which had -then recently sprung up, according to which the Holy Spirit was to -regenerate the world, and especially by the fact, very insignificant in -itself, that a dove alighted near him while he was showing the people -one of his allegorical pictures. To this dove he attributed his -successful beginning, as he ascribed to his prophetic inspiration the -victory over the Colonna[400] and that over the Prefect.[401] - -In the most important affairs, he believed that he heard in himself, -through the medium of a dream or other sign, the voice of God, with whom -he took counsel, and to whom he referred everything. - -Sustained by the _prestige_ of this inspiration, he furthermore enacted -religious laws, _e.g._, one compelling confession once a year, under -pain of confiscation to the extent of one-third of a man’s property. - -He did not fail to exhibit the usual contradictions peculiar to the -insane. Very religious himself, he had no hesitation in comparing -himself to Christ, only on account of the coincidence implied in his -having gained a victory at the age of thirty-three. After his defeat, he -again compared himself to him, in a play upon numbers such as is common -among the insane, because he was for thirty-three months an exile in the -Majella, in a wild and lonely hermitage, surrounded by several persons -subject to hallucinations, followers of the Holy Spirit, who prophesied -that he would once more be victorious, and even rule over the whole -world. The megalomaniac delirium which usually prevailed in his case, -explains the greater part of these contradictions. He believed that in -his own person were centred all the hopes of a Messiah of Italy, who was -to restore the Roman Empire, nay, even redeem the world.[402] - -At a moment when he must have thought himself near death, in the prison -at Prague,[403] he thought himself the victim of diabolical -imaginations, or believed that he was obeying the will of heaven. Thus -he wrote, “I kiss the key of the prison, as it were the gift of God.” - -One day he arose from the throne and, advancing towards his faithful -followers, said in a loud voice, “We command Pope Clement to present -himself before our tribunal, and to live at Rome; and we give the same -command to the College of Cardinals. We cite to appear before us the two -claimants, Charles of Bohemia and Ludwig of Bavaria, who take upon -themselves the title of Emperors. We command all the electors of Germany -to inform us on what pretext they have usurped the inalienable right of -the Roman people--the ancient and legitimate sovereign of the empire.” - -Then he drew his sword, waved it three times towards the three divisions -of the known world, and said, three times, in a transport of ecstasy, -“This, too, belongs to me!” - -All this because he had bathed in the porphyry basin of Constantine--to -the great scandal of his followers--and believed that he had thus -succeeded to the power of that emperor. - -While he was going on this course the Papal Legate, by whose concurrence -alone all these eccentricities could, up to a certain point, be -justified, protested with all the force his slight degree of energy -would allow. It would be pretty much as if the Consul of San Marino were -to take it into his head, on the strength of a majority of votes, or -because he had worn a hat belonging to Napoleon I., that he could summon -before his tribunal the emperors of Austria, Germany, and Russia, with a -few dukes into the bargain. And if this would appear ridiculous in our -own times, when, in theory at least, right is esteemed above might, what -must it have seemed in that age? - -Nor was this a mere momentary aberration. We still possess the -diplomatic communication (dated Aug. 12th), destined for the emperors, -after that mad theatrical ceremony. I extract some passages:[404] - -“In virtue of the same authority, and of the favour of God, the Holy -Spirit, and the Roman people, we say, protest, and declare that the -Roman Empire, the election, jurisdiction, and monarchy of the Sacred -Empire belong, by full right, to the city of Rome, and to all Italy, for -many good reasons which we shall mention at the proper place and time, -and after having summoned the dukes, kings, &c., to appear between this -day and that of Pentecost next following, before us in St. John Lateran, -with their titles and claims; failing which, on the expiry of the term, -_they will be proceeded against_ according to the forms of law, and the -inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” - -Moreover, he adds, as though he had not yet expressed himself clearly -enough, “Besides what has been heretofore said, in general and in -particular, we cite in person the illustrious princes, Louis, Duke of -Bavaria, and Charles, Duke of Bohemia, _calling themselves_ emperors, or -elected to the empire; and, besides these, the Duke of Saxony, the -Marquis of Brandenburg, &c., that they may appear in the said place -before us in person, and before other magistrates, failing which we -shall proceed against them, as contumacious,” &c. - -This was too much. The mutual animosity of the Colonna and the Orsini -was momentarily suspended. They united their forces to combat him openly -and conspire against him in secret. - -An assassin, sent by them to attempt the tribune’s life, was arrested, -and, when put to the torture, accused the nobles. From that instant -Rienzi incurred the fate of a tyrant, and adopted a tyrant’s suspicions -and rules of conduct. Shortly afterwards, under various pretexts, he -invited to the capital his principal enemies, among whom were many of -the Orsini and three of the Colonna. They arrived, believing themselves -called to a council or banquet; and Rienzi, after inviting them to take -their places at table, had them arrested; innocent and guilty had to -undergo this terror alike. After the people had been summoned to the -spot, by the sound of the great bell, they were accused of a conspiracy -to assassinate Rienzi, and not a single voice or hand was raised to -defend the heads of the nobility. - -They passed the night in separate rooms; and Stefano Colonna, battering -at his prison door, several times entreated that he might be freed by a -swift death from so humiliating a position. The arrival of a confessor, -and the sound of the funeral bell, showed them what was awaiting them. - -The great hall of the Capitol, where the trial was to take place, was -hung with white and red, as was usual when a death-sentence was about to -be pronounced. All seemed ready for their condemnation, when the -tribune, touched by fear or pity, after a long speech to the people, _in -their defence_, caused them to be acquitted, and even granted them some -offices (such as the Prefecture of arms), which could not fail to be -formidable weapons against him. It was not the sort of thing which was -done in those days; and even Petrarch thought he had been too lenient, -while the lower classes expressed their sense of his folly in a coarser -and more energetic fashion. - -Such was his madness, says the anonymous historian, that he allowed his -enemies to entrench themselves afresh, and then sent a messenger to -summon them to his presence. The messenger was wounded, whereupon he -summoned them a second time, and then had two of them painted, hanging -head downward. They, in their turn, took the town of Nepi from him, for -which he could devise no other retribution than the drowning of two -dogs, supposed to represent them. After some bloodless and useless -marches, he returned to Rome, and, having put on the _dalmatica_(_!_) of -the emperors, had himself crowned for the third time. Worse still, he at -the same time expelled the Papal legate, Bertrando,[405] thus throwing -away his last anchor of safety at the moment when he needed it most. - -Besides the eccentricity of his consecration as Knight of the Holy -Spirit, preceded by the bath in the vase of Constantine (which, though -it can readily be explained by the ideas of the period, did him serious -injury in the estimation of the majority, and especially the religious, -as being an act of profanation), he was guilty of the egregious -political folly of declaring that, after that ceremony, the Roman people -had returned to the full possession of their jurisdiction over the -world; that Rome was the head of the world, that the monarchy of the -empire and the election of the emperor were privileges of the city, of -the Roman people, and of Italy. This was clearly a declaration of war -against both pope and emperor. Later on, on August 15th, with his usual -monomaniac tendency to symbolism, he crowned himself with six wreaths of -different plants--ivy, because he loved religion; myrtle, because he -honoured learning; parsley, because of its resistance to poison (as the -emperor was supposed to resist the malevolence of his enemies). To these -he added, for no discoverable reason, the mitre of the Trojan king, and -a silver crown! - -All this proves, says Gregorovius, that it was his intention to get -himself crowned emperor. - -And, as it was the custom of the Roman emperors to promulgate edicts -after their coronation, so he, immediately after this ceremony, by -political decrees confirmed to the whole of Italy the right of Roman -citizenship. Alberto Argentaro[406] adds that he threatened Pope Clement -with deposition, if he did not return to Rome within the year, and that -he would have elected another pope. Villani says,[407] that he wished to -reform the whole of Italy in the ancient manner, and subject it to the -dominion of Rome. To understand how truly insane was this project, it -must be remembered that his sacred militia--that which he believed most -faithful--numbered no more than 1600 men, and that the whole army, -counting both horse and foot, did not, on an outside calculation, exceed -2000. - -After defeating the nobles, without any merit on his part, he, who had -formerly been so generous, forbade the widows to weep for the dead; and -was guilty of words and actions which, even in that ferocious age, -struck his _Sacred Knights_ (as he called them) as so barbarous and -foolish, that they refused to bear arms for him any longer. From this -moment date, on the one hand, his undoubted insanity, on the other, the -contempt of all honourable men, vigorously expressed by Petrarch himself -in a well-known letter. - -It can now be understood why he was, even from the time of his first -exploits, so fond of pompous titles. After calling himself “Consul of -the Widows,” and “Consul of Rome,” he adopted the title of Tribune, -which afterwards became “Clement and Severe Tribune,” the contradiction -being nothing to him, so long as he could suggest the name of Severinus -Boethius, whose arms he had also adopted; and, not long after this -(referring, with that kind of play upon words so dear to the insane and -to idiots, to his nomination in August), “August Tribune.”[408] We can -also comprehend that, stripped of all his power, an exile and a -prisoner, he should have turned to the prosaic Emperor Charles IV., -telling him his dreams, as we shall see, with complete confidence in -their reality. - -At Rome, after his first fall (which was, perhaps, one cause of the -indulgence with which he was treated by the pope), there had been a new -outburst of disorder, which a tribune who has remained almost -unknown--one Baroncelli--in vain endeavoured to stem. Nor did Rienzi -himself meet with any better success on his return, shorn of his ancient -_prestige_, and without that youthful audacity which, united to a -maniacal erethism, had increased the strength of the poor scholar a -hundredfold; and he was overthrown by the populace themselves. For men, -whether madmen of genius or complete geniuses, have no power against the -natural force of things. Marcel had no success at Paris, though he had -far greater forces at his disposal, and was allied with the Jacquerie of -the country districts. - -But Rienzi could not even succeed in realizing the prodigies of insane -genius, since he had by this time fallen into true dementia. - -It appears that in the early stages of his government he was a sober and -temperate man, so much so that he had to make an effort to find time to -eat. From this he passed to the opposite extreme of continued orgies and -actual dipsomania, which he excused by alleging the effects of a poison -which he believed to have been administered to him in prison.[409] I -believe, on the contrary, that this phenomenon was occasioned by the -progress of his malady, since we see that it began in the early months -of his first tribunate,[410] and since slow poisons produce emaciation, -not obesity, in their victims. - -“At every hour he was eating dainties and drinking; he observed neither -time nor order; he mixed Greek with Flavian wine; he drank new wine at -any hour. He used to drink too much.” - -“Moreover he had now become enormously stout, he had a face like a -friar, round and jovial as that of a bonze, a ruddy complexion, and a -long beard. His eyes were white, and suddenly he would turn red as -blood, and his eyes would become inflamed.” - -In short, as is usually the case with persons inclining to dementia, his -body became enormous, and his eyes were often bloodshot, while his face -acquired an entirely brutal cast of expression. His mind was much less -active, and his temper fundamentally changed, while the fickleness, -restlessness, and oddity, which had served to excite great admiration -for him in the mind of the populace, now had so degenerated as to -redound to his injury. Those who saw most of him said that he changed -his mind, as well as his expression of face, from one minute to the -next, and was never constant to the same thought for a quarter of an -hour together. Thus he began the siege of Palestrina, and then abandoned -it; he would appoint a skilful commander, and then cashier him. - -In later times, when he was forced to impose taxes on wine and salt, -even for the poor, he restrained his luxurious tendencies, and became -apparently temperate; but his other evil propensities did not change. To -the intermittent generosity of which he had given proofs in his early -period succeeded a cold selfishness, which excited horror even in that -cruel age--when, for instance, he had Fra Monreale beheaded, for not -repaying a sum of money which Rienzi had lent him. His friend Pandolfo -Pandolfini, respected by all Rome as the model of an honourable man, was -beheaded by him, without the shadow of a reason, merely from envy of his -reputation. Thus he sacrificed, or despoiled of their property, the best -men in the country, and passed from the extreme of timidity to that of -ferocity. - -He was seen to laugh and weep almost at the same time, and in both cases -without sufficient cause; his paroxysms of joy were followed by sighs -and tears. - -But it is chiefly in his letters that the whole of his genius and of his -madness is revealed. - -The letters of Cola da Rienzi were sought for and collected with -singular curiosity, as though (Petrarch several times writes to him) -“they had fallen from the Antipodes, or the sphere of the moon.” Four -collections of his letters are extant--at Mantua, at Turin (twenty-two -closely written pages), at Paris, and at Florence (the last-named being -autographs). They have been published and republished by Gaye, De Sade, -Hobhouse, Hoxemio, Pelzel, and Papencordt,[411] and would by themselves -be sufficient material on which to base a diagnosis. - -In fact, there is not one of them which does not bear the impress, -either of a morbid vanity, or of those trivial repetitions and plays -upon words especially characteristic of the insane. - -The first point to note is their great abundance, in an age when very -little was written. - -When his residence in the Capitol was sacked, after his first flight, -what most surprised those who entered his private office was the mass of -letters which had been drafted and never sent. It was well known that -the numerous staff of clerks employed by him could not keep pace with -the amount of matter he dictated, and that he was continually sending -couriers not only to friendly republics, but to indifferent or hostile -potentates, like the King of France, who sent a jesting reply by an -archer--a functionary somewhat analogous to a modern policeman. Thus, -too, the lords of Ferrara, Mantua, and Padua returned him his letters. - -Add to this their style, their exaggerated length, the addition of -postscripts longer than the letter itself, and the singular signature, -richer in laudatory titles than was ever used except by Oriental -princes. - -These letters have, indeed, a flavour of their own, a vivacity breaking -loose from the restraints of the classical writers who served as his -models, an exuberant self-confidence which, at first sight, obliged the -reader to put faith in the falsehoods with which they swarmed. Nay, it -seems that--as happens with some lunatics, and some incorrigible -liars--he ended by himself believing in his own fictions. - -Leaving aside many strange blunders, surprising in a Latin scholar,[412] -and the prolixity already mentioned, without dwelling on the very -undiplomatic want of delicacy, present to a morbid extent, and all the -more surprising in a statesman of that age, when reserve was more -general than at present, one fact particularly strikes me--an inveterate -habit of punning, a symptom of extreme frivolity, which was certainly -not a characteristic of mediæval diplomacy. - -What man in his senses would, even in the depths of the Dark Ages, have -written as he did to Pope Clement, in the letter dated August 5, 1347?-- - - “The grace of the Holy Spirit having freed the Republic under my - rule, and my humble person having been, at the beginning of - _August_, promoted to the militia, there is attributed to me, as in - the signature, the name and title of _August_. - - “Given as above on the 5th of August, - - “HUMBLE CREATURE, - - “Candidate of the Holy Spirit, Nicolò the Severe and Clement, - Liberator of the City, Zealous for Italy, Lover of the World, who - kisses the feet of the blessed.” - -Note that, after all this signature, the letter goes on for three pages -more, on much more serious topics, which he had postponed to the pun on -“August.” - -In this respect, a clear proof of his insanity is to be found in the -letter which he wrote in the elation of his victory over the barons. Not -to dwell on the strange familiarity with the Deity which he shows, when -he writes “that God formed to war those fingers which had been trained -to the use of the pen” (whereas, as a matter of fact, he had no -knowledge whatever of the art of war), it is well to note that, among -his gravest charges against the Colonna was that of their having sacked -a church where _he had deposited his golden crown_. Still more strange -is the following claim to prophecy, addressed to the clergy--who, as -dealing in such matters, are likely to be most sceptical concerning -them: - -“We should not forget to tell you that, two days before these -occurrences, we had a vision of Pope Boniface, who foretold our triumph -over those tyrants. We made a report thereof in full season, and in the -presence of the assembled Romans, and going into St. Peter’s, to the -altar of St. Boniface, we presented to him a chalice and a veil. - -“The vision, at last, thanks to Heaven, was fulfilled, thanks to the -help of the Blessed Martin, His tribune.” (Here he forgets that, two -pages previously, in the same letter, he had attributed his victories to -St. Laurence and St. Stephen.) “As those traitors,” he continues, “had -plundered the pilgrims on the day of his festival, that Saint took -vengeance on them, by the hand of a _tribune_, _three_ days afterwards, -that is to say, on the day of _St. Columba_, who glorified the dove -(_colomba_) of our flag.” Note the puns in the above. - -He concludes with some of those postscripts which are so frequent in the -letters of monomaniacs, and are found in nearly all of his: - -“Given at the Capitol, on the very day of the victory--the 3rd of -November, on which day there perished six tyrants of the house of -Colonna, and none remained but the unhappy old man Stefano Colonna, who -is half dead. He is the seventh, and this is how Heaven was willing to -make the number of the slain Colonna equal the crowns (_sic_) of our -coronation,[413] and to the branches of the fruit-bearing tree which -recall the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.” - -Absolute insanity is here shown, both in the idea and the word, in which -he makes the Deity intervene to extinguish a family of heroes for the -sake of a sinister freak of language, in honour of the man who, a few -pages previously--with a hypocrisy soon belied by facts--had written, -“Consistently with our character, we were not willing to employ the -severity of the sword--however just--against those whom we might bring -back to grace without injury to freedom, justice, and peace.” - -Both comic and insane is the way in which, in another letter to Rinaldo -Orsini (Sept. 22, 1347), he tries to disguise, by a number of useless -fictions, the enormous error of which he had been guilty in setting at -liberty the nobles arrested shortly before. “We wish that Your Paternity -should know how, having judged certain nobles, lawfully suspected by the -people and by us, it pleased God that they should fall into our hands” -(We see, on the contrary, that he had expressly invited them). “We -caused them to be shut up in the dungeons of the Capitol; but, finally -(our scruples and suspicions having been removed), we made use of an -innocent artifice (_sic_) to reconcile them not only with ourselves, but -with God, wherefore we procured them the happy opportunity of making a -devout confession. It was on the 15th of September that we sent -confessors to each one of them, in prison, and as the latter were -ignorant of our good intentions, and believed that we were going to be -severe, they said to the nobles, ‘The Lord Tribune will condemn you to -death.’ Meanwhile the great bell of the Capitol tolled without ceasing -for the assembly, and thus the terrified nobles gave themselves up for -lost; and, in the expectation of death, confessed devoutly and with -tears.... I then made a speech in praise of them,” &c. - -Let the reader judge of the condition of the moral sense in a man who -could write thus. It should be noted, besides, that, diplomatically, an -excuse of this sort (especially in dealing with priests, who, being in -the trade, so to speak, would know its exact value), would not only be -useless, but even constitute a serious accusation. Nor is his conclusion -less strange, “Withal their hearts are so united to ours and to those of -the people, that this union must last for the good of our country; -because thus they see that we are impartial, and do not wish to be as -severe as we might be.” - -But his useless hypocrisies did not end there; the confusion of the -patricians probably suggested the order, already mentioned, that all -citizens were to confess and receive the communion at least once a year, -under pain of losing a third of their goods--half the forfeited property -to go to the parish church of the defendant, the other to the city. And -the notaries were obliged to act as spies for every testator. Now, -Rienzi, in a postscript to the above letter (and I repeat that I have -frequently observed in monomaniacs this fad of postscripts occurring at -the end of letters), gives notice of his new edict, adding, “It seemed -to us fitting that, as a second Augustus provides for the temporal -profit of the Republic, he should also seek to favour and promote its -spiritual welfare.” This, if one thinks about it, was a usurpation of -the special rights and duties of the pontiff, even according to the most -modern view of them, as also when he prescribed to the clergy special -ceremonies and ecclesiastical processions of his own invention, and -enacted decrees against the members of religious orders who should fail -to return to Rome. This, in fact, was one of the principal -accusations--and a just one--levelled against him at Prague and at -Avignon, and one which he only rebutted by false statements. - -Elsewhere he speaks of being inspired by the Holy Spirit, with a -confidence which would be altogether unintelligible except in a man who -was perfectly sincere, and therefore under the influence of -hallucination. - -A glance at other letters explains at once that the bath in the vase of -Constantine was for him what the tattooed marks on his forehead were to -Lazzaretti--one of those symbolic freaks to which the insane attach a -peculiar significance; in fact, a kind of imperial investiture. - -A long letter to Charles IV., written from prison in July, 1350, -dwelling on a supposed intrigue of his mother with the Emperor Henry -VII., bears, in subject-matter and style, the unmistakable impress of -insanity.[414] - -A little later (Aug. 15, 1350), we find him writing to the emperor -another letter full of senseless puns, in which he tells him, with -doubly absurd freaks of thought and language, how, in the idea that the -mother of Severinus Boethius was descended from the kings of Bohemia (!) -he had called Boethius the younger and himself, the _Severe_; and how he -had adopted from them the device of the seven stars--matters which could -neither interest the emperor nor be of advantage to himself, but have -all the characteristics of insanity. - -So also, when he wrote that he was persuaded by the prophecies of the -Majella hermits already mentioned, that his second exaltation should be -much more glorious than the first, as the sun long hidden by the clouds -appears more beautiful to the eye of the beholder: Perhaps the Lord, -justly indignant at the wicked and unheard-of murder of Rienzi’s -illustrious grandfather, Henry VII., and the losses in souls and bodies -suffered by the world during the Interregnum, had raised up Cola for the -advantage of Charles, chosen him to re-establish the empire, and -ordained that he should be _baptized in the Lateran_, in the Church of -the Baptist, and in the _bath of Constantine_, that he might be the -forerunner of the emperor, as John the Baptist was of Christ. Charles, -it is true, had said that the empire could only be restored by a -miracle; but was not this a miracle, that one poor man should be able to -succour the falling empire, as St. Francis had succoured the Church? Let -him awake, and gird on his sword--let him not count for anything the -revelation of the friars, since the whole Old and New Testaments were -full of revelations: he alone could become master of Rome. If he did not -do so at once, Charles would lose at least one hundred thousand gold -florins from the tax on salt and the other revenues of the city which -had been increased by the approach of the Jubilee.... Within a year and -a half, the pope should die, and many cardinals be slain.... In fifteen -years there should be but one shepherd and one faith, and the new pope, -the Emperor Charles, and Cola should be, as it were, a symbol of the -Trinity on earth. Charles should reign in the west, the Tribune in the -east. For the present, he was content with supporting the emperor in his -journey to Rome--he was willing to open the way for him with the Romans -and the other peoples of Italy, who would otherwise be averse to the -empire; so that Charles might come among them peaceably and without -bloodshed, and his arrival should not be the signal for mourning to the -city and the whole nation, as had that of former emperors. - -So far did he go, that the Archbishop of Prague wrote to him, “that he -wondered how the Tribune, who had done things which at first appeared to -come from God, could be so far from exercising the virtue of humility as -to consider his own elevation the work of the Holy Spirit, and to call -himself the candidate of the latter”--words which may well be noted by -those who see in his madness only the effect of the superstitions of the -period. - -The emperor replied, with much common sense, advising him to “cease from -ignorant hermits, who think themselves to be walking in the spirit of -humility, without being able even to resist their sins and save their -own souls, and who speak fantastically of knowing hidden things and -governing in the spirit all that is under heaven ...” and telling him -that, out of love to God and his neighbours, he has “caused thee to be -imprisoned as a sower of tares, and, withal, out of love for thine own -soul, to cure it.” - -Later on, he counsels him to “lay aside all these vagaries, and, -whatever his origin may have been, to remember that we are all God’s -creatures, sons of Adam, made out of the earth,” &c. A curious lesson in -democracy, given by a king of Bohemia to the ex-tribune of an Italian -republic! - -But all was useless, and when, after many vicissitudes, he once more -acquired a shadow of his former power--by the aid of money obtained by -sheer trickery--he announced the fact at Florence, in a pompous -proclamation, adding that “women, men, boys, priests, and lay-folk had -gone to meet him with palms and olive-branches, and trumpets, and cries -of welcome.” - -These speeches seemed so very extravagant that their genuineness has -been doubted by Zeffirino Re, on the ground of the extreme improbability -of Petrarch’s having defended him, or the emperor regarded him with -favour for a single moment, had he really entertained ideas so eccentric -and heretical. - -But that, however improbable, such is the fact is already evident _à -priori_ to any one who--even without examining these strange letters and -still stranger circulars--has observed the progressive development of -insanity in Cola’s career, and knows that it was just through his -unheard-of audacity that he triumphed, and that the Bohemians were not -so much scandalized as struck dumb by his eloquence,[415] and afterwards -astonished and deeply moved by his recantations. - -Moreover, these writings were refuted by the Bohemian bishops, in a -document which is still extant, and afterwards retracted by himself. -With a delicacy of which historians have not taken sufficient account, -they were not consigned in their entirety to the Papal Court along with -the person of the Tribune, whose condemnation, indeed, could bring -neither pleasure nor profit to the host who had been already forced by -political considerations to betray the confidence reposed in him. - -He remained, meanwhile, an isolated phenomenon, an enigma to historians, -since it was not so much history as the science of mental pathology -which could succeed in completely explaining him. That science has -pointed out to us in Rienzi all the characteristics of the monomaniac: -regular features and handwriting, exaggerated tendency to symbolism and -plays upon words--an activity disproportioned to his social position, -and original even to absurdity, which entirely exhausted itself in -writing--an exaggerated consciousness of his own personality, which at -first aided him with the populace, and supplied the want of tact and -practical ability, but afterwards led him into absurdities--a defective -moral sense--a calm marking the approach of dementia, which was only -disturbed by the abuse of alcohol, or by a spirited opposition.[416] - -_Campanella._--If Cola da Rienzi was a strange problem for historians -until resolved by the modern psychiatric studies on monomania, not less -strange has been the problem presented by Campanella, who, from being a -humble and disdained monk in a forgotten district of Calabria, claimed -to be a monarch and, as it were, a demi-god against the power of Spain -and of the Pope, and then suddenly became and died a zealot for both, -contradicting himself, even against his own advantage, certainly against -that of his fame. - -At last, it seems to me, the problem is approaching solution, after the -classical works of Baldacchino, of Spaventa, of Fiorentino, but, above -all, of Amabile, especially since Carlo Falletti[417] has passed those -powerful works through the alembic of his synthetic criticism and -removed from this strange medal the stains deposited by legends and -historical prejudices. - -“Campanella,” remarks Falletti, “with his badly formed skull, surmounted -by seven inequalities--hills, as he himself called them--possessed most -sensitive nerves, an acute intellect, and easily exalted emotions.” The -mystical education of the order to which he belonged completed the work -of nature; having entered a Dominican monastery at the age of fourteen, -he always lived outside the real world. He spent eight years in the -schools of Calabria amid disputes with his masters and fellow-pupils, -and then departed, almost fled, from Cosenza and went to Naples. But no -good fortune met him there. Soon after his arrival he chanced to speak -slightingly of excommunication. He was at once denounced, imprisoned, -taken to Rome, tried, and condemned. On leaving prison he decided to go -to Padua; on the way he was robbed of his manuscripts; three days after -reaching Padua he was accused of using violence against the General of -the Dominicans; hence a fresh imprisonment and fresh trial. Discharged -and set at liberty, he took part in public discussions, but the -doctrines he openly professed led to another trial and imprisonment. He -was only twenty-six, and had already spent three years in prison. - -At the age of twenty, in the monastery at Cosenza, Campanella had -associated with a certain Abramo, from whom he received lessons in -necromancy, and who predicted that he would one day be a king. This was -the starting-point of his wild and ambitious imaginations. It should be -added that when studying astrology, especially in 1597, he talked with -many astrologers, mathematicians, and prelates who all held that the end -of the world was approaching. Excited by their arguments, he gave -himself to the study of prophecy, seeking it in the Bible, the Fathers, -and the poets of antiquity; and in the symbol of the white horses and -the white-robed elders of the New Zion he saw the brothers of Saint -Dominic. Convinced that the prediction of the Holy Republic referred to -the Dominicans, he retired to Stilo. All the political and social -disorders of his time were for Campanella manifest signs; and to these -were added earthquakes, famines, floods, and comets. Evidently the -prophecies were being fulfilled. No doubt 1600 was the fatal year which -would indicate the beginning of great changes and revolutions. -Campanella spread the prophecies, and prepared the ground for the Holy -Republic. There can be no question that these predictions and -preparations led to a real rebellion, because they fitted in with the -miserable condition of Calabria. Such prophecies pleased many who -cherished desires of revenge. In the ears of these exasperated people -Campanella’s words sounded like a call to rebellion. Maurizio di -Rinaldi, the leader of a band, so understood it, as did other bandits. -Rinaldi cared little for religious reforms, and knew nothing of what the -seven seals of the Apocalypse signified. He understood, however, that -his arm was needed, and persuaded that it was not possible to fight -against Spain with writings and words and the weapons of brigands, he -sought the aid of the Turks. He was the real rebel, the real martyr in -the liberation of Calabria from subjection to Spain. Of all the chief -persons concerned in this disturbance he alone confessed himself a -rebel; the others either denied the existence of a rebellion or -professed their innocence. Seeing the old world doubled by the discovery -of new lands, and Europe turned upside down by wars, Campanella thought -of a universal monarchy with the Pope and himself for king and pastor. - -Turn to his Utopia of the City of the Sun, in which all are educated in -common. All the Solarians call each other brother; they are all sons of -the great Father adored on the summit of the mountain on which the city -is built. There is not, and cannot be, among them any selfishness. All -consider the common good, and, under the guidance of the priest and -head, live happily together; since all are instructed, and knowledge is -the foundation of every honour, there is a noble strife of -intelligence. The Solarian citizens have made wonderful progress in the -arts and sciences. They have ships that plough the seas without sails -and without oars; and cars that are propelled by the force of the wind; -they have discovered how to fly, and they are inventing instruments -which will reveal new stars. They know that the world is a great animal -in whose body we live, that the sea is produced by the sweat of the -earth, and that all the stars move. They practise perpetual adoration, -offer up bloodless sacrifices, and reverence, but do not worship, the -sun and the stars. - -All this simplicity, happiness, and prosperity are due in the first -place to education and to communism, and in the second place to the -magistrates who are all priests. The spiritual and temporal head is -Hoch, who is assisted by Pom, Sim, and Mor. Pom has charge of all that -refers to war; Sim presides over the arts, industries, and instruction; -Mor directs human generation and the education of children; he regulates -the sexual relationships in order to produce healthy and robust -offspring, only permitting the strong to procreate; the rest are allowed -to sacrifice to the terrestrial Venus after fecundation has been -ascertained. - -The City of the Sun is not in favour of war, but does not refuse to -fight; in battle her citizens are invincible, because they fight in -defence of their country, natural law, justice, and religion. - -The felicity of the City of the Sun rested, therefore, on a community of -goods, of women, of pleasures, and of knowledge; on wholesome -generation, on sacerdotal government, and on simplicity in religion. -Campanella aimed at founding in Calabria a _fac-simile_ of the City of -the Sun. The whole of his trial for heresy showed that he wished to -reform religion and to render it more in harmony with human nature; by -his own confession it is proved that he wished to establish a sacerdotal -government. Nauder affirms, in fact, that he aimed at becoming King of -Calabria in order to extend his authority thence over the whole world. -Campanella’s mind was in such a condition that it may be held, with -Amabile, that he saw the possibility of founding a republic similar to -that described in the City of the Sun. Naturally the head of this -little Holy Republic, the Hoch of the City of the Sun, would be a -philosopher, and, therefore, himself. All nations, observing the -felicity enjoyed by the citizens of the New Sion, would accept the new -law, and thus Campanella would become the monarch and guide of the -world. - -Only a lunatic would consider it possible to undertake the -reorganization of society at a stroke, _ab imis fundamentis_, changing -the form of government, and overturning the most ancient customs, -institutions, laws, and traditions. But the madness diminishes if this -reorganization is the consequence of a profound and general upheaval, -like that proclaimed by the prophets for the end of the world. In his -writings, certainly, we find puerilities which go to prove his insanity; -if he had been an ordinary man they would not be remarkable; they would -harmonize with the common prejudices of the day; but he had broken with -theology, and had undertaken to examine its _ratio_; he had caught a -glimpse of the modern state, and he proposed reforms which for his time -were most liberal and remarkable. Thus he writes: “Law is the consent of -all, written and promulgated for the common good” (_A. pol._, 32). “The -laws should establish equality” (_Ibid._ 40). “The laws should be such -that the people can obey them with love and fear” (_Mon. di Spagna_, c. -xi.). “Heavy taxes should be levied on articles that are not necessary -and are of luxury, and light ones on necessaries” (B. ii. doc. 197, p. -91). “There should be unity of government” (_Mon. di Spagna_, c. xii.). -“The barons should be deprived of the _jus carcerandi_” (_Ibid._ c. -xiv.). “They should be deprived of fortresses” (_Ibid._); a national -army should be established; education should be free (_Ibid._); medical -aid should be gratuitous (B. ii. doc. 97, p. 82). In fact, Campanella -proposed what Sully, Richelieu, Colbert, and Louis XIV. did for the -French nation. - -Now when a man who reasons so profoundly fails to see the absurdity and -impossibility of becoming, with a few followers in a remote -country-side, the monarch and reformer of the whole world, he can only -be insane. And so he was judged by the more sagacious among his -contemporaries. Thus Father Giacinto, the confidant of Richelieu, wrote: -“No one believes so easily any story that is told him, and examines -things that he believes to be _de facto_ with less judgment.” And again: -“I shall always hold him for a man wilder than a fly, and less sensible -in worldly affairs than a child.” Peirescio called him “_bon homme_.” - -Following human intellect, Campanella reached Pantheism, the soul of -things, the transformation of animate and inanimate beings, veneration -of the sun, that “beneficent star, living temple, statue and venerable -face of the true God.” Stricken by adversity, not assisted by his god, -he returned to Catholicism, to the angels and miracles, to the future -life which promises enjoyments which cannot be had on earth, and the -restoration of the beloved lost. - -Like all madmen, incapable of moderation he became furiously intolerant; -hence his ferocious suggestions for oppressing the Protestants, and the -title which he took of emissary of Christ or of the Most High. He -imagined that his works would serve to confute the Protestants, wrote -and disputed against Lutherans and Calvinists, wished to found colleges -of priests for the diffusion of Catholicism, gave advice to those who -would none of it for overthrowing heresy and propagating the true faith. -In short, he ended as he had begun, in a delirious dream of religious -ambition, which only varied in subject, going from one pole to the -opposite. - -But, I repeat, this phenomenon of contradiction, and of the passage from -opposite excesses of feeling, is one of the most marked characters of -monomania, and especially of religious monomania. I remember nuns of -whom I had charge at the asylum at Pesaro, who on first becoming insane -were violent and blasphemous, and later on in the course of their -madness, apostles of Christianity; and thus it is easy to see that the -miserly may, under the influence of insanity, develop extraordinary -prodigality. We have seen Lazzaretti, a drunkard and a blasphemer, -become austere and pious under the influence of insanity; and then from -being a fanatical Papist becoming and dying an Anti-Papist, when he -found himself repulsed by the Vatican. Recently De Nino, in his book -_Il Messia degli Abruzzi_, has described a certain priest, become a -Messiah, who, while insane, attempted reforms, at all events in rites, -and who, during the last months of his life, like Campanella, starved -himself in penitence for his revolutionary sins, and in spite of fasts -and penances believed that he was damned. - -_San Juan de Dios._--Juan Ciudad was born on March 8, 1495, in the town -of Montemor-o-Novo, in Portugal.[418] He seems to have been tormented by -the spirit of adventure from his childhood, as he left his father’s -house at the age of eight. A priest took him as far as Oropesa, where he -entered the service of a Frenchman in the capacity of shepherd. After -some years he became tired of this work, and, being tall and strong, -enlisted as a soldier. - -The life he led in the army cannot be described; the officers set the -example, and plundered as greedily as the privates. One of the former -entrusted his share of the booty to Juan, who either lost or stole it. -He was condemned to death, and was just going to be hanged, when a -superior officer, passing by, granted him his life, but dismissed him -from the army. He then returned to Oropesa, and resumed his former -position. Towards 1528, he enlisted a second time, and marched under the -orders of the Count of Oropesa. When the war was over, he returned to -Montemor-o-Novo, to see his parents; but he lost his memory, and forgot -his father’s name. He then left the place, and went to Ayamonte in -Andalusia, where he became a shepherd. It was there that he believed -himself to have been called, and, later on, to have had a dream in which -he dedicated himself to God and to the poor. - -Those were the days when the Barbary pirates flourished, making descents -on ill-defended countries, and kidnapping their inhabitants, whom they -sold at Fez, Algiers, and Tunis. Two religious orders had made it their -special task to collect alms for the ransom of the Catholics who were -being sold in the slave-market. - -It seems that Juan Ciudad had the intention of consecrating himself to -this sacred duty. He embarked for Ceuta, where he entered the service of -an exiled and ruined Portuguese family, whom, it is said, he supported -by his labour as an artizan. After a time, he grew weary of this life; -he left his master and sailed for Gibraltar, where he established a -small trade in relics and other sacred objects. - -The sale of these having brought him some money, he left Gibraltar and -settled at Granada, where he opened a shop. He was then aged 43, and was -just about to undergo that mental convulsion which determined his -vocation. - -On the 20th of January, 1539, after hearing a sermon by Juan d’Avila, he -was seized with a fit of frantic devotion. He confessed his sins in a -loud voice, rolled in the dust, pulled out the hair of his head, tore -his clothes, and rushed through the streets of Granada, imploring the -mercy of God, and followed by boys shouting after him as a madman. He -entered his library, destroyed all the secular books in his possession, -gave away the sacred ones, distributed his furniture and clothes to any -one who was willing to have them, and remained in his shirt, beating his -breast and calling on every one to pray for him. The crowd followed him -noisily as far as the cathedral, where, half-naked, he again began his -vociferations and bursts of despair. The preacher, Juan d’Avila, having -been informed of the conversion occasioned by his words, listened to the -poor man’s confession, consoled him, and gave him advice, which does not -appear to have had much effect, since, on leaving him, Ciudad rolled -himself on a dung-heap, proclaiming his sins in a loud voice. The crowd -amused themselves by hissing him, throwing stones and mud, and otherwise -maltreating him. Some, however, took pity on him, and conducted him to -the place set apart for the insane in the Royal Hospital. He was -subjected to the treatment then in vogue, that is, he was bound and -scourged, in order to deliver him from the evil spirit supposed to -possess him. - -This attack of mania appears to have been one of great violence. In -general, with regard to mental maladies, the more excessive the -alienation, the more easily it ceases. It is said that, in the midst of -the blows inflicted on him, he took avow “to receive poor madmen, and -treat them as is fitting.” - -When the nervous exacerbation was calmed, he employed himself in -attending on the sick, and, later on, obtained his liberty, and a -certificate attesting his sanity. Having made a vow to go on pilgrimage -to the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, he started barefoot, without a -farthing, in the middle of winter. On his way through the forests and -across the moors, he picked up dry sticks and made them into a faggot, -which, when he reached an inhabited place, he gave in exchange for a -little food and a night’s lodging. - -It is said that, when he reached Guadalupe, he had a vision which -exercised a decisive influence on him. The Virgin appeared to him, and -gave him the Child Jesus, naked, with clothes to cover him. This was to -show him that he ought to have pity on the weak, shelter the destitute, -and clothe the poor--at least such was his interpretation. His mission -dates from that day, and he executed it with so much the more zeal, as -he believed it to have been laid upon him by the Virgin whom he adored. - -Dressed in a white garment, which an Hieronymite monk had given him, -with a wallet on his back, and a pilgrim’s staff in his hand, he -returned to Oropesa, and went to lodge in the poor-house. - -The misery of the inmates so touched him, that he went outside the city, -begged alms for them, and gave them all that he received. Later on, he -took to selling faggots in the public square, gave to the poor and sick -all that he gained, and slept in stables, through the charity of their -owners. - -One day, having seen a notice posted up in the square, “House to let for -the poor,” he conceived the idea of making it into an asylum. Having -begged money from the rich, with which he bought mats, blankets, and -utensils, he received and sheltered forty-six sick and crippled paupers. -In order to maintain them, he went about the streets at the dinner hour, -to collect from the rich the remnants of their meals, crying, “Do good, -my brethren; it will return in blessing to yourselves.” - -Juan de Dios’ example provoked emulation; several men offered themselves -to help him. He instructed them in their new duties, and thus became the -head of a group, which, by multiplying, has become the great -congregation now in existence. - -The resources now put at his disposal permitted him to treat the sick, -“as is fitting.” - -It is worthy of attention that Juan de Dios was a reformer in the manner -of treating the sick, only placing one patient in each bed. He was the -first to divide the sick into classes--he was, in short, the creator of -the modern hospital, and the founder of casual wards; for he opened, in -connection with his hospital, a house where the homeless poor and -travellers without money could sleep. - -It was at this period that he took the name of Juan de Dios. The good -done by him did not remain unknown, and the name of Juan de Dios, father -of the poor, was spread abroad through Spain. Profiting by this, he made -a journey as far as Granada, and returned with abundant contributions. - -He was exhausted by hard work and exposure rather than by years. He -treated himself with exaggerated austerity--always travelling on foot -without shoes, hat, or linen--only covered with a single grey garment; -he fasted with extreme frequency, and imposed on himself the most trying -exertions. He would rush through a burning house to save the sick, he -often threw himself into the water to save children; he may be said to -have died of the hardships he endured. - -During his last days, he sent for Antonio Martin, his earliest disciple, -and recommended the work to his care. Feeling the approach of death, he -left his bed to pray, and died on his knees. - -He was born on March 8, 1495, and died on Saturday, March 8, 1550. - -He had a splendid funeral; sick men touched the bier in the hope of -being healed; the sheet which covered the corpse was torn to pieces, and -each rag became a relic. He was canonised on September 21, 1630, by -Urban VIII., and is now known as San Juan de Dios.[419] - -_Prosper Enfantin._--Prosper Enfantin, though an engineer, a railway -director, and otherwise connected with such rational and prosaic -subjects as mathematics, nevertheless, in 1850, believed himself to be, -and in fact was, the head of a new religion, a variation of that of -Saint Simon. He had a handsome face and large forehead of an Olympian -cast; he was very kind-hearted, but profoundly convinced of his own -infallibility on all subjects--on industrial and philosophical -questions--on painting as well as on cooking. He had what, in the -peculiar language of monomaniacs, he called _circumferential_ ideas, in -which every new fact found, in its pre-established place, the proper -solution. The new religion was to equalize men and women, and to make -the language of finance and industry poetical. He himself represented -the Father, and was always hoping to find the Mother, the free woman, -the Eve,--a woman, reasoning like man, who, knowing the needs and -capabilities of women, would make the confession of her sex without -restriction, so as to furnish the elements for a declaration of the -rights and duties of women. But the right woman was never found, for -Madame de Staël and George Sand, to whom he and his friends first -turned, laughed at them; they sought her in the East, at Constantinople, -and found, instead, a prison! But for all that, he never lost his -illusion. He used to say that only great men could found a new religion. - -His goodness was exquisite; he constantly sacrificed himself for his -followers--his sons, as he called them. These wore at one time, like -certain monomaniacs, a symbolical uniform--white trousers to represent -_love_, red waist-coat for _work_, and blue coat for _faith_. This -signified that his religion was founded on love, strengthened the heart -with work, and was wholly encompassed by faith. Every one was to have -his name written on his shirt-front, and to wear, in addition, a collar -adorned with triangles, and a semi-circle which was to become a circle -as soon as the Mother, the Eve aforesaid, had been found. - -These are the symbols usual with the monomaniac and the mattoid. - -This is seen in their programmes, in which they announced--in type of -various sizes--that: “Man recalls the Past, Woman represents the -Future,--the two united see the present.” Yet, in spite of all this, he -foresaw--and even tried to undertake--the Suez Canal, and counted among -his followers such men as Chevalier, Lambert, and Jourdan.[420] - -_Lazzaretti._--An example the more curious as well as authentic, as it -has manifested itself in recent years, under the eyes of all, and has -arrived at the dignity of an historic event, is the case of David -Lazzaretti.[421] - -[Illustration: David Lazzaretti] - -This man was born at Arcidosso, in 1834. His father, a carter, appears -to have been given to drink, but was of great strength. He had some -relatives who were suicidal, and others insane; one, in particular, died -a religious maniac, and believed himself to be the Eternal Father. -Lazzaretti’s six brothers were all strong men, of gigantic stature, -ranging from 1·90 to 1·95 m. in height (which, however, is not uncommon -in that part of the country), of quick wits and tenacious memory. - -David was distinguished from the rest by his superior stature, by the -distinction and regularity of his features, by greater intelligence, by -the large size of his head, which was dolichocephalic in form, and by -his eyes, which some found fascinating, though to many (says the -advocate Pugno) they seemed to have the character of possession and of -insanity. It is asserted that he was hypospadic and perhaps impotent in -his youth--anomalies of no slight importance, if we remember that Morel -and, especially, Legrand du Saulle[422] have often discovered them in -hereditary madmen. - -Even from his childhood, he showed those contradictions, those -tendencies to extremes in character, which are frequent precursors of -insanity. Thus, when a boy he wished to become a monk; later on, after -he had taken to his father’s trade, he began to lead an irregular life, -and gave himself up to alcoholic intemperance. In the meantime, however, -he cultivated his mind by a course of reading which was singular for a -man in his position, including Dante and Tasso; and at fifteen he was -called “Thousand Ideas” from the strange songs he invented,[423] though -he could never succeed in learning the rules of grammar. He was -quarrelsome, used the foulest language, and was dreaded by all, so much -so that, one day, on the occasion of a festival, unarmed and followed -only by his brothers, he put to flight the entire population of Castel -del Piano. Yet he was easily excited by a speech, a poem, a sermon, a -play--anything that appeared noble and great. He had an extreme -veneration for Christ and Mahomet, whom he used to call the two greatest -men that had ever appeared in the world. - -According to his own confessions, he had, at the age of fourteen, -various hallucinations of the same kind as those which proved so fatal -to him in 1878. It is certain, besides, that, at one time in his youth, -he had a strong sympathy for a Jewess of Pittigliano, awakened by the -eloquence with which she defended her religion. Yet at that time he was -accustomed to say that there were three things he abhorred--women, -churches, and dancing. - -In 1859, at twenty-five, he enlisted as a volunteer in the cavalry; and -in 1860, he took part in Cialdini’s campaign, but rather as an officer’s -servant than as a soldier. Before starting, he wrote a patriotic hymn, -which was sent to Brofferio, and surprised him by the novelty of its -thoughts and the beauty of some of the verses, contrasting strangely -with the roughness of the phraseology, and the numerous grammatical -errors. - -After this, he again returned to his trade as a carter, and at the same -time to his habits of debauchery and foul language. He also rejoined his -wife, whom he had married three years previously, and for whom he felt a -poetic affection which he carried so far as to write love-songs to her. -Here, again, his ambitious ideas reappeared, and induced him anew, -though so uncultivated, to seek fame through his verses and tragedies, -which read like burlesques. - -Gradually, his fantastic delusions took another direction. In 1867, at -thirty-three, he had--whether as an effect of drink, or of political -excitement--a return of the religious hallucinations of 1848, in a more -marked form than previously. One day he disappeared, in consequence of a -vision of the Madonna, who had commanded him to go to Rome, and remind -the Pope (who at first refused to receive him, but afterwards treated -him with courtesy, though, it is said, not without advising him to try -the remedy of a good shower-bath) of his divine mission. He then went to -the hermitage of Montorio Romano, in the Sabine mountains, inhabited by -a Prussian monk named Ignazio Micus. The latter kept him with him for -three months in the “Grotto of the Blessed Amadeus,” directing him in -his theological studies. - -It is very probable--though on this point we can only conjecture, as all -direct evidence is wanting--that this monk assisted him to make the -tattoo-marks on his forehead, which he claimed to have received from the -hand of St. Peter, and which he hid under a lock of hair from the gaze -of the profane, showing them only to true believers. - -This tattooing, according to the testimony of medical men, consists of -an irregular parallelogram, on the upper side of which are thirteen -dots, disposed in the form of a cross. To this mark, and to two others -which he afterwards produced on himself, on the deltoid muscle and the -inside of the leg, he attributed--through a tendency common among the -insane--a strange and mysterious significance, as seals of a special -covenant with God. - -[Illustration: - - . - . -| . | -|. . . . . . . | -| . | -| . | -| . | -|______________|] - -From that moment a complete change took place in him, such as is often -observed in the insane.[424] From being quarrelsome, blasphemous, and -intemperate, he became tractable, gentle, and abstemious to the point of -living on bread and water in Sabina, and, in the _tempora_ on the -mountains, on herbs with salt and vinegar. At other times he had no -other food but polenta, or _soupe-maigre_, or bread with onions or -garlic. On the island of Monte Cristo, in 1870, he lived for over a -month on six loaves, garnished with a few herbs;[425] and in the French -monastery, he got through several days on two potatoes a day. What must -have appeared still more strange, and surprised even cultured minds, was -the fact that the chaotic and burlesque writer became sometimes elegant, -always effective--full of vigorous images supplied by a piety comparable -alone to that of the early Christians. - -This, in fact, struck the clergy of the district, who, rightly seeing -in him a repetition of the ancient prophets, took him seriously, all the -more that, according to their usual custom, they perceived the means of -making a profit out of him and getting a church rebuilt. - -The people, already justly astonished at his changed ways of life, no -less than by his tattooings, his inspired speech, his long neglected -beard and grave bearing, rushed in masses to hear him, encouraged by the -priests. - -A procession was then organized, in which Lazzaretti, accompanied by -priests and by some of the most influential among the laity, marched to -Arcidosso, Roccalbegna, Castel del Piano, Pian Castagnaio, Cinigiano, -and Santafiora. In all these places he was received with rejoicings by -the people on their knees; and the parish priests kissed his face and -his hands and even his feet. The construction of the church was begun, -and contributions to the building fund flowed in abundantly. But though -numerous, the amounts were small, the mountaineers being unable to give -much. The notion was then suggested of employing the labour of their -arms. - -The site of the church had been selected not far from Arcidosso--about a -hundred paces from the village, at the spot called _La Croce dei -Canzacchi_, where, by a strange fatality, he was to receive his -death-shot. - -The faithful assembled by thousands to begin the building. Men, women -and children were employed in carrying fascines, beams of wood, and -stones. But, unfortunately, architecture, like grammar, has rules; and -in carrying them out prophetic inspiration is of little use without -training. Thus, as Lazzaretti’s verses remained lame, so the materials -collected with so much labour remained a useless heap, like the tower -which was to reach to heaven, and never became more than a pile of -stones. - -In January, 1870, he founded the “Society of the Holy League,” a mutual -assistance society which he called the symbol of charity. In March of -the same year, after having assembled his followers at a Last Supper, he -set out, accompanied by Raffaello and Giuseppe Vichi, for the island of -Monte Cristo, where he remained for some months, writing epistles, -prophecies, and sermons. He then returned to Montelabro, where he wrote -down the visions or prophetic inspirations which he had, and where he -was arrested for sedition (April 27th). After his liberation,[426] he -founded a society to which he gave the name of “Christian Families.” -This was considered, very erroneously, as a proof of continued fraud; -and he was arrested, but discharged, through the efforts of the advocate -Salvi, after seven months’ imprisonment. - -In 1873, Lazzaretti, in obedience to other divine commands, started on a -journey, passing through Rome, Naples, and Turin, whence he proceeded to -the Chartreuse at Grenoble. Here he wrote the Rules and Discipline of -the Order of Penitent Hermits, invented a system of cipher, with a -numerical alphabet, and dictated the “Book of the Heavenly Flowers,” in -which it is written that “The great man shall descend from the -mountains, followed by a little band of mountain burghers.” To which are -added the visions, dreams, and divine commands which he believed himself -to have received in that place. - -On his return to Montelabro he found an immense crowd, attracted both by -devotion and curiosity, encamped on the summit of the mountain, to whom -he addressed a sermon on the text, “God sees us, judges us, condemns -us.” For this he was denounced to the authorities as tending to -overthrow the government and promote civil war. - -In the night of Nov. 19, 1874, he was arrested a second time, and -brought before the court at Rieti. This time the authorities were -desirous of obtaining the opinion of non-specialist experts, who, with -inexplicable want of perception, pronounced him to be of sound mind and -a cunning knave.[427] Thus, in spite of his strange publications and his -tattoo marks, he was condemned to fifteen months’ imprisonment, and one -year of police supervision, for fraud and vagabondage. - -The sentence, however, was referred to the Court of Appeal at Perugia; -and on the 2nd of August, 1875, he was allowed to return to Montelabro, -where he reconstituted his society, and placed the priest Imperiuzzi at -the head of it. His health had suffered in prison, and for this -reason--perhaps, also, to avoid new arrests, and to enjoy the glory of -easy martyrdom among the Legitimist fanatics--he went to France in -October. Being mysteriously carried, as he expresses it, by the Divine -power, into the environs of a town in Burgundy, he produced a book, -which with good reason he calls “mysterious,” entitled “My Wrestling -with God,” or “The Book of the Seven Seals, with the description and -nature of the Seven Eternal Cities”--a mixture of Genesis and -Revelation, with sentences and rhapsodies entirely of an insane -character. He also wrote a manifesto addressed to all the princes of -Christendom, in which he calls himself the great Monarch, and invites -them to make alliance with him, for, “at an unexpected time the end of -the world shall be manifested to the Latin nation in a way quite opposed -to human pride.” In the same document he declares himself Leader, -Master, Judge, and Prince over all the potentates of earth. These -writings were copied for him by the priest Imperiuzzi, who corrected the -most conspicuous mistakes; and many of them attained not only the -undeserved honour of appearing in print, but also that of being -translated into French, by the aid of M. Léon du Vachat, and various -Italian and foreign reactionaries, who had taken Lazzaretti seriously. - -However, a short time after, he was so far carried away by delirium as -to begin inveighing against the corruptions of the priesthood and the -practice of auricular confession, for which he wished to substitute a -public one. Thereupon the Holy See declared his doctrines false and his -writings subversive, and the same man who had formerly written a -work[428] in favour of the Pope, now wrote, and despatched on May 14, -1878, an exhortation addressed to his brethren of the Order of Hermits, -against Papal idolatry, and the beast of the seven heads. After all -this, with the usual contradictoriness of the insane, he went to Rome -to lay aside his symbolic seal and his rod, and retracted before the -Holy Office; yet, afterwards, returning to Montelabro, he continued to -deliver addresses against the Catholic Church, which, he said, had -become a shopkeeping church, and against the _priests, true atheists in -practice, who, not believing themselves, profit by the belief of -others_. Preaching the Holy Reformation, and declaring himself the Man -of Mystery, the New Christ, Leader and Avenger, he exhorted believers to -separate themselves from the world, and prove their separation by -abstaining from food and from sexual intercourse, even in the case of -married persons, who, however, if they indulged, were required to pray -for at least two hours, naked, outside their bed, before the act. He -issued paper money for considerable sums, in proportion to the means at -the disposal of the community, _i.e._, up to 104,000 francs; but it -should be noted that this was absolutely useless, being kept shut up in -a closed vase. This idea savours unmistakably of insanity. - -After announcing a great miracle, he caused to be prepared, with a part -of the money collected, banners and garments for the members, -embroidered with the animals which had appeared to him in his -hallucinations--all of strange and grotesque shapes. He had a richer one -made for himself, and, for the rank and file, a square piece of stuff to -wear on the breast, which showed a cross, with two C’s reversed, ↄ † C, -the usual emblem of the association. - -In August, 1878, he assembled a larger number than ever, and, having -prescribed prayers and fasts for three days and three nights, delivered -addresses, some of which were public, others private and reserved for -believers (who were divided into the various classes of Priest-Hermits, -Penitentiary Hermits, Penitent Hermits, and simple associations of the -Holy League and Christian Brotherhood) and caused the so-called -Confession of Amendment to be made on the 14th, 15th, and 16th August. -On the 17th, the great banner with the inscription, “The Republic is the -Kingdom of God,” was raised on the tower. Then, having assembled all the -members at the foot of a cross, erected for the purpose, the Prophet -administered the solemn oath of fidelity and obedience. At this point, -one of David’s brothers tried to persuade him to renounce his perilous -enterprise, but in vain; for, on the contrary, he replied to those who -pointed out the possibility of a conflict, “He would, on the following -day, show them a miracle to prove that he was sent from God in the form -of Christ, a judge and leader, and therefore invulnerable, and that -every power on earth must yield to his will; a sign from his rod of -command was enough to annihilate all the forces of those who dared -oppose him.” A member having remarked on the opposition of the -government, he added that “he would ward off the balls with his hands, -and render harmless the weapons directed against himself and his -faithful followers; and the Government Carbineers themselves would act -as a guard of honour to them.” More and more intoxicated with his -delirium, he wrote in all seriousness to the Delegate of Public -Safety--to whom he had already shown the preparations, and, later on, -given a half-promise to countermand the procession--“That he was no -longer able to do so, having received superior orders to the contrary -from God Himself.” He threatened unbelievers with the Divine wrath, if, -through want of faith, they rebelled against his will. - -With such intentions, on the morning of August 18th, he set out from -Montelabro at the head of an immense crowd, going down towards -Arcidosso. He was dressed in a royal cloak of purple embroidered with -gold ornaments, and crowned with a kind of tiara surmounted by a crest -adorned with plumes; and he held in his hand the staff which he called -his rod of command. His principal associates were dressed, less richly -than himself, in strangely-fashioned robes of various colours, according -to their position in the hierarchy of the Holy League. The ordinary -members were dressed in their every-day clothes, without other mark of -distinction than the emblematic breastplate previously described. Seven -of the graduates of the Brotherhood carried as many banners with the -motto, “The Republic is the Kingdom of God.” They sang the Davidian -hymn, each stanza of which ended with the refrain, “Eternal is the -Republic,” &c. It is needless to relate what took place in those last -hours. The man who had shortly before called himself the King of kings, -and believed himself invulnerable, fell, struck by a shot fired by the -orders, perhaps by the hand, of a delegate who had many a time been his -guest. It appears that he exclaimed as he fell, under the influence of a -last delusion, “The victory is ours!” - -It is certain that the procession he had arranged was not only unarmed, -but appeared to be in every way calculated to turn out perfectly -harmless. Nocito has well remarked that an examination of the strange -emblematic properties of the League proved beyond all doubt that the -Government had mistaken a monomaniac for a rebel. - -He took his stand on that passage of the Nicene Creed, which states that -Christ rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of the Father, -“Whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Having waited in -vain for the appearance of Christ, he came to believe that this part -must be reserved for him. Christ had twelve apostles, therefore he -wished to have twelve. Christ had included St. Peter among the number, -and Lazzaretti also determined to have a St. Peter, who was -distinguished by the badge of a pair of crossed keys on his breast. In -imitation of the forty days’ fast, Lazzaretti fasted in mid-winter, in -the island of Monte Cristo, and there received communications from God -amid the noise of the tempest, the crash of thunders, and the shaking of -the whole island. There, too, he held a sort of Last Supper with his -disciples, on January 15, 1870, in the course of which he said, “Thus it -has pleased Him who directs me in all my works. Know that this supper -carries with it the greatest of mysteries; think that you are in a place -which God has chosen for His dwelling--or, to speak more correctly, for -His adoration. Here, here, not far from us, on this soil, shall be -raised marvellous pyramids in honour of His most Holy Name, and the said -pyramids shall be an oracle of the Divine Majesty.” - -To say the truth, he did not, at this supper, institute any sacrament. -But that nothing might be wanting in his mad idea of imitating Jesus -Christ, he evolved a sacrament of his own--that of the Confession of -Amendment--at bottom a slight variation of auricular confession. - -All this, however, was not sufficient. David Lazzaretti was determined -to have his _transfiguration_ and his _earthquake_, and promised them -for August 18, 1878. - -When the surgeon was hesitating to operate on one of his sons for -calculus, he took the knife out of his hand, and performed the -operation. The boy died under it, but Lazzaretti, quite undisturbed, -kept on repeating, “The son of David cannot die.” - -At the _post-mortem_ examination, a second tattoo mark was discovered on -his body. This was the usual cross, placed inside a reversed tiara. His -brothers, questioned on the subject, replied that he had had a golden -seal made in France, which he called the _imperial seal_, and that after -immersing it in boiling oil, he had branded, first his own flesh, and -then that of his sons and his wife. With this impression (which is, in -fact, a convincing proof of the insensibility to pain peculiar to the -insane, and of their tendency to express their eccentric ideas by means -of figures and symbols) he claimed to leave a visible sign of the -descent which, in common with all his family, he boasted from the -Emperor Constantine. - -However, not satisfied with descent from a royal race, he also wanted to -rule the world in his own person, though afterwards he was willing to -content himself with the creation of a prince whom he would invest with -it. In a manifesto addressed “to all Christian princes,” he makes the -following proclamation:-- - -“I address myself to all the princes of Christendom--Catholics, -schismatics, or heretics--provided only they have been baptized. It -matters little whether or not they have been invested with power or the -government of nations, so long as they are sprung from royal blood. I -call them all, and the first one who shall present himself to me, who is -not under twenty years of age, or over fifty, and has no bodily -imperfection, I constitute him king in my stead.” - -The strange thing is, that he was taken at his word by the Comte de -Chambord, who sent an embassy to him. - -“I have need,” he continued, “of a Christian alliance. I am decided, -to-day, to hasten this great enterprise; and if they (the Christian -princes) do not come to me within the fixed time of three years, from -the date of publication of this programme, I will leave Europe and go to -the unbelieving nations to do with them what I have not been able to do -with Christians. - -“But in that case, woe to all of you, princes of Christendom. Ye shall -be punished by the seven heads of the great Antichrist, which shall -arise in the midst of Europe, and, above all, by a youth, who, after my -departure, shall advance from the regions of the north towards Central -France, and shall pretend to be that which _I myself_ am.” - -From henceforward, there appears in David Lazzaretti, the fixed idea of -being the King of kings and Prince of all princes. To the head of the -municipal body of Arcidosso, who would not obey him, he said, “I am the -King of kings, the Monarch of all monarchs, I bear on my shoulders all -the princes of the world. All the carbineers and soldiers there are, are -mine, and dependent on me, and there are no ropes that can bind me.” To -Minucci, who was trying to escape unnoticed, he said, “You do not know -that I am the Prince of princes, the King of all the earth, and if you -try to run away, I will have you stoned alive.” - -The witness G. B. Rossi was present at the sermon on the 17th, and heard -David say that he was the King of kings, Christ the Judge; that the Pope -was no longer to reside at Rome, but that he (Lazzaretti), on certain -conditions, would provide him with another residence, and that the king -of Italy, too, would be his subject. - -The witness Mariotti also deposed that he had heard David say in his -sermon, “that he had no fear of force, and that, even with a million of -soldiers, it was impossible for a subject to arrest his monarch.” - -Lastly--not to lengthen the series of proofs--the witness Giuseppe -Tonini heard him assert, in the sermon, that he was “the King of kings, -and commanded the whole world;” while the witness Valentino Mazzetti -says that Lazzaretti was determined to hold the procession of Aug. 18th -at any cost, and said, “Do you think they are going to arrest us? No, -no, it is not possible for subjects to arrest their monarch.” - -The emblematic device he adopted is worth noting: the double C, to which -he attached so much importance, representing the first and second -Christ, _i.e._, Christ, the son of St. Joseph of Nazareth, and Christ, -the son of the late Joseph Lazzaretti of Arcidosso. In truth, it is not -in any way comprehensible what relation Christ could hold to -Constantine, the latter to David, and all these to Lazzaretti. But the -relation exists precisely in those strange contradictions and -absurdities, which--amid the persistence of the _Prince_ -idea--constantly come to the surface in monomaniacs, so that some have -wished to class their disease as dementia. In fact, although they keep -up the character, so to speak, far better than general paralytics, and -try to give a plausible appearance to their delirium, yet, oftentimes, -when overpowered with the necessity of finding a vent for their -persistent ambitious idea, they pay no attention to the contradictions -they fall into. A Pavia embroideress, believing herself a descendant of -the Bonaparte family, modelled her dress, language, and aspect with -great success on those of the members of the reigning families. Yet, -while she asserted herself to be the daughter of Marie Louise, she at -the same time claimed Victor Emmanuel as her father; as, on other -occasions, she tried to persuade us that she had found the poison of -vipers in the eggs she was eating. - -Thus, though at first calling on the Pope to liberate Italy, Lazzaretti, -when excommunicated, or merely treated with contempt by the Pope, wrote -against Papal idolatry. Though he wished to die a member of the Catholic -Apostolic Church, he inveighed against auricular confession, which is -the very pivot of Catholicism; and, while he called himself the son of -David, he also wished to be thought the son of Constantine. - -_Passanante._--Passanante, the would-be regicide of Naples, has no -morbid hereditary antecedents.[429] At the age of 29, his height was -1·63 m., and his weight 51½ kilogrammes, _i.e._, 14 kilogrammes less -than the Neapolitan average. His head may be described as almost -sub-microcephalic--cephalic index 82, probable capacity 1513. His -features show the characteristics of the Mongol and the _cretin_--small -and deeply-set eyes abnormally far apart, zygomatic bones highly -developed, beard scanty. The pupils show a low degree of mobility; and -the genitals are atrophied--a fact connected with that of almost -complete anaphrodisia. On the other hand, the liver and spleen are -hypertrophied, which partly explains the increase of the temperature -(varying from 38° to 37·8° at the arm-pits) the weakness of the pulse -(88), and the very slight degree of strength, which, moreover, is less -on the right side (60 kil.) than on the left (78 kil.). This last -fact--which perhaps arises from an old burn on the hand--is most -important, because rendering the complete carrying out of the crime -improbable, especially taking into account the clumsy weapon with which -he was armed, and the unfavourable position which was the only one he -could take. The sensibility was perverted--the tactile presenting 5 mm. -on the back of the hand (where the normal sensitiveness is from 16 to -20), and 7 on the forehead, where it is usually from 20 to 22 (that on -the palm of the hand was not registered). On the contrary, the -sensitiveness of the skin to puncture was much weakened. In prison he -had attacks of delirium accompanied by hallucinations. - -All these characteristics are clear indications of disease, both in the -abdominal viscera, and in the nervous centres. This result is even more -evident from the psychological study of the case. A merely superficial -examination might have induced the belief that his affections and moral -sentiments were normal. He showed, indeed, a horror of crime, lived a -most frugal and abstemious life; and, while sometimes over-religious, -sometimes exaggeratedly patriotic, always appeared to prefer the -advantage of others to his own. He thus presented to those unversed in -the study of mental pathology, the appearance, as it were, of a martyr -to an idea which had been maturing for years, the mouthpiece and tool of -a powerful sect, who might call for execration politically, but as an -individual commanded respect. - -This view, however, is at once seen to be fallacious, (even leaving -aside the delirium, which might have been the effect of imprisonment), -if we remember that, as has already been said, frugality and -unselfishness are special characteristics of the mattoid, and, not -seldom, also of the insane, some of whom seem to have more affection for -their country, and for humanity in general, than for their families and -themselves, and if we notice the indifference or even pleasure with -which, in his writings, he refers to the murders committed by his -countrymen, when, “to the sound of axes, they make foreigners give them -money,” above all, the enjoyment with which he records the cruel -practical joke played on a poor man who was very fond of his cherry -tree, by digging up the latter, bringing it back stripped of its fruit, -and leaving it at his front door. This morbid apathy is especially -revealed in the want of emotion shown after the crime, in the face of -the anger of the populace which was let loose against him. Yet even the -greatest fanatics among political assassins, such as Orsini, Sand, and -Nobiling, have been overwhelmed by emotion after the deed, and have -often attempted suicide. - -The true motive of the act is quite sufficient to prove this: being -dismissed from his situation on account of his political vagaries, -arrested as a vagabond, and, in addition, ill-used by the police, he -thought--with a vanity as boundless as his impotence to gratify it, or -even to live--of imitating the heroes he had heard talked of in the -clubs (and against whom he had himself declaimed), so as to find a way -of ending his life by the hand of another. - -“As I found myself ill-used by my employers, and felt a horror of life, -I formed the design of assassinating the king, so as not to have to kill -myself,” he said to the magistrate, immediately after his arrest. To the -judge Azzaritti, “I attempted the king’s life in the certainty that I -should be killed.” In fact, two days previously, he had been much more -occupied with his dismissal from his place than with projects of -regicide; and at his arrest he did all he could to make his situation -more serious, reminding the delegate that he had forgotten his -revolutionary card on which was written, “Death to the King! long live -the Republic!” It was a case of _indirect_ suicide, such as Maudsley, -Crichton, Esquirol,[430] and Krafft-Ebing have recorded in great -numbers. These, however, are only committed by the insane, or by -cowardly and immoral men; and I insist upon this motive all the more -that he formed at the same time the means of satisfying that incoherent -vanity which in him predominated over the love of life. It is well known -that many vain suicidal maniacs enjoy the sight of their own death -surrounded by pomp, like the Englishman who had a mass composed and -executed in public, and shot himself while the _Requiescat_ was being -chanted. - -If, therefore, we find in him any fanaticism, it is not for politics, -but for his own ridiculous and ungrammatical effusions. When he lost his -temper and shed tears at the trial, the outburst was not provoked by any -insult to his party, but by a refusal to permit the reading of one of -his letters, and when his reputation as a scullion was attacked by the -assertion that he was continually reading instead of washing up the -dishes, which he flatly denied, though the implied proof of unsoundness -of mind would have been entirely in his favour. - -His intelligence might be called unusual and original rather than -superior to the average; and appeared much more brilliant in his -conversation than in his writings--in which it is difficult to find a -vigorous expression, such as we so frequently meet with in the works of -the insane, as distinguished from mattoids. - -However, searching here and there amid the enormous mass of his -writings, and piecing out their gaps, we meet with some few fragments -which are both original and curious. For example, though grotesque -enough, his idea of having deputies and officials chosen by lot, like -soldiers for the conscription, “that they may not be so proud,” is not -without originality. Equally striking is the idea of forcing the -convicts, who pass their time in enforced idleness, to cultivate waste -lands, of calling out the young men for conscription before they have -chosen a trade, and of crying after the Emperor William who “wants five -milliards from France”: “He who sows thorns should be made to walk -barefoot.” Good, too, in its way, though somewhat Turkish, is that of -establishing a free inn for travellers in every village. - -Still more remarkable is this, which, if it had not been written some -time previously, might be taken as referring to his own case: “It is -blamable that the authorities should exercise severity of punishment -towards a man whose only idea is to change the form of government and -attack the head of the State. The country is the mother of all without -distinction; to all, without distinction, the law should be sister of -death, which has no respect for any, but cuts them down when their time -has come.” - -His contrast between man isolated and man in association with his -fellows is worthy of Giusti. “When you see him alone he is weak as a -glass tumbler--if you see a glass, think of the strength of man, there -is no great difference; but, united, men become hard and have the -strength of a thousand Samsons.” - -Where he really appeared superior to the average was in his _viva-voce_ -answers. Thus: “History studied practically among the people is more -instructive than the history studied in books. The people is the best -teacher of history,” &c. To justify the literary pretensions which -seemed so inconsistent with his position as a poor cook, he replied, -“Where the learned man goes astray, the ignorant often triumphs.” - -When asked what takes place in the conscience when one is about to -commit a bad action, he replied, “In us there are, as it were, two -wills--one pushing us on, the other holding us back,--and the one that -proves strongest determines the action.” - -But it is precisely in his intermittent flashes of political insight, so -strange in his position, that a morbid abnormality becomes evident. For -it must be remarked that they constitute rather the exception than the -rule. What we find, as a rule, is the commonplace and the absurd. In the -same code he proposes to hang coiners and burn thieves, and abolish the -death penalty! He wishes to kill the king, yet in another article he -demands for him a pension of two-and-a-half millions![431] - -_Guiteau._--The same thing may be said of Guiteau, who presented an -enormous number of degenerative characteristics. His handwriting is -quite that of the mattoid; and he was descended from a family which -counted among its members many lunatics and fanatics. Advocate, -theologian, politician, and swindler, he had tried all trades, and -claimed to have made a great discovery about the birth of Christ. The -fact is that he had spoilt a great deal of paper, and issued one or two -journals and ridiculous works on _The Existence of Hell_ and on _Truth_ -which he believed to be written under Divine dictation. He thought that -God would pay his debts as a reward for his eccentric preachings; it was -in obedience to a Divine command that he killed Garfield--yet it was -only done in revenge for his failure to appoint him U.S. consul at -Liverpool, ambassador to Austria, &c.--which showed great ingratitude on -Garfield’s part, considering the trouble Guiteau had taken, in his own -belief, to secure his election as President.[432] - -_South Americans._--The number of great men in the Argentine Republic -suffering from cerebral affections is so considerable that it has -enabled Mejia to compose on this subject a work which is among the most -curious and valuable produced in the New World.[433] - -Thus, according to Mejia, Rivadura was a hypochondriac, and died of -softening of the brain. Manuel Garcia also suffered from hypochondria, -and finally succumbed to a brain affection. Admiral Brown was subject to -the delusion that he was persecuted. Varela was epileptic, Francia was a -melancholiac, Rosas was morally insane, and Monteagudo was hysterical. - - - - -PART IV. - -_SYNTHESIS. THE DEGENERATIVE PSYCHOSIS OF GENIUS._ - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -CHARACTERISTICS OF INSANE MEN OF GENIUS. - - Characterlessness--Vanity--Precocity--Alcoholism--Vagabondage--Versatility--Originality--Style--Religious - doubts--Sexual abnormalities--Egoism--Eccentricity--Inspiration. - - -The conception of the morbid and degenerative character of genius is -confirmed and completed more and more when its isolated phenomena are -subjected to a more rigorous examination, and, as in chemical reactions, -to mutual contact. If, in fact, we analyze the lives and works of those -great diseased minds which have become famous in history, we find that -they can at once be distinguished by many characteristic traits from the -average man, and also, in part, from other geniuses, who have completed -their life’s orbit without trace of madness. - -I. These insane geniuses have scarcely any character. The full, complete -character, “which bends not for any winds that blow,” is the distinctive -mark of honest and sound-minded men. - -Tasso, on the contrary, declaims against courts, and yet, even to his -last hour, we find him perpetually coming back to beg their grudging -favours. Cardan accuses himself of lying, evil-speaking, and gambling. -Rousseau, though so sensitive, abandons to want the tenderest and -kindest of friends, casts off his children, calumniates others and -himself, and apostatizes three times over--from Catholicism, from -Protestantism, and, what is worse, from the religion of philosophy. - -Swift, though an ecclesiastic, wrote the obscene poem of the loves of -Strephon and Chloe, and belittled the church of which he was a -dignitary, though his pride reached the proportions of delirium. - -Lenau, religious to fanaticism in _Savonarola_, shows himself in the -_Albigenses_ even cynically sceptical; he knows it, confesses it, and -laughs at it. - -Schopenhauer denounced women, and at the same time was too warm an -admirer of the sex; he professed to believe in the happiness of Nirvana, -and then predicted for himself more than a hundred years of life. - -II. Genius is conscious of itself, appreciates itself, and, certainly, -has no monkish humility. Yet the conceit seething in diseased brains -passes the limits of all truth and probability. Tasso and Cardan -covertly, and Mahomet openly, declared themselves inspired by God, and -the slightest criticism, therefore, appeared to them as deadly -persecution. Cardan wrote of himself, “My nature is placed on the very -limits of human substance and conditions, and within the confines of the -immortals.”[434] Rousseau believed that all men, and sometimes even the -elements, were in a conspiracy against him. Perhaps it is on this very -account that we have seen almost all these unhappy great spirits fly -from association with other men. Swift humiliated and insulted cabinet -ministers, and wrote to a duchess desirous of making his acquaintance -that the greater men were, the lower must they bow before him. Lenau had -inherited the pride of rank from his mother, and in his delirium -believed himself king of Hungary. - -III. Some of these unfortunate men have given strangely precocious -proofs of their genius. Tasso could speak when six months old, and knew -Latin at the age of seven. Lenau, at a very early age, composed most -touching sermons, and played the bagpipes and the violin with -astonishing skill. Cardan at eight had apparitions and revelations of -genius. Ampère was a mathematician at thirteen. Pascal, at ten, inspired -by the noise made by a plate struck with a knife, worked out a theory -of sound, and at fifteen composed his celebrated treatise on Conic -Sections. Haller preached at four, and devoured books at five. - -IV. Many of them have been excessive in their abuse of narcotics, or of -stimulants and intoxicants. Haller was in the habit of taking enormous -doses of opium, and Rousseau was excessive in his use of coffee. Tasso -was renowned as a drinker, as also the modern poets Kleist, Gérard de -Nerval, Musset, Murger, Majláth, Praga, and Rovani, as well as the very -original Chinese writer Li-Tai-Pô, who was inspired by alcohol, and died -of it. Lenau also, in his latter years, was an immoderate consumer of -wine, coffee, and tobacco. Baudelaire abused opium, tobacco, and wine. -Cardan confessed himself an indefatigable drinker. Poe was a -dipsomaniac; so was Hoffmann. - -V. Nearly all of these great men, moreover, showed anomalies of the -reproductive functions. Tasso, who was guilty of exaggerated -licentiousness in his youth, was rigidly chaste after his thirty-eighth -year. On the other hand, Cardan, impotent in his youth, gave himself up -to excess at thirty-five. Pascal, sensual in his early youth, afterwards -believed even a mother’s kiss to be a crime. Rousseau was affected by -hypospadias and spermatorrhœa, and, like Baudelaire, was subject to a -sexual perversion. Newton and Charles XII., so far as is known, were -absolutely continent. Lenau wrote, “I have the painful conviction that I -am unsuitable for marriage.”[435] - -VI. Instead of preferring the quiet seclusion of the study, they cannot -rest in any place, and have to be continually travelling. Lenau removed -from Vienna to Stokerau, and then to Gmünden, and finally emigrated to -America. “I need,” he said, “a change of climate every now and then to -stir up my blood.”[436] Tasso was continually travelling from Ferrara to -Urbino, Mantua, Naples, Paris, Bergamo, Rome, and Turin. Poe was the -despair of his editors, because he was continually wandering about -between Boston, New York, Richmond, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. -Giordano Bruno wandered to Padua, Oxford, Wittenberg, Magdeburg, -Helmstädt, Prague, and Geneva. - -Rousseau, Cardan, Cellini were constantly staying now at Turin, now at -Paris, now at Florence, Rome, Bologna, or Lausanne. “Change of place,” -says Rousseau,[437] “is a necessity for me. In the fine season, I find -it impossible to remain for more than two or three days in one place -without suffering.” - -VII. Sometimes they change their career and course of study several -times in succession, as though the mighty intellect could not find rest -and relief in a single science.[438] Swift, in addition to his satiric -poems, wrote on the manufactures of Ireland, on theology, on politics, -and on the history of the reign of Queen Anne. Cardan was at the same -time a mathematician, physician, theologian, and literary man. Rousseau -was painter, music-master, charlatan, philosopher, botanist, and poet; -and Hoffmann, magistrate, caricaturist, musician, romance-writer, and -dramatist. - -Tasso--as did Gogol after him--attempted all varieties of poetry, epic, -dramatic, and didactic, in all metres. Newton and Pascal, in moments of -aberration, abandoned physics for theology. Lenau cultivated medicine, -agriculture, law, poetry, and theology. - -VIII. These energetic and terrible intellects are the true pioneers of -science; they rush forward regardless of danger, facing with eagerness -the greatest difficulties--perhaps because it is these which best -satisfy their morbid energy. They seize the strangest connections, the -newest and most salient points; and here I may mention that originality, -carried to the point of absurdity, is the principal characteristic of -insane poets and artists. Ampère always sought out the most difficult -problems in mathematics--the abysses--as Arago has noted. - -Rousseau, in the _Devin du Village_, had attempted the music of the -future, afterwards tried again by another insane genius, Schumann. Swift -used to say that he only felt at his ease when treating the most -difficult subjects, and those most out of the line of his habitual -occupations. In fact, in his _Directions to Servants_, he seems, not a -theologian or a politician, but a servant himself. His _Confession of a -Thief_ was believed to have been really written by a well-known -criminal, so that the latter’s accomplices, thinking that they were -discovered, gave themselves up to justice. In the prophecies of -Bickerstaff, he assumed the character of a Catholic, and succeeded in -deceiving the Roman Inquisition. - -Walt Whitman is the creator of a rhymeless poetry, which the -Anglo-Saxons regard as the poetry of the future, and which certainly -bears the imprint of strange and wild originality. - -Poe’s compositions (says Baudelaire, one of his greatest admirers) seem -to have been produced in order to show that strangeness may enter into -the elements of the beautiful; and he collected them under the title of -_Arabesques and Grotesques_, because these exclude the human -countenance, and his literature was _extra-human_. Here, too, we note -the predilection of insane artists for arabesques, and, moreover, for -arabesques which suggest the human figure.[439] - -Baudelaire himself created the prose poem, and carried to the highest -point the adoration of artificial beauty. He was the first to find new -poetic associations in the olfactory sense.[440] - -IX. These morbid geniuses have a style peculiar to -themselves--passionate, palpitating, vividly coloured--which -distinguishes them from all other writers, perhaps because it could only -arise under maniacal influences. So much so that all of them confess -their inability to compose, or even to think, outside the moments of -inspiration. Tasso wrote, in one of his letters, “I am unsuccessful, and -find difficulty in everything, especially in composition.”[441] “My -ideas,” Rousseau confesses, “are confused, slow in arising and -developing themselves, nor can I express myself well except in moments -of passion.” The eloquent and vivid exordiums of Cardan’s works, so -different from the rest of his tedious books, show what a difference -there was between the first and last moments of his inspiration. Haller, -though a successful poet himself, used to say that the whole art of -poetry consisted in its difficulty. Pascal began his 18th _Provincial -Letter_ thirteen times. - -Perhaps it was this analogy in character and style that was the cause of -Swift’s and Rousseau’s predilection for Tasso, and drew the severe -Haller towards Swift; while Ampère was inspired by Rousseau’s -eccentricities, and Baudelaire by those of Poe (whose works he -translated) and of Hoffmann, whom he idolized.[442] - -X. Nearly all these great men were painfully preoccupied by religious -doubts, raised by the intellect, and combated, as a crime, by the timid -conscience and morbid emotions. Tasso was tormented by the fear of being -a heretic. Ampère often said that doubts are the worst torture of man. -Haller wrote in his journal, “My God! give me--oh! give me one drop of -faith: my mind believes in Thee, but my heart refuses--this is my -crime.” Lenau used to repeat, towards the end of his life, “In those -hours when my heart is suffering, the idea of God passes away from me.” -In fact, the real hero of his _Savonarola_ is Doubt,[443] as is now -admitted by all critics. - -XI. All insane men of genius, moreover, are much preoccupied with their -own _Ego_. They sometimes know and proclaim their own disease, and seem -as though they wished, by confessing it, to get relief from its -inexorable attacks. - -It is quite natural that, being men of great intellect and therefore -acute observers, they should at last notice their own cruel anomalies -and be struck by the spectacle of the _Ego_ which obtruded itself so -painfully on their notice. Men in general, but more particularly the -insane, love to speak of themselves, and on this theme they even become -eloquent. All the more should we expect it in those whose genius is -accompanied and quickened by mania. It is thus we get those wonderful -records of passion and grief, monuments of phrenopathic poetry, which -reveal the great and unhappy personality of the writer. Cardan wrote, -not only his autobiography, but also poems on his misfortunes, and the -work _De Somniis_, entirely composed of his dreams and hallucinations. -The poems of Whitman are the glorification of the _Ego_. Rousseau, in -his _Confessions, Dialogues, Rêveries_, like De Musset in his -_Confessions_, and Hoffmann in _Kreisler_,[444] only give a minute -description of themselves and their own madness. - -Thus also Poe, as Baudelaire has well remarked, took as his text the -exceptions of human life, the hallucination which, at first doubtful, -afterwards becomes a reasoned conviction; absurdity enthroned in the -region of intellect and governing it with a terrible logic; hysteria -occupying the place of the will; the contradiction between the nerves -and the mind carried so far that grief is driven to utter itself in -laughter. - -Pascal, who was driven by delirium into exaggerated humility, who said -that Christianity suppressed the _Ego_, has not written his -autobiography; yet he, too, showed traces of his hallucinations in the -celebrated Amulet, and, in his _Pensées_, subtly described himself when -speaking of others. It is certain that he was alluding to himself when -he wrote that “extreme genius is close to extreme folly, and men are so -mad that he who should not be so would be a madman of a new kind;” and -when he observed that “maladies influence our judgment and sense; and -while great ones perceptibly alter them, even slight ones cannot but -influence them in proportion;” and that “men of genius have their heads -higher, but their feet lower than the rest of us; they are all on the -same level, and stand on the same clay as ourselves, children, and -brutes.” - -Haller, in his diary, gives detailed notes of his own religious -delusions, and often confesses to having completely changed his -character in the course of twenty-four hours, and being “giddy, mad, -persecuted by God, and scorned and despised by men.” - -Lessmann who, at a later time, hanged himself, wrote the humorous _Diary -of a Melancholiac_ (1834). Tasso, in his letter to the Duke of Urbino, -and in the stanza already quoted, clearly depicted his own insanity. -“Francesco,” he says elsewhere, “O Francesco, within my infirm limbs I -have an infirm soul.”[445] It is a curious fact that, shortly before his -first attack of mania, he wrote these words, “As I do not deny that I am -mad, I must believe that my madness has been caused by drunkenness or -love, since I know well that I drink to excess,” &c.[446] - -Dostoïeffsky continually introduces semi-insane characters, and -especially epileptics, in _Besi_ and _The Idiot_, and moral lunatics in -_Crime and Punishment_. - -Gérard de Nerval was the author of _Aurelia_, which has been well called -the “Song of Songs of Fever,” and is a mixture of poetry and gibberish. -Barbara wrote _Les Détraqués_. Buston described his own hallucinations. -Allix, though not a medical man, wrote on the treatment of the insane. -Lenau, twelve years before he actually succumbed to the attacks of -insanity, had foreseen and described it. All his poems depict, in -colours painfully vivid, suicidal and melancholic tendencies. The reader -may judge of this from the mere titles of some of his lyrics, “To a -Hypochrondriac,” “The Madman,” “The Diseased in Soul,” “The Violence of -a Dream,” “The Moon of Melancholy.” - -I do not think that it is possible to find, in the most doleful pages of -J. Ortis so accurate and vividly coloured a description of suicidal -tendencies as in the following extract from the _Seelenkranke_, “I carry -a deep wound in my heart, and will carry it in silence to the grave; my -life is broken from hour to hour. One alone could comfort me, ... but -she lies in the grave.... O my mother! let thyself be moved by my -entreaties, if thy love still survives death, if it is still permitted -thee to care for thy child.... Oh! let me soon escape from life! I long -for the night of death! Oh! only help thy crazy son to lay aside his -grief.” His _Traumgewalten_ is, as I have already observed, a terribly -truthful picture of that hallucination which preceded or accompanied the -first attack of suicidal mania; and here the reader can easily trace in -the phrases and ideas that disconnected and fragmentary character which -is the mark of the delirious paralytic. - -Here is a specimen--“The dream was so terrible, so wild, so frightful, -that I wish I could tell myself it was nothing but a dream; ... yet I -continue to weep, and to feel that my heart beats; I awaken, and find -the sheets and the pillow wet.... Did I seize them in my dream and wipe -my face? I do not know.... While I was sleeping, my hostile guests have -been holding an orgy here.... Now they are gone, those savages, they are -gone, but I find their traces in my tears. They have fled, and left the -wine on the table,” &c. - -He had previously, in the _Albigenses_, dropped some allusions to the -terrible impression made on him by his dreams: “Terrible, often, is the -might of dreams; it shakes, pains, presses, threatens, and if the -sleeper does not awaken in time, in the twinkling of an eye, he is a -corpse.”[447] - -XII. The principal trace of the delusions of great minds is found in the -very construction of their works and speeches, in their illogical -deductions, absurd contradictions, and grotesque and inhuman fantasies. -Thus Socrates was clearly of unsound mind when, after having all but -arrived, intuitively, at Christian morality and Judaic monotheism, he -directed his steps in accordance with a sneeze, or the voice and signs -of his imaginary genius. Thus Cardan, who had anticipated Newton in -discovering the laws of gravitation, and Dupuis in theology--who, in his -book _De Subtilitate_, explains as hallucinations the strange and -portentous symptoms of the possessed, and also of some of those hermits -who were accounted saints, comparing them to the delirium of quartan -fever--Cardan was insane, when he attributed to the influence of a -genius, not only his scientific inspirations, but the creaking of the -table and the vibration of the pen, when he declared that he had been -several times bewitched, and when he produced his book _On Dreams_, -which speaks to the mental pathologist as a pseudo-membrane would to the -physical. In this, at first, he puts on record the most accurate and -curious observations on the phenomena of dreams--_e.g._, how severe -physical pains act with less energy, slight ones with greater--a fact -recently confirmed by psychiatrists; that the insane are much given to -dreaming; that in a dream, as on the stage, a long series of ideas -passes in a very short space of time; and finally (and this is a remark -of much justice) that men have dreams either entirely analogous to, or -entirely at variance with, their own habits. But, after these clear and -undoubted proofs of genius, he re-affirms one of the most absurd and -contemptible theories ever held by the populace of ancient times, -namely, that the slightest accidental circumstance of a dream must be -the revelation of a more or less distant future. Thus he draws up, with -the sincerest conviction, a dictionary, identical in form and origin -(which last is undoubtedly pathological) with Cabalistic productions. -Every object, every word, which may find a place in a dream, is there -attached to a series of allusions which serve to interpret each other. -_Father_ may signify author, husband, son, commander. _Feet_, foundation -of a house, arts, workmen, &c. A _horse_, appearing in a dream, may -signify flight, riches, or a wife. _Shoemaker_ and _physician_ are -interchangeable in meaning. In short, it is not actual analogies which -prevail, but analogies in words, in sounds, even in terminations. -_Orior_ and _morior_ have an equal prophetic value, because “since they -differ from each other only by a single letter, the one passes over to -the other.” We are seized with compassion for human nature and for -ourselves, when we find him relating that a knight who suffered from the -stone always, if he dreamed of food, had an attack on the following day, -and adding _cibos enim et dolores degustare dicimus_--as though nature -were in the habit of amusing herself by making puns in Latin. Yet this -was the man who had intuitively divined the admirable theory of painful -sensations in sleep already alluded to, and who, a physician, and one of -no mean distinction, had clearly conceived the sympathetic action of the -solar plexus. - -Newton himself can scarcely be said to have been sane when he demeaned -his intellect to the interpretation of the Apocalypse, or the horns of -Daniel; nor, again, when he wrote to Bentley, “By means of the law of -attraction, one can very well understand the elongated orbits of comets; -but as to the nearly circular orbits of planets, I see no possibility of -obtaining their lateral difference, and this can only be accomplished by -God.” Yet in his _Optics_, Newton had inveighed against those who, after -the manner of the Aristotelians admit occult properties in matter, thus -arresting the researches of natural philosophers, without leading to any -conclusion. In fact, a century later, the true cause, which had escaped -Newton’s observations, was discovered by La Place. - -Ampère believed, in all sincerity, that he had found the method of -squaring the circle. - -Pascal, though he had been the first to study the laws of probability, -believed that the touch of a relic had power to cure a lachrymal -fistula--a statement which he printed in one of his works. - -Rousseau makes of his own maniacal savagery the ideal type of man, and -believes that every natural production, if agreeable to the sight or -taste, must be innocuous, so that arsenic, according to him, could not -be harmful. His life is made up of contradictions: he prefers the -country, and lives in the Rue Platonière; he writes a treatise on -education, and sends his children to the foundling hospital; he -adjudicates on the claims of the various religions with the acuteness -of an unbiassed sceptic, and throws stones at trees in order to divine -the future and decide the question of his own salvation; nay, he writes -to the Deity, and lays his letters on the altars of churches, as though -they were His exclusive abode. - -Baudelaire finds the sublime in the artificial--“like the rouge which -enhances the beauty of a handsome woman.” He carries out an insane idea -by describing a metallic landscape, with neither water nor vegetation. -“All is rigid, polished, shining; without heat and without sun; in the -midst of the eternal silence the blue water is enclosed, like the -ancient mirrors, in a golden basin.” He finds his ideal in the Latin of -the Decadence, “the only tongue which can thoroughly render the language -of passion,” and adores cats to such a degree as to address three poems -to them. - -Lenau, in his “Moon of the Hypochondriàc,” sees, contrary to the usual -practice of poets, in the cold moon, without water and without -atmosphere, “the sexton of the planets, who, with a silver thread -entwined, enchains the sleepers and draws them to death; she beckons -with her finger, leads sleep-walkers astray, and counsels the thief.” -Though, as a young man, he had frequently expressed his opinion that -“mysticism is a symptom of insanity,” he often showed mystical -tendencies, especially in his later poems. - -In the Koran, there is not a single chapter which has any connection -with another; on the contrary, it often happens that, in the course of a -single _sura_, the ideas are interrupted, and follow each other almost -at random. “On Mahomet,” writes Morkos, “the most contradictory verdicts -may be pronounced, for it is impossible to deny his great excellence, -while at the same time there is no disguising the fact that we find in -him the most signal artifices of imposture, the grossest ignorance, and -the greatest imprudence.” - -It appears to me, moreover, that the great writers who have been under -the dominion of alcohol, have a style peculiar to themselves, whose -characteristics are a deliberate eroticism, and an inequality which is -rather grotesque than beautiful, owing to too unrestrained fancy, -frequent imprecations and abrupt transitions from the deepest melancholy -to obscene gaiety, and a marked preference for such subjects as madness, -drink, and the gloomiest scenes of death. “Poe,” says Baudelaire, “likes -to place his figures against greenish or violet backgrounds, surrounded -by the phosphorescence of decay, and the atmosphere of storms and -orgies. He throws himself into grotesquery for the love of the -grotesque, into horror for the love of the horrible.” - -The same thing is done by Baudelaire himself, who loves to describe the -effects of alcohol or opium. - -“There are days when my heart faints in me, and the mud overwhelms -me,”[448] sang poor Praga, who killed himself with alcohol, and who, -singing the praises of wine, blasphemed thus: - -“Let it come--the reproach of the sober man; come--the contempt of the -human race,--come, the hell of the Eternal Father: I will go down into -it with my glass in hand.”[449] - -Steen, the drunken painter, usually painted drinking scenes. Hoffmann’s -drawings ended in caricatures, his tales in extra-human extravagancies, -his music in a senseless succession of sounds. - -Alfred de Musset saw in the ladies of Madrid, - - “_sous un col de cigne_ - _Un sein vierge et doré comme la jeune vigne._” - -Murger admired women with green lips and yellow cheeks--no doubt through -a species of colour-blindness, such as we have already met with among -painters. - -XIII. Nearly all of these great men--for instance, Cardan, Lenau, Tasso, -Socrates, Pascal--attached great importance to their dreams, which, no -doubt, assumed a more vivid and powerful colouring than those of sane -persons. - -XIV. Many presented voluminous but very irregular skulls; and, like -madmen, have ended by serious alterations of the nervous centres. -Pascal’s cerebral substance was harder than is normally the case, and -the left lobe had suppurated. The brain of Rousseau revealed dropsy in -the ventricles. Byron and Foscolo, great but eccentric geniuses, both -showed premature ossification of the sutures. Schumann died of chronic -meningitis and cerebral atrophy. - -XV. The insane characters of men of genius are scarcely ever found -alone. Thus melancholia was associated and alternated with exaggerated -self-esteem in Chopin, Comte, Tasso, Cardan, Schopenhauer; with -alcoholic mania, impulsive insanity, or sexual perversion in Baudelaire -and Rousseau; with erratic and alcoholic mania and that of self-esteem, -in Gérard de Nerval. In Coleridge, the mania of morphia was associated -with _folie du doute_. - -XVI. But the most special characteristic of this form of insanity -appears to reduce itself to an extreme exaggeration of two alternating -phases, viz., erethism and atony, inspiration and exhaustion, which we -see physiologically manifested in nearly all great intellects, even the -sanest--phases to which they, all alike, give a wrong interpretation, -according as their pride is gratified or offended. “An indolent soul, -afraid of every kind of business, a bilious temperament, which suffers -easily and is sensitive to every discomfort, seem as though they could -not be combined in one character--yet they form the groundwork of mine.” -Such is Rousseau’s confession in Letter II. Therefore, as the ignorant -man explains the modifications of his own _ego_ by means of material and -external objects, they often attribute to a devil, a genius, or a God, -the happy inspiration of their exalted moments. Tasso, speaking of his -familiar spirit, genius, or messenger, says, “It cannot be a devil, -since it does not inspire me with a horror for sacred things; nor yet a -natural creature, for it causes to arise in me ideas which I never had -before.” A genius inspires Cardan with his written works, his knowledge -of spiritual matters, his medical opinions; Tartini with his Sonata, -Mahomet with the pages of the Koran. Van Helmont asserted that he had -seen a genius appear before him at all the most important moments of his -life; and, in 1633, he discovered his own soul under the form of a -shining crystal. William Blake often retired to the sea-shore to -converse with Moses, Homer, Virgil, and Milton, with whom he believed -himself to have been previously acquainted. When questioned as to their -appearance, he replied, “They are shades full of majesty--grey, but -luminous, and much taller than the generality of men.” Socrates was -counselled in his actions by a genius who, as he expressed it, was -better than ten thousand teachers; and he often advised his friends as -to what they ought, or ought not to do, according as he had received -instructions from his δαιμονἱον. - -It is certain that the vivid and richly-coloured style of all these -great men--the clearness with which they describe their most grotesque -eccentricities, such as the Liliputian Academies, or the horrors of -Tartarus, denote that they saw and touched, as it were, with the -certainty of hallucination, all that they describe; that, in short, in -them inspiration and insanity became fused, and resulted in a single -product. - -It may be said, indeed, of some--as of Luther, Mahomet, Savonarola, -Molinos, and, in modern times, the chief of the Taeping rebels--that -this false explanation of the _afflatus_ was of great service to them, -giving to their speeches and prophecies that air of truth only resulting -from a profound conviction, which alone can shake the popular ignorance -and carry it in the wake of a new doctrine. This characteristic is -common to the insanity of genius and the most trivial aberrations of -eccentricity. - -When inspiration and high spirits fail together, and depression of mind -prevails, then these great unfortunate ones, interpreting their own -condition still more strangely, believe themselves to have been -poisoned, like Cardan; or to be condemned to eternal fire, like Haller -and Ampère; or persecuted by inveterate enemies, like Newton, Swift, -Barthez, Cardan, and Rousseau. - -Moreover, in all these cases, religious doubt, raised by the intellect -in despite of the heart, appears to the subject himself as a crime, and -becomes both cause and instrument of new and real misfortunes. - -XVII. Yet the temper of these men is so different from that of average -people that it gives a special character to the different psychoses -(melancholia, monomania, &c.) from which they suffer, so as to -constitute a special psychosis, which might be called the psychosis of -genius. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -ANALOGY OF SANE TO INSANE GENIUS. - -Want of character--Pride--Precocity--Alcoholism--Degenerative -signs--Obsession--Men of genius in revolutions. - - -But these characteristics are not confined to insane genius; they are -also met with, though far less conspicuously among the great men freest -from any suspicion of insanity, those of whom the insane geniuses just -mentioned are but the exaggeration and caricature. It is thus that the -complete and perfect character, while conspicuously seen in Socrates, -Columbus, Cavour, Christ, Galileo, Spinoza, is not to be found in -Napoleon, Bacon, Cicero, Seneca, Alcibiades, Alexander, Julius Cæsar, -Machiavelli, Carlyle, Frederick II., Dumas, Byron, Comte, Bulwer Lytton, -Petrarch, Aretino, Gibbon. - -Self-esteem, carried to an almost incredible point, has been noticed in -Napoleon, Hegel, Dante, Victor Hugo, Lassalle, Balzac, and Comte; and, -as we have already seen, even in men of talent, but not of genius, as -Cagnoli, Lucius, Porta, &c. - -Precocity, moreover, does not fail to appear in normal men of genius, -such as Mozart, Raphael, Michelangelo, Charles XII., Stuart Mill, -D’Alembert, Lulli, Cowley, Otway, Prior, Pope, Addison, Burns, Keats, -Sheffield, Hugo. - -Among these we also find the abuse of alcohol, sexual deficiencies, or -excesses followed by sterility, the tendency to vagrancy, and impulsive -acts of violence, alternating, or associated, with convulsive movements. -Bismarck once said to Beust, “Do you ever feel the wish to break -anything as an amusement?” Like Gladstone and the Belgian Malon, he -often takes exercise by cutting down trees like a woodman. - -We have also found, in some of them, numerous anomalies in the shape of -the skull and conformation of the brain. Degenerative symptoms, such as -stammering, lefthandedness, precocity, sterility, abound in both, as -well as divergences from ancestral character. - -There is also seen in them that invasion, or rather possession, by their -subject which transforms the creature of the imagination into a true -hallucination, or an auto-suggestion. Flaubert says that his characters -seized upon him, and pursued him, or that, more correctly speaking, he -lived through them. When he described the poisoning of Madame Bovary, he -felt the taste of arsenic on his tongue, and showed symptoms of actual -poisoning so far as to vomit. Dickens, too, was affected by sorrow and -compassion for his characters, as if they had been his own -children.[450] - -“To my mind,” writes Edmond de Goncourt, “my brother died of over-work, -and more especially the elaboration of literary form, the chiselling of -phrases, the labour of style. I can still see him taking up again pieces -which we had written together, and which, at first, had satisfied us, -working at them for hours, for half a day at a time, with an almost -angry persistency.... - -“You must remember, in short, that all our work--and in this, perhaps, -consists its originality, an originality dearly bought--has its root in -nervous illness; that we drew our pictures of disease from our own -experience, and that, by dint of analyzing, studying, dissecting -ourselves, we at last attained a kind of super-acute sensitiveness, -which was wounded on all sides by the infinite littlenesses of life. I -say _we_, for, when we wrote _Charles Demailly_, I was more diseased -than he. Alas! he took the first place, later on. _Charles -Demailly!_--it is a strange thing to write one’s own history fifteen -years in advance.”[451] - -The obsession of genius sometimes attains such a point as actually to -create a double personality, and transform a philanthropist into an -overbearing tyrant, a melancholy man into a jovial reveller. - -Finally, we have found, even in the sanest and most complete genius, the -incomplete and rudimentary forms of mania--as melancholy, megalomania, -hallucinations, &c.--a fact which helps to explain the convictions of -certain prophets and founders of dynasties, convictions so deeply rooted -as to serve the purpose of inspiration, as far as the mass of the people -were concerned. Maudsley says that one of the conditions essential to -the originality of genius is a disposition to be dissatisfied with the -existing state of things. - -We have also met with the use of peculiar words which is so frequent a -characteristic of monomania, and also those uncertainties which reach -their extreme point in the madness of doubt. - -The whole difference resolves itself, at bottom, into this: that in sane -genius the symptoms are less exaggerated, the double personality is less -conspicuous, the choice of subjects connected with madness less frequent -(Shakespeare, Goncourt, and Daudet being exceptions), and the note of -absurdity less emphasized. This, however, is scarcely ever wanting, -inasmuch as nothing is closer to the ridiculous than the sublime. - -It is also not without importance to note that, whenever genius appears -in a race, the number of the insane also increases. Of this fact we have -found remarkable proofs among the Italian, German, and English Jews. So -much is this the case, that it is the custom, in German lunatic asylums, -to reckon genius in the parents among the etiological elements of -insanity. Both genius and insanity are influenced by violent passions at -the time of conception, by advanced age, or alcoholism in the parents; -and as, in all degenerate natures, genius is only exceptionally -transmitted, it almost always assumes the form of more and more -aggravated neurosis, and rapidly disappears, thanks to that beneficent -sterility through which nature provides for the elimination of monsters. -Though all the proofs we have given should have been forgotten, the -fact would be quite sufficiently demonstrated by the pedigrees of Peter -the Great, the Cæsars, and Charles V., in which epileptics, men of -genius, and criminals, alternate with ever greater frequency, till the -line ends in idiocy and sterility.[452] - -In all these three types (insanity, insane genius, and sane genius), we -see at work, with nearly equal intensity, the influence of race,[453] of -hot climates, of diminutions (unless greatly exaggerated), in the degree -of atmospheric pressure, and, in frequent cases, of maladies accompanied -by a high temperature. - -But the most convincing proof of all is offered by the insane who, -though not possessed of genius, apparently acquire it, for a time, while -under treatment. These cases prove that geniality, originality, artistic -and æsthetic creation may show themselves in the least predisposed -natures, as a consequence of mental alienation. Finally, not the least -important proof is contained in the singular phenomenon of the mattoid, -who, as distinguished from the really insane, has all the appearances, -without the reality, of genius. - -Taking all this into consideration, we may confidently affirm that -genius is a true degenerative psychosis belonging to the group of moral -insanity, and may temporarily spring out of other psychoses, assuming -their forms, though keeping its own special peculiarities, which -distinguish it from all others. - -The identity of genius with moral insanity is seen in that general -alteration of the affective instincts, which shows itself, more or less -disguised, in all,[454] even in those rare altruistic persons with a -genius for goodness to whom the name of saints has been given. This also -explains their longevity. - -There is, beyond all doubt, some connection between all these -observations, and the fact, established by Tamburini and myself, that -the best artists of the asylums were all morally insane. - -It should be remembered here, that the Klephts were brigands, and that -the moral character of many great conquerors has been so far subject to -alteration as to make of them true brigands on a large scale. Arved -Barine, in noticing the beauty of countenance of certain brigands -figured in my work in _L’uomo Delinquente_, has very justly -observed[455] that “such a profession requires high intellectual -endowments, and precisely the same as those needed by conquerors, who -certainly have had no superabundance of moral sense. History proves that -the moral sense is in no degree a function of the intellect. Great men -have been so often devoid of it, that the world has been forced to -invent for them a special morality which may be summed up in five words, -frequently uttered by such--from Napoleon down to Benvenuto Cellini: -_Everything is permitted to genius_.” - -Men of genius are among the principal factors in true revolutions.[456] -History records the saying of Tarquin that for the preservation of -despotism it was necessary to cut down the tallest heads. Carlyle -believed that the whole of history is that of great men. Emerson wrote -that every new institution might be regarded as the prolonged shadow of -some man of genius, Islamism of Mahomet, Protestantism of Calvin, -Quakerism of Fox, Methodism of Wesley, Abolitionism of Clarkson, &c. Men -of genius, wrote Flaubert,[457] summarise in a single type many -separate personalities, and bring new persons to consciousness in the -human race. This is one of the causes of their immense influence. And -not only are they not misoneistic; they are haters of old things and -ardent lovers of the new and the unknown. Garibaldi, when he pushed on -into almost unknown regions of America, said, “I love the unknown.”[458] -And Christ carried his idea of the new world, that was about to appear, -as far as complete communism. Many men of genius rule beyond the tomb: -Cæsar was never so powerful (wrote Michelet) as when he was a corpse; -and so William the Silent. Max Nordau even claims that all human -progress is owing to despots of genius. “Every revolution is the work of -a minority whose individuality cannot conform to conditions which were -neither calculated nor created for them.” The only real innovators known -to history are tyrants endowed with ability and knowledge. “No -revolution succeeds without a leader,” wrote Machiavelli; and elsewhere, -“A multitude without a head is useless.” This is natural, because the -man of genius, being essentially original and a lover of originality, is -the natural enemy of traditions and conservatism: he is the born -revolutionary, the precursor and the most active pioneer of -revolutions. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE EPILEPTOID NATURE OF GENIUS. - - Etiology--Symptoms--Confessions of men of genius--The life of a - great epileptic--Napoleon--Saint Paul--The saints--Philanthropic - hysteria. - - -We may, however, enter more deeply into the study of the phenomena of -genius by the light of modern theories on epilepsy. According to the -entirely harmonious researches of clinical and experimental observers, -this malady resolves itself into localised irritation of the cerebral -cortex, manifesting itself in attacks which are sometimes instantaneous, -sometimes of longer duration, but always intermittent and always resting -on a degenerative basis--either hereditary or predisposed to irritation -by alcoholic influence, by lesions of the skull, &c.[459] In this way we -catch a glimpse of another conclusion, viz., that the creative power of -genius may be a form of degenerative psychosis belonging to the family -of epileptic affections. - -The fact that genius is frequently derived from parents either addicted -to drink, of advanced age, or insane, certainly points to this -conclusion, as also does the appearance of genius subsequently to -lesions of the head. It is also indicated by frequent anomalies, -especially of cranial asymmetry; the capacity of the skull being -sometimes excessive, sometimes abnormally small; by the frequency of -moral insanity, and of hallucinations; by sexual and intellectual -precocity, and not rarely by somnambulism. To these we may add the -prevalence of suicide, which is, on the other hand, very common among -epileptic patients; the intermittence of bodily and mental functions, -more particularly the occurrence of amnesia and analgesia; the frequent -tendency to vagabondage; religious feeling, manifesting itself even in -the case of atheists, as with Comte; the strange terrors by which they -are often seized (W. Scott, Byron, Haller); the double personality, the -multiplicity of simultaneous delusions, so common in epileptic -cases;[460] the frequent recurrence of delusions produced by the most -trifling causes; the same misoneism; and the same relation to -criminality, which finds its point of union in moral insanity. Add to -this the origin and ancestry of criminals and imbeciles, which -constantly show traces both of genius and epilepsy, as may be seen in -the genealogical charts given of the families of the Cæsars and Charles -V.;[461] and the strange passion for wandering, and for animals, which I -have also often found in degenerated, and especially in epileptic, -subjects.[462] - -The distractions of mind for which great men are so famous, are often, -writes Tonnini, nothing else but epileptic absences.[463] - -The greatest proof of all, however, is that affective insensibility, -that loss of moral sense, common to all men of genius, whether sane or -insane, which makes of great conquerors, even in the most recent times, -nothing else than brigands on a large scale. - -Such conclusions may seem strange to persons unacquainted with the way -in which the region of epilepsy has been extended in modern times, so -that many cases of headache (hemicrania) or simple loss of memory, are -now recognized as forms of epilepsy, though in disguise; their -manifestation--as Savage has observed--causing the disappearance of -every trace of the pre-existing epilepsy. It is sufficient, however, to -recall to the reader the numerous men of genius of the first order who -have been seized by motory epilepsy, or by that kind of morbid -irritability which is well known to supply its place. Among these we -find such names as Napoleon, Molière, Julius Cæsar, Petrarch, Peter the -Great, Mahomet, Handel, Swift, Richelieu, Charles V., Flaubert, -Dostoïeffsky, and St. Paul.[464] - -To those acquainted with the so-called binomial or serial law, according -to which no phenomenon occurs singly--each one being, on the contrary, -the expression of a series of less well-defined but analogous -facts--such frequent occurrence of epilepsy among the most distinguished -of distinguished men can but indicate a greater prevalence of this -disease among men of genius than was previously thought possible, and -suggests the hypothesis of the epileptoid nature of genius itself. - -In this connection, it is important to note how, in these men, the -convulsion made its appearance but rarely in the course of their lives. -Now it is well known that, in such cases, the psychic equivalent (here -the exercise of creative power) is more frequent and intense.[465] - -But, above all, the identity is proved to us by the analogy of the -epileptic seizure with the moment of inspiration. This active and -violent unconsciousness in the one case manifests itself by creation, -and in the other by motory agitation. - -The demonstration is completed when we come to analyse this creative -inspiration or _œstrus_ which has often suggested epilepsy, even to -those ignorant of the recent discoveries with regard to its nature. And -this, not only on account of its frequent association with insensibility -to pain, with irregularity of the pulse, and with an unconsciousness -which is often that of a somnambulist, of its instantaneous occurrence -and intermittent character; but also because it is not seldom -accompanied by convulsive movements of the limbs, followed by amnesia, -and provoked by substances or conditions which cause or increase the -excessive flow of blood to the brain; or by powerful sensations; and -also because it may succeed or pass into hallucinations. - -This resemblance between inspiration and the epileptic seizure, -moreover, is demonstrated by an even directer and more cogent proof--the -confessions of eminent men of genius, which show how completely the one -may be confounded with the other. Such confessions are those of -Goncourt[466] and Buffon, and especially of Mahomet and Dostoïeffsky. - -“There are moments,” writes the latter (in _Besi_)--“and it is only a -matter of five or six seconds--when you suddenly feel the presence of -the eternal harmony. This phenomenon is neither terrestrial nor -celestial, but it is an indescribable something, which man, in his -mortal body, can scarcely endure--he must either undergo a physical -transformation or die. It is a clear and indisputable feeling: all at -once, you feel as though you were placed in contact with the whole of -nature, and you say, ‘Yes! this is true.’ When God created the world, He -said, at the end of every day of creation, ‘Yes! this is true! this is -good!’ ... And it is not tenderness, nor yet joy. You do not forgive -anything, because there is nothing to forgive. Neither do you love--oh! -this feeling is higher than love! The terrible thing is the frightful -clearness with which it manifests itself, and the rapture with which it -fills you. If this state were to last more than five seconds, the soul -could not endure it, and would have to disappear. During those five -seconds, I live a whole human existence, and for that I would give my -whole life and not think I was paying it too dearly.’ - -“‘You are not epileptic?’ - -“‘No.’ - -“‘You will become so. I have heard that it begins just in that way. A -man subject to this malady[467] has minutely described to me the -sensation which precedes the attack; and in listening to you, I thought -I heard him speaking. He, too, spoke of a period of five seconds, and -said it was impossible to endure this condition longer. Remember -Mahomet’s water-jar; for the space of time it took to empty it, the -prophet was rapt into Paradise. Your five seconds are the jar--Paradise -is your harmony--and Mahomet was epileptic! Take care you do not become -so also, Kiriloff!’”[468] - -And in the _Idiot_ (vol. i. p. 296):-- - -“ ... I remember, among other things, a phenomenon which used to precede -his epileptic attacks, when they came on in a waking state. In the midst -of the dejection, the mental marasmus, the anxiety, which the madman -experienced, there were moments in which, all of a sudden, his brain -became inflamed, and all his vital forces suddenly rose to a prodigious -degree of intensity. The sensation of life, of conscious existence, was -multiplied almost tenfold in these swiftly-passing moments. - -“A strange light illuminated his heart and mind. All agitation was -calmed, all doubt and perplexity resolved itself into a superior -harmony, a serene and tranquil gaiety, which yet was completely -rational. But these radiant moments were only a prelude to the last -instant--that immediately succeeded by the attack. That instant was, in -truth, ineffable. When, at a later time, after his recovery, the prince -reflected on this subject, he said to himself, ‘Those fleeting moments, -in which our highest consciousness of ourselves--and therefore our -highest life--is manifested, are due only to disease, to the suspension -of normal conditions; and, if so, it is not a higher life, but, on the -contrary, one of a lower order.’ This, however, did not prevent his -reaching a most paradoxical conclusion. ‘What matter, after all, though -it be a disease--an abnormal tension--if the result, as I with recovered -health remember and analyze it, includes the very highest degree of -harmony and beauty; if at this moment I have an unspeakable, hitherto -unsuspected feeling of harmony, of peace, of my whole nature being -fused in the impetus of a prayer, with the highest synthesis of life?’ - -“This farrago of nonsense seemed to the prince perfectly comprehensible; -and the only fault it had in his eyes was that of being too feeble a -rendering of his thoughts. He could not doubt, or even admit the -possibility of a doubt, of the real existence of this condition of -‘beauty and prayer,’ or of its constituting ‘the highest synthesis of -life.’ - -“But did he not in these moments experience visions analogous to the -fantastic and debasing dreams produced by the intoxication of opium, -haschisch, or wine? He was able to form a sane judgment on this point -when the morbid condition had ceased. These moments were only -distinguished--to define them in a word--by the extraordinary -heightening of the inward sense. If in that instant--that is to say, in -the last moment of consciousness which precedes the attack--the patient -was able to say clearly, and with full consciousness of the import of -his words, ‘Yes, for this moment one would give a whole lifetime,’ there -is no doubt that, as far as he alone was concerned, that moment was -worth a lifetime. - -“No doubt, too, it is to this same instant that the epileptic Mahomet -alluded, when he said that he used to visit all the abodes of Allah in -less time than it would take to empty his water-jar.” - -I will add here some lines from the _Correspondance_ of Flaubert:-- - -“If sensitive nerves are enough to make a poet, I should be worth more -than Shakespeare and Homer.... I who have heard through closed doors -people talking in low tones thirty paces away, across whose abdomen one -may see all the viscera throbbing, and who have sometimes felt in the -space of a minute a million thoughts, images, and combinations of all -kinds throwing themselves into my brain at once, as it were the lighted -squibs of fireworks.” - -Let us now compare these descriptions of an attack, which might be -called one of _psychic epilepsy_ (and which corresponds exactly to the -physiological idea of epilepsy--_i.e._, cortical irritation), with all -the descriptions given us by authors themselves of the inspiration of -genius. We shall then see how perfect is the correspondence between the -two sets of phenomena. - -In order the better to illustrate these strange displacements of -function in epileptic subjects, I should call attention to an example, -cited by Dr. Frigerio, of an epileptic patient who, at the moment of -seizure, felt the venereal desire awaken, not in the generative organs, -but in the epigastrium, accompanied by ejaculation.[469] - -Let me add that, in certain cases, it is not only isolated paroxysms -which recall the psychic phenomenology of the epileptic, but the whole -life. Bourget remarks that, “for the Goncourts, life reduces itself to a -series of epileptic attacks, preceded and followed by a blank.” And what -the Goncourts wrote has always been autobiography. Zola in his -_Romanciers Naturalistes_ gives us this confession by Balzac: “He works -under the influence of circumstances, of which the union is a mystery; -he does not belong to himself; he is the plaything of a force which is -eminently capricious; on some days he would not touch his brush, he -would not write a line for an empire. In the evening when dreaming, in -the morning when rising, in the midst of some joyous feast, it happens -that a burning coal suddenly touches this brain, these hands, this -tongue: a word awakens ideas that are born, grow, ferment. Such is the -artist, the humble instrument of a despotic will; he obeys a master.” - -Let us glance at the pictures which Taine has given us of the greatest -of modern conquerors, and Renan of the greatest of the apostles:-- - -“The principal characteristics of Napoleon’s genius,” says Taine, “are -its originality and comprehensiveness. No detail escapes him. The -quantity of facts which his mind stores up and retains, the number of -ideas which he elaborates and utters, seem to surpass human capacity. - -“In the art of ruling men his genius was supreme. His method of -procedure--which is that of the experimental sciences--consisted in -controlling every theory by a precise application observed under -definite conditions. All his sayings are fire-flashes. ‘Adultery,’ said -he to the Conseil d’Etat, when the question of divorce was under -discussion, ‘is not exceptional; it is very common--_c’est une affaire -de canapé_.’ ‘Liberty,’ he exclaimed, on another occasion (and he -remained faithful all his life to the spirit of this exclamation), ‘is -the necessity of a small and privileged class, endowed by nature with -faculties higher than those of the mass of mankind; _it may therefore be -abridged with impunity_. Equality, on the contrary, pleases the -multitude.” - -“He possesses a faculty which carries us back to the Middle Ages--an -astounding _constructive_ imagination. What he accomplished is -surprising; but he undertook far more, and dreamed much more even than -that. However vigorous his practical faculties may have been, his poetic -faculty was still stronger; it was even greater than it ought to have -been in a statesman. We see greatness in him exaggerated into immensity, -and immensity degenerating into madness. What aspiring, monstrous -conceptions revolved, accumulated, superseded each other in that -marvellous brain! ‘Europe,’ he said, ‘is a mole-hill; there have never -been great empires or great revolutions save in the East, where there -are six hundred millions of men.’” - -In Egypt, he was thinking of conquering Syria, re-establishing the -Eastern Empire at Constantinople, and returning to Paris by way of -Adrianople and Vienna. The East allured him with the mirage of -omnipotence; in the East he caught a glimpse of the possibility that, a -new Mahomet, he might found a new religion. Confined to Europe, his -dream was to re-create the empire of Charlemagne; to make Paris the -physical, intellectual, and religious capital of Europe, and assemble -within its precincts the princes, kings, and popes, who should have -become his vassals. By way of Russia, he would then advance towards the -Ganges, and the supremacy of India. “The artist enclosed within the -politician has issued from his sheath; he creates in the region of the -ideal and the impossible. We know him for what he is--a posthumous -brother of Dante and Michelangelo; only these two worked on paper and in -marble; it was living man, sensitive and suffering flesh, that formed -his material.” - -“Napoleon differs from modern men in character as much as do the -contemporaries of Dante and Michelangelo. The sentiments, habits, and -morality professed by him are the sentiments, habits, and morality of -the fifteenth century. ‘I am not a man like other men,’ he exclaimed; -‘the laws of morality and decorum were not made for me.’ - -“Mme. de Staël and Stendhal compare Napoleon psychologically to the -lesser tyrants of the fourteenth century--Sforza and Castruccio -Castracani. Such, in fact, he was. - -“On the evening of the 12th Vendemiaire, being present at the -preparations made by the Sections, he said to Junot, ‘Ah! if the -Sections would only place me at their head, I would answer for it that -they should be in the Tuileries within two hours, and all these wretched -Conventionnels out of it!’ Five hours later, being called to the -assistance of Barras and the Convention, he opened fire on the -Parisians, like a good _condottiere_, who does not give but lends -himself to the first who offers, to the highest bidder, reserving for -himself full liberty of action, and the power of seizing everything, -should the occasion present itself.... - -“Never, even among the Borgias and Malatestas, was there a more -sensitive and impulsive brain, capable of such electric accumulations -and discharges.... In him, no idea remained purely speculative; each -one, as it occurred, had a tendency to embody itself in action, and -would have done so, if not prevented by force.... Sometimes the outburst -was so sudden that restraint did not come in time. One day, in Egypt, he -upset a decanter of water over a lady’s dress, and, taking her into his -own room, under the pretext of remedying the accident, remained there -with her for some time--too long--while the other guests, seated around -the table, waited, gazing at each other. On another occasion he threw -Prince Louis violently out of the room; on yet another, he kicked -Senator Volney in the stomach. - -“At Campo-Formio, he threw down and broke a china ornament, to put an -end to the resistance of the Austrian plenipotentiary. At Dresden, in -1813, when Prince Metternich was most necessary to him, he asked him, -brutally, how much he received from England for defending her interests. - -“Never was there a more impatient sensibility. He throws garments that -do not fit him into the fire. His writing--when he tries to write--is a -collection of disconnected and indecipherable characters. He dictates so -quickly that his secretaries can scarcely follow him--if the pen is -behindhand, so much the worse for it; if a volley of oaths and -exclamations give it time to catch up, so much the better. His heart and -intellect are full to overflowing; under pressure like this, the -extempore orator and the excited controversialist take the place of the -statesman.” - -“My nerves are irritable,” he said of himself; and, in fact, the tension -of accumulated impressions sometimes produced a physical convulsion; he -was not seldom seen to shed tears under strong emotion. Napoleon wept, -not on account of true and deep feeling, but because “a word--an idea by -itself is a stimulus which reaches the inmost depth of his nature.” -Hence, certain distractions, consequent upon vomitings or fainting fits, -which caused, it is said, the loss of General Vandamme’s corps, after -the battle of Dresden. Though the regulator is so powerful, the balance -of the works is, from time to time, in danger of being deranged. - -“An enormous degree of strength was necessary, to co-ordinate, to guide -and to dominate passions of such vitality. In Napoleon, this strength is -an instinct of extraordinary force and harshness--an egoism, not inert, -but active and aggressive, and so far developed as to set up in the -midst of human society a colossal _I_, which can tolerate no life that -is not an appendix, or instrument of its own. Even as a child, he showed -the germs of this personality; he was impatient of all restraint, and -had no trace of conscience; he could brook no rivals, beat those who -refused to render homage to him, and then accused his victims of having -beaten him. - -“He looks upon the world as a great banquet, open to every comer, but -where, to be well served, it is necessary for a man to have long arms, -help himself first, and let others take what he leaves. - -“‘One has a hold over man through his selfish passions--fear, greed, -sensuality, self-esteem, emulation. If there are some hard particles in -the heap, all one has to do is to crush them.’ Such was the final -conception arrived at by Napoleon; and nothing could induce him to -change it, because this conception is conditioned by his character; he -saw man as he needed to see him. His egoism is reflected in his -ambition--‘so much a part of his inmost nature that he cannot -distinguish it from himself; it makes his head swim. France is a -mistress who is his to enjoy.’ In the exercise of his power he -acknowledges neither intermediaries, nor rivals, nor limits, nor -hindrances. - -“To fill his office with zeal and success is not enough for him; above -and beyond the functionary, he vindicates the rights of the man. All who -serve him must extinguish the critical sense in themselves; their -scarcely audible whispers are a conspiracy, or an attack on his majesty. -He requires of them anything and everything--from the manufacture of -false Austrian and Russian bank-notes in 1809 and 1812, to the -preparation of an infernal machine, to blow up the Bourbons in 1814. He -knows nothing of gratitude; when a man is of no further use to him as a -tool, he throws him away.... - -“During a dance, he would walk about among the ladies, in order to shock -them with unpleasant witticisms; he was always prying into their private -life, and related to the empress herself the favours which, more or less -spontaneously, they granted him. - -“What is still stranger, he carried the same methods of proceeding into -his relations with sovereigns and ambassadors of foreign states. In his -correspondence, in his proclamations, in his audiences, he provoked, -threatened, challenged, offended; he divulged their real or supposed -amorous intrigues (the bulletins 9, 17, 18, 19, after the battle of -Jena, evidently accuse the Queen of Prussia of having had an intrigue -with the Emperor Alexander), and reproaches them with a personal insult -to himself, in the employment of such or such a man. He requires of -them, in short, to modify their fundamental laws: he has but a poor -opinion of a government without the power of prohibiting things which -may displease foreign governments.”[470] - -This is the completest view of Napoleon ever given by any historian. To -any one acquainted with the psychological constitution of the epileptic, -it becomes clear that Taine has here given us the subtlest and precisest -pathological diagnosis of a case of psychic epilepsy, with its gigantic -megalomaniacal illusions, its impulses, and complete absence of moral -sense. - -It is not, therefore, only in moments of inspiration that genius -approaches epilepsy; and the same thing may be said of St. Paul. - -St. Paul[471] was of low stature, but stoutly made. His health was -always poor, on account of a strange infirmity which he calls “a thorn -in the flesh,” and which was probably a serious neurosis. - -His moral character was anomalous; naturally kind and courteous, he -became ferocious when excited by passion. In the school of Gamaliel, a -moderate Pharisee, he did not learn moderation; as the enthusiastic -leader of the younger Pharisees, he was among the fiercest persecutors -of the Christians.... Hearing that there was a certain number of -disciples at Damascus, he demanded of the high priest a warrant for -arresting them, and left Jerusalem in a disturbed state of mind. On -approaching the plain of Damascus at noon, he had a seizure, evidently -of an epileptic nature, in which he fell to the ground unconscious. Soon -after this, he experienced a hallucination, and saw Jesus himself, who -said to him in Hebrew, “Paul, Paul, why persecutest thou me?” For three -days, seized with fever, he neither ate nor drank, and saw the phantom -of Ananias, whom, as head of the Christian community, he had come to -arrest, making signs to him. The latter was summoned to his bed, and -calm immediately returned to the spirit of Paul, who from that day -forward became one of the most fervid Christians. Without desiring any -more special instruction--as having received a direct revelation from -Christ himself--he regarded himself as one of the apostles, and acted as -such, to the enormous advantage of the Christians. The immense dangers -occasioned by his haughty and arrogant spirit were compensated a -thousand times over by his boldness and originality, which would not -allow the Christian idea to remain within the bounds of a small -association of people “poor in spirit,” who would have let it die out -like Hellenism, but, so to speak, steered boldly out to sea with it. At -Antioch he had a hallucination similar to that of Mahomet at a later -period; he felt himself rapt into the third heaven, where he heard -unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. - -Anomalies are also observable in his writings. “He lets himself be -guided by words rather than ideas; some one word which he has in his -mind overpowers him and draws him off into a series of ideas very far -removed from his main subject. His digressions are abrupt, the -development of his ideas is suddenly cut short, his sentences are often -unfinished. No writer was ever so unequal; no literature in the world -presents a sublime passage like 1 Corinthians xiii., side by side with -futile arguments and wearisome detail.”[472] - -Epilepsy in men of genius, therefore, is not an accidental phenomenon, -but a true _morbus totius substantiæ_, to express it in medical -language. Hence we gather a fresh indication of the epileptoid nature of -genius. - -If, as seems certain, Dostoïeffsky described himself in the _Idiot_, we -have another example of an epileptic genius, whose whole course of life -is determined by the psychology peculiar to the epileptic--impulsivity, -double personality, childishness, which goes back even to the earliest -periods of human life, and alternates with a prophetic penetration, and -with morbid altruism and the exaggerated affectivity of the saint. This -last fact is most important, as bearing on the objection that the usual -immorality of the epileptic would forbid us to connect this type with -that of the saintly character. This objection, however, has been partly -eliminated by the researches of Bianchi, Tonnini, Filippi, according to -whom there are cases, though rare (16 per cent.), of epileptic patients -of good character, who even manifest an exaggerated altruism, though -accompanied by excessive emotionalism.[473] - -Hysteria, which is closely related to epilepsy, and similarly connected -with the loss of affectivity, often shows us, side by side with an -exaggerated egoism, certain bursts of excessive altruism, which, at the -same time, have their source in, and depend on, a degree of moral -insanity, and show us the morbid phenomenon in excessive charity. - -“There are some ladies,” justly observes Legrand du Saulle,[474] “who, -though remaining in the world, take an ostentatious part in all the good -works going on in their parish; they collect for the poor, work for the -orphans, visit the sick, give alms, watch by the dead, ardently solicit -the benevolence of others, and do a great deal of really helpful work, -while at the same time neglecting their husbands, children, and -household affairs. - -“These women ostentatiously and noisily proclaim their benevolence. They -set on foot a work of charity with as much ardour as bogus -company-promoters launch a financial enterprise which is to result in -hyperbolical dividends. - -“They go and come, in constantly increasing numbers; they instinctively -act with a charming tact and delicacy, think of everything necessary to -be done, whether in the midst of private mourning or public catastrophe, -and affect to blush on receiving tributes of admiration from grateful -sufferers, or deeply moved spectators.... Their ready tact and sympathy -are surprising, and the greater the trouble, the more admirably do they -seem to rise to the occasion--while the paroxysm lasts. When their -feelings are calmed, the benevolent impulse passes away; being -essentially mobile and spasmodic, they cannot do good deliberately and -on reflection. - -“The ‘charitable hysteric’ is capable of achieving feats of courage -which have been quoted and repeated, and even become legendary. - -“They have been known to show extraordinary presence of mind, resource, -and courage in saving the inmates of a burning house, or in facing an -armed mob during a riot. If questioned on the following day, these -heroines will be found in a state of complete prostration; and some of -them candidly avow that they do not know what they have done, and were -at the time unconscious of danger. - -“At a time of cholera epidemic, when fear causes such ill-advised and -reprehensible derelictions of duty, hysterical women have been known to -show an extraordinary devotion; nothing is repugnant to them, nothing -revolts their modesty or wearies out their endurance.... - -“For such persons, devotion to others has become a need, a necessary -expenditure of energy, and, without knowing it, they pathologically play -the part of virtue. People in general are taken in by it, and, for the -sake of example, it is just as well. It was this consideration which -induced me to ask and obtain a public acknowledgment of the services of -a hysterical patient--at one time an inmate of a lunatic asylum--whose -deeds of charity in the district where she lives are truly touching. -While constantly active in attendance on the sick, and spending -liberally on their behalf, she confines her personal expenditure to what -is strictly necessary, her dress being the same at all seasons of the -year. Now this lady shows a great variety of hysterical symptoms, -becomes intensely excited on the slightest occasion, sleeps very badly, -and is a serious invalid. - -“Lastly, in private sorrows, the hysteric patient often departs from the -normal manifestations of grief. At the loss of her children, she remains -calm, serene, resigned; does not shed a tear, thinks of everything that -ought to be done, gives numerous orders, forgets none of the most -painful details, imposes on all around her the most dignified attitude, -and attends the funeral without breaking down. People think that this -mother is exceptionally gifted, and has a courage superior to others. -This is a mistake; she is weaker than they--she is ‘suffering from -disease.’” - -In order fully to grasp the seeming paradoxes contained in these -conclusions, we must remember that many philanthropists love their -neighbours, but only at a distance, and nearly always at the expense of -the more physiological, more general, affections--love for their family, -their country, &c. We must remember Dostoïeffsky’s remark (in _The -Brothers Karamanzov_, i. p. 325) that “What one can love in one’s fellow -is a hidden and invisible man; as soon as he shows his face, love -disappears. One can love one’s fellow-men in spirit, but only at a -distance; never close at hand.” One also recalls Sterne, who was -overcome with emotion at the sight of a dead ass, and deserted his wife -and his mother. - -The greatest philanthropists--such men as Beccaria and Howard--have been -harsh fathers and masters; even the Divine Philanthropist was, as we -have seen, hard towards his own family.[475] - -St. Paul, before his conversion, distinguished himself by his vehement -and cruel persecution of the Christians. - -It is well known how, only too often, the man of real and fervent -religion has to forget his family and make a duty of celibacy and hatred -to the other sex. Thus St. Liberata was angry with her husband for -weeping at parting from their children; and, according to the legend, -the mother of Baruch replied to her son when, during his martyrdom, he -implored her for water in his anguish, “Thou shouldst desire no water -now save that of heaven.”[476] - -These cases, moreover, show that, very often, exaggerated altruism is -itself only a pathological phenomenon, a hypertrophy of sentiment -accompanied--as always happens in cases of hypertrophy--by loss and -atrophy in other directions.[477] - -We have seen in Juan de Dios, in Lazzaretti, Loyola, and St. Francis, of -Assisi, saintliness showing itself, in true psychic polarization, as a -perfect contrast to their former life in which the tendency to evil was -strongly pronounced. - -If we add to these phenomena, so frequent in epileptic and hysteric -patients, all those others, of clairvoyance, thought-transference, -transposition of the senses, fakirism, mental vision, temporary -manifestations of genius, and monoideism, so frequently observed in -these maladies, phenomena so strange that many scientists, unable to -explain, endeavour to deny them, we can demonstrate the hysterical -character of saintliness, even in its least explicable manifestations--those -of miracles.[478] - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -SANE MEN OF GENIUS. - -Their unperceived -defects--Richelieu--Sesostris--Foscolo--Michelangelo--Darwin. - - -But a graver objection is that afforded by those few men of genius who -have completed their intellectual orbit without aberration, neither -depressed by misfortune nor thrown out of their course by madness. - -Such have been Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, Voltaire, Machiavelli, -Michelangelo, Darwin. Each one of these showed, by the ample volume and -at the same time the symmetrical proportion of the skull, force of -intellect restrained by the calm of the desires. Not one of them allowed -his great passion for truth and beauty to stifle the love of family and -country. They never changed their faith or character, never swerved from -their aim, never left their work half completed. What assurance, what -faith, what ability they showed in their undertakings; and, above all, -what moderation and unity of character they preserved in their lives! -Though they, too, had to experience--after undergoing the sublime -paroxysm of inspiration--the torture inflicted by ignorant hatred, and -the discomfort of uncertainty and exhaustion, they never, on that -account, deviated from the straight road. They carried out to the end -the one cherished idea which formed the aim and purpose of their lives, -calm and serene, never complaining of obstacles, and falling into but a -few mistakes--mistakes which, in lesser men, might even have passed for -discoveries. - -But I have already answered, in the opening pages of this book, the -objection furnished by these rare exceptions, pointing out that epilepsy -and moral insanity (which is its first variety) often pass unobserved, -not only in distinguished men, the prestige of whose name and work -dazzles our judgment, and prevents our discerning them, but in those -criminals to whom such researches might at least restore self-respect, -by depriving them of all responsibility. - -Who, but for the revelations of some of his intimate friends, would have -suspected that Cavour was repeatedly subject to attacks of suicidal -mania, or thought that Richelieu was epileptic? No one would have paid -any attention to the morbid impulsiveness of Foscolo, or recorded it as -a symptom, if Davis had not examined his skull after death. Who could -make any assertion with regard to the moral sense of Sesostris? Yet, as -Arved Barine justly remarks,[479] his skull completely corresponds to -the criminal type. The low and narrow forehead, prominent superciliary -arch, thick eyebrows, eyes set close together, long, narrow, aquiline -nose, hollow temples, projecting cheek-bones, strong jaws; the -expression not intelligent, but animal, fierce, proud, and majestic; the -head small in proportion to the body, are all so many indications of the -most complete absence of moral sense. - -In all the biographies of Michelangelo we do not discover one spot on -that gentle and yet robust soul, who trembled for the sorrows of his -country as at the expression of beauty. But the publication of his -letters,[480] and the keen researches of Parlagreco,[481] have revealed -physical anomalies never before suspected. - -One of the most important is his complete indifference to women. This -may be observed in his works, and his masterpieces were all -masculine--Moses, Lorenzo, Giuliano de’ Medici, &c. He never used, it -appears, the living female model, though he made use of corpses; his -Bacchante is a virago with masculine muscles, unformed breasts and no -feminine touch. In his many love sonnets, written rather to follow the -prevailing fashion than from any true inspiration of passion, none bear -the mark of being addressed to real women; only fourteen times, it is -said, does the word “donna” occur. On the other hand, in the Barbera -Collection, Sonnets xviii. and xii. show a very marked admiration for -the male, and Varchi considers that these are addressed to Cavalieri who -was of great physical beauty. There are in existence two of his letters -addressed to Cavalieri (July 28, 1523, and July 28, 1532), which seem to -be written to a mistress, and in which, humiliating himself, he swears -that, if banished from the other’s heart, he will die. There is a -similar letter written to Angelini. - -This moral anomaly, which he would share with many artists, Cellini, -Sodoma, &c., is not the only one met with. “In his letters,” writes -Parlagreco, “may be seen constant contradictions between ideas that are -great and generous, and others that are puerile; between will and -speech; between thought and action; extreme irritability, inconstant -affection, great activity in doing good, sudden sympathies, great -outbursts of enthusiasm, great fears, sometimes unconsciousness of his -own actions, marvellous modesty in the field of art, unreasonable vanity -in the appearances of life--these are the various psychical -manifestations in the life of Buonarroti which lead me to believe that -the great artist was affected by a neuropathic condition bordering on -hysteria.” - -Every day in his old age he discovered some sin in his past life, and he -sent money to Florence for masses to be said and for alms to the poor, -and to enable poor girls to be married, and, which is stranger, to be -made nuns. All this was to gain Paradise (Lett. 187, 214, 240, 330), to -save his soul--he who had said: “It is not strange that the monks should -spoil a chapel [at the Vatican], since they have known how to spoil the -whole world.” - -At some moments he feels that his conscience is clean and then he -desires to die, so that he may not fall back into evil; but then his -discouragement returns, and he believes (strange blasphemy), that it was -a sin to have been born an artist. - - “_Conosco di quant’ era d’error carca_ - _L’affettuosa fantasia_ - _Che_ l’arte _mi fece idolo e monarca_ ... - _Le parole del mondo mi hanno tolto_ - _Il tempo dato a contemplar Iddio._” - -And he believes himself destined by God to a long life simply that he -may complete the fabric of St. Peter’s. - -In old age he who had shown so little vanity where his work was -concerned, and so much modesty in speaking of it, went about studying -how he could best exhibit the nobility of his descent, claiming to trace -it in a direct line from the Counts of Canossa, a claim which, even if -valid, would not be worth a finger of his Moses. - -Michelangelo tenderly loved his father and brother and nephews, and -enabled them to live in easy circumstances; yet in his letters to them -he frequently shows himself suspicious and treats them unjustly. In -1544, he fell seriously ill at Rome. His nephew naturally hastened to -his bedside. Michelangelo became very angry and wrote: “You are come to -kill me and to see what I leave behind.... Know that I have made my will -and that there is nothing here for you to think about. Therefore, go in -peace and do not write to me more.” Three months after, he changed his -tone. “I will not fail in what I have often thought about, that is, in -helping you.” He has himself left a confession of his almost morbid -melancholy in a letter (97), to Sebastiano del Piombo: “Yesterday -evening I was happy because I escaped from my mad and melancholy -humour.” - -Without the recent biographical and autobiographical notes published by -his son,[482] no one could have imagined that Darwin, a model father and -citizen, so self-controlled and even so free from vanity, was a -neuropath. His son tells us that for forty years he never enjoyed -twenty-four hours of health like other men. Of the eight years devoted -to the study of the cirripedes, two, as he himself writes, were lost -through illness. Like all neuropaths he could bear neither heat nor -cold; half an hour of conversation beyond his habitual time was -sufficient to cause insomnia and hinder his work on the following day. -He suffered also from dyspepsia, from spinal anæmia and giddiness (which -last is known to be frequently the equivalent of epilepsy); and he -could not work more than three hours a day. He had curious crotchets. -Finding that eating sweets made him ill, he resolved not to touch them -again, but was unable to keep his resolution, unless he had repeated it -aloud. He had a strange passion for paper--writing the rough drafts of -his correspondence on the back of proof-sheets, and of the most -important MSS. which were thus rendered difficult to decipher. He often -instituted what he himself called “fool’s experiments”--_e.g._, having a -bassoon played close to the cotyledons of a plant.[483] When about to -make an experiment, he seemed to be urged on by some inward force. From -a morbid dislike to novelty, he used the millimetric tables of an old -book which he knew to be inaccurate, but to which he was accustomed. He -would not change his old chemical balance though aware that it was -untrustworthy; he refused to believe in hypnotism, and also, at first, -in the discovery of prehistoric stone weapons.[484] He frequently, says -his daughter, inverted his sentences, both in speaking and writing, and -had a difficulty in pronouncing some letters, especially _w_. Like -Skoda, Rockitanski, and Socrates, he had a short snub nose, and his ears -were large and long. Nor were degenerative characteristics wanting among -his ancestors. It is true that he reckoned among them several men of -intellect and almost of genius, such as Robert (1682), a botanist and -intelligent observer; and Edward, author of a _Gamekeeper’s Manual_, -full of acute observations on animals. His father had great powers of -observation; but his paternal grandfather, Erasmus--poet and naturalist -at the same time--had a passionate temper and an impediment in his -speech. One of his sons, Charles, a poet and collector, resembled him in -this respect. Finally, another uncle, Erasmus, a man of some intellect, -a numismatist and statistician, ended by madness and suicide. - -It might be objected that the fact of such different forms of -psychosis--melancholy, moral insanity, monomania--being found either -complete or undeveloped in men of genius, excludes the special psychosis -of genius, and still more that of epilepsy. But it may be answered that -recent research, which has enlarged the domain of epilepsy, has also -demonstrated that, apart from impulsive and hallucinatory delusions, -epilepsy may be superadded to any form of mental alienation, especially -megalomania and moral insanity. And, as is the case in nearly all -degenerative psychoses, undeveloped forms of mental disease, and -recurring multiform delusions brought on by the most trivial causes, -especially predominate in epilepsy. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - - - -CONCLUSIONS. - - -Between the physiology of the man of genius, therefore, and the -pathology of the insane, there are many points of coincidence; there is -even actual continuity. This fact explains the frequent occurrence of -madmen of genius, and men of genius who have become insane, having, it -is true, characteristics special to themselves, but capable of being -resolved into exaggerations of those of genius pure and simple. The -frequency of delusions in their multiform characters of degenerative -characteristics, of the loss of affectivity, of heredity, more -particularly in the children of inebriate, imbecile, idiotic, or -epileptic parents, and, above all, the peculiar character of -inspiration, show that genius is a degenerative psychosis of the -epileptoid group. This supposition is confirmed by the frequency of a -temporary manifestation of genius in the insane, and by the new group of -mattoids to whom disease gives all the semblance of genius, without its -substance. - -What I have hitherto written may, I hope (while remaining within the -limits of psychological observation), afford an experimental -starting-point for a criticism of artistic and literary, sometimes also -of scientific, creations. - -Thus, in the fine arts, exaggerated minuteness of detail, the abuse of -symbols, inscriptions, or accessories, a preference for some one -particular colour, an unrestrained passion for mere novelty, may -approach the morbid symptoms of mattoidism. Just so, in literature and -science, a tendency to puns and plays upon words, an excessive fondness -for systems, a tendency to speak of one’s self, and substitute epigram -for logic, an extreme predilection for the rhythm and assonances of -verse in prose writing, even an exaggerated degree of originality may be -considered as morbid phenomena. So also is the mania of writing in -Biblical form, in detached verses, and with special favourite words, -which are underlined, or repeated many times, and a certain graphic -symbolism. Here I must acknowledge that, when I see how many of the -organs which claim to direct public opinion are infected with this -tendency, and how often young writers undertake to discuss grave social -problems in the capricious phraseology of the lunatic asylum, and the -disjointed periods of Biblical times, as though our robust lungs were -unable to cope with the vigorous and manly inspirations of the Latin -construction, I feel grave apprehensions for the future of the rising -generation. - -On the other hand, the analogy of mattoids with genius, whose morbid -phenomena only are inherited by them, and with sane persons, with whom -they have shrewdness and practical sense in common, ought to put -students on their guard against certain systems, springing up by -hundreds, more particularly in the abstract or inexact sciences, and due -to the efforts of men incompetent, from a lack either of capacity or -knowledge of the subject, to deal with them. In these systems -declamation, assonances, paradoxes, and conceptions often original, but -always incomplete and contradictory, take the place of calm reasoning -based on a minute and unprejudiced study of facts. Such books are nearly -always the work of those true though involuntary charlatans, the -mattoids, who are more widely diffused in the literary world than is -commonly supposed. - -Nor is it only students who should be on their guard against them, but -especially politicians. Not that, in an age of free criticism like our -own, there is any danger that these pretended reformers, who are -stimulated and guided solely by mental disease, should be taken -seriously; but the obstacles justly opposed to them may, by irritating, -sharpen and complete their insanity, transforming a harmless -delusion--whether ideological, as in the case of most mattoids, or -sensorial, as in monomaniacs--into active madness, in which their -greater intellectual power, the depth and tenacity of their -convictions, and that very excess of altruism which compels them to -occupy themselves with public affairs, render them more dangerous, and -more inclined to rebellion and regicide, than other insane persons. - -When we reflect that, on the other hand, a genuine lunatic may give -proof of temporary genius, a phenomenon calculated to inspire the -populace with an astonishment which soon produces veneration, we find a -solid argument against those jurists and judges who, from the soundness -and activity of the intellect, infer complete moral responsibility, to -the total exclusion of the possibility of insanity. We also see our way -to an interpretation of the mystery of genius, its contradictions, and -those of its mistakes which any ordinary man would have avoided. And we -can explain to ourselves how it is that madmen or mattoids, even with -little or no genius (Passanante, Lazzaretti, Drabicius, Fourier, Fox), -have been able to excite the populace, and sometimes even to bring about -serious political revolutions. Better still shall we understand how -those who were at once men of genius and insane (Mahomet, Luther, -Savonarola, Schopenhauer), could--despising and overcoming obstacles -which would have dismayed any cool and deliberate mind--hasten by whole -centuries the unfolding of truth; and how such men have originated -nearly all the religions, and certainly all the sects, which have -agitated the world. - -The frequency of genius among lunatics and of madmen among men of -genius, explains the fact that the destiny of nations has often been in -the hands of the insane; and shows how the latter have been able to -contribute so much to the progress of mankind. - -In short, by these analogies, and coincidences between the phenomena of -genius and mental aberration, it seems as though nature had intended to -teach us respect for the supreme misfortunes of insanity; and also to -preserve us from being dazzled by the brilliancy of those men of genius -who might well be compared, not to the planets which keep their -appointed orbits, but to falling stars, lost and dispersed over the -crust of the earth. - - - - -APPENDIX. - -POETRY AND THE INSANE. - - -The following letter was written by a druggist confined in the Asylum of -Sainte-Anne:-- - -Sainte-Anne, le 26 février 1880. - -MADAME, - - Veuillez agréer l’hommage - De ce modeste sonnet - Et le tenir comme un gage - De mon sincère respect. - - SONNET. - - Souvenez-vous, reine des dieux, - Vierge des vierges, notre mère, - Que vous êtes sur cette terre - L’ange gardien mystérieux.[485] - -The same man addressed to M. Magnan a long poem on a dramatic -representation accompanied by the following graceful _envoi_:-- - - VÉNÉRÉ DOCTEUR, - - L’estime et la reconnaissance - Sont la seule monnaie du cœur - Dont votre pauvre serviteur - Dispose pour la récompense - Qu’il doit à vos soins pleins d’honneur. - - Recevez donc cet humble hommage, - Docteur admiré, révéré, - Et j’ajouterai bien-aimé, - Si vous vouliez tenir pour gage - Qu’en cela du moins J’AI PAYE.[486] - -The following lines are from a long satirical poem by a writer who -appears to have cherished much less respect for his physician. He -believed that he had been changed into a beast, and recognised a -colleague in every horse or donkey he met. He wished to browse in every -field, and only refrained from doing so out of consideration for his -friends:-- - - Les médicastres sans vergogne - Qui changent en sale besogne - Le plus sublime des mandats, - Ces infâmes aliénistes, - Qui, reconnus pour moralistes, - Sont les pires des scélérats! - Ils détruisent les écritures - Pour maintenir les impostures - Des ennemis du bien public. - Ils prostituent leur justice - Pour se gorger du bénéfice - De leur satanique trafic.[487] - -The author of the following lines on the same day made an attempt at -suicide, and then a homicidal attack on his mother. - - À MONSIEUR LE DOCTEUR C. - - ÉPITRE (_13 mai 1887_). - - Un docteur éminent sollicite ma muse. - Certes l’honneur est grand; mais le docteur s’amuse, - Car, dans ce noir séjour, le poète attristé - Par le souffle divin n’est guère visité.... - Faire des vers ici, quelle rude besogne! - On pourra m’objecter que jadis, en Gascogne, - Les rayons éclatants d’un soleil du Midi - Réveillaient quelquefois mon esprit engourdi; - Il est vrai: dans Bordeaux, cité fière et polie, - J’ai fêté le bon vin, j’ai chanté la folie, - Celle bien entendu qui porte des grelots. - - Mais depuis, un destin fatal à mon repos - M’exile loin des bords de la belle Gironde, - Qu’enrichissent les vins les plus fameux du monde! - Aussi plus de chansons, de madrigaux coquets! - Plus de sonnets savants, de bacchiques couplets! - Ma muse tout en pleurs a replié ses ailes, - Comme un ange banni des sphères éternelles! - Dans sa cage enfermé l’oiseau n’a plus de voix.... - Hélas! je ne suis point le rossignol des bois, - Pas même le pinson, pas même la fauvette; - Vous me flattez, docteur, en m’appelant poète.... - Je ne suis qu’un méchant rimeur, et je ne sais - Si ces alexandrins auront un grand succès.... - Cependant mon désir est de vous satisfaire; - Votre estime m’honore et je voudrais vous plaire, - Mais Pégase est rétif quand il est enchaîné; - D’un captif en naissant le vers meurt condamné. - Si vous voulez, docteur, que ma muse renaisse, - Je ne vous dirai pas: rendez-moi ma jeunesse. - Non, mais puisque vos soins m’ont rendu la santé, - Ne pourriez-vous me rendre aussi la liberté? - Des vers! Pour que le ciel au poète en envoie - Que faut-il? le grand air, le soleil et la joie! - Accordez-moi ces biens: mon luth reconnaissant, - Pour vous remercier comme un Dieu bienfaisant, - Peut-être trouvera, de mon cœur interprète, - Des chants dignes de vous, et dignes d’un poète! - -The following lines well express the solitary sadness of the -melancholiac:-- - - A SE STESSO. - - E con chi l’hai? - Con tutti e con nessuno, - L’ho con il cielo, che si tinge a bruno, - L’ho con il metro, che non rende i lai, - Che mi rodono il petto. - Nell’odio altrui, nel mal comun mi godo. - -And these are of marvellous delicacy and truth:-- - - TIPO FISICO-MORALE DI P. L. - - QUI RICOVERATO. - - Al primo aspetto - Chi ti vede, saria - Costretto a dir che a te manca l’affetto; - E male s’apporria; - Che invece spesse fiate, - Sotto ruvido vel, palpitan lene - L’anime innamorate - Che s’accendon, riscaldansi nel bene. - Così rosa dal petalo - Invisibile quasi - Mette l’effluvio dai raccolti vasi, - Come dal gelsomino, - E i delicati odor dell’amorino; - Nemico a tutti i giuochi, - Di Venere, di Bacco indarno i fuochi - Ti soffiano; la cute - E di tal forza che sembrano mute - Le vezzose lusinghe ... - E invano a darti il fiato spira l’etra. - M. S. - -The following little piece is a masterpiece of insane poetry:-- - - A UN UCCELLO DEL CORTILE. - - Da un virgulto ad uno scoglio - Da uno scoglio a una collina, - L’ala tua va pellegrina - Voli o posi a notte e dì. - - Noi confitti al nostro orgoglio, - Come ruote in ferrei perni, - Ci stanchiamo in giri eterni, - Sempre erranti e sempre qui! - CAVALIERE Y. - - - - -INDEX. - - -Albertus Magnus, 7 - -Alcoholism in men of genius, 54, 316, 325 - -Alexander the Great, 6, 54, 146 - -Alfieri, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28, 103 - -Amiel, 52-53 - -Ampère, 29, 34, 67, 315 - -Anæsthesia of men of genius, 33 - -Anabaptists, 256 - -Arabesques by insane artists, 200 - -Argentine men of genius, 313 - -Aristotle, 8, 13 - -Art in the insane, 179 _et seq._ - -Artists, distribution of great European, 117 _et seq._ - -Atavism in literature of the insane, 172 - - -Bach, 139 - -Bacon, 61 - -Balzac, 6, 47, 342 - -Barometrical condition and genius, 101 - -Baudelaire, 28, 69-72, 316, 325 - -Beethoven, 34, 61, 146 - -Berlioz, 27 - -Bernouilli, 141 - -Blake, W., 6, 56 - -Bolyai, 73 - -Bruno, G., 25, 35, 47, 106, 316 - -Buffon, 34, 339 - -Burns, 41 - -Byron, 7, 9, 29, 56, 61, 62, 103, 146 - - -Cabanis, 17 - -Cæsar, Julius, 39, 54 - -Campanella, 285-291 - -Campbell, T., 6, 38, 146 - -Cardan, 21, 35, 74-77, 145, 314, 323 - -Carducci, 38 - -Carlo Dolce, 67 - -Carlyle, 7, 61 - -Casanova, 59 - -Cavendish, 14 - -Cavour, 43, 354 - -Cerebral characteristics of men of genius, 8-13, 327 - -Chamfort, 14 - -Charity, hysterical, 349 - -Charles V., 13, 146 - -Chateaubriand, 38, 44 - -Chopin, 43, 47, 48 - -Choreic symptoms in men of genius, 38 - -Civilization on genius, influence of, 153 _et seq._ - -Clare, J., 165 - -Clarke, Marcus, 8 - -Climatic influences on genius, 117 _et seq._ - -Codazzi, 73 - -Coleridge, 22, 44, 55 - -Coleridge, Hartley, 55 - -Columbus, 56 - -Comte, 15, 60, 73 - -Concato, 72 - -Conception of men of genius, 149 - -Cowley, 23 - -Cowper, 24 - -Cranial characteristics of men of genius, 8-13, 327 - -Criminality of genius, 57 _et seq._ - -Cuvier, 11 - - -Dante, 8, 11, 15, 35, 46, 106 - -Darwin, 13, 106, 356-357 - -Décadent poets, 230 _et seq._ - -Descartes, 22 - -Dickens, 23 - -Diderot, 34 - -Discoveries, dates of, 105 _et seq._ - -Disease on genius, influence of, 151 - -Domenichino, 17 - -Donizetti, 9, 11, 62 - -Dostoïeffsky, 8, 321, 339-341 - -Double personality of men of genius, 24 - -Dreams, genius working during, 21, 326 - -Dumas _père_, 7, 62 - -Dupuytren, 41 - - -Education on genius, influence of, 159-160 - -Egoism of men of genius, 318-319 - -Enfantin, Prosper, 295-296 - -Epilepsy and genius, 38 - -Epileptoid nature of genius, 336 _et seq._ - -Erasmus, 6, 8, 13 - - -Flaxman, 7 - -Flaubert, 7, 14, 17, 28, 40, 50, 60, 331, 341 - -Florentine genius, 123, 154-155 - -Foderà, 91 - -_Folie du doute_ of men of genius, 48 _et seq._ - -Fontenelle, 62 - -Forgetfulness of men of genius, 33 - -Foscolo, 9, 11, 18, 20, 29, 31, 104, 106 - -Francis of Assisi, 258-260 - -Frederick II., 62 - -French genius, 127 - - -Galvani, 109-110, 114 - -Gambetta, 11, 12 - -Gauss, 12 - -Genius, Aristotle on, 1; - Plato on, 2; - Diderot on, 3; - Richter on, 19 - -Genius, a neurosis, 5; - distinct from talent, 19, 35; - in the insane, 161 _et seq._; - in mattoids, 226 _et seq._; - its epileptoid nature, 336 _et seq._; - in the sane, 353 _et seq._ - -Genius, characteristics of men of, 6; - height, 6; - frequency of rickets, 7; - pallor, 7; - emaciation, 7; - cranial and cerebral characteristics, 8-13, 327; - stammering, 13; - lefthandedness, 13; - sterility, 13; - unlikeness to parents, 14; - physiognomy, 14; - precocity, 15, 315; - delayed development, 16; - misoneism, 17; - vagabondage, 18, 316; - unconsciousness and instinctiveness, 19; - somnambulism, 21; - inspiration, 22; - double personality, 24; - stupidity, 25; - hyperæsthesia, 26; - anæsthesia, 33; - forgetfulness, 33; - originality, 35, 317-318; - fondness for special words, 37; - frequency of chorea and epilepsy, 38; - melancholy, 40; - delusions of grandeur, 45; - _folie du doute_, 48 _et seq._; - alcoholism, 54, 316; - hallucinations, 56; - moral insanity, 57; - longevity, 64; - insanity, 66 _et seq._; - meteorological influences on, 100 _et seq._; - climatic influences on, 117 _et seq._; - influence of race, 126, 133; - influence of sex, 137; - influence of heredity, 139 _et seq._; - relation to criminality, 144 _et seq._; - age of parents, 149; - conception, 149; - influence of disease on, 151; - influence of civilization on, 153 _et seq._; - influence of education, 159-160; - characteristics of insane, 314 _et seq._; - analogy of sane and insane, 330 _et seq._; - in revolutions, 334-335 - -Giordani, 104 - -Giusti, 40, 104 - -Goethe, 7, 15, 21, 40 - -Gogol, 98-99 - -Goldsmith, 6 - -Goncourts, the, 28, 331, 339, 342 - -Grandeur among men of genius, delusions of, 45 - -Graphomaniacs, 212 _et seq._ - -Gray, 43 - -Guiteau, 313 - - -Haller, 67, 319, 320 - -Hallucinations of men of genius, 56-57 - -Hamilton, Sir W. R., 109 - -Hamlet, 53 - -Haydn, 19 - -Head injuries and genius, 8, 151 - -Heat on genius, influence of, 103 _et seq._ - -Height of men of genius, 6 - -Heine, 6, 103, 152 - -Hoffmann, E. T. A., 90-91 - -Hogarth, 6 - -Howard, John, 8, 351 - -Hugo, V., 46 - -Hyperæsthesia of men of genius, 26 - - -Insane, art and the, 179 _et seq._ - -Insane and the weather, 100 - -Insane among savages, the, 245 - -Insanity and genius, 66 _et seq._, 13, 143, 145, 148, 161 _et seq._, 314 _et seq._, 332 - -Insanity, epidemics of religious, 251 _et seq._ - -Inspiration, genius in, 22 - -Instinctiveness of genius, 19 - - -Jesus, 45, 63 - -Jewish genius, 133-137 - -Johnson, Dr., 7, 49, 57 - - -Kant, 8, 10 - -Kerner, 146 - -Keshub Chunder Sen, 244 - -Klaproth, 17 - -Kleist, 23 - -Knutzen, 244 - -Krüdener, Julie de, 257 - - -Lagrange, 110 - -Lamartine, 20 - -Lamb, C., 6, 13, 67 - -Lamennais, 15 - -Laplace, 18 - -Lasker, 11 - -Lawsuit mania, 224-226 - -Lazzaretti, 296-308 - -Lee, N., 67 - -Leibnitz, 22 - -Lefthandedness of men of genius, 13 - -Lenau, 38, 85-87, 315, 316, 321, 325 - -Lesage, 104 - -Leopardi, 7, 41, 53, 104 - -Linnæus, 32 - -Literary mattoids, 209 _et seq._ - -Longevity of men of genius, 64 - -Lovat’s autocrucifixion, 183 - -Loyola, 257 - -Luther, 260-261 - - -Mahomet, 31, 39, 325 - -Maine de Biran, 50, 101-103, 151 - -Mainländer, 72 - -Malebranche, 56 - -Malibran, 27 - -Mallarmé, 231 - -Malpighi, 108, 114 - -Manzoni, 49 - -Matteucci, 111 - -Mattoids, 212 _et seq._; - of genius, 226 _et seq._; - in art, 239; - in politics and religion, 242 _et seq._ - -Megalomania, 45-48 - -Melancholy in men of genius, 40-45 - -Mendelssohn, F., 7 - -Mendelssohn, M., 7, 13 - -Meteorological influences on genius, 100 _et seq._ - -Meyerbeer, 15 - -Michelangelo, 13, 15, 354-356 - -Michelet, 103, 229 - -Mill, J. S., 44 - -Milton, 8, 13, 104 - -Misoneism of men of genius, 17 - -Molière, 39, 42 - -Monge, 33 - -Moral insanity in men of genius, 57, 201, 333 - -Mountainous regions and genius, 128 _et seq._ - -Mozart, 20, 42 - -Musicians, distribution of great Italian, 120 _et seq._ - -Musset, A. de, 61 - - -Napoleon, 18, 38, 49, 61, 103, 342-346 - -Nerval, Gérard de, 44, 68-69, 164 - -Newton, 17, 21, 80-81 - - - -Obscenity in art of the insane, 200-201 - -Originality of men of genius, 35, 317-318; - in the insane, 184-186 - -Orographic influences on men of genius, 122 - - -Pallor of men of genius, 7 - -Paganini, 39 - -Paranoia, 173 - -Parents of men of genius, 144 _et seq._ - -Passanante, 308-313 - -Pascal, 39, 315, 316, 320 - -Patriotism and genius, 64 - -Peter the Great, 39 - -Philanthropists and moral insanity, 351 - -Physiognomy of men of genius, 8, 14 - -Poe, 318, 320 - -Poetry and the insane, 363-366 - -Political mattoids, 242 _et seq._ - -Pope, 7 - -Poushkin, 30, 103, 105 - -Praga, 326 - -Precocity of genius, 15, 315, 330 - - -Race on genius, influence of, 117 _et seq._, 133 - -Religious doubts of men of genius, 318 - -Religious mattoids, 242 _et seq._ - -Renan, 50-52, 147 - -Restif de la Bretonne, 16 - -Revolutions and men of genius, 334-335 - -Richelieu, 39 - -Rickets in men of genius, 7 - -Rienzi, Cola da, 263-285 - -Rossini, 22, 35, 42 - -Rouelle, 33, 48 - -Rousseau, J. J., 11, 22, 81-85, 103, 314, 324 - - -Saint Paul, 347-348 - -Sand, George, 42 - -San Juan de Dios, 291-294 - -Sanity and genius, 353 _et seq._ - -Savages and the insane, 245 - -Savonarola, 261-263 - -Schiller, 7, 10, 15, 22, 23, 41, 105 - -Schopenhauer, 18, 30, 91-98, 148, 315 - -Schumann, 9, 11, 68 - -Scotch genius, 154 - -Scott, Walter, 7, 8, 17 - -Sesostris, 354 - -Sex in genius, influence of, 136 - -Sexual abnormalities of men of genius, 316 - -Shelley, 22, 56 - -Socrates, 8, 21, 33, 38 - -Somnambulism of men of genius, 21 - -Spallanzani, 104, 110 - -Spanish genius, 127 - -Stammering in men of genius, 13 - -Sterility of men of genius, 13 - -Sterne, 7, 8 - -Stupidities of men of genius, 25 - -Suicide and genius, 41 - -Swedenborg, 256 - -Swift, 79-80, 315 - -Sylvester, 104 - -Symbolism in insane art, 187 _et seq._ - -Széchényi, 87-90 - - -Talent and genius, 9 - -Tasso, 55, 77-79, 314, 316, 321 - -Thackeray, 10 - -Thermometrical influences on genius, 103 - -Tolstoi, 50 - -Torricelli, 109 - -Tourgueneff, 7, 10 - - -Unconsciousness of genius, 19 - - -Vagabondage of men of genius, 18, 316 - -Vanity of men of genius, 315, 330 - -Verlaine, 232-237 - -Villon, 59 - -Volta, 9, 17, 109 - -Voltaire, 7, 8, 42 - - -Weather on genius, influence of, 100 _et seq._ - -Whitman, Walt, 7, 318 - -Words, fondness of men of genius for special, 37 - -Wülfert, 11 - - -Xavier, St. Francis, 7 - - -Zimmermann, 43 - - * * * * * - - WORKS BY GEORGE MOORE. - - _Cloth, Crown 8vo, Price 6s._ - - Esther Waters: A Novel - - BY GEORGE MOORE - -‘Strong, vivid, sober, yet undaunted in its realism, full to the brim of -observation of life and character, _Esther Waters_ is not only -immeasurably superior to anything the author has ever written before, -but it is one of the most remarkable works that has appeared in print -this year, and one which does credit not only to the author, but the -country in which it has been written.’--_The World._ - -‘As we live the book through again in memory, we feel more and more -confident that Mr. Moore has once for all vindicated his position among -the half-dozen living novelists of whom the historian of English -literature will have to take account.’--_Daily Chronicle._ - - Crown 8vo, Cloth, 568 pages, Price 6s. - - Celibates. - -‘A remarkable book, that adds to the reputation of its -author.’--_Speaker._ - -‘Excessively clever.’--_The Times._ - -‘These studies are amazingly clever.’--_The Daily News._ - -‘A sympathetic and masterly analysis of temperament.’--_The Literary -World._ - -Other Novels by George Moore - -_Crown 8vo, Cloth, 3s. 6d. each._ - - =A DRAMA IN MUSLIN.= Seventh Edition. - - =A MODERN LOVER.= New Edition. - - =A MUMMER’S WIFE.= Twentieth Edition. - - =VAIN FORTUNE.= New Revised Edition. 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Don Juan. - 33 THE SONNETS OF EUROPE - 34 RAMSAY - 35 DOBELL - 36 POPE - 37 HEINE - 38 BEAUMONT & FLETCHER - 39 BOWLES, LAMB, etc. - 40 SEA MUSIC - 41 EARLY ENGLISH POETRY - 42 HERRICK - 43 BALLADES AND RONDEAUS - 44 IRISH MINSTRELSY - 45 MILTON’S PARADISE LOST - 46 JACOBITE BALLADS - 47 DAYS OF THE YEAR - 48 AUSTRALIAN BALLADS - 49 MOORE - 50 BORDER BALLADS - 51 SONG-TIDE - 52 ODES OF HORACE - 53 OSSIAN - 54 FAIRY MUSIC - 55 SOUTHEY - 56 CHAUCER - 57 GOLDEN TREASURY - 58 POEMS OF WILD LIFE - 59 PARADISE REGAINED - 60 CRABBE - 61 DORA GREENWELL - 62 FAUST - 63 AMERICAN SONNETS - 64 LANDOR’S POEMS - 65 GREEK ANTHOLOGY - 66 HUNT AND HOOD - 67 HUMOROUS POEMS - 68 LYTTON’S PLAYS - 69 GREAT ODES - 70 MEREDITH’S POEMS - 71 IMITATION OF CHRIST - 72 UNCLE TOBY BIRTHDAY BK - 73 PAINTER-POETS - 74 WOMEN POETS - 75 LOVE LYRICS - 76 AMERICAN HUMOROUS VERSE. - 77 MINOR SCOTCH LYRICS - 78 CAVALIER LYRISTS - 79 GERMAN BALLADS - 80 SONGS OF BERANGER - 81 RODEN NOEL’S POEMS - 82 SONGS OF FREEDOM - 83 CANADIAN POEMS - 84 CONTEMPORARY SCOTTISH VERSE - 85 POEMS OF NATURE. - 86 CRADLE SONGS. - 87 BALLADS OF SPORT. - 88 MATTHEW ARNOLD. - -London: WALTER SCOTT, LIMITED, Paternoster Square. - - -FOOTNOTES: - - [1] Magnan, _Annales Médico-Psychologiques_, 1887; Lombroso, _Tre - Tribuni_, pp. 3-9, 16-23, 148-150; Saury, _Études Cliniques sur la - Folie Héréditaire_, 1886. - - [2] _Psychologie du Génie_, 1883. - - [3] De Renzis, _L’opera d’un Pazzo_, 1887. - - [4] _Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1886. - - [5] _De Pronost._, i. p. 7. - - [6] _Problemata_, sect. xxx. - - [7] Horace, _Ars Poet._, 296-297. - - [8] _Observationes in Hom. Affect._, 1641, lib. 10, p. 305. More - singular examples in Italy were collected by F. Gazoni, in the - _Hospitale dei folli incurabili_, 1620. - - [9] Diderot, _Dictionnaire Encyclopédique_. - - [10] _I Mattoidi e il Monumente a Vittorio Emanuele_, 1885. - - [11] Magnan, _Annales Médico-psych._, 1887; Déjerine, _L’Hérédité dans - les Maladies Mentales_, 1886; Ireland, _The Blot upon the Brain_, 1885. - - [12] _I Caratteri dei Delinquenti_, 1886, Turin. - - [13] _Méd. de l’Esprit_, ii. - - [14] Lamartine, _Cours de Littérature_, ii. - - [15] _Revue Britannique_, 1884. - - [16] Canesterini, _Il Cranio di Fusinieri_, 1875. - - [17] Plutarch, _Life of Pericles_, iii. - - [18] Kupfer, “Der Schädel Kants,” in _Arch. für Anth._, 1881. - - [19] Welcker, _Schiller’s Schädel_, 1883. - - [20] Mantegazza, _Sul Cranio di Foscolo_, Florence, 1880. - - [21] Turner, _Quarterly Journal of Science_, 1864. - - [22] De Quatrefages, _Crania Ethnica_, Part i. p. 30. - - [23] Zoja, _La Testa di Scarpa_, 1880. - - [24] _Sul Cranio di Volta_, 1879, Turin. - - [25] Welcker, _Schiller’s Schädel_, 1883. - - [26] _Revue Scientifique_, 1882. - - [27] Wagner (_Das Hirngewicht_, 1877) gives these measurements of - scientific men of Gottingen:-- - -Dirichlet Mathematician Age 54 1520 g. -Fuchs Physician “ 52 1499 g. -Gauss Mathematician “ 78 1492 g. -Hermann Philologist “ 51 1358 g. -Hausmann Mineralogist “ 77 1226 g. - - Bischoff (_Hirngewichte bei Münchener Gelehrten_) gives the following - measurements:-- - -Hermann Geometrician Age 60 1590 g. -Pfeufer Physician “ 60 1488 g. -Bischoff Physician “ 79 1452 g. -Melchior Meyer Poet “ 61 1415 g. -Arnoldi Orientalist “ 85 1730 g. -Thackeray Novelist “ 52 1660 g. -Abercrombie Physician “ 64 1780 g. -Cuvier Naturalist “ 63 1829 g. -Doell Archæologist “ 85 1650 g. -Schiller Poet “ 46 1580 g. -Huber Philosopher “ 47 1499 g. -Fallmerayer Historian “ 74 1349 g. -Liebig Chemist “ 70 1352 g. -Tiedemann Physiologist “ 79 1254 g. -Harless Chemist “ 40 1238 g. -Döllinger Physiologist “ 71 1207 g. - - The measurement of the cerebral area often gives superiority even to - those men of genius who present a feeble weight. Fuchs had a cerebral - surface of 22,1005 square c. and Gauss of 21,9588; while with the - same weight the same surface in an unknown woman was 20,4115 and in a - workman 18,7672. - - [28] _Bulletin de la Société d’Anthropologie_, 1861. - - [29] _Die tiefen Windungen des Menschenhirnes_, 1877. - - [30] Mendel, _Centralblatt_, No. 4, 1884. - - [31] _Ein Beitrag zur Anatomie der Affenspalte und der Interparietal - Furche beim Menschen nach Rasse, Geschlecht, und Individualität_, 1886. - - [32] _Bulletin de la Société d’Anthropologie_, 1886, p. 135. - - [33] _La Circonvolution de Broca_, Paris, 1888. - - [34] _Vorstudien, &c._, 1st Memoir, 1860. - - [35] _Le Cerveau et la Pensée_, t. ii. p. 46. - - [36] Gallichon in _Gazette des Beaux Arts_, 1867. - - [37] Lombroso, _Sul Mancinismo motorio e sensorio nei sani e negli - alienati_, 1885, Turin. - - [38] Essay VII., _Of Parents and Children_. - - [39] _Lettres à Georges Sand_, Paris, 1885. - - [40] Destouches, _Philos. Mariés_. - - [41] Beard, _American Nervousness_, 1887; Cancellieri, _Intorno - Uomini dotati di gran memoria_, 1715; Klefeker, _Biblioth. eruditorum - procacium_, Hamburg, 1717; Baillet, _De præcocibus eruditis_, 1715. - - [42] Savage, _Moral Insanity_, 1886. - - [43] Guy de Maupassant, _Étude sur Gustave Flaubert_, Paris, 1885. - - [44] _Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1883, p. 92. - - [45] _Revue Bleue_, 1887, p. 17. - - [46] _Darwin’s Life_, 1887. - - [47] _Genie und Talent._ - - [48] Fischer, _Æsthetik_, ii. 1, p. 386. - - [49] “I am one who, when Love inspires, attend, and according as he - speaks within me, so I express myself.” - - [50] Schilling, _Psychiat. Briefe_, p. 486. - - [51] Ball, _Leçons des Maladies Mentales_, 1881. - - [52] Radestock, p. 42. - - [53] _Apologia._ - - [54] Letter of April 20, 1752. - - [55] Verga, _Lazzaretti_, 1880. - - [56] Réveillé-Parise, p. 285. - - [57] Arago, _Œuvres_, iii. - - [58] _Kreislauf des Lebens_, Brief. xviii. - - [59] Dilthey, _Ueber Einbildungskraft der Dichter_, 1887. - - [60] Lazzaretti, _op. cit._, 1880. - - [61] _Des Hallucinations_, p. 30. Recent investigations in hypnotism - show that the hallucination often has the character of real sensation; - that, for example, visual suggestions may be modified by lenses. See - my _Nuove Studii sull’ ipnotismo_. - - [62] _Studi Critici_, Naples, 1880, p. 95. - - [63] _Souvenirs_, p. 73, Paris, 1883. - - [64] _Confessions d’un Enfant du Siècle_, pp. 218, 251. - - [65] Introduction to _Essai sur les Mœurs_. - - [66] _Siècle de Louis XIV._, 1. - - [67] _Dictionnaire Philosophique_, art. Climat. - - [68] _Tagebuch_, ii. p. 120. - - [69] _Paradoxe sur le Comédien._ - - [70] Noise had become an obsession to Jules de Goncourt, says his - brother Edmund, in a note to the former’s _Lettres_: “It seemed to - him that he had ‘an ear in the pit of his stomach,’ and indeed noise - had taken, and continued to take as his illness increased, as it - were in some _féerie_ at once absurd and fatal, the character of a - persecution of the things and surroundings of his life.... During - the last years of his life he suffered from noise as from a brutal - physical touch.... This persecution by noise led my brother to sketch - a gloomy story during his nightly insomnia.... In this story a man - was eternally pursued by noise, and leaves the rooms he had rented, - the houses he had bought, the forests in which he had camped, forests - like Fontainebleau, from which he is driven by the hunter’s horn, the - interior of the pyramids, in which he was deafened by the crickets, - always seeking silence, and at last killing himself for the sake of - the silence of supreme repose, and not finding it then, for the noise - of the worms in his grave prevented him from sleeping. Oh, noise, - noise, noise! I can no longer bear to hear the birds. I begin to cry - to them like Débureau to the nightingale, ‘Will you not be still, vile - beast?’” (_Lettres de Jules de Goncourt_, Paris, 1885.) - - [71] _Étude sur Gustave Flaubert_, Paris, 1885. - - [72] Among the fragments that have been preserved some are of great - sweetness:-- - - “_Quanto fu dolce il giogo e la catena_ - _De’ suoi candidi bracci al col mio volte,_ - _Che sciogliendomi io sento mortal pena;_ - _D’altre cose non dico che son molte,_ - _Chè soverchia dolcezza a morte mena._” - - - [73] Mantegazza, _Del Nervosismo dei grandi uomini_, 1881. - - [74] _Journal des Savants_, Oct., 1863. - - [75] _Epistolario_, v. 3, p. 163. - - [76] Vicq d’Azir, _Elog._, p. 209. - - [77] _Physiologie des Génies_, 1875. - - [78] _Science et Matérialisme_, 1890, p. 103. - - [79] Brewster, _Life_, 1856. - - [80] _Revue Scientifique_, 1888. - - [81] Michiels, _Le Monde du Comique_, 1886. - - [82] Réveillé-Parise, _op. cit._ - - [83] Perez, _L’enfant de trois à sept ans_, 1886. - - [84] Scherer, _Diderot_, 1880. - - [85] _Ueber die Verwandtschaft des Genies mit dem Irrsinn_, 1887. - - [86] Bertolotti, _Il Testamento di Cardano_, 1883. - - [87] G. Flaubert, _Lettres à Georges Sand_, Paris, 1885. - - [88] Delepierre, _Histoire Littéraire des fous_, Paris, 1860. - - [89] Réveillé-Parise, _Physiologie et Hygiène des hommes livrés aux - travaux de l’esprit_, Paris, 1856. - - [90] Mantegazza, _Physiognomy and Expression_. - - [91] Arago, ii. p. 82. - - [92] Plutarch, _Life, &c._ - - [93] Radestock, _op. cit._ - - [94] Moreau, _op. cit._, p. 523. - - [95] _Correspondance_, p. 119, 1887. - - [96] _Memorie dell Istituto Lombardo_, 1878. - - [97] Letter to Giordani, Aug., 1817. - - [98] _Sette Anni di Sodalizio._ - - [99] B. de Boismont, _op. cit._ p. 265. - - [100] Hagen, _Ueber die Verwandtschaft, &c._, 1877. - - [101] Roger, _Voltaire Malade_, 1883. - - [102] G. Sand, _Histoire de Ma Vie_, 9. - - [103] Berti, p. 154. - - [104] Berti, _Cavour Avanti il_ 1848, Rome; Mayor, in _Archivo di - Psichiatria_, vol. iv. - - [105] Mayor, _op. cit._ - - [106] _Autobiography._ - - [107] _Autobiography_, p. 145. - - [108] Von Sedlitz, _Schopenhauer_, 1872. - - [109] _Letters_, 1885. - - [110] _Histoire de Ma Vie_, v. p. 9. - - [111] G. Sand, _op. cit._ - - [112] _De Immenso et innumerat._, iii. - - [113] G. Menke, _De ciarlataneria eruditorum_, 1780. - - [114] _Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1883. - - [115] _Letters_, p. 62. - - [116] _Ibid._, pp. 62, 119, 123. - - [117] G. Sforza, _Epistolario di A. Manzoni_, Milan, 1883. - - [118] _Epistolario_, 3, p. 163. - - [119] _Correspondance_, p. 119. 1887. - - [120] _Journal de ma vie intime._ - - [121] _Souvenirs d’Enfance et de Jeunesse._ - - [122] Amiel, _Journal Intime_, Geneva, 2nd ed., 1889. - - [123] Clément, _Musiciens célèbres_, Paris, 1868. - - [124] W. Irving, _Life_, 1880. - - [125] Verga, _Lazzaretti,&c._, Milan, 1880. - - [126] Forbes Winslow, _op. cit._, p. 123. - - [127] Forbes Winslow, _op. cit._, p. 126. - - [128] _Works_, vol. xxvi. p. 83. - - [129] Dendy, _op. cit._, p. 41. - - [130] _Correspondance_, vol. ii. letter 9. - - [131] _De Factis Dictisque Memorabilibus_, Lib. vi. Cap. 9. - - [132] Tertullian, _Apologetica_, p. 46. But see _A. Gellii Noctes - Atticæ_, x. p. 17. - - [133] _Wiederbelebung des Klassisch, Altert._, 1882. - - [134] Pouchet, _Histoire des Sciences Naturelles dans le Moyen Age_, - 1870. - - [135] Masi, _La vita ed i tempi di Albergati_, 1882. - - [136] Laura had eleven children and Petrarch himself two when he - dedicated to her 294 sonnets. In politics he turned from Cola di - Rienzi to his enemy Colonna and from Robert to Charles IV. (_Famil_, - xix. 1. p. 32). He was too much occupied with himself, says Perrens, - to be occupied with his country. - - [137] _Lettres à G. Sand_, 1885. - - [138] _Revue Philosophique_, 1887, p. 69. - - [139] _Confessions d’un Enfant du Siècle_, pp. 250, 251. - - [140] Cottrau, _Lettre d’un Mélomane_, Naples, 1885. - - [141] Matthew x. 34-36; Luke xii. 51-53. - - [142] Luke xii. 49. See the Greek text. - - [143] Luke xviii. 29-30. - - [144] Luke xiv. 26. - - [145] Matthew x. 37, xvi. 24; Luke v. 23. - - [146] Matthew viii. 21; Luke v. 23. - - [147] Fiorentino, _La Musica_, Rome, 1884. - - [148] _L’Uomo Delinquente_, 1889. - - [149] Mastriani, _Sul Genio e la Follia_, Naples, 1881. - - [150] _Tra un Sigaro e l’altro_, p. 194. - - [151] Max. du Camp, _Souvenirs_, 1884. - - [152] Schilling, _Psychiatr. Briefe._, p. 488, 1863. - - [153] Zimmermann, _Solitude_. - - [154] _Tagebuch_, 1787, Berne. - - [155] _Sketches of Bedlam_, 1823. - - [156] _Biographie_, by Wasielewski, Dresden, 1858. - - [157] Maxime du Camp, _Souvenirs littéraires_, 1887. - - [158] Brunetière, _Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1887, No. 706. _Revue - Bleue_, July, 1887. - - [159] Maxime du Camp, _Souvenirs littéraires_. - - [160] “A une Heure du Matin,” in _Petits Poèmes en Prose_. - - [161] Bufalini, _Vita di Concato_, 1884. - - [162] _Revue Philosophique_, 1886. - - [163] Littré, _A. Comte et la Phil. Posit._, 1863. - - [164] W. de Fonvielle, _Comment se font les Miracles_, 1879. - - [165] _De Vita propria_, ch. 45. - - [166] Byron said, also, that intermittent fevers came at last to be - agreeable to him, on account of the pleasant sensation that followed - the cessation of pain. - - [167] “One day I thought I heard very sweet harmonies in a dream. I - awoke, and I found I had resolved the question of fevers: why some - are lethal and others not--a question which had troubled me for - twenty-five years” (_De Somniis_, c. iv.). - - “In a dream there came to me the suggestion to write this book, - divided into exactly twenty-one parts; and I experienced such pleasure - in my condition and in the subtlety of these reasonings as I had never - experienced before” (_De Subtilitate_, lib. xviii. p. 915). - - [168] “Jewels in sleep are symbolical of sons, of unexpected things, - of joy also; because in Italian _gioire_ means ‘to enjoy’ (_De - Somniis_, cap. 21; _De Subtilitate_, p. 338). - - [169] Buttrini, _Girolamo Cardano_, Savona, 1884. - - [170] Bertolotti (_I Testamenti di Cardano_, 1888) has shown that this - legend has no foundation. - - [171] “I shall live in the midst of my torments, and among the cares - that are my just furies, wild and wandering; I shall fear dark and - solitary shades, which will bring before me my first fault; and I - shall have in horror and disgust the face of the sun which discovered - my misfortunes; I shall fear myself, and, for ever fleeing from - myself, I shall never escape.” - - [172] Brewster’s _Memoirs of Sir I. Newton_, vol. ii. p. 100. - - [173] Brewster’s _Memoirs of Sir I. Newton_, vol. ii. p. 94. - - [174] _Dialogues_, i. - - [175] _Dialogues_, ii. - - [176] Bugeault, _Étude sur l’état mental de Rousseau_, 1876, p. 123. - - [177] _Revue Philosophique_, 1883. - - [178] Schurz, _Lenaus Werke_, vol. i. p. 275. - - [179] Kecskemetky, _S. Széchénys staatsmänn_. _Laufbahn_, &c., Pesth, - 1866. - - [180] Costanzo, _Follia anomale_, Palermo, 1876. - - [181] Gwinner, _Schopenhauers Leben_, 1878; Ribot, _La Philosophie de - Schopenhauer_, 1885; Carl von Sedlitz, _Schopenhauer vom Medizinischen - Standpunkt_, Dorpat, 1872. - - [182] Gwinner, p. 26. - - [183] _Memorabilien_, ii. p. 332. - - [184] _Parerga_, ii. p. 38. - - [185] _Pensiero e Meteore_ in Biblioteca Scientifica Internazionale, - Milan, 1878; _Azione degli Astri e delle Meteore sulla mente Umana_, - Milan, 1871. - - [186] Quetelet, _Physique Sociale_, Book iv. ch. i. - - [187] Mantegazza, _op. cit._ - - [188] E. Neville, _Maine de Biran, Sa Vie_, &c., p. 129, 1854. - - [189] _Revue Bleue_, 1888, No. 9. - - [190] _Viaggio in Sicilia_, vol. vii. - - [191] _Epistolario_, 1878. - - [192] _Nature_, Nov. 1883. - - [193] Réveillé-Parise, _Physiologie des hommes livrés aux travaux de - l’esprit_, pp. 352-355. - - [194] Giussani, _Vita_, &c., p. 188. - - [195] _Epistolario_, p. 395. - - [196] Lebin, _Sur l’époque de la composition de la Vita Nuova_, p. 28. - - [197] _Life and Letters_, vol. i. p. 51. - - [198] Stopfer, _Vie de Sterne_, Paris, 1870. - - [199] Goethe, _Aus Meinem Leben_. - - [200] Zanolini, _Rossini_, 1876. - - [201] Clément, _Les Musiciens Célèbres_, Paris, 1878. - - [202] Alborghetti, _Vita di Donizetti_, 1876. - - [203] D’Este, _Memorie su Canova_, 1864. - - [204] Gotti, _Vita di Michelangelo_, Florence, 1873. - - [205] Milanesi, _Lettere di Michelangelo_, Florence, 1875. - - [206] Amoretti, _Memorie storiche sulla vita e gli studi di Leonardo - da Vinci_, Milan, 1874. - - [207] W. Irving, _Columbus_, vol. i. p. 819; Roselly de Lorque, _Vie - de Colomb._, 1857. - - [208] According to Secchi (_Soleil_, 1875) Scheiner preceded Galileo, - and was himself preceded by Fabricio, though the discovery of this - last was not known until a later date. - - [209] Galilei, _Opere_, vol. i. p. 69. - - [210] Arago, _Œuvres_, 1851. - - [211] Hœfer, _op. cit._ - - [212] Herschel, _Outlines of Astronomy_, 1874. - - [213] Arago, _Notices Biographiques_, 1855. - - [214] Atti, _Della Vita di Malpighi_, 1774. - - [215] Hœfer, _Histoire de la Chimie_, 1869. - - [216] _Briefe an Schiller._ - - [217] Gherardi, _Rapporti sui Manoscritti di Galvani_, 1839. - - [218] Schiaparelli, _Intorno Alcune Lettere inedite di Lagrange_, 1877. - - [219] Humboldt, _Correspondance_, Paris, 1868. - - [220] _Letters from Humboldt to Varnhagen._ - - [221] Arago, _Notices Biographiques_, 1855. - - [222] Whewell, _History of the Inductive Sciences_, 1857. - - [223] N. Bianchi, _Vita di Matteucci_, Florence, 1874. - - [224] The catalogue of small planets has been drawn from the _Annuaire - du Bureau des Longitudes_ (Paris, 1877-8). The list of comets has - been taken from Carl’s _Repertorium der Cometen Astronomie_ (Munich, - 1864). It begins with the comet discovered by Hevelius in 1672, and - ends with that found by Donati on the 23rd of July, 1864; Gambart’s - comets, already separately enumerated, have been excluded. To keep - the conditions analogous to those of the small planets, all the - comets to which Carl does not assign a discoverer, have been omitted; - this includes such as were expected from previous calculations or - perceived with the naked eye by the general population. All those - that were discovered simultaneously by several observers, unknown to - one another, have, however, been included, for it is not a question - of priority, but of the psychological moment of the discovery. Three - comets discovered in the months of February, May, and December, were - found in the southern hemisphere; they must, therefore, with reference - to season be registered as for August, November, and June, and have so - been counted. - - [225] Atti, _Della Vita ed opere di Malpighi_, Bologna, 1774. - - [226] _History of Civilisation_, i. - - [227] _Études sur la Selection_, &c., Paris, 1881. - - [228] _Biographie Universelle des Musiciens_, Paris, 1868-80. - - [229] _Histoire des Musiciens Célèbres_, Paris, 1878. - - [230] _Dizionario dei Pittori_, 1858. - - [231] - -Naples 216 -Rome 127 -Venice 124 -Milan 95 -Bologna 91 -Florence 70 -Lucca 37 -Parma 34 -Genoa 30 -Turin 27 -Verona 24 -Brescia 22 -Mantua 19 -Modena 19 -Cremona 17 -Palermo 17 -Novara 17 -Bergamo 16 -Bari 16 -Ferrara 15 -Padua 15 -Pisa 13 -Reggio 12 -Piacenza 11 -Siena 10 -Ravenna 10 -Vicenza 10 -Perugia 9 -Pesaro 9 -Alessandria 8 -Treviso 8 -Catania 7 -Arezzo 6 -Lecce 6 -Como 5 -Ancona 5 -Udine 5 -Macerata 5 -Caserta 4 -Livorno 3 -Forlì 3 -Messina 3 -Rovigo 3 -Chieti 3 -Foggia 2 -Cuneo 2 -Pavia 2 -Massa 2 -Teramo 2 -Siracusa 2 -Ascoli 2 -Campobasso 2 -Belluno 1 -Catanzaro 1 -Avellino 1 -Potenza 1 -Reggio-Calabria 1 -Caltanisetta 1 - - - [232] _La Scuola Musicale di Napoli_, 1883. - - [233] See my _Pensiero e Meteore_, 1872, and _Archivio di - Psichiatria_, 1880, p. 157. - - [234] - -Bologna 262 -Florence 252 -Venice 138 -Milan 127 -Rome 100 -Genoa 100 -Naples 95 -Ferrara 85 -Verona 83 -Siena 73 -Perugia 68 -Cremona 65 -Modena 61 -Pesaro 61 -Brescia 50 -Turin 46 -Messina 43 -Padua 40 -Parma 39 -Vicenza 39 -Lucca 38 -Bergamo 37 -Udine 36 -Arezzo 33 -Ravenna 30 -Reggio 29 -Pisa 29 -Treviso 24 -Ascoli 23 -Novara 22 -Pavia 20 -Mantua 19 -Forlì 19 -Como 17 -Ancona 16 -Alessandria 15 -Belluno 13 -Macerata 13 -Piacenza 6 -Caserta 6 -Rovigo 5 -Palermo 4 -Salerno 3 -Lecce 3 -Cuneo 3 -Massa 3 -Catania 2 -Livorno 1 -Aquila 1 -Siracusa 1 - - - [235] The difference with reference to painters is caused by the - numerical weakness of Udine and the superiority of Catania and Palermo. - - [236] _Il Censimento dei Poeti Veronesi_, Dec. 31, 1881. - - [237] _American Nervousness._ - - [238] See Sternberg, _Archivio di Psichiatria_, vol. x. 1889, p. 389. - - [239] _Statura degli Italiani_, 1874; _Della Influenza orografica - nella Statura_, 1878. - - [240] _Étude sur la Taille._ - - [241] _Démographie de la France_, 1878. - - [242] Inhabitants to the square _kilomètre_:-- - -Seine 3636.56 -Rhône 224.40 -Nord 213.40 -Haut-Rhin 123.00 -Pas-de-Calais 108.60 -Loire 106.38 -Manche 100.20 -Bouches-du-Rhône 92.27 -Landes 33.80 -Lozère 27.39 -Hautes-Alpes 23.40 -Basses-Alpes 21.90 - - - [243] “Les Antiquités Égyptiennes,” in _Revue des Deux Mondes_, April, - 1865. - - [244] _Archivio di Psichiatria_, vol. viii. fasc. 3. - - [245] Libri, _Histoire des Mathématiques_, vol. iii. - - [246] De Candolle, _Histoire des Sciences_, 1873. - - [247] Joseph Jacobs, “The Comparative Distribution of Jewish Ability,” - _Journal of Anthropological Institute of Great Britain_, 1886, pp. - 351-379. - - [248] _Gli Israeliti di Europa_, 1872. - - [249] _Archivio di Statistica_, Rome, 1880. - - [250] _Die Verbreit, der Blind,_ &c., 1872. - - [251] Renan in his _Souvenirs de Jeunesse_ remarks that since Germany - has given herself up to militarism she would have no men of genius, if - it were not for the Jews, to whom she should be at least grateful. But - he forgets Haeckel, Virchow, and Wagner. - - [252] One case is known in which parents zealously sought to educate - and favour by every means poetic genius in their son. The outcome of - their fervent efforts was Chapelain, the too famous singer of the - _Pucelle_. - - [253] _Hereditary Genius_, 1868. - - [254] _L’Hérédité Psychologique_, 1878. - - [255] _Biographie Universelle des Musiciens._ - - [256] Ribot in his _L’Hérédité Psychologique_ refers to French - statistics of 1861 according to which in 1000 lunatics of each sex, - there was hereditary influence in 264 men and in 266 women. - - [257] Galton himself remarks that of 31 great families of lawyers - raised to the peerage before the end of the reign of George IV., - twelve are extinct, especially those which contracted alliances with - heiresses. Out of 487 families admitted to citizenship at Berne from - 1583 to 1654 only 168 remained in 1783. “When a grandee of Spain is - announced we expect to see an abortion” (Ribot, _De l’Hérédité_, p. - 820). The French and Italian nobility to-day has become for the most - part an inert instrument in the hands of the clergy. And how many of - the sovereigns of Europe yet preserve those ancestral virtues to the - presumed transmission of which they owe in large part their throne and - _prestige_? - - [258] Dante, _Purgatorio_, canto vii. - - [259] Lucas, _De l’Hérédité_. - - [260] Ribot, _L’Hérédité Psychologique_. - - [261] Dugdale, _The Jukes_. - - [262] _Académie des Sciences_, 1871. Five cases of epilepsy, and - of insanity, two of general paralysis, one of idiocy and several - of microcephaly were observed under these circumstances. The - microcephalic condition which so often appears among the hereditary - results of alcoholism may be understood when we recall the atrophies, - the cerebral scleroses (a kind of histologic microcephaly) which are - so constantly found in the drunkard himself. - - [263] Bertolotti, _Testamenti di Cardano_, 1882. - - [264] _De Vita Propria._ - - [265] _Famil_ XIII. 2, XXIII. 12. - - [266] Ireland, _The Blot upon the Brain_, 1885, p. 147; Déjerine, - _L’Hérédité dans les Maladies_, 1886. - - [267] _Bilder aus mein. Knabenzeit_, 1837. - - [268] _Memorie_, p. 341. _I.e._, “The heads of the Taparelli are not - in the right place.” Taparelli was a family name of D’Azeglio. - - [269] _Souvenirs d’Enfance_, p. 20. - - [270] Meynert, _Jahresber. für Psychiatr._, Vienna, 1880. - - [271] Ribot, _L’Hérédité Psychologique_, p. 171. - - [272] The same kind of influence may be traced among the insane and - degenerate. A son of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan, conceived - during a crisis of remorse and grief, at the epoch of the Jubilee, - was called “_l’enfant du jubilé_,” on account of his condition of - permanent melancholy. A man of talent, subject to attacks of mental - exaltation, had several children, of whom two, conceived during these - attacks, were insane. Déjerine, _L’Hérédité dans les Maladies du - Système Nerveux_, 1886. - - [273] _Nature_, Nov., 1883. - - [274] _Physiologie du Cerveau_, p. 21. - - [275] _Journal of Mental Science_, 1872. - - [276] _Correspondance Inédite_, Paris, 1877. - - [277] _Revue Scientifique_, April, 1888. - - [278] Taine, _Les origines de la France Contemporaine_, Paris 1885. - - [279] _Atlantic Monthly_, 1881. - - [280] - - “_A cui natura non lo volle dire_ - _Nol dirian mille Atēne e mille Rome._” - - - [281] E. Fournier, _Le Vieux-Neuf_, Paris, 1887. - - [282] Ch. Nodier, _Les Bas bleus_, 1846, p. 217. - - [283] _Voyage en Italie_, Paris, 1880. - - [284] Trélat, _Recherches historiques sur la folie_, p. 81. Paris, - 1839. - - [285] Moreau, _Psychologie morbide_, Paris, 1859. - - [286] Marcé, “De la valeur des écrits des aliénés”; _Journal de - médecine mentale_, 1864. - - [287] Leuret, _Fragments psychologiques sur la folie_. - - [288] _Annales médico-psychologiques_, tome iii. p. 93, 1864. - - [289] _Annales médico-psychologiques_, 1850, p. 48; Parchappe, - _Symptomatologie de la folie_. - - [290] Tissot, _Des nerfs et de leurs maladies_, p. 133. - - [291] _Médecine de l’esprit_, vol. ii. p. 32. - - [292] _Symptomotalogie de la folie._ - - [293] J. Frank, _Pathologie interne; Manie fantastique_. - - [294] _Traité des maladies mentales_, 1858. - - [295] _Revue Philosophique_, 1888. - - [296] Esquiros, _Paris au dix-neuvième siècle--Les maisons de fous_, - tome ii. p. 163. - - [297] See Appendix. I regret that in the English edition of my work - it has not been found possible to give a more copious selection from - the poems by the insane which I have at my disposal. For these I must - refer the reader to the original Italian or to the French edition. - - [298] See my _L’Uomo Delinquente_. - - [299] _Les prisons de Paris_, 1881. - - [300] _Diario del Manicomio di Pesaro_, 1879. - - [301] Prescott, _Conquest of Peru_, i. - - [302] Lieut.-Col. Mark Wilks, _Historical Sketch of the South of - India_. - - [303] Mungo Park, _Travels_, i. - - [304] Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, vol. iv. p. 462, 1834. - - [305] _La Paranoia_, 1886. - - [306] Ludwig II. - - [307] P. Regnard, _Les maladies épidémiques de l’esprit_, p. 370. - - [308] Regnard, _Les maladies, &c._, p. 390. - - [309] Quoted by M. Luys, _Actions réflexes du cerveau_, p. 170 - - [310] _Revue Philosophique_, 1888, No. 8. - - [311] _Annales Med. Psych._, 1876. - - [312] Regnard has also touched upon the subject, but without going - into it deeply, in his _Sorcellerie_, Paris, 1887. - - [313] _Gazzetta del Manicomio di Reggio_, 1867. - - [314] O. Delepierre, _Histoire littéraire des fous_, Paris, 1860. - - [315] Regnard, _op. cit._ - - [316] Ruggieri, _Histoire du crucifiement opéré sur sa propre personne - par M. Lovat_, Venice, 1806. - - [317] Frigerio, Letter of November 2, 1887. - - [318] _Diario del Manicomio di Pesaro_, 1879. - - [319] De Renzis, _L’opera d’un pazzo_, Rome, 1887. - - [320] Simon, _Ann. Med. Psych._, 1876. - - [321] _Archivio di Psichiatria_, 1880. - - [322] Steinthal, _Entwicklung der Schrift_, 1852. - - [323] Boddart, _Palæography of America_, London, 1865. - - [324] Lombroso, _Uomo bianco ed uomo di colore_, 1871. - - [325] _Archivio di Psichiatria_, 1881, fasc. iii. - - [326] - - “_Un veleno ho preparato_ - _Due pugnali tengo in seno:_ - _Questo viver disgraziato_ - _Finirà una volta almeno_ - _T’amerò fino alla tomba_ - _E anche morto t’amerò._ - - _La campana lamentosa_ - _Sonerà la morte mia,_ - _Ed allor tu udrai curiosa_ - _Quella funebre armonia._ - _T’amerò, ecc. ecc._ - - _Una lunga e mesta croce_ - _Nella via vedrai passar;_ - _Ed un prete sulla forca_ - _Miserere recitar_. - _T’amerò, ecc. ecc._” - - “I have prepared a poison; I have two daggers in my bosom; this - unhappy life, at least, shall end one day. I will love thee to my - grave, and even when dead, I will love thee still. - - “The mournful bell shall sound for my death, and thou shall listen - wonderingly to that funereal harmony.--I will love thee, &c. - - “A long and sad _cross_ (_i.e._, procession) thou shalt see passing - along the road, and a priest standing by the gallows, reciting the - Miserere.--I will love thee, &c.” - - [327] “Paranoia: A Study of the Evolution of Systematized Delusions of - Grandeur,” in _American Journal of Psychology_, May, 1888, and May, - 1889. - - [328] Hécart, _op. cit._ - - [329] Magnan. - - [330] Simon. - - [331] Delepierre. - - [332] Vasari, _Vite dei pittori celebri_. - - [333] Clément, _Les musiciens célèbres_, Paris, 1878. - - [334] “_Voci alte e fioche e suon di man con elle_” (Dante, _Inf._ - iii. 27.) - - [335] Cato, _De Re Rustica_. - - [336] _Essays_, vol. ii. pp. 401, &c. - - [337] My attention was called many years ago to the frequent - occurrence of insanity among great musicians by Dr. Arnaldo Bargoni, - and afterwards by Mastriani, of Naples, in an excellent article in - _Roma_, 1881. - - [338] Jasnot, _Vérités positives_, 1854. - - [339] _Les fous littéraires_, p. 51. - - [340] See _Tre Tribuni_, 1887. - - [341] - - “Always mistress or slave--a foe to thine own children.” - - - [342] “_Il se trouvait là des philosophes plus forts que Leibnitz, - mais sourdsmuets de naissance, ne pouvant produire que les gestes - de leurs idées et pousser des arguments inarticulés; des peintres - tourmentés de faire grand, mais qui posaient si singulièrement un - homme sur ses pieds, un arbre sur ses racines, que toits leurs - tableaux ressemblaient à des vues de tremblements de terre ou à des - intérieurs de paquebots un jour de tempête. Des musiciens inventeurs - de claviers intermédiaires, des savants à la façon du docteur Hitisch, - de ces cervelles bric-à-brac, où il y a de tout mais où l’on ne trouve - rien, à cause du désordre, de la poussière, et aussi parceque tous - les objets sont cassés, incomplets, incapables du moindre service_” - (Daudet, _Jack_). - - [343] Delepierre, _Littérateur des fous_. - - [344] - - _Staccar potessi i due concetti uniti_ - _Di me ed empio. Io giusto. Empio è Satana._ - - - [345] Delepierre, _op. cit._ - - [346] “_Lève ce chef d’ici, je crains que ce chef prive de chef les - miens par un nouveau méchef._” - - [347] Philomneste, _Les fous littéraires_, 1881. - - [348] “Have you ever noticed,” writes Daudet (_Jack_, ii. 58), - speaking of mattoids, whom he called _les ratés_, “how these people - seek each other in Paris, how they are attracted to each other, how - they group themselves with their grievances, their demands, their idle - and barren vanities? While, in reality, full of mutual contempt, they - form a Mutual Admiration Society, outside which the world is a blank - to them.” - - [349] “_Mais parmi ces groupes tapageurs qui s’en allaient frédonnant, - déclamant, discutant encore, personne ne prenait garde au froid - sinistre de la nuit ni au brouillard humide qui tombait. A l’entrée - de l’avenue, on s’aperçut que l’heure des omnibus était passée. Tous - ces pauvres diables en prirent bravement leur parti. La chimére - aux écailles d’or éclairait et abrégeait leur route, l’illusion - leur tenait chaud, et répandus dans Paris désert, ils se tournaient - courageusement aux misères obscures de la vie._ - - “_L’art est un si grand magicien! Il crée un soleil qui luit pour tous - comme l’autre, et ceux qui s’en approchent, même les pauvres, même - les laides, même les grotesques, emportent un peu de sa chaleur et - de son rayonnement. Ce feu du ciel imprudemment ravi, que les ratés - gardent au fond de leurs prunelles, les rend quelquefois redoutables, - le plus souvent ridicules, mais leur existence en reçoit une sérénité - grandiose, un mépris du mal, une grâce à souffrir que les autres - misères ne connaissent pas_” (Daudet, _Jack_, i. p. 3). - - [350] “_Toute une littérature est née de mon_ Insecte _et de mon_ - Oiseau.--_L_’Amour _et la_ Femme _restent et resteront, comme ayant - deux bases, l’une scientifique, la nature même,--l’autre morale, le - cœur des citoyens_.... - - “_J’ai défini l’histoire une résurrection.--C’est le titre le plus - approprié à mon 4 volumes...._ - - “_En 1870, dans le silence universel, seul, je parlai. Mon livre fait - en 40 jours fut la seule défense de la patrie...._” - - [351] He studies, as an important document, the journal of Louis - XIV.’s digestion, and divides his reign into two periods--before and - after the fistula. In the same way Francis I.’s reign is divided into - the periods before and after the abscess. Conclusions of the following - kind abound:-- - - “_De toute l’ancienne monarchie, il ne reste à la France qu’un nom, - Henri IV.; et deux chansons_ Gabrielle _et_ Marlborough.” - - [352] Pp. 119, 120, 121. - - [353] Sbarbaro, _e.g._, in the midst of numberless absurdities, wrote: - “The man who feels no hatred for the foul and unjust things which - cumber our social life is the false phantom of a citizen, a eunuch in - heart and mind” (Forche, 21). - - “Parliamentary systems do not work well, since they do not allow of - the best being at the top, and nonentities at the bottom” (Forche, 3). - This, however, is borrowed from Machiavelli’s _Decades_. - - “If you call me a malcontent,” he said to the Council of Public - Instruction, “you do me honour: progress is due to rebels and - malcontents. Christ Himself was a rebel and an agitator.” - - [354] _Revue politique et littéraire_, 1888, No. 1. - - [355] We have seen that a love of symbolism is one of the - characteristics of monomaniacs. - - [356] M. Jules Tellier has not inaptly called him, in Victor Hugo’s - style, “_l’homme-frisson_.” - - [357] _Responsibility in Mental Disease_, p. 47. - - [358] Knutzen, of Schleswig, in 1674, preached that there was - neither God nor devil, that priests and magistrates were useless and - pernicious, that marriage was unnecessary, that man ended with death, - and that every one ought to be guided by his own inner consciousness - of right. For this reason he gave to his disciples the name of the - _Conscientarii_, garnishing his discourses with grotesque quotations. - He went about begging and preaching in strange garments. It is not - known what became of him after 1674. His writings are _Epistola amici - ad amicum_, _Schediasma de lacrimis Christi_, &c. - - [359] _Responsibility_, p. 53. - - [360] _Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1880. - - [361] Dubois, _People of India_, p. 360. - - [362] 1 Samuel xxi. 14, 15. - - [363] Ibid., xix. 9, 10, 23. - - [364] Ibid., xix. 24. - - [365] Berbrugger, _Exploration Scientifique de l’Algérie_, 1855. - - [366] _Western Barbary_, p. 60. - - [367] _Travels_, p. 133. - - [368] Beck, _Allegemeine Schilderung des Othom. Reiches._, p. 177. - - [369] Ibid., p. 529. - - [370] Ida Pfeiffer, _Voyage_, vols. v., vi. - - [371] Medhurst, _State and Prospects_, London, 1838, p. 75. - - [372] Cook, _Voyages_, vol. ii. p. 19. - - [373] Vol. iv. p. 49. - - [374] D’Orbigny, _L’Homme Américain_, ii. p. 92. - - [375] Müller, _Geschichte der Urreligion_, Basle, 1853. - - [376] _Revue Scientifique_, 1887. - - [377] See my _Tre Tribuni_, 1887. - - [378] Ideler, _Versuch einer Theorie des Wahnsinnes_, p. 236 (1842). - - [379] Hecker, _Tanzmanie_, Berlin, 1834, p. 120. Traces exist even - to-day, as at Echternach, in Luxembourg. - - [380] _Pensiero e Meteore_, 1878, p. 129. - - [381] _Archivio di Psichiatria_, 1880, Fasc. ii. - - [382] Nasse, _Zeitschrift_, 1814, i. p. 255. - - [383] _Versuch_, i. p. 274. - - [384] _Swedenborg_, by M. de Beaumont-Vassy, 1842; Mattei, _Em. de - Swedenborg, sa vie_, 1863. - - [385] Mayor, _Madame de Krüdener_, Turin, 1884. - - [386] See Macaulay, _History_, vol. ii. - - [387] Bonghi, _Vita di S. F. d’Assisi_, 1885. - - [388] Bonghi. - - [389] _Archiv für Psychiatrie_, 1881. - - [390] Villari, _Vita di Savonarola_, pp. 11, 304. - - [391] _De Veritate Prophetica_, 1497. - - [392] Villari, p. 406. - - [393] Villari, ii. p. 408. - - [394] See Perrens, _E. Marcel_, 1880; _Démocratie en France dans le - Moyen Age_, 1875. - - [395] Letter to Charles IV. Document 33 in Papencordt. - - [396] “_Invidia e fuoco._” Thus the anonymous historian, and Zeffirino - Re. Muratori reads _juoco_, “gaming,” but not even thus can the - sentence be explained; for it was certainly other vices than envy and - gambling that were consuming the nobility of those days. - - [397] Even after the first _plébiscite_, Stefano Colonna, in opposing - him, said, “If this madman makes me angry, I will have him thrown from - the Capitol” (p. 349). - - [398] See Papencordt, _Cola di Rienzi_, 1844; Gregorovius, _Geschichte - der Stadt Rom_, vi. p. 267. - - [399] Papencordt. - - [400] _Life_, i. 32. - - [401] _Ibid._, i. 17. - - [402] Papencordt, doc. 83. - - [403] See letter to Fra Michele. - - [404] Hoxemio, _De actis pontif._, vols. ii. and iii. - - [405] Muratori, _Cronaca Estense_, xviii. p. 409. - - [406] Chronaca, p. 140. - - [407] Book x. - - [408] Gregorovius, vol. vi. p. 294. - - [409] “He said that they had bewitched him in prison” (Anonimo). - - [410] Even within a few months from his first assumption of the - tribunate he became “addicted to rich food, and began to multiply - suppers, banquets, and revels of divers meats and wines. About the end - of December he began to grow stout and ruddy, and eat with a better - appetite” (Anonimo, p. 92). - - [411] Gaye, _Carteggio inedito d’artisti_, Florence, 1839; Hoxemio, - _Qui Gesta Pontificum_, &c., &c., Leodii, 1822, ii. pp. 272-514; - Papencordt, _Cola di Rienzi_, Hamburg, 1847; Hobhouse, _Historic - Illustrations of Childe Harold_, 1818; De Sade, _Mémoires de - Pétrarque_, iii. - - [412] Even in the autograph MSS. we find _cotidie_ for _quotidie_; - _Capitalo_ for _Capitolis_; _patrabantur_ for _perpetrabantur_; - _speraverim_ for _spreverim_; _michi_ for _mihi_. I have already noted - the strange blunder of explaining the _Pomærium_--the district between - the inner and outer walls of Rome--by “the _garden of Italy_.” All - this indicates a scholarship which was neither very full nor very - accurate. As to his caligraphy, there is nothing particular to remark. - - [413] Among his vagaries, we have already noted that of crowning - himself with seven crowns. In his seals there were seven stars and - seven rays, which, under the second Tribunate, became eight. - - [414] Monomaniacs while remaining constant to a fixed erroneous idea, - vary, to a degree which amounts to contradiction, in the accessory - details. It is thus that I explain the fact that, in his second - tribunate he claimed to be the son, not of the emperor, but of a - bastard of his. There has been found, near the Ponte Senatorio, in - excavating the ruins of a building, restored apparently by Rienzi, - this inscription dictated by him--according to Gabrini--in order to - publish to the world his disgraceful delusion: “Nicolaus, Tribunus, - Severus, Clemens, Laurentii, Teutonici filius, Gabrinius, Romae - Senator,” with a timid allusion to a German, who was not Henry, but an - illegitimate son of his (Gabrini, _Osservazioni storico-critiche sulla - Vita di Rienzi_, 1706, p. 96). - - [415] Anonimo, p. 92. - - [416] See for other proofs my _Tre Tribuni_, 1887. - - [417] P. C. Falletti, _Del carattere di Fra Tommaso Campanella_, - Turin, 1889; _Rivista Storica Italiana_, vol. vi. fasciculo 2; - Amabile, _Fra T. Campanella e la sua congiura_, Naples, 1882; _Fra T. - C. nei Castelli di Napoli_, &c., vol. ii.; _Fra T. Pignatelli e la - sua congiura_, 1887; Berti, _Lettere inedite di T. Campanella_, 1878; - Idem, _Nuovi documenti su Campanella_, 1881. - - [418] Abbé Saglier, _Vie de Saint Jean de Dios_; M. duCamp, _La - Charité à Paris_, 1885. - - [419] It is a curious point, that all these saints (Lazzaretti, - Loyola, &c.) began by leading a wild life. - - [420] Maxime du Camp, _Souvenirs Littéraires_, 1882 (2nd ed.) - - [421] See the paper on David Lazzaretti, by Nocito and Lombroso, in - the _Archivio di Psichiatria_, 1881, vol. i. fasc. ii. iii.; Verga, - _Lazzaretti e la pazzia sensoria_, Milan, 1880; Caravaggio, _Inchiesta - e Relazione su Arcidosso_, 1878, _Gazzetta Ufficiale_, for October 1, - No. 321. - - [422] _Signes physiques des manies raisonnantes_, 1876. - - [423] Verga, _Lazzaretti_, 1880. - - [424] At Pesaro I had under my care several nuns from Roman convents, - whose language I never heard surpassed in obscene blasphemy. I have - also attended exceedingly devout Jews, whose first symptom was the - wish to be baptised, and who, immediately after their recovery, became - more orthodox than before. - - [425] Deposition of the witness Vichi. - - [426] His first arrest took place in the island of Monte Cristo, for - preaching sedition among the fishermen. Thence, he was transferred to - Orbetello (see Verga, _Su Lazzaretti e la follia sensoria_, 1880). - - [427] Nocito and Lombroso, Davide Lazzaretti (_Archivio di - Psichiatria_, 1880, ii. Turin). In this article are detailed the - causes of the error into which the experts fell--an error which cost - the country an enormous expenditure and several human lives. - - [428] _Lo Statute Civile del Regno Pontificio in Italia._ - - [429] See Lombroso, _Remarks on the Passanante Trial_, 1876, pp. 16, - 17. - - [430] Esquirol mentions a madwoman who said to him, “I have not the - courage to kill myself; I must kill some one else, so that I can die.” - She attempted the life of her daughter. - - [431] In spite of all this, six Italian mental specialists have - declared Passanante free from all suspicion of insanity; and he is - still confined in a convict prison. - - [432] See, for further details, _Archivio di Psichiatria_, vol. iv. - - [433] _Las Neurosis de los Hombres celebres en la Historia Argentina_, - by José Maria Ramon Mejia, Buenos Ayres, 1878. - - [434] _De Vita Propria._ - - [435] Schurz, ii. - - [436] _Ibid._, p. 283. - - [437] January, 1765. - - [438] Of 45 insane writers referred to by Philomneste (_op. cit._) - there were--15 who devoted themselves to poetry, 12 to theology, 5 to - prophecy, 3 to autobiography, 2 to mathematics, 2 to mental pathology, - 2 to politics. Poetry predominates for the reason above given, while, - on the other hand, theology, philosophy, and the like are more - prominent in the mattoids. - - [439] Page 200. - - [440] He declares that musk reminds him of scarlet and gold, and - describes “perfumes which have the smell of infants’ flesh, or of the - dawn,” &c., &c. - - [441] Manso, _Vita_, p. 249. - - [442] Du Vin, i. 1880. - - [443] Schurz, i. 328. - - [444] _Kreisler_ is, like himself, full of strange ideals, always at - war with reality, and ends by becoming insane. - - [445] - - “_Francesco, inferma, entro le membra inferme_ - _Ho l’anima._” - - - [446] _Epistolario_, iii. 1. - - [447] “Mad Nat Lee,” who was for a long time an inmate of Bedlam, - minutely describes the insanity of genius in his poems; _e.g._, in - _Cæsar Borgia_:-- - - “Like a poor lunatic that makes his moan, - And, for a while, beguiles his lookers-on, - He reasons well. His eyes their wildness lose, - He vows his keepers his wronged sense abuse, - But if you hit the cause that hurts his brain, - Then his teeth gnash, he foams, he shakes his chain.” - - See Winslow, _Obscure Diseases of the Brain_, p. 210, London, 1863. - See also the chapter “On the Art of Insanity,” for proofs of a like - tendency on the part of insane painters. - - [448] - - “_Vi son dei giorni che il mio cor vien meno_ - _E il fango mi conquista._” - - - [449] - - “_Venga l’obbrobrio--dell’uomo sobrio;_ - _Venga il disprezzo del genere umano;_ - _Venga l’inferno--del Padre Eterno;_ - _Vi scenderò col mio bicchiere in mano._” - - - [450] See Dilthey, _Dichterische Einbildungskraft und Wahnsinn_, - Leipzig, 1886. - - [451] Letter from Edmond de Goncourt to Emile Zola (_Lettres de Jules - de Goncourt_, Paris, 1885). - - [452] Déjerine, _De l’Hérédité dans les Maladies_, 1886; Ribot, _De - l’Hérédité_, 1878; Ireland, _The Blot upon the Brain_, 1885. - - [453] See Part II., pp. 126-132. I must rectify a mistake I have made - in not assigning sufficient importance to the influence of race in - France. In fact, in revising my studies on a large scale, I find that - the departments peopled by the Belgio-Germanic race yield the maximum - proportion of geniuses as 40 per cent., while the Celtic departments - yielded only 13·5 per cent., and the Iberian 20 per cent. - - [454] T. Gautier, according to the Goncourts, often declared that - he could not--on account of his youth--convince himself that he was - really the father of his daughter (_Journal des Goncourt_, 1888). “La - Fontaine was not far removed from a bad man,” says Bourget. “What are - we to think of a husband who deserts his young wife and his child, - without any motive whatever?” Stendhal (Beyle) hated his father and - was hated by him; he always declared his invincible repugnance towards - compulsory family affection (Bourget, _Essais de Psychologie_, p. - 310). “I consecrated myself to grief for her,” wrote Chateaubriand of - Pauline de Baumont. “ ... She had not been dead six months, when her - place was filled in my heart” (_Ibid._). - - [455] _Revue Littéraire_, Aug. 15, 1887, No. 3. - - [456] Lombroso, _Delitti politici_, 1890. - - [457] _Correspondance_, 1889, p. 538. - - [458] Feeri, _Nuova Antologia_, 1889. - - [459] See _Archivio di Psichiatria_, vol. ii.; _L’Uomo Delinquente_, - part iii. - - [460] _Encéphale_, No. 5, 1887. - - [461] See the table in Déjerine, _op. cit._ - - [462] Mahomet had a strange fondness for his monkey; Richelieu for - his squirrel; Crébillon, Helvetius, Bentham, Erskine, for cats--the - latter also for a leech. Schopenhauer was very fond of dogs, and named - them his heirs; and Byron had a regular menagerie of ten horses, eight - dogs, three monkeys, five cats, five peacocks, an eagle, and a bear. - Alfieri had a passion for horses. (Smiles, _op. cit._) - - [463] _Le Epilessie_, p. 19, Turin, 1880. - - [464] Shenstone, Darwin, Swift, and Walter Scott were subject to - giddiness (Smiles). - - [465] See _L’Uomo Delinquente_, part iii. p. 623. - - [466] “There is a fatality,” says Goncourt, “in the first chance which - suggests your idea. Then there is an _unknown force_, _a superior - will_, a sort of necessity of writing which command your work and - guide your pen; so much so, that sometimes the book which leaves your - hands does not seem to have come out of yourself; it astonishes you, - like something which was in you, and of which you were unconscious. - That is the impression which _Sœur Philomène_ gives me” (_Journal des - Goncourt_, Paris, 1888). Even Buffon, who had said that invention - depends on patience, adds, “One must look at one’s subject for a long - time; then it gradually unfolds and develops itself; you feel a slight - electric shock strike your head and at the same time seize you at the - heart; that is the moment of genius.” - - [467] Evidently the author himself. - - [468] Dostoïeffsky, _Besi_, Paris. - - [469] _Archivio di Psichiatria_, ix. 1., p. 89. - - [470] Taine, _Revue des Deux Mondes_--Dec. 1886, and Jan. 1887. - - [471] Renan, in _Les Apôtres_. - - [472] Renan. - - [473] Tonnini, _Epilessie_, 1886; _Archivio di Psichiatria_, 1886. - - [474] _Les Hystériques_, Paris, 1883. - - [475] Vinson, _Les religions actuelles_, 1884; Luke ii. 49; Matt. xii. - 48; Mark iii. 33. - - [476] Anfosso, _La Légende religieuse au moyen-âge_, 1887. - - [477] On altruism in moral insanity and epilepsy, see _L’Uomo - Delinquente_, pp. 556, 557. We have seen St. Francis love even the - stars, the water, the fire, &c., and--abandon his family! - - [478] Lombroso, _Studii sull’ipnotismo_, 3rd ed.; Azam, _Hypnotisme, - Double Conscience_; Beaunis, _Le somnambulisme provoqué, La suggestion - mentale_; Drs. H. Bourru and P. Burot, Dugay, Richet, Janet, _Revue - Philosophique_, 1884-89; Krafft-Ebing, _Ueber den Hypnotismus_, - 1889; Jendrassik, _Ueber die Suggestion_, 1887; Binet and Feré, _La - Polarisation_, 1885; Ibid., _Le magnétisme animal_; Beard, _Nature and - Phenomena of Trance_, New York, 1880; Lombroso and Ottolenghi, _Nuovi - Studii sull’ipnotismo_, 1890, and _Sulla Transmissione del Pensiero_, - 1891. - - [479] _Revue Littéraire_, 1887. - - [480] _Michelangelo Buonarroti; Epistolario, publicato da G. - Milanese._ 1888. - - [481] _Michelangelo Buonarroti, di F. Parlagreco_, 1888. - - [482] _Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_, 1888. - - [483] _Life and Letters of Charles Darwin_, vol. i. p. 149. - - [484] _Letters_, vol. i. - - [485] Quoted by Parant. Regnard, _Sorcellerie_, 1887. - - [486] Regnard, _Sorcellerie_, 1887. - - [487] _Ibid._ - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man of Genius, by Cesare Lombroso - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN OF GENIUS *** - -***** This file should be named 50539-0.txt or 50539-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/5/3/50539/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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