A STUDY OF BRITISH GENIUS. 269 



One other grave pathological state remains to be noticed in this 

 connection — insanity. To the relationship of insanity with genius great 

 importance has by some writers been attached. That such a relation- 

 ship is apt to occur cannot be doubted, but it is far from being either so 

 frequent or so significant as is assumed by some writers, who rake to- 

 gether cases of insane men of genius without considering what propor- 

 tion they bear to sane men of genius, nor what relation their insanity 

 bears to their genius. The interest felt in this question is so general 

 that we may be fairly certain that the national biographers have rarely 

 failed to record the facts bearing on it, although in some cases these 

 facts are dubious and obscure. They may often have passed over gout 

 without mention, but they have seldom failed to mention insanity when- 

 ever they knew of its occurrence. It is, therefore, possible to ascertain 

 the prevalence of insanity among the persons on our list with a fair 

 degree of approximation to the truth as it was known to the eminent 

 man's contemporaries. We thus find that twenty-one were certainly in- 

 sane at some period during the prime of their lives ; that thirteen others 

 were probably, but not certainly, insane at some period earlier than old 

 age, and that in eleven further cases mental decay set in before death 

 took place in old age. It may be added that at least nine committed sui- 

 cide, and that at least fifteen were to a very high degree eccentric, 

 although there is no clear reason to suppose that they were actually 

 insane. It also appears that in seven cases (two fathers and five 

 mothers) one of the parents became insane, and that in eight cases one 

 or more of the children were insane. So that the insanity of the ascend- 

 ants and descendants, so far as can be seen, was about equal and by no 

 means excessive. If we include every possible case of insanity which 

 may be inferred from the data supplied by the national biographers, and 

 even if we include that decay of the mental faculties which is naturally 

 liable to occur before death in extreme old age, we find that the ascer- 

 tainable incidence of insanity among our 902 eminent persons is nearly 

 5 per cent. 



It is certainly a high proportion. I do not know what is the num- 

 ber of cases among persons of the educated classes living to a high 

 average age in which it can be said that insanity has occurred at least 

 once during life. It is doubtless lower, but at the same time it can 

 scarcely be so very much lower that we are entitled to say that there is 

 a special and peculiar connection between genius and insanity. The 

 association of genius with insanity is not, I believe, without significance, 

 but in face of the fact that its occurrence is only demonstrable in 5 

 per cent, cases, and that it is only in 1 per cent, cases demonstrable in 

 the parents puts out of court any theory as to genius being a form of 

 insanity. 



While I cannot compare with any precision the liability of these 



