2 70 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



persons of genius to insanity with the similar liability of correspond- 

 ing normal classes, there is one comparison which it is interesting to 

 make. We may compare the liability of persons of genius to insanity 

 with the similar liability of their wives or husbands. It is noted by the 

 national biographers that in fourteen cases the wives or husband (there 

 is only one case of the latter) became insane. We may be fairly cer- 

 tain that this is a decided underestimate, for while the biographers 

 would hold themselves bound to report the insanity of their subjects, 

 they would not consider themselves equally bound to give similar in- 

 formation concerning the wives, while in other cases it may well be that 

 the record of the fact has been lost. If now, in order to make the com- 

 parison reasonably fair, we omit the cases of senile decay, and only 

 admit two-thirds of the doubtful cases of insanity, we find that the pro- 

 portion of cases of insanity among the persons of genius is 3.3 per cent. 

 Among the conjugal partners, on the other hand (I have not made any 

 allowance for second marriages), it is 2.4. Thus we see that on a 

 roughly fair estimate the difference between the incidence of insanity on 

 British persons of genius and on their wives or husbands is less than one 

 per cent. When we bear in mind that the data on which one of our 

 groups is based are much more complete than those on which the other 

 is based, it is not hazardous to assert that British men of genius have 

 probably not been more liable to insanity than their wives. 



At the first glance it might seem that this may be taken to indicate 

 that the liability of genius to insanity is exactly the normal liability. 

 That, liowever, would be a very rash conclusion. If the wives of men 

 of genius were chosen at random from the general population it would 

 hold good. But there is a well-recognized tendency — observed among 

 all the mentally abnormal classes — for abnormal persons to be sexually 

 attracted to each other. That this tendency prevails largely among 

 persons of eminent intellectual ability many of us may have had occa- 

 sion to observe. What we see, therefore, is not so much the conjunc- 

 tion of an abnormal and a normal class of persons, but the presence 

 of two abnormal classes. 



With regard to the significance of insanity, it must be pointed out 

 that, although there may be an unusual liability to insanity among men 

 of genius, there is no general tendency for genius and insanity, even 

 when occurring in the same individual, to be concomitant. Just as it is 

 rare to find anything truly resembling genius in an asylum, so it is rare 

 to find any true insanity in a man of genius when engaged on his best 

 work. The simulation of it may occur — the ^divine mania' of the 

 artistic creator, or a very high degree of eccentricity — but not true and 

 definite insanity. There seem to be only two certain (and two or three 

 possible) cases — mostly poets — in which the best work was done during 

 the actual period of insanity. Periods of insanity may alternate with 



