356 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



with everything else without losing himself in a mesh of particulars, 

 there is not much danger of degeneracy. Even an occasional lapse 

 may find adequate place and absolution in such a character. 



But so soon as such lapses from the physical and social order be- 

 come dominant notes in one's life, either as things which one con- 

 stantly deplores, or as things which one vaunts and praises, then the 

 individual is shocked and begins to lose his positive force in society. 



The genius may be as healthy and normal as another man; yet 

 many indeed there are who have produced true works of genius only 

 to succumb afterwards before their ruling passions. As a mode of 

 life that of the artist is hardly to be commended. It is an artifice, an 

 excrescence. It leads to too much objectifying and too little practise. 

 Few individuals can stand this. 



On the other hand, the true artist in an ideal sense is at the same 

 time the true man. For he should be strong both of body and of 

 mind, with a wide experience and a deep insight, with an understand- 

 ing so broad that nothing is foreign to him, yet in whom nothing 

 dominates so as to protrude beyond its proper setting. Such a man is,, 

 indeed, inspired with intuitive insight, but he is rare, even impossible. 

 Yet there have been those who possessed this attitude in all its com- 

 pleteness for a time, and while under its influence they have produced 

 undying works. These are the men to whom we commonly attribute 

 genius. The usual critical mistake in dealing with such personages 

 is either to attempt to make their complete lives perfectly consistent 

 with these higher moments, or else by pointing out their weaknesses 

 to decry even their greatest works. Needless to say there is neither 

 sense nor use in either method. 



The strength of the genius is only the strength of the ordinary 

 man slightly intensified; the weakness of the genius is just the weak- 

 ness of the ordinary man, but more conspicuous by contrast. Psycho- 

 logically it is not at all incomprehensible to conceive a man of alternate 

 high and low moments, alternate strength and weakness. It would be 

 well-nigh inconceivable that a man should be always the one or the other. 



If consistency of character is less marked in the genius than in the 

 ordinary man, it is this which constitutes his uniqueness among men 

 and may even at times determine his genius. The genius is more than 

 apt to be a poor citizen, yet we can tolerate him for his work and 

 because his kind is exceptional and few in number. If we would 

 understand his nature and his art we must study his life in detail, 

 unbiased and with broad understanding, for we are dealing with one who 

 runs the gamut of emotions in order that he may sublimate them all. 



