GENIUS AND INSANITY. 457 



disorders, and who succumbed, at the early age of thirty-nine, to pa- 

 ralysis accompanied by convulsions. Two of the greatest scientific 

 men, Kepler and Cuvier, died, according to Moreau, from disease of 

 the brain. Rousseau was carried off by an attack of apoplexy. Mo- 

 zart's early death was due to brain-disease, showing itself in other 

 ways by morbid delusions, fainting-fits, and convulsions. Another 

 musician, Mendelssohn, succumbed to an attack of apoplexy. Heine's 

 fatal malady, which kept him for seven years a prisoner in his " mat- 

 tress-grave," was disease of the lower nerve-centers in the spinal cord. 



Other men of genius have suffered from nervous disorders from 

 time to time. Moliere was the subject of recurring convulsions, an 

 attack of which would prevent his working for fifteen days. Alfieri, 

 to whose morbid mental symptoms reference has already been made, 

 suffered when young from a disease of the lymphatic system, and was 

 afterward liable to convulsions. Paganini, the musician, suffered from 

 an attack of catalepsy when four years old, and later on was the vic- 

 tim of recurring convulsions ; and Schiller, who was very delicate from 

 youth, was also the subject of recurring fainting-fits and convulsions. 



The lesser forms of nervous disorder headache, malaise, and re- 

 curring periods of nervous prostration are too common among all 

 brain- workers to call for special notice here. The latest biography of 

 a woman of genius strikingly illustrates this milder form of the pen- 

 alty which mortals have to pay for daring to aspire to the ranks of the 

 immortals. In George Eliot we have one more name added to the 

 list of great ones to whom, to use the words of a French writer, has 

 been granted " le funeste privilege d'entendre crier a toute heure les 

 ressorts de leur machine." 



5. One other significant group of facts remains to be touched on. 

 In a considerable number of cases it has been ascertained that insanity 

 or other form of nervous disorder has shown itself in the same family 

 as genius, whether as its forerunner, companion, or successor. Cha- 

 teaubriand's father is said to have died of apoplexy. Schopenhauer's 

 grandmother and uncle were imbecile. Several distinguished men had 

 insane sisters, among others Richelieu, Diderot, Hegel,* and Charles 

 Lamb. One of Mendelssohn's sons became insane, f 



I have endeavored in this brief review of the alleged facts to give 

 an adequate impression of their variety and range. It now remains to 

 inquire into their precise evidential value. 



The first question that naturally arises here is whether the facts 

 are well authenticated and accurately presented. A cautious mind 

 will readily reflect that if genius as such is apt to assume an abnormal 

 aspect to average common sense, biographers may easily have invent- 



* That Hegel's sister was insane and drowned herself is asserted by Moreau, on the 

 authority of an article in the " Revue des Deux Mondes," and quoted by Radestock. 



f Symptoms of insanity are said by Moreau to have shown themselves in the families 

 of several eminent rulers, including Peter the Great. (See Radestock, p. i,seq.) 



