GENIUS AND MENTAL DISEASE. 677 



melancholy and suicidal impulse. The insane temperament was also 

 definitely marked in Comte, the oracle of the "Positive Philosophy"; 

 in Tasso, whose melancholy fate gave to Goethe the opportunity to 

 picture a psychological drama, wherein character is revealed under the 

 glow of " poetic furor," and also, at times, oppressed by morbid fears 

 and delusive visions ; in Swedenborg, whose prolific mind teemed with 

 fancies and speculations, contradictions and absurdities, which can 

 only be explained on the theory of a mind diseased ; and in Charles 

 Lamb, whose " diluted insanity " cast an enduring shadow over his life. 



The facts, as I view them, make me dissent from the theory that a 

 diseased brain is the physical substratum of genius, or that the pos- 

 session of such exalted mental endowments "carries with it special 

 liabilities to the action of the strong disintegrating forces which en- 

 viron us." "A large genius," says Dr. Maudsley, "is plainly not in 

 the least akin to madness ; but between these widely separated con- 

 ditions a series of connections is made by persons who stand out from 

 the throng of men by the possession of special talents in particular 

 lines of development ; and it is they who, displaying a mixture of mad- 

 ness and genius at the same time, have given rise to the opinion that 

 great wit is allied to madness." 



To the extent that a nervous organization makes possible excessive 

 emotional life, or vagaries in thought or action, to this same extent is 

 true genius qualified and limited ; for, without calm reason and voli- 

 tional control, creative imagination is distorted into an irresponsible 

 fancy. 



The degree of perfection of any mechanism, whether it be a watch, 

 an engine, a harp, a telescope, or the human brain, is the measure of 

 the quality of the work which can be produced therefrom ; and, con- 

 versely, the quality of the work is an index of the structural character 

 of the instrument employed. 



The better the finish and adjustment of a mechanism in its various 

 parts, the less will be the friction, and the " wear and tear " from con- 

 stant use ; and, although the very delicacy of its adjustment may give 

 a greater susceptibility to disturbing causes, the causes themselves are 

 not inherent but incidental. These facts apply with equal force to 

 that most perfect and complex of all known mechanisms — the human 

 brain, which is energized with the subtile principle of life, and evolves 

 thought, feeling, and will, which, in their noblest and most exalted 

 expressions, are indicative not of disease but of mental health. 



Nervous and mental diseases are too common among all classes of 

 people, and orders of intelligence to permit us to think that genius is 

 the special object of their dominion. This idea is rejected, not because 

 it is repugnant, but because it is not sustained by facts when measured 

 by the standard of the highest art, or loftiest thought, or greatest work. 



Look at the scores of eminent names within a hundred years, and 

 show therefrom, if possible, the evidence which justifies the statement 



