HENRI POINCARE NORDMANN. 743 



In the discourse in which he was honored at the Academic fran- 

 ^aise, M. Frederic Masson wittily narrated several anecdotes of this 

 absent-mindedness. Especially amusing was the carrying off one day 

 unconsciously by Poincare of a willow cage from the front of the shop 

 of a basket maker. The incident was true, but ui)on inr^uiry we find 

 that Poincare was only 4 years old when it happened. How many 

 men of genius, indeed, how many men of no genius, are there at whom 

 no one has ever been astonished that at that age they did not show 

 the prudence of Nestor in their conduct on some stroll ? Nor is this 

 at all for the purpose of weakening our skepticism at that "little 

 science of conjecture" which we call histoiy. Poincare was himself 

 amused at all such anecdotes. ''They say," he conceded with a pleas- 

 ant smile, "that creates a legend." Moreover, he has very well 

 explained that "if we meet so many geometricians and naturalists who 

 in the ordinary doings of eveiyday life show a conduct at times aston- 

 ishing, it js because, made inattentive by their meditations to the 

 ordinar}^ things which surround them, they do not see what is about 

 them; it is not because their eyes are not good that they do not see; 

 it is because they are not seeing with them. That in no way hinders 

 them from being capable of using keen discernment toward those 

 objects which are of interest to them." 



, The psychological characteristics of Poincar^ were made the object 

 of an interesting and very full study by Dr. Toulouse,* of which cer- 

 tain conclusions should be noted. This study was made especially 

 as an experimental test of the celebrated statement of Moreau of 

 Tours that "genius is a nerv^ous disease." We know how Lombroso 

 took up and amplified that idea and that he thought that he could 

 conclude from his researches that genius is inseparably connected 

 with nervous troubles, especially with epilepsy. Yet, despite all 

 those researches and from whatever side they conducted their attack, 

 Dr. Toulouse and his collaborators were unable to find in Poincare 

 the least trace of neuropathy. All their measures, all their tests, 

 showed them a man perfectly normal psycho-physiologicall}^ possessing 

 in every way the most harmonious and perfect equilibrium. Thus 

 he demonstrated at its proper value one of the most brilhant, one of 

 the most sensational errors of Prof. Lombroso. 



Because, physiologically Poincar^ was, despite his genius, in no 

 way different from the average of ordinaiy men, I would not fail, were 

 I a spiritualist, to use this as an argument in favor of a soul apart from 

 the body. 



The instability of attention in Poincare was one of the characteris- 

 tics which most struck Dr. Toulouse. Indeed, Poincare had a habit 



I A medico-psychologioal inquiry into intellectual superiority, vol. 2 (Enquete nu'dico-p-sycologique sur 

 la suppriorit(5 intellectuellc). 



