THE PROCREATION OF GENIUS 169 



like a field from which a heavy crop has been taken. 

 This is a pretty figure to look at on paper, and seems 

 to harmonise with the observed fact that men of genius 

 have frequently either a mediocre offspring or none 

 at all. Unfortunately M. Eenan's simile does not 

 hold water. A man who dissipates the money 

 accumulated by his ancestors impoverishes his family 

 no doubt ; but to say that a man of letters who com- 

 mits his ideas to paper deprives his heirs of some 

 tangible benefit is a near approach to nonsense. A 

 flower is none the poorer for the perfume it sheds. 

 The writer's view is that genius arises from the 

 undue stimulation by means of nerve nutrition of 

 certain functions of the brain at the expense of 

 others, and that this departure from the normal course 

 is liable through the principle of metamorphosis to 

 lead to functional disorders among the blood relatives 

 of the person affected. Of the morbid character of 

 some forms of genius there is no doubt.^ 



That all-round natural ability which may be 

 called talent falls into a different category. We 

 are bound to admit that Nature is not averse to a 

 general levelling up of ability. The Englishman has 



1 Moreau, La Psychologie Morbide ; Radestock, Genie und 

 Wahnsinn. 



