SOME HISTORIC PERSONAGES 245 



genius, that is epilepsy with superior ability, occurs most often 

 in pituitocentrics, the epilepsy being symptomatic of a pituitary 

 struggling against barriers, tugging against bonds. As mentioned, 

 in such cases epilepsy appears as the twin brother of migraine in 

 genius. Should that be established, we should have more evi- 

 dence for the pituitary dominance of most specimens of intel- 

 lectual power. As a case in point let us take the most famous 

 of the epileptic geniuses — Julius Caesar, "When the fit was on I 

 marked how he did shake; tis true, this god did shake. ,, 



According to Plutarch, Julius Caesar was of slender build, fair- 

 complexioned, pale, emaciated, of a delicate constitution (remind- 

 ing us of Darwin), subject to severe headache and violent attacks 

 of epilepsy. In view of the work of Cushing, the concurrence of 

 "severe headache and violent attacks of epilepsy" is sharply 

 suggestive of a pituitary origin for both. In his seventeenth year 

 he was already engaged to be married, which proves his precocity. 

 An overactive, erratic pituitary could here also be held respon- 

 sible. Soon after he was proscribed by the dictator Sulla, and 

 the first of a series of epileptic convulsions is recorded. Shock 

 tries the pituitary, as well as the adrenals. 



His sexual libido was of the quality that stimulated his sol- 

 diers to sing celebrations of his exploits. The first woman he 

 was engaged to he jilted. Cornelia, his first wife, he divorced on 

 the ground that "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." Matri- 

 mony committed twice thereafter landing him in the divorce 

 court, he devoted himself to liaisons, one with Cleopatra. This 

 sexual hyperactivity was probably another pituitary trait. 



The compound of intellectual and practical ability he realized 

 was of the rarest. It meant a most delicate balance between his 

 ante-pituitary, post-pituitary, adrenals and thyroid. He was an 

 orator, politician, historian, conqueror, and statesman. That his 

 thyroid functioned well can be deduced from a career which 

 involved more than three hundred personal triumphs as recog- 

 nition from his native city. On horseback, riding without using 

 his hands, he would often dictate to two or three secretaries 

 at once. The masculine love of glory and ambition, expression 

 of a well-working ante-pituitary, was combined with the effem- 

 inate echoes of an equally well-evolved post-pituitary. No prima 

 donna was more concerned with the care of her skin, complexion 

 and hair than he. The analogy extends even to superfluous hair 

 which he had removed, not by the modern electrolysis, but by 

 depilation with forceps and main force. The attendants at his 



