SOME HISTORIC PERSONAGES 253 



superiority and distinction, and the fruits of their lives as by- 

 products, have been destroyed. Florence Nightingale, too, might 

 have been a softer and more human person. But then would she 

 have revolutionized the practice of nursing? Oscar Wilde pos- 

 sibly might have been made over into a heterosexual. But then 

 would not the world be the poorer without "De Profundis," let 

 us ask? To state the problem in the most general terms: how 

 much abnormality are we to tolerate (I speak, of course, of 

 malignant abnormality, and disregard benign abnormality alto- 

 gether) for the sake of the valuable that is concomitant? How 

 much are we to stand of that which degrades the germ-plasm 

 while it raises the mind-plasm of the race? The Flowers of 

 Evil. Destroy or modify the roots, change the seed, and the 

 buds will bloom, if at all, not orchids, but dull brown common- 

 places. 



What means may be licensed for the attainment of a worthy 

 end is perhaps the broadest aspect of the problem. The instru- 

 ments of Man's ascent to divinity may arouse his instinctive 

 repulsions, dislikes, and destructive passions. The study of the 

 internal secretions is putting and will put the most powerful 

 apparatus for the control of the abnormal into our hands. What 

 are we going to do with them? 



It does not follow that because we are beginning to under- 

 stand the normal that we are to establish one fixed absolute 

 standard of the normal. In view of all the possible mixtures, 

 permutations and combinations of the endocrine glands, that may 

 construct an individual, it is possible to conceive a million types 

 of normals. For normality means harmony, the harmonious 

 equilibrium between the hormones, which tends to continue itself, 

 because it does no harm to itself. So there are all sorts and con- 

 ditions of men and women who are classed as normals. We need 

 create no inquiry into the value of raising the subnormal to the 

 normal level. It is when we come to consider the possibility of 

 lowering the supernormal (in certain respects) to the normal, 

 that we pause and hesitate. Traditional morality assists not, but 

 hinders us here. 



Whatever the race may ultimately decide, it is safe to predict 

 that it is now somewhat possible, and will become more and 

 more possible, to regulate or even check the ills of genius, with- 

 out interfering with its highest evolution and expression. For 

 example, Bernard Shaw, to take a living man of genius, is pretty 

 visibly a pituitocentric of the well-balanced variety. He has 



