Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/690

668 of his senses are unreal—merely "such stuff as dreams are made of"—the intellect is not affected; but when the false perceptions are accepted as realities, the mind itself is then involved, and a delusion or a false belief is said to exist.

A delusion may be based upon false perceptions; faulty ideas from perverted reasoning about real events, or from mental inability to distinguish differences in things.

A false belief is not, however, of itself indicative of insanity, so long as it is in harmony with the individual's common mode of thought and with the spirit of the age. This is apparent when it is remembered that withcraft—now regarded as a delusion—was, not long since, held to be a truth; indeed, such master-minds as Bacon, Jewel, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Blackstone, Coke, and Dr. Johnson, in accepting as a truth that which we now know was a mental epidemic of error, reflected only the universal belief of the age, and were free of any taint of insanity.

That the standard of mental health is variable because it is conditioned by race, age, environment, and circumstances, is abundantly attested by the history of the past; and this fact should be recalled in discussing the kinship of genius and madness.

The popular literature relating to genius and insanity is so meager and fragmentary that the recent contributions by Mr. Sully, on "Insanity and Genius" and "Genius and Precocity," and by Miss Sanborn, on the "Vanity and Insanity of Genius," are as welcome as they are interesting. It is obvious, however, that names are often used to show the kinship between insanity and genius which do not represent the most illustrious minds. Mr. Sully is, however, logically correct in thus using names, for he includes under the term genius "all varieties of originative power, whether in art, science, or in practical affairs"; but in so doing he destroys, it seems to me, the value of his argument in support of the relationship of insanity and genius, for, measured by this standard, the evidence is overwhelmingly against the theory. Neither is due regard given to the real significance of false perceptions, which are often made to appear indicative of insanity, when in reality mental integrity is not impaired.

Although obliged to follow a common trend of thought with familiar illustrations, it is, nevertheless, my hope to place a few garlands of honor on the brow of Health, and to defend genius against the implication that it exists only with madness. The profound ignorance of the ancient philosophers concerning the nature of mind itself justifies us in attaching but little importance to their interpretation of its phenomena.

Thus, Plato's "Psychology" affirmed a self-existent, self-moving, and eternal soul, in form "like a pair of winged steeds, ... In divine souls both steeds are good, in human souls one is bad. . . . Before entering the body the wings are lost which were nourished by beauty,