Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/699

Rh melancholy and suicidal impulse. The insane temperament was also definitely marked in Comte, the oracle of the "Positive Philosophy"; in Tasso, whose melancholy fate gave to Goethe the opportunity to picture a psychological drama, wherein character is revealed under the glow of "poetic furor," and also, at times, oppressed by morbid fears and delusive visions; in Swedenborg, whose prolific mind teemed with fancies and speculations, contradictions and absurdities, which can only be explained on the theory of a mind diseased; and in Charles Lamb, whose "diluted insanity" cast an enduring shadow over his life.

The facts, as I view them, make me dissent from the theory that a diseased brain is the physical substratum of genius, or that the possession of such exalted mental endowments "carries with it special liabilities to the action of the strong disintegrating forces which environ us." "A large genius," says Dr. Maudsley, "is plainly not in the least akin to madness; but between these widely separated conditions a series of connections is made by persons who stand out from the throng of men by the possession of special talents in particular lines of development; and it is they who, displaying a mixture of madness and genius at the same time, have given rise to the opinion that great wit is allied to madness."

To the extent that a nervous organization makes possible excessive emotional life, or vagaries in thought or action, to this same extent is true genius qualified and limited; for, without calm reason and volitional control, creative imagination is distorted into an irresponsible fancy.

The degree of perfection of any mechanism, whether it be a watch, an engine, a harp, a telescope, or the human brain, is the measure of the quality of the work which can be produced therefrom; and, conversely, the quality of the work is an index of the structural character of the instrument employed.

The better the finish and adjustment of a mechanism in its various parts, the less will be the friction, and the "wear and tear" from constant use; and, although the very delicacy of its adjustment may give a greater susceptibility to disturbing causes, the causes themselves are not inherent but incidental. These facts apply with equal force to that most perfect and complex of all known mechanisms—the human brain, which is energized with the subtile principle of life, and evolves thought, feeling, and will, which, in their noblest and most exalted expressions, are indicative not of disease but of mental health.

Nervous and mental diseases are too common among all classes of people, and orders of intelligence to permit us to think that genius is the special object of their dominion. This idea is rejected, not because it is repugnant, but because it is not sustained by facts when measured by the standard of the highest art, or loftiest thought, or greatest work.

Look at the scores of eminent names within a hundred years, and show therefrom, if possible, the evidence which justifies the statement