The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-12-28

clinical medicine at the University OF
Montpelier. national member of the
Freach academy of Medicine and poet
laureate OF the institute. Translated by
smith Ely JelliHe. M. D., Phi. D.. clinical
professor or mental diseases in Fordham
University and visiting neurologist, City
Hospftal. New York. Funk & Wagnals
Company. New York,
This bn TX represents a medium-not a
happy one-between a strictly scientific
and a literary production. 1t is of suf-
hcient clarity to be comparatively well
understood by the lay mind and contains
enough technical discussion to make it of
great value to students and experts. II
deals with those questions that have been
most popularity discussed by Lombroso
and Nordau. while endeavoring to explain
the breach that exists between them and
others or the great problems of human
mentality. At the same time an effort is
made TO offer a practical solution to so
ciety. which II not fully expedient at least
marks q step OF progress in that direction.
Aye there among the worlds population
today ! larse number of persons. peace
fully pursuing vacations and observing
The rules OF polite society. who are half
insane-a constant menace to personal
safety ana good order?
LII the IldlOIiiN VI IiF fNHli1 > itNANE
gcniuses. rs well as its greatest criminals.
belong to that class? Does organized So
tietv owe TO the semi-insane, or the
temi-fous. as the French say, a deep debt
Of gratitude. as well as to itself the duty
Of Representation and responsibility
which should be observed by taking prac-
tical steps Of espionage toward these per-
sons?
These questions are raised by the noted
alienist and by him are answered in the
affirmative. He accepts neither the one
block nor the two-block theory on which
alienists have heretofore mainly differed.
The irst1holds that insanity is only COM
parative; that everyone is more or less IN
sane; that perfect sanity Is a rarity, II NOT
non-existcnt. and thai total insanity is
impossible. The other holds that persons
are either sane or insane. Or. Grasset
comes between the two with the theory
thai there are perfectly sane persons-that
the majority are probably such; that there
are totally insane persons. those lacking
responsibility entirely, and that there are
a large number OF semi-insane or semi-
responsible to whom society owes a solemn
duty.
He devotes the first chapter of his work
To n~ointing ont the existence OF the semi
insane i'm literature. In lbsen' ne, OF
course. finds greatest material, and points
to that depressing play, "The Wild Duck
as the greatest aggregate example OF tue
existence of this class of persons. In Don
Ouixote, however. he finds the most per-
foot Individual representative in literature
or thk demi-fous. He naturally calls at
ten+ion 10 Hamlet and Macbeth as being
in that class, while placing King Lear
in that OF the totally mad. He draws at
length from the French novelists ana
pIaywrlghts, even back into the Gays OIL
Racine and Moliere. In the modern rus
sian school he finds abundant material.
He uses characters OF fiction as PROOF tna N
tbe greatest minds OF fancy recognized IN
themselves or those about them the uu'N
Of the theory advanced.
We pass over the chapter deVoteu 70
clinical proof of the existence OF the seInl-
insane as entirely too scientific Tor pres
ent purposes. That chapter is Tor tine
snaod{oal students and journals.
-~After appropriating many OF their great
ost creations. the author turns and seizes
great thinkers and creators
and offers Them up as proof. under uhe
heading of the Social Value OF the
semi-Insane.' He remarks by way OF m
PRODUCTION that 1.-The insane ma Is never
INVITING but diseased, OF at
least useless to society. The semi-lnsane
Is often eminenty useful, sometimes even
a 'superman.'" He does not dispute the
conclusion of Tchekhof that ORDINARY
men are the only ones who envy normal
health;'' or that of Nordau that me
phiustine is n wholly successful fool ana
admits that a complete elimination OF
neprosis may conduce towards general
mediocrity.
He declares that his examples have
heen largely derived from hearsay, but
have in every case been submitted 10
careful verlhcation before being used. lie
calls attention to the catalepue hts OF
socrates, and the spasms and obsessions
~ Pascal. He places the best or con-
temnorary Russian novelists among the
semj-insane, ircluding Gorky and Toistoi.
He forcets not Mohammed's delus1ons, re-
fers pathetically to the cases OF Guy
de Maupassant and Alphonse Daudet, ana
nonders over THE great additional dement's
that would nave been conferred on
society by the former had he been treated
and cured. instead of being allowed to
die voIng in a madhouse. Victor Hugo
does not escape, and Jean Jacques Ros-
seau is placed among the worst. Among
American men of genius he sees fit to
refer alone to Edgar Allan Poe, and asks
If anv other than a half-madman could
have penned the following lines from the
Entrance OF the Conquering Warrior
But see. amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
"a DlOOtl~t6u tAiAAH NAnN
The scenic solitude!
II writhes-it writhes-with mortal pangs
The mines become its food,
And the angels sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.
He docs not hesitate to include in his
category the great names of m~usic-Schu-
mann, Chopin. Wagner, Mozart. Bee
thoven, Rossini and others. Napoleon,
Julius Caesar and Peter the Great are
cited as having been e~pileptic, though
not in the demi-fous class. but inclined
that way.
He declares that the existence Of neuro-
SIS among the intellectually superior has
been very prevalent, but says that genius
is not a neurosis: but a neurosis is more
often the penalty of genius Intellectual
superiority is not a symptom of neurosis.
he AYERS. any more than is neurosis a
symptom of genius.
''Psychoneuroses and intellectual supe-
riority.'' he concludes, when they CO
exist in the same individual. are not con-
sequently the same or dependent the one
upon another. The fact that certain DENT
fous have a social value does not do away
with the duties and rights of society to-
ward these patients. either in the mat
ter of taking care of them or Of protecting
itself against them"
Normal love or reasonable religious feel
ing is not placed by him. as by others,
among the symptoms Of semi-insanity.
He says that the semi-insane commit
many misdemeanorg against society in Tbs