New-York tribune., 1908-01-19

Professor Smith Ely JelifTe. Svo. pp. 4I5 Funk
Narnalls Company
However convenient and phiosophically
.rnooth il may have seemed, the now classical
,ic.urn that every man is at least slightly in
cane in some respect must always have grated
-ron the nerves of reasonable people What
-, relief then. 10 know that one of the strongest
3sn5encies Of modern psychiatry is to discredit
urterly this soEnbre generalization, Among the
-,ost ardent opponents Of the latter stands Pro-
lessor Grasset, professor of clinical medicine
~ the University Of Montpelier France whose
numerous articles upon the subject of semi
INSANITY" during the last few years have pre-
cinitated q torrent Of friendly and hostile re-
niles from scientists who feel authorized TO
sneak this dark and tangled problem. Emil
nent jurists too chiefly in Germany and France
have thrown themselves into the debate. realiz-
tng the necessity Of squaring legal conceptions
with medical ones The main results of all this
interchange Of ideas among European experts
have been brought together in the present VOL
ume
The author has two tasks: the first is to show
the existence Of q large class of men who are
neither wholly sane nor wholly insane; the sec
md is 10 designate the proper treatment of a
-senli-insane" man who has violated the law.
Society knows to-day that II y has any rights in
nc diseased And. further in the presence of a
tion should Tie accused be punished OF should he
The object Of this book is TO demonstrate that
70 this burning question the magistrate, assisted
by the physician may make three different replies
a2G0fas @1ai is -trey Responsible; he has normal
psyche eT % @ IN 3rSon @ The s accused 4 co crime De
nal Is entirely Irresponsible; his psychic neurons
.-e wholly diseased. therefore he ought only 10 be
treated and I'd p N rsbansibilfv: ne t psvchic
,terefer he ought be both punished and treated
Ee should be placed successfully in prison and in
E hospital
F2-1esv the ''serni-insane' are marked of from
80 --s5r,er ~ their general lucidity and nor
- .o-;or The abnormal acts may be such
a.. -,af+'7e- the individual nor society is in
4-o5 ,,z -1,e,, perceptihly; even more, they may
=, -. commandments Of genius In literature
o-5 -aa7 life the author finds host Of illustra-
lions confirming the existence Of the 'seni-in-
cane" Thus O-estes, Ajax, the Bacchantes,
o.beIlo. Hamlet. Macbeth, Lear, Molere's
..a1a-a~ and -Te --la-ale imaginaire," and almost
eva-v cha-acttr portrayed by Ibsen-to mention
only ? few cases-are. in Professor Grasset's
orfnior tine ''serni-insane" Indeed, the clas-
eica1 novels of nearly every literature. ancient
and modern. draw upon this unfortunate social
r-oun more than upon the PrOsaically sane for
entertainment. which is natural enough, mas
---,oh Professor ATaSStI CtlLlllul OF lfle
-sarni-insane~ brings under this category the
-1or- interesting kinds Of citizens 1T was semi
insanity that Aratole France wished a little
r-ain Of for those he loved. The semi
insane man is Crten e-linently useful sometimes
oxen = .sllg1er-rrar-' Many intellectually supe-
-ior people present psychic defects which make
them serli-ilSaTe
Among tie greatest semi insane of history
r,-ofessor G-asset reckons the following pro-
sis5o,s list: Socrates. Pascal, AUsuste Comte,
saint Simon, GoGol. Tolstoy. Gorky, de Malpas-
zs,- F2o7,sesal FLa-1lert, BaudelaiTe. de Nusset,
Fa-Ds-5in Sai-t-Piarre, Eoltaire, MOliere, Con
5fnac Desca-tes Nortesquieu Button. Arapere,
5Alerpf,ar1 Ct.1teaubriand. Bossuet, Malhe-be
Nay,o]eo- Z5la Euysuans, Balzac. Diderot, Vic
-or Hugo. Alazandre Dumas lls, Tasso
Nierzscbs. Scher,erhauer. Swift, Poe, De Quin-
cev. WIbsrfgroe. Coleridge, Haller, Newton,
Watt Cromwell, Goethe. O'Conneu, Frederick
i Schiller Byron. Swede1borg, Darwin, Schu-
mann. Chopin. Wagner, Mozart, Beethoven, Ros-
sin. Berlioz. and 50 many others that mere
enumeration would convince the reader that the
Fhllistine alone ) s1ne- When we turn 70 see
OF what grounds al these esJinable persons are
given lodging II the halfway house on the road
70 Be5larn. vve cannot fail to observe that the
Term -serui-irsauity" need not be opprobious,
any n.o-e than -tubarculous" OF rheumatic is.
Pascal acquires the title simply because he was
unable as child 70 see water falling without
falling into : & = passion and because Re sUf-