ARE MEN OF GENIUS MAD?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 304, 19 December 1908, Page 4

ARE MEN OF GENIUS MAD?

SOME ECCENTRICI'ITES 01/ FAMOUS PEOPLE. For hundreds of years past the extent ot the border-line between insanity and genius has been a matter of dispute with doctors, scientists, mid deep thinkers, 'ihe Jives of famous men, and even women, of the last two centuries, however, seem to furnisli striking evidence that there is a very strong link between genius and insanity. And even in cases wlien actual insanity was not apparent, there are many instances of geniuses who suffered from a variety of ills and disorders which in reality were symp- | toms of brum disease.

SUFFERINGS OF FAMOUS NOVELISTS. Charles Dickens, it is well known, as ho advanced in years, suffered from sleeplessness, gout, incipient paralysis, and loss of memory, and ultimately died at h ty-eight from effusion of blood upon the town. Wilkie Collins was such a suflerer from nerves that he was accustomed to take laudanum in immense •loses Thackeray died suddenly at tatty-two, and for the last fourteen veal's of his life was continuallv ailin./ nn.l subject to certain jiainful 'spasms Charles Lamb was confined to a madhouse J„r six weeks about Ms twentieth J ear, the period at which he wrote most of his .sonnets, and all his life was subject to stammering, violent headaches, and was constitutional!v nervous and timid. Edgar Allan Poo niore than once attempted or threatened to commit suicide while under delusions of persecution, and (Icorgc Sand confessed that bhe also at times felt tempted to take her own hie.

EXTUAOUDJXAUY HALLUCINATIONS. George Eliot, too, suffered greatly from fits of depression; while Sir Walter Scott complained of certain hallucinations, and thought lie saw the image ol Ins friend Byron after the hitter's death, the image, after examination, proving to be nothing but the folds of some drapery. ' Sir Edwi u Landsoer. towards the close ot his life, showed signs of insanity, while the eccentricities of Turner were •iinte of the insane order. Amongst other eminent artists it might be mentioned that Sir Thomas Lawrence suffered from a symptom of brain disorder, David Wilkie list power of attention, and ultimately had -a nervous seizure which made his speech incoherent, while 'Roinney suffered- so much from the hallucination that his talent would desert him that at the height of his fame he thought of relinquishing his art altogether.

'• MAD JACK BYRON." ' Referring to famous poets, it might be mentioned that Cowper tried to commit suicide on several occasions, was an inmate, of a lunatic asylum for eighteen niontlts, and died insane. Southey sank into a state of imbecility, in "which he died. Shelley was known as "Mad Shelley" at Eton, while it is a curious fact that the maddest of all poets, "Mad Jack Byron," who led such a wild, dissolute life, always dreaded insanity. Several famous mem, by the way, have lived in dread of insanity. Swift, who, before he became a celebrity, was called the "Mad IParson" and who died an imbecile, was always haunted by the dread of going out of his mind. Dr. Johnson declared that he had been "iimd all his life, or, a t least, not sober," and so great was bis fear of insanity that ac times he must have been on the brink of mental derangement.

BALZAC IK A GARRET. The lives of famous musicians like Wagner, Bach, llmulel, .Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn, as set forth by J. E. Nisbet, in his book "The insanity of Genius," all tend to bear out the contention that insanity and genius are closelv related.

Then again the whims and fads of ,llint famous French author Balzac were such that they could only have originated from a disordered mind. He would live in n garret under an assumed name, even at his most prosperous times, sleep from .six in the evening until midnight, and then work for from twelve to twenty hours at a stretch, dressed in the white robe of a. Dominican friar, ■with a black skull cap on his head and surrounded by a dozen candles. A SHOOK TO THE AUDIENCE. The stage, too, furnishes examples of insane genius—notably, Edmund Kean, whose mind became, unhinged at fortylive years of age. Junius Brutus Booth, the. father of Wilkes Booth, who murdered I'residenß Lincoln, displayed insanity in public at the age of thirtyfive. It was while phiying a tragic part m Boston. I'.S.A., that he suddenly dropped into n colloquial tone and, apropos of nothing, said, " I'pon my word, 1 don't know." To the murmurs of the house lie responded with a ringing laugh. •The manager then rushed on from behind the scenes and led him oil', whilst he shouted, "I. can't rend—f am a char'ity boy—l can't lead. Take me to a lunatic asylum.'' For some, time after this Booth was an undoubted maniac.