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Show of sublime power the microbe which at- tacks the cells of which all men and all organic structures are composed. r Microbes and body cells of higher organisms or-ganisms have come, in the course of evo- tutlon, to be the peers of each other, j as a result of the struggle for survival. Incidental phenomena, consequent upon the Struggle between hotly coll and microbe mi-crobe in man. may be observed in such widely differing kinds of demonstration as a case of ivphoid Fever, a political misunderstanding mis-understanding and the composition of n poem, all of which processes are akin to each other In the sense of represent- , Lng physical effects of by-products of the chemical fight between microbe and body coll In the highest organism man. "A man Is only what his microbes make htm. With a normal proportion of Symbiotic Sym-biotic bacteria, he Is the good citizen; with an excess of inimical bacteria, he may become what I call the criminal essayist or novelist. When he speaks it Is not be. but the microbe that Is speaking. Freedom of will Is subject to dictation by the microbe. "The microbe is the keystone of the arch of all organic life. No plant or animal ani-mal ran live excepting through the agency of the microbe not for a single hour. "My idea in seeking for a scientific basis' upon which to place literary and artistic criticism was due io the discomfort discom-fort or disgust that so many oUJus felt when reading works of some of the modern mod-ern authors or hearing certain music which seems to be recognized by a great number of people as representing the latest thing in culture. "To mv mind these creations did not ring true to life. This was either due to my not being up to date and incapable inca-pable of responding to the influences of modern culture or else there was illness on the part of some authors which might be recognized as such by a member of the medical profession If he was to send his forth-faring Instinct in their direction. direc-tion. "The science of bacteriology will eventually even-tually comprehend this question of the relation of microbes to authorship as well as to decadence. "In the days when superstition prevailed, pre-vailed, the ancients believed that both the genius and the insane were inspired, but they held that a genius who appealed ap-pealed to them favorably was inspired by divinity, and that the insane were inspired in-spired bv the evil spirit. "At the present lime we have mostly dropped 1 he evil spirit view, but still hug the idea that inspiration of genius is of divine origin. That now is about to be changed by ascribing rational character char-acter to inspiration. "The genius is quoted only as one example ex-ample of excessive microbe influence. Millions of other individuals suffer from microbe influence, but without making such striking demonstration as we observe ob-serve In the case of the genius, with his notable degree of associative faculty and self-expression. "Genius appears to be nothing more than associative faculty of high order. High order of associative faculty belongs to the group of phenomena by individuals whose cell protoplasm has been sensitized beyond the mean degree. "The highly sensitized protoplasm of the genius is particularly vulnerable to Injurious toxic stimuli. At the' same time It Is . particularly responsive to impressions im-pressions made by the fact upon the mind which is tuned to the 'vibrations' of a large number of related facts. "The fact of the sensitized protoplasm being peculiarly vulnerable to injurious toxic stimuli accounts for the observation observa-tion that geniuses are so often ill men. "There as as many geniuses among bankers, engineers and railroad magnates mag-nates as there arc among artists, painters a n.d musicians. "Microbe toxins give us a sort of literary liter-ary solvent, allowing us in the library to reduce many mysteries to simple formulae for-mulae for ana I -sis. From the literature of ecstatic passion to that of more orderly or-derly emotions we have to make note of some such order as this: "1. A mind allergic to the tubercle bacillus. (Stevenson with his spirited optimism.) "2. A min.l allergic to the colon bacillus. bacil-lus. (Nietzsche, with cry-baby philosophy.) philoso-phy.) "3. A mind belonging to a definite psychosis-hysteria. (Mrs. Klizabeth Barrett Bar-rett Browning, with grace and sweetness in morbid exaggeration of feminine characteristics, char-acteristics, i "4. A mind with a definite psychosis cyclothemla. (Pc Musset, with line Inspiration In-spiration In the euphoric stage. Me did not write much when in the depressive stage because dipsomania supervened.) "r. A mind with another definite psychosis psy-chosis --manic depressive. (Strtndberg. with beauty in his col lection of 'Fairy Tales,' belonged to the euphoric stage; distress in his "Inferno," of the depressive depres-sive stage.) "6. A mind that we might classify at present a s belonging to the Interna 1 secretion se-cretion of aberrant gland development. (Octave Mi ra beau represents the latter.) "The style of CarlyJe can be traced along the different phases of hin toxic Influences. He began to suffer from dyspepsia dys-pepsia at the age of 23. loiter his correspondence cor-respondence is filled with references to sufferings from eye trouble and stomach and bowel disturbances. "His 'Sartor Uesnrtus' was written before be-fore he hecame deeply poisoned, and his 'French Revolution' indicates the degree nf Irritative stimulation of his genius. Ills pessimism and anti-scieiu'e in Inter years were typical of the scorpion sting of colonic bacteria. "Thp letters of genius in literature and art sound Hie note of one Hmg wall about the eyes and howels. The wall is that of the crew of a sinking shin. That is precisely Wbal It really Is in fact a wall from the sinking. "The geniuses are that part of Immari-ty Immari-ty that Is going under. Is there no esr acute enough to catch the sound and to know Its meaning no mind with sufficient suffi-cient '-o-ordici-iing power to take its to the aid of suffering genius? Not yet ! "Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes said that the heat work hi the world is done by men who are not quite well. Fie perceived per-ceived truth, hut did not recognize what he meant by 'best.' " Pt. Loutl Miscellany Genius Ruled by Microbes. Microbes are working out the destiny of the world and. for that matter, par-haps par-haps the destine of the universe, according accord-ing 10 the Inference to be drawn from "Tomorrow's Topics,'' a work In three volumes, bv Dr. Robert T. Morris, visit nc surgeon at the Posi-Graduate hojplta , New York, the first volume of which will shortly be published by Doubleday, Page In literature, art, music polities, you will find the WOra oi inicror.es. .jm " you are a genius do not be puffed up with pride, for It Is not your fault, but the result of the machinations of a million mil-lion million microbes disporting themselves, them-selves, ouarrellng, raising families and going go-ing about the other duties of microbe life Within your system. To iiuote Dr. UorrM's hook: "Some of Ihe world's greatest llterar masterpieces owe their expression to tnr Influence of specific bacterial poisons In the mlnda of the authors. The works of Robert Louts Stevenson show an optimism nerntlnr action of- t lie toxins of the tubercle baclllUI. On the other hand the works nf Nietzsche, Hehopen-htfuer Hehopen-htfuer and many of the PTenob Writer of the nineteenth century reflect the action ac-tion Of the colon baelllue or of anaerobic bacteria. , "Stevenson wrote the 'Child s Garden or Verses' when he was almost physically disabled by1 toxins of tuberculosis, but when at Valllma. and in much better health, lie himself noted the absence or toxin stimulation, under which he had previously worked. "Cnder the Influenre of climate and nr. out or Moor hie bodily ?ealth i"1 vigor were at s high level, and the tuberculosis tu-berculosis process apparently reHted. "The ipiiintlty of toxins thrown out whs then diminishing, and he keenly felt the deprivation. Colvln says that during this year BtevensO found hlms'lf unable to do any serious Imaginative writing, and consciousness of the loss caused him many rrilsgivlngs. . . "lie wrote that he had come to n dead ytop so far as literature was concerned, but In health he was well and strong, and that It would be six months before he would he heard of again, at least. "He died from apoplexy before another exacerbation or Infection of tuberculosis had again awakened his literary genius. This may sound sensational, but Dr. Morris supports his theories by nntnerouu facts and examples which would seem to bear him out to a remarkable degree. Neither are his theories atheistic, for In one of the Opening passages of his hook Dr. Morris says; "Man Is the only animal persistently engaged in bringing about his own destruction. de-struction. He docs this with what he calls his Intelligent, through becoming barren under conditions Of culture and through warfare upon his brother man. "Man In t he only animal capable of developing a philosophy which can moke him Unhappy. This he also does With what he calls a higher fun-tlon of the Intellect. Have these tendencies toward unnapplnees and toward race destruction no meaning? "Tbev belong to large plans on the part of nature. Nature Is trying oui Certain rars. one after another, in order or-der to eliminate the ones which are In-oanable In-oanable of developing bevond certain . -.i. m. Thi In rie-n rbrmrh nn Pgenl |