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Show ZOLA WAS A "NEUROPATH." Great Author So Described by French; Experts. Zola, who used his pen on others, as a dissecting knife, submitted him-self him-self some years ago to a detailed med-" leal examination in the general in-1 terests of anthropology, frankly recognizing recog-nizing the fact that Max Nordau saw in him an excellent illustration of hi theory of the connection between genius gen-ius and degeneracy. Not all those observations ob-servations nor his own answers to questions about himself were published pub-lished during his life, but there is now no need for reticence. He had a wrinkled forehead when he was 6; he had "morbid ideas" until un-til he was 35; and then, when success suc-cess came in at the door, they es- ' caped by the window. With his intellectual intel-lectual power went a lack of nervous equilibrium, and though he had a strong will and tenacity of purpose, he had feeble powers of concentration and attention, and in later years an uncertain memory. He had bad sight and no ear for music. The French experts who examined him gave their verdict in a word he was a "neuropath." |