Life — June 17, 1909 — page 27: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

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MILLER, ssenger Agent, Chicago The Matter with Montaigne = had always supposed that if there w thing seriously wrong with the late Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne, it was that like Rudyard Kipling’s Bimi—he had “ too much © in his cosmos.” But this, it now appears, does not sufficiently explain the underlying skepti- cism of the Essays. “We cannot understand insists Dr. Raymond Delacroix, in a paper ributed to the course in “ literary pathology "” t the University of Lyons, “until we know that bis work was that of a sick man.” It is quite true that Montaigne suffered from the stone and other internal maladies, and that finally succumbed to the quinsy at the un- limely age of 59; but, as if to anticipate the modern post-mortem, he had the ironic impudence o leave a mass of writings in which mere lit- ary critics have professed to see an unexampled store of practical wisdom and shrewd counsel. The inventor and most brilliant exemplar of the essay has had a horde of indifferent imitators— many of them rejoicing in robust physical health, and bursting at the seams with optimism. Is it possible that a little pain might have quick- ened theit sensibilities; that an acquaintance with grief, sensitized by bodily suffering manfully borne, might have atoned for deficiency of ima! nation? Perhaps, if the balance were struck, it would appear that the invalids of letters have Spend your vacation on Quaint Cape Cod ideal for vacations—seashore, woods, country, fishing, boating, bathing. Send for free, beautifully illustrated book. A. B. Smith, G. P. A., Room 185, New Heaven, Conn, given a more complete account of life than that recorded by their perfectly normal brethren. It is time that some one said a word for the sound mind in the unsound body. . 8 . . 8 . . The theories of Dr. Delacroix—who secs in Montaigne a tendency to neurasthenia inherited from the Semitic strain on the maternal side— recall the discovery by an “eminent psycholo- gist’? of Toulouse that the genius of the great chemist, M. Berthelot, was accounted for by a marsh fever at the age of five, followed by a blow on the head two years later. The obvious im- practicability of producing genius according to this formula need not blind us to the value of such discoveries as a means of regulating the symptoms. Had Montaigne only submitted medical treatment in good time, it seems quite possible that it would be unnecessary to issue his essays in expurgated form. His habit of wandering from his subject—the characteristic incoordination of his themes and titles, as in the “Verses of Virgil '’—would never have led dhe been properly ‘or lack of a little When a the innocent mind astray bled, pilled and purged. strychnia he rambled and he rambled. man has “ What's the use?’’ for his motto, what can medical science do for him? . . . . . . . . That was the matter with Montaigne—not merely his inherited neurasthenic disposition, but, nblushingly avows, his “hereditary con- “1 always despise it.”’ he stead of recant- ing or entering into composition with it, I be- gin yet more to hate and fear it. I tet Nature worl And again adies I have had, were there never so little in the case, I never found three (physicians) of ‘one opinion. There is scattered through the pages of the Essays. we turn the leaves, a light breaks upon us. nore and worse of such maunderings As Why One cup isa light lunch in itself The Best Cocoa of them All Easy to prepare, appetizing, delicious in flavor, readily digested and highly nourish- ing. Excellent for invalids and children. Sold by all Leading Grocers . ?, Fifth Avenue at 35th Street. Chocolates, Bon-Bons, French Bonbonnieres, The unique Luncheon Restaurant is a popular resort for Ladies—“afternoon tea” 3 to 6. = Prevents Decay | Dentists advise its use. All Druggists. 2: d Trial Size Can and Booklet receipt of Five Conts. McKesson & Robbins, 91-97 Fulton St. New York. New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. this autopsy, three hundred years after Mon- igne’s taking “without medical attend- ance ""?—for so he died. It is an inquest that savors of reprisal. To take its findings soberly, as a_ sincere summing up a scientific Frenchman, would be still a greater strain on credibility, Dr. Delacroix is doubtless an expert physiological psychologist, who can tell house- maid's knee from simple hysteria at a glance; but the question arises, Would he know litera- ture with the label off? He may be “ up" in his profession; he may, as he know, when he sees a clear case of arthritism, manifesting itself in renal lithiasis and_nephritic colic.” But what is his taste in essays? Would he prefer Arthur Brisbane to H. W. Mabie, Mr Bok to Mr. Benson, Lowell of Cambridge to Lawson of Boston?’ Docs he think magazine poetry is normal? Has he read Upton Sinclair? We should like to see him qualify before he goes around kicking holes in our idols. What are his canons of criticism? He may be an authority in affir France; but we are from Missouri, and he'll have to show us. W. T. Larnen. from now a few “Ups. TEN? 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