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The Inn Courtyard.
Remarkable New Medical Theory Advanced Before the
World’s Greatest Medical Congress That Imaginative
Art Is Only a Symptom of Lunacy—and the Pictures by
Lunatics That Inspired the Theory
London, Sept. 1.
T HAT artistic- skill is nothing
more than a symptom of
insanity is the startling asser
tion made by medical authorities at
the recent International Congress of
Physicians and Surgeons held in
London.
The proposition is certainly a radi
cal one. At first blush it might ap
pear to taK credulity. Consideration
of the clinical evidence presented in
its support, however, rather compels
the conviction that it may be well-
founded. At any rate, the revelation
opens up a new line of psychological
research, and neurologists the world
over are evincing considerable inter
est in it.
It is obvious, of course, that the
average individual possesses little or
no artistic ability. To infer from this
fact alone, however, that the artist is
necessarily abnormal would hardly
be justified, and is not the line of
argument relied upon by those who
advance the new proposition. In ad
dition to this self-evident fact they
bring out some remarkable statistics
gathered in English insane asylums
which seems to establish the fact that
while the normal individual possesses
little or no artistic ability, as soon as
the mind becomes diseased and the
imagination disordered, the ability to
paint or draw or model almost in
variably manifests itself.
It was pointed out, for instance,
that no less than 70 per cent of the
patients admitted to certain lunatic
asylums displayed a more or less
well developed ability to draw or
paint soon after the onset of their
particular malady, although in no
instance had the patient previously
revealed any artistic talent.
While it does not logically follow
that because the insane manifest ar
tistic ability all artists must neces
sarily be Insane, the inference is per-
missable that the association between
art and insanity is perhaps closer
than was ever before imagined.
The concrete evidence used in sup
port of the remarkable proposition
advanced at the Medical Congress
consisted principally of a series of
drawings and paintings made by in
mates of insane asylums who, in
the majority of cases, had never
bgfore shown artistic ability Some
of these interesting exhibits are pre
sented on this page.
One of these pictures bears a re
markable resemblance to the work of
the cubist school. As a matter of
fact, the insane author of the draw
ing probably got his idea from the
workmanship of the cubists, but the
fact remains that before his mental
disease developed he had never been
able to draw at all.
Another one of the sketches shows
a giraffe. It presents what appears
to be a peculiar mixture of the cubist,
and post impressionistic schools of
art. It was made by an insane
woman who had previously shown no
artistic ability whatever.
A very remarkable drawing shown
at the Congress was made by a young
man who Is now a hopeless homicidal
maniac. He was sent to the asylum
after having murdered his father. Al
most immediately he manifested a
desire to draw and paint. Materials
were furnished him and he com
menced at once on a series of six
pictures depicting the six human
passions.
The conception was a most ambi
tious one, but the crazed man carried
it out in a most remarkable manner.
One of the pictures showing a man
acled giant and intended to represent
the passion of agony, has been de
clared by art critics to exhibit un
usual artistic talent.
The “Courtyard of an Inn.” a pic
ture made by another hopeless luna
tic, who had never displayed any de
sire or ability to draw until he be
came insane, aroused a lot of interest
at the Medical Congress. It was re
garded as an exceptionally fine piece
of work, considering that 1t was ex
ecuted by a man who had never be
fore handled brush or pencil.*
So much for the evidence. The con
clusions to be derived from it remain
to be considered.
According to Dr. Freiderich Kunz,
a well-known Viennese neurologist,
who attended the Congress and who
made a most careful study of the
artistic works of the lunatics exhibi
How You May Know Your True Soul Mate
By Prof. Wm. H. Maccabee.
T O test a girl’s or a man’s love
by actions and words is
not a safe and sure ex
periment. The proper method, how
ever, and one which rarely—if
ever—fails, probably once In a thou
sand trials, is to compare the male s
with the female’s nativity. The Chi
nese, Hindus, Greeks, and others
have made these tests for thousands
of years, and with success. At the
birth of a girl the chief priests have
her natal map drawn up, and then
go about searching for a male, in
whose natal map the planetary con
ditions for a happy marriage concur
with those in the girl’s horoscope.
When he is found, the two become
“engaged,” and at maturity they
are married. They are, in reality,
and from a scientific viewpoint, real,
true soulmates. And this method of
finding one’s soulmate is simple
enough; that is, according to the
following rule, viz:
1st. The sun in the female's natal
map must be on the place of the
moon in the male’s natal map; and
the moon in the male's natal map
must be on the place of the sun in
the female’s natus, or, .
2d, The suA in the female's natus
must be in the seventh house (house
of marriage) of the male's natuB,
and the moon of the male’s natus In
the seventh house of the female’s.
3d. No evil planets must he in evi-
lence, either in the seventh house
or afflicting the sun, the moon or
Venus, by conjunction, square or op
position.
4th. Jupiter must be in the sev
enth of either or both. If In both,
so much the better; or In good as
pect to the sun, Venus or the moon.
5th. The part of fortune in the
female's must be in the fifth house
of the male’s, and the male’s must
be in the second house of the fe
male’s, or, in either map, in good
aspect to the sun, moon, Venus and
Mercury.
Find these planetary conditions in
a male’s and female's map of birth
—and they occur frequently enough
to take advantage of—and you have
found the true soulmates. And thetr
love for each other will be so firm,
sincere and lasting that no matter
what might happen, what might
tempt either, or what the circum
stances or conditions in their lives
might be, neither would ever permit
another or anything to come be
tween them and their love; nothing,
indeed, but death.
On the other hand, if the entire
five rules are not adopted, serious
results are apt to follow. For in
stance: A female with the sun in
sagittary in her horoscope, and a
male with the moon in sagittary in
his, would be attracted toward each
other when they met, form a deep
affection, and become united. In
that case their love would be all
“onesided” and would last Just as
long and no longer than the third
party would permit when he or she
came upon the scene. Hence, scan
dal, separation, divorce; and if Mars
was in evidence in either or both
of their natal maps, crime, impris
onment and disaster.
When the female has the sun, the
moon and Mars In her seventh house
of the horoscope, she fs to be avoided
when she reaches maturity. In
deed, it would be better for her to
remain single rather than marry
But she simply cannot—so what's the
use” She becomes an adventuress—
a social outcast.
When she meets a male whose
natal map has Mars In conjunction
with Venus, in the seventh house,
she becomes his slave. She has
met her lord and master, but not her
true soulmate. Such men, born
under the planetary conditions as
above quoted, become confirmed lib
ertines. It Is difficult—almost Im
possible—to find true soulmates for
either of these. Yet, strange as it
may seem, they could have consid
erable of this evil mitigated by mar
rying when Jupiter was in the
western angle of the heavens; for
his good Influences would enable
them to resolutely combat and con
quer many evil temptations
A female born when the sun is in
the sign Scorpio—that is on any day
between October 24 and November
21—if she is born before sunrise, or
when 8corpio is ascending, and
Venus be with the sun, and the evil
Mars on the midheaven, that lady
will be the possessor of unenviable
attractiveness and subtilty. Her
charms would be dangerous to
young and old alike; and her most
cherished pastime would be in de
stroying the homes of others.
It would be difficult to find her
true soulmate, though it Is possible.
He would have to be born with the
sun in Taurus In the seventh house,
or Just before sunset, the moon in
Scorpio, and Uranus in trine to Mars.
This latter aspect occurs very sel
dom. Yet, were these two to marry
while Jupiter was in the seventh
house, much of the evil traits In the
lady would be annihilated by Jupi
ter’s good Influence, the husband
would be “boss” and they would "get
along" fairly well. When the male’s
moon Is afflicted by Mars, at birth,
and the female's sun is over the
place of the sun in the male's natus,
she becomes “boss”; he a pitiable
henpeck. These latter would not
be true soulmates.
A Lunatic’s Drawing of a Woman, Exhibited Before the International Medical Congress at Lon-
Don. The Artist Never Handled a Pencil Until He Became Insane and Then Art Domin
ated His Lunacy. The Face It a Remarkable Study of Lunacy in Itself.
diseased mind acquires this added
faculty.
"Taking up the question from the
other standpoint, the situation Is
equally interesting. The evidence
produced certainly seems to Indicate
that what has hitherto been re
ferred to as the artistic temperament
is nothing else than a form of In
sanity.
“Of course, in the majority of
cases, whatever frenzy or mania ar
tists have possessed has been mani
fested ouly in their work. There
have, however, ‘been some notable
exceptions.
‘‘William Blake, the famous Eng
lish artist, for instance, not only re
vealed hise mania in his remarkable
work, but was regarded as a lunatio
generally. The eccentricities of other
famous artists have been put down
to the temperament of genius, but
in the light of the revent revelations
it would seem that they m ght more
properly have been regarded as the
irresponsible acts of the insane.”
William Blake was an English ar
tist and poet who died nearly one
hundred years ago. He was regarded
as a mystic, and there is no doubt
that his genius had a most peculiar
bent. During the latter years of his
life It was necessary to keep him un
der constant restraint.
Among the exhibits shown at the
Medical Congress in this connection
were a number of drawings and
paintings made by Insane artists. It
was regarded as significant that
while the onset of the malady in
these cases had changed the disposi
tions of the patients in many respects,
such artistic ability as they had pre
viously possessed seemed to be en
tirely unaffected by the mental dis
order In other words, their work
executed after the insanity developed
and previously was exactly of the
same character.
Dr. Max D. Freund, a well-known
alienist of Berlin, who also attended
the recent English Congress, was dis
posed to minimize the importance of
the conclusions to be gathered from
the exhibits of drawings by insane
persons.
‘While they evidence a stimulated
power of visualization in the ein-
sane,” he declared, “it is yet too early
to say that this power is a character
istic of insanity.
“That the artist’s faculty in this
respect is abnormally developed can
not be denied, but it is not every ab
normally developed faculty that up
sets the stability of the mind. If
must be admitted, however, that the
fact that this faculty seems to be
sharpened in the insane is worthy
of research. It does imply that
the faculty Is one which is not neces
sary to a normal mind and seems in
separable from an abnormal one.
The statistics presented showing
that 70 per cent of the inmates of
certain of the insane institution^
showed a desire and ability to draw
or paint where neither had been dis
played before are too weighty to be
disregarded.
“Great allowances have sometimes
been made for the vagaries of great
artists on the ground of their artis
tic temperament. It would seem now
that there was even more reason for
such indulgence.”
ted at the Bethlehem Royal Hospi
tal, the exhibits present strong evi
dence that the ability to draw or
paint is an abnormal one that only
the mind disordered is capable of it.
“The ordinary person can not draw
a- presentable picture of even the
most familiar objects,” the doctor de
clared. “This is because he lacks the
power to visualize clearly enough to
transmit what he sees to paper. An
artist sees an object once and the im
pression It makes on his mind Is so
sharp that he visualizes that object
again whenever he desires. That
there is something radically different,
then, between the make-up of the
mind of the artist and that of the or
dinary individual would seem to be
apparent.
“Now comes this remarkable evi
dence that the insane acquire with
their malady this same faculty which
distinguishes artlBts. In other
words, the ability to visualize abnor
mally and to draw or paint seems
now to be u symptom of Insanity.
' Scientific men will take up the
study of Insanity anew In the light
of tiiese revelations. It will be in-
lerestlug to ascertain Just how the