The avarice excited by these
two sentiments is such that a fraction of them given to the poor is
thought robbery.
"Do you think, monsieur," said Modeste, smiling, "that we should judge
genius by ordinary standards?"
"Perhaps we ought first of all to define the man of genius," replied
Canalis. "One of the conditions of genius is invention,--invention of
a form, a system, a force. Napoleon was an inventor, apart from his
other conditions of genius. He invented his method of making war.
Walter Scott is an inventor, Linnaeus is an inventor, Geoffrey
Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier are inventors. Such men are men of genius of
the first rank. They renew, increase, or modify both science and art.
But Desplein is merely a man whose vast talent consists in properly
applying laws already known; in observing, by means of a natural gift,
the limits laid down for each temperament, and the time appointed by
Nature for an operation. He has not founded, like Hippocrates, the
science itself. He has invented no system, as did Galen, Broussais,
and Rasori. He is merely an executive genius, like Moscheles on the
piano, Paganini on the violin, or Farinelli on his own larynx,--men
who have developed enormous faculties, but who have not created music.
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