"Deformity is daring. It is its essence to o'ertake mankind, A spur in its halt movements, to become All that others cannot, in such things As still are free to both, to compensate For stepdame Nature's avarice at first." Quoted in "The Deformed and Their Mental Characteristics," Littell's Living Age 1862, 72, 396. "Whosoever hath anything fixed in his person that doth induce contempt, hath also a perpetual spur in himself to rescue and deliver himself from scorn. It stirreth in ... them industry deformity is an advantage to rising Kings." Francis Bacon: Essays, "Of Deformity." CHAPTER I SOLVING THE PROBLEM OF WEAKNESS For the student of human nature there is no puzzle more intriguing and more fascinating than the search for the mysterious sources of greatness. There is enough conceit in each one of us to make us wonder how it is that others accomplish more than we do. There is also something in knowing how they "arrived," for knowing how is half the battle. When we study the lives of great men, we are struck by the fact that superior ability constitutes only a minor part of genius,—the rest is hard work. No man toils without some motive to drive him. Two men may be equally able. One of them is fired with the ambition to succeed, while the other lackadaisically drifts through life; the former is anxious to capitalize his ability while the latter loafs complacently as he lets his alents go to seed. The difference between the twoand the essential reason why the one will be great and he other mediocre is a matter of motives. Greatness s not thrust upon a man. It is something to be chieved under the pressure of some powerful drive. Fortunately, psychoanalysis has succeeded in uncovring some of the forces which work in the obscurities of he unconscious and which have hitherto been little nderstood. The psychoanalytic school offers a new |