venial sin of misrepresentation, and in any case speaks volumes for his
intelligence and insight into human psychology.
The more serious flaw in Napoleon's intellectual makeup was his
impatience, his low boredom threshold, his sacrifice of reason in favour of
the imagination, and his (unconscious?) desire to make policy on the
wing, to improvise and to sacrifice the simple solution for the more
complicated. The impatience had many manifestations. He could never
remain still, would feel in his waistcoat for snuff, take out his watch, file
his nails or get up to throw pebbles at the invariably roaring fire or kick at
the embers. When in a rage he would smash fu rniture and even when not
angry would often fiddle with rare porcelain figures until he broke off the
arms and legs; then he would scoff at those, like Josephine, saddened by
the damage. When dictating, he would twitch his right shoulder and keep
on twisting his right arm so as to pull down the cuff of his coat with his
hand. Bourrienne reported that there would often be an involuntary
shrug of Napoleon's right shoulder, accompanied by a movement of the
mouth from left to right, especially when absorbed.
Students of Napoleon have often speculated on the possible medical or
psychological causes of his many quirks and oddities. An investigation in
this area is not helped by the tense relationship that existed between
Napoleon and his medical advisers. Although the Bonaparte family in
general had a tendency to hypochondria, Napoleon himself took a
Shavian attitude to medicine and regarded all doctors as quacks or
impostors. He had long-running relationships with many physicians, but
never cared for any of them. The surgeon Larrey was the one he
respected most (although Dr Yvan, in attendance from 1796-r8r4, was
the longest -serving) but he never liked him, for Larrey combined three
qualities Napoleon despised: he was introverted, sycophantic and money
grubbing. Larrey, like a later doctor, Antommarchi, always took the view
that Napoleon's health problems stemmed from the liver.
The most obvious aspect of Napoleon's medical profile is that he
suffered from fits. The seizure he had while in bed with Mlle George was
the most dramatic example, and he never really forgave her for making
this widely known through her panic and thus bringing him into ridicule
and contempt. Medical opinion is divided on whether Napoleon suffered
from petit mal, a minor form of epilepsy, or whether, like Julius Caesar,
he was a victim of the fu ll-blown variety; still others have claimed that the
fits were the result of a disorder of the pituitary gland or (bearing in mind
also that he suffered from urinary disorders) were a symptom of venereal
disease. Yet another theory is that the temporary loss of consciousness
marcin
(Marcin)
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