"Professor Le Conte has long been known as an original investigator in this department; all that he gives us is treated with a master hand. It is pleasant to find an American book that can rank with the very best of foreign books on this subject."-The Nation.
A STUDY IN PSYCHOLOGY.
Genius and Degeneration.
By Dr. William Hirsch. With a Preface by Prof. Dr. E. Mendel. Translated from the second edition of the German work. Large 8vo, uniform with Nordau's "Degeneration." Cloth, $3.50.
Dr. Hirsch's acute and suggestive study of modern tendencies was begun before "Degeneration" was published, with the purpose of presenting entirely opposite deductions and conclusions. The appearance of Dr. Nordau's famous book, with its criticisms upon Dr. Hirsch's position, enabled the latter to extend the scope of his work, which becomes a scientific answer to Dr. Nordau, although this was not his specific purpose originally. Dr. Nordau has startled the reading world by his cry of "Degeneration"; Dr. Hirsch opposes his conclusions by demonstrating the difference between "Genius" and "Degeneration," and analyzing the social, literary, and artistic manifestations of the day dispassionately and with a wealth of suggestive illustrations.
"The first intelligent, rational, and scientific study of a great subject.... In the development of his argument Dr. Hirsch frequently finds it necessary to attack the positions assumed by Nordau and Lombroso, his two leading adversaries.... Only calm and sober reason endure. Dr. Hirsch possesses that calmness and sobriety. His work will find a permanent place among the authorities of science."—New York Herald.
"Dr. Hirsch's researches are intended to bring the reader to the conviction that 'no psychological meaning can be attached to the word genius.'... While all men of genius have common traits, they are not traits characteristic of genius; they are such as are possessed by other men, and more or less by all men.... Dr. Hirsch believes that most of the great men, both of art and science, were misunderstood by their contemporaries, and were only appreciated after they were dead."—Miss J. L. Gilder in the Sunday World.
"'Genius and Degeneration' ought to be read by every man and woman who professes to keep in touch with modern thought. It is deeply interesting and so full of information that by intellectual readers it will be seized upon with avidity."—Buffalo Commercial.