The Story of the Mind
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James Mark Baldwin >> The Story of the Mind
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"But his imaginations...."
"What are such imaginations?" Madame Guillaume went on, interrupting
her daughter again. "Fine ones are his, my word! What possesses a man,
that all on a sudden, without consulting a doctor, he takes it into
his head to eat nothing but vegetables? There, get along! if he were
not so grossly immoral, he would be fit to shut up in a lunatic
asylum."
"O mother, can you believe?"
"Yes, I do believe. I met him in the Champs Elysees. He was on
horseback. Well, at one minute he was galloping as hard as he could
tear, and then pulled up to a walk. I said to myself at that moment,
'There is a man devoid of judgment!'"
* * * * *
The main consideration which this chapter aims to present, that of the
responsibility of all men, be they great or be they small, to the same
standards of social judgment, and to the same philosophical treatment,
is illustrated in the very man to whose genius we owe the principle
upon which my remarks are based--Charles Darwin; and it is singularly
appropriate that we should also find the history of this very
principle, that of variations with the correlative principle of
natural selection, furnishing a capital illustration of our
inferences. Darwin was, with the single exception of Aristotle,
possibly the man with the sanest judgment that the human mind has ever
brought to the investigation of nature. He represented, in an
exceedingly adequate way, the progress of scientific method up to his
day. He was disciplined in all the natural science of his
predecessors. His judgment was an epitome of the scientific insight of
the ages which culminated then. The time was ripe for just such a
great constructive thought as his--ripe, that is, so far as the
accumulation of scientific data was concerned. His judgment differed
then from the judgment of his scientific contemporaries mainly in that
it was sounder and safer than theirs. And with it Darwin was a great
constructive thinker. He had the intellectual strength which put the
judgment of his time to the strain--everybody's but his own. This is
seen in the fact that Darwin was not the first to speculate in the
line of his great discovery, nor to reach formulas; but with the
others guessing took the place of induction. The formula was an
uncriticised thought. The unwillingness of society to embrace the
hypothesis was justified by the same lack of evidence which prevented
the thinkers themselves from giving it proof. And if no Darwin had
appeared, the problem of evolution would have been left about where it
had been left by the speculations of the Greek mind. Darwin reached
his conclusion by what that other great scientific genius in England,
Newton, described as the essential of discovery, "patient thought";
and having reached it, he had no alternative but to judge it true and
pronounce it to the world.
But the principle of variations with natural selection had the
reception which shows that good judgment may rise higher than the
level of its own social origin. Even yet the principle of Darwin is
but a spreading ferment in many spheres of human thought in which it
is destined to bring the same revolution that it has worked in the
sciences of organic life. And it was not until other men, who had both
authority with the public and sufficient information to follow
Darwin's thought, seconded his judgment, that his formula began to
have currency in scientific circles.
Now we may ask: Does not any theory of man which loses sight of the
supreme sanity of Darwin, and with him of Aristotle, and Angelo, and
Leonardo, and Newton, and Leibnitz, and Shakespeare, seem weak and paltry?
Do not delicacy of sentiment, brilliancy of wit, fineness of rhythmical
and aesthetic sense, the beautiful contributions of the talented special
performer, sink into something like apologies--something even like
profanation of that name to conjure by, the name of genius? And all the
more if the profanation is made real by the moral irregularities or the
social shortcomings which give some colour of justification to the
appellation "degenerate"!
But, on the other hand, why run to the other extreme and make this
most supremely human of all men an anomaly, a prodigy, a bolt from the
blue, an element of extreme disorder, born to further or to distract
the progress of humanity by a chance which no man can estimate? The
resources of psychological theory are adequate, as I have endeavoured
to show, to the construction of a doctrine of society which is based
upon the individual, in all the possibilities of variation which his
heredity may bring forth, and which yet does not hide nor veil those
heights of human greatness on which the halo of genius is wont to
rest. Let us add knowledge to our surprise in the presence of such a
man, and respect to our knowledge, and worship, if you please, to our
respect, and with it all we then begin to see that because of him the
world is the better place for us to live and work in.
We find that, after all, we may be social psychologists and hero
worshippers as well. And by being philosophers we have made our
worship more an act of tribute to human nature. The heathen who bows
in apprehension or awe before the image of an unknown god may be
rendering all the worship he knows; but the soul that finds its
divinity by knowledge and love has communion of another kind. So the
worship which many render to the unexplained, the fantastic, the
cataclysmal--this is the awe that is born of ignorance. Given a
philosophy that brings the great into touch with the commonplace, that
delineates the forces which arise to their highest grandeur only in a
man here and there, that enables us to contrast the best in us with
the poverty of him, and then we may do intelligent homage. To know
that the greatest men of earth are men who think as I do, but deeper,
and see the real as I do, but clearer, who work to the goal that I do,
but faster, and serve humanity as I do, but better--that may be an
incitement to my humility, but it is also an inspiration to my life.
LITERATURE[14]
[Footnote 14: Only books in English. The order of mention is without
significance.]
GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY--SYSTEMATIC TREATISES.
Bain, _The Senses and the Intellect_ (New York: Appletons London:
Longmans).
----, _The Emotions and the Will_ (the same).
James, _Principles of Psychology_, 2 vols. (New York: Holt & Co.
London: Macmillans. Abridged in Briefer Course).
Ladd, _Psychology, Descriptive and Explanatory_ (New York: Scribners.
London: Longmans. Abridged in _Elements of Descriptive Psychology_).
Stout, _Analytic Psychology_, 2 vols. (London: Sonnenschein. New York:
Macmillans).
Wundt, _Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology_ (the same).
Hoeffding, _Outlines of Psychology_ (Macmillans).
Sterrett, _The Power of Thought_ (New York: Scribners).
Baldwin, _Handbook of Psychology_, 2 vols. (New York: Holt. London:
Macmillans. Abridged in _Elements of Psychology_).
----, Articles in _Appletons' Universal Cyclopaedia_ (New York:
Appletons).
PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CHILD.
Preyer, _The Mind of the Child_, 2 vols. (New York: Appletons).
Compayre, _Intellectual and Moral Development of the Child_, 2 vols.
(New York: Appletons).
Sully, _Studies of Childhood_ (New York: Appletons. London:
Longmans).
Baldwin, _Mental Development in the Child and the Race_ (New York and
London: Macmillans).
PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
Ziehen, _Introduction to Physiological Psychology_ (London:
Sonnenschein. New York: Macmillans).
Ladd, _Elements of Physiological Psychology_ (New York: Scribners.
London: Longmans. Abridged in _Outlines_).
Donaldson, _The Growth of the Brain_ (London: Walter Scott. New York:
Scribners).
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY.
Kuelpe, _Outline of Psychology_ (London: Sonnenschein New York:
Macmillans).
Sanford, _Course in Experimental Psychology_ (Boston: Heath & Co.).
Scripture, _The New Psychology_ (London: Walter Scott. New York:
Scribners).
ANIMAL AND EVOLUTION PSYCHOLOGY.
Romanes _Mental Evolution in Animals and Man_, 2 vols. (New York:
Appletons).
----, _Animal Intelligence_ (New York: Appletons).
----, _Darwin and After Darwin_, 3 parts (Chicago: Open Court Company.
London: Longmans).
C. Lloyd Morgan, _Comparative Psychology_ (London: W. Scott. New York:
Scribners).
----, _Animal Life and Intelligence_ (London and New York: Arnold).
----, _Habit and Instinct_ (the same).
Groos, _The Play of Animals_ (New York: Appletons. London: Chapman &
Hall).
Spencer, _Principles of Psychology_, 2 vols. (New York: Appletons).
Hudson, _The Naturalist in La Plata_ (London: Chapman & Hall).
Darwin, _Descent of Man_ (New York: Appletons).
-----, _Origin of Species_ (the same).
Wallace, _Darwinism_ (New York and London: Macmillans),
Stanley, _The Evolutionary Psychology of Feeling_ (London:
Sonnenschein, New York: Macmillans).
Baldwin, _Mental Development in the Child and the Race_ (New York and
London: Macmillans).
MENTAL DEFECT AND DISEASE.
Maudsley, _Pathology of Mind_ (Macmillans).
Starr, _Familiar Forms of Nervous Disease_ (New York: Wood).
Collins, _The Faculty of Speech_ (Macmillans).
Hirsch, _Genius and Degeneration_ (Appletons).
Tuke, _Dictionary of Psychological Medicine_ (Philadelphia:
Blakiston).
HYPNOTISM AND ALLIED TOPICS.
Moll, _Hypnotism_ (London: Scott. New York: Scribners).
Binet, _Alterations of Personality_ (New York: Appletons. London:
Chapman & Hall).
Parish, _Hallucinations and Illusions_ (London: Scott. New York:
Scribners).
SOCIAL AND ETHICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
Tarde, _The Laws of Imitation_ (New York: Holt).
Le Bon, _The Crowd_ (London: Scott. New York: Scribners)
Royce, _Studies in Good and Evil_ (Appletons).
Baldwin, _Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Development_
(Macmillans).
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY.
Spencer, _On Education_ (Appletons).
Guyau, _Education and Heredity_ (Scribners).
Herbart, _The Application of Psychology to Education_ (Scribners).
Harris, _The Psychologic Foundations of Education_ (Appletons).
PHILOSOPHY.
Paulsen, _Introduction to Philosophy_ (Holt).
Royce, _The Spirit of Modern Philosophy_ (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin &
Co.).
Ormond, _Basal Concepts in Philosophy_ (Scribners).
James, _The Will to Believe_ (Longmans).
PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY (over the whole field),
_Baldwin's Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology_, with full
bibliographies, French, German, and Italian equivalents, etc.
(Macmillans).
UNCLASSIFIED.
Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_ (Appletons).
Giddings, _Principles of Sociology_ (Macmillans).
Mackensie, _Introduction to Social Philosophy_ (Macmillans).
Marshall, _Pain, Pleasure, and AEsthetics_ (Macmillans).
Galton, _Inquiries into Human Faculty_ (Macmillans).
----, _Natural Inheritance_ (Macmillans).
Pearson, _The Chances of Death_ (Arnold).
JOURNALS.
_The Psychological Review_ (Macmillans, all departments).
_The American Journal of Psychology_ (Worcester: Orpha, experimental).
_Mind_ (London: Williams & Norgate, mainly for philosophy).
INDEX
A.
Abnormal psychology, 4.
Aboulia, 119.
Action, 16, 22.
See Conduct.
AEsthetic feeling, 46, 133.
Algebra, study of, 187, 188.
Amnesia, 118.
Anaesthesia, 158.
Animal psychology, 2, 24, 55.
Animals, instinct of, 25;
intelligence of, 36;
mind in, 1, 24;
play of, 43.
Ants, instinct of, 26.
Aphasia, 114, 132, 190;
auditory, 116, 132;
motor, 114, 132;
sensory, 115;
visual, 116, 132.
Apperception, 12, 15, 17, 42, 108, 121.
Assimilation, 14, 41, 133.
Association of ideas, 11, 13, 15, 18, 39, 42, 76.
Attention, 76, 121, 182, 191.
Auto-suggestion, 151, 163.
B.
Bashfulness, 87 note.
Bees, instinct of, 26.
Birds, instinct of, 26.
Body, relation of mind to, 101.
Brain, 102.
C.
Cat, instinct of, 25.
Catalepsy, 158.
Cerebellum, 107.
Chance, vii.
Child, development of the, 28, 37, 50, 76, 167.
Child Psychology, 2, 25, 37, 51.
Children, play games of, 95.
Christian Science, 120.
"Chumming," 93.
Cold sensations, 124.
Colour blindness, 63.
Colour sensations, 62, 64.
Comparative psychology, 2, 24.
Concept, the, 42.
Conduct, 9, 16.
See Action.
Contrariness in children, 86, 157.
Contrary suggestion, 157.
Contrast, law of visual, 136.
Control suggestion, 156.
Copora striata, 107.
Cortex of brain, 105, 108.
Criminals, 205.
Cures, mental, 120.
D.
Darwin, Charles, 229.
Degeneracy, 104, 122, 226.
Dextrality, 53, 69.
Diseases of mind, 4, 101, 114.
Distance, perception of, 64, 66.
Dog, instinct of, 26, 39.
Doubting insanity, 139.
Dual personality, 118.
E.
Eccentricity, 176.
Educational psychology, 5, 166.
Ejective self, 90.
Electric stimulus, 103.
Emotional expressions, 22.
Environment, 24.
Equivalents, kinesthetic, 20, 28, 38, 112.
Ethical sense, the, 90.
Evolution, theory of, vi, 24, 31, 33, 54, 202, 229.
Exaltation, sense, 153.
Exaltation of the faculties in hypnosis, 160.
Excitement, 21.
Experimental psychology, 4, 101, 122.
Experimenting with children, 6, 57, 61.
Expressions of emotions, 22.
Extirpation method, 102.
F.
Feeling, 10, 21.
Fluid attention, 182.
G.
Galvanometer experiment, 103.
Games, of animals, 42;
of children, 95;
value of, 50.
Generalization, 41, 181.
Genetic psychology, 2.
Genius, 208, 211.
Geometry, study of, 187, 188.
Grammar, study of, 187, 188, 197.
Guessing, 189, 198.
H.
Habit, 77, 80, 168, 192.
Hallucination, 12.
Heating, 10.
Heat and cold sensations, 10, 124.
Heredity, 32, 58, 75,95, 169, 177, 200, 204, 218.
Heredity, social, 200.
Hypnotic cures, 164.
Hypnotism, 17, 121, 148, 158.
I.
Idiocy, 205.
Illusions, 12;
optical, 132.
Imagination, 12, 17, 22, 214.
Imitation, 28, 38, 47, 53, 78, 80, 88, 91, 211;
persistent, 39.
Individual psychology, 5.
Inhibitory suggestion, 155, 170.
Insanity, 205.
Inspiration, 227.
Instinct, 17, 25;
lapsed intelligence theory, 31;
reflex theory, 30, 34;
theory of, 26.
Intelligence, 36, 214;
animal, 36.
Intoxication, 102, 104.
Introspection, 3, 8.
Invention, 211.
J.
Judgement, 133, 208, 220.
K.
Kinaesthetic equivalents, 20, 28, 38, 112.
Kindergarten, value of, 175.
Knowledge, 9, 13, 22.
L.
Laboratories, psychological, 132.
Language, study of, 183, 197.
Lapsed intelligence theory of instinct, 31.
Left-handedness, 53, 69.
Levels, of brain functions, 105.
Life, sensory and motor periods of, 167.
Localization of brain inactions, 102, 104.
M.
"Make-believe," in animals and children, 45.
Mathematics, study of, 187, 197.
Medulla, 105.
Memory, 11, 12, 18, 22, 76, 138, 150;
defects of, 118.
Mental pathology, 4, 101.
Mind cure, 120.
Mind, of animals, 1, 24;
relation of body to, 101.
Monkeys, instinct of, 26, 39.
Motives, 18.
Motor centres of brain, 111
Motor period, 167.
Motor suggestion, 17, 67, 80.
Muscle sensations, 10.
Musical expression, 76.
N.
Natural selection, 202.
O.
Optic thalami, 107.
Optical illusion, 132.
Organic selection, principle of, 34, 50.
Organic sensations, 10.
P.
Pain, 21, 156.
Pain-movement-pleasure, 83.
Pathology, mental, 4, 101.
Pedagogical psychology, 5.
Perception, 12, 17, 22.
Personality, dual, 118.
Personality suggestion, 80.
Phrenology, unreliableness of, 117.
Physiological psychology, 4, 101, 122.
Play of animals, 43;
of children, 95.
Pleasure, 21, 156.
Post-hypnotic suggestion, 160.
Projection fibres, 109.
Psychology, 1, 55;
abnormal, 4;
animal, 2, 24;
child, 2, 25, 37, 51;
comparative, 2, 24;
educational, 5, 166;
experimental, 4, 101, 122;
genetic, 2;
individual, 5;
introspective, 3, 8;
pedagogical, 5;
physiological, 4, 101, 122;
race, 6;
social, 6, 200;
variational, 5.
Punishment, effect of, 172.
R.
Race psychology, 6.
Rapport, 161.
Reaction-time experiments, 126.
Reason in animals, 31.
Reasoning, 11, 13, 17.
Recept, the, 41.
Reception, 10.
Re-evolution, 122.
Reflex actions, 57, 105, 53.
Reflex theory of instinct, 30, 34.
Right-handedness, 53, 69.
Rolandic region, 112.
S.
Schools, public, advantages of, 95;
dangers of, 61.
Selection, natural, 31, 202;
organic, 34, 50.
Self-consciousness, 43, 54, 80, 86.
Self-suggestion, 151.
Sensation, 10, 21, 22, 107, 109, 146, 179.
Senses, the, 10, 101, 107, 109.
Sense exaltation, 153.
Sensory period, 167.
Sentiment, 23.
Sexes, difference in mental disposition, 176.
Sight, 10;
experiments on, 132.
Smell, 10.
Social heredity, 200;
social psychology, 6, 200.
Social sense, the, 90.
Somnambulism, 153, 159.
Speech, 75, 79; defects of, 114.
Speech zone, 56, 109, 112.
Spinal cord, 105.
Spiritual healing, 120.
Statistical method of investigation, 143.
Stimulation, artificial, 103.
Subconscious suggestion, 149.
Suggestion, 17, 21, 67, 80, 120, 145, 148, 168, 172.
Suggestion, motor, 80.
T.
Taste, 10.
Temperature sense, 10, 124.
Thought, 9, 11, 12, 21, 23.
Thought-transference, 120.
Touch, 10.
Toxic method, 104.
Tune suggestions, 149.
V.
Variation, 202;
theory of, 30, 218.
Variational psychology, 5.
Vision, 133.
Visual type of mind, 128, 193.
W.
Will, 19, 78;
defects of, 119
Writing, 14, 79.
THE END.
* * * * *
THE
LIBRARY OF USEFUL STORIES
The Library of Useful Stories.
_A series of little books dealing with various branches of useful
knowledge, and treating each subject in clear, concise language, as
free as possible from technical words and phrases, by writers of
authority in their various spheres. Each book complete in itself.
Illustrated. 18mo. Cloth. 35 cents net per volume; postage, 4 cents
per volume additional._
THE STORY OF EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WEST. By
ROBERT E. ANDERSON. M.A., F.A.S.
THE STORY OF ALCHEMY. By M. M. PATTISON MUIR.
THE STORY OF ANIMAL LIFE. By B. LINDSAY.
THE STORY OF THE ART OF MUSIC. By F. J. CROWEST.
THE STORY OF THE ART OF BUILDING. By P. L. WATERHOUSE.
THE STORY OF BOOKS. By GERTRUDE B. RAWLINGS.
THE STORY OF KING ALFRED. By Sir WALTER BESANT.
THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET. By EDWARD CLODD.
THE STORY OF ECLIPSES. By G. F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S.
THE STORY OF THE LIVING MACHINE. By H. W. CONN.
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THE STORY OF THE COTTON PLANT. By F. WILKINSON, F.G.S.
THE STORY OF THE MIND. By Prof. J. MARK BALDWIN.
THE STORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY. By ALFRED T. STORY.
THE STORY OF LIFE IN THE SEAS. By SYDNEY J. HICKSON.
THE STORY OF GERM LIFE. By H. W. CONN.
THE STORY OF THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE. By D. ARCHIBALD.
THE STORY OF EXTINCT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE EAST. By
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THE STORY OF ELECTRICITY. By JOHN MUNRO, C.E.
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THE STORY OF "PRIMITIVE" MAN. By EDWARD CLODD.
THE STORY OF THE STARS. By G. F. CHAMBERS, F.R.A.S.
OTHERS IN PREPARATION.
* * * * *
PROF. JOSEPH LE CONTE'S WORKS.
_ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY._ A Text-Book for Colleges and for the General
Reader. With upward of 900 Illustrations. New and enlarged edition.
8vo. Cloth, $4.00.
"Besides preparing a comprehensive text-book suited to present
demands, Professor Le Conte has given us a volume of great value as an
exposition of the subject, thoroughly up to date. The examples and
applications of the work are almost entirely derived from this
country, so that it may be properly considered an American geology. We
can commend this work without qualification to all who desire an
intelligent acquaintance with geological science, as fresh, lucid,
full, and authentic, the result of devoted study and of long
experience in teaching."--_Popular Science Monthly._
_EVOLUTION AND ITS RELATION TO RELIGIOUS THOUGHT._ With numerous
Illustrations. New and enlarged edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"The questions suggested by this title must weigh with more or less
persistence on the mind of every intelligent and liberal thinker....
The man who can keep his science and his religion in two boxes, either
of which may be opened separately is to be congratulated. Many of us
can not, and his peace of mind we can not attain. Therefore every
contribution toward a means of clearer vision is most welcome, above
all when it comes from one who knows the ground on which he stands,
and has conquered his right to be there.... Professor Le Conte is a
man in whom reverence and imagination have not become desiccated by a
scientific atmosphere, but flourish, in due subordination and control,
to embellish and vivify his writings. Those who know them have come to
expect a peculiar alertness of mind and freshness of method in any new
work by this author, whether his conclusions be such as they are ready
to receive or not."--_The Nation._
_RELIGION AND SCIENCE._ A Series of Sunday Lectures on the Relation of
Natural and Revealed Religion, or the Truths revealed in Nature and
Scripture. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"We commend the book cordially to the regard of all who are interested
in whatever pertains to the discussion of these grave questions, and
especially to those who desire to examine closely the strong
foundations on which the Christian faith is reared,"--_Boston
Journal_.
_SIGHT._ An Exposition of the Principles of Monocular and Binocular
Vision. With Illustrations, 12mo. Cloth, $1.50.
"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._
* * * * *
"A SUBJECT GREAT AND FASCINATING."
Degeneration.
By Professor MAX NORDAU. Translated from the second edition of the
German work. 8vo. Cloth, $3.50.
"A powerful, trenchant, savage attack on all the leading literary and
artistic idols of the time by a man of great intellectual power,
immense range of knowledge, and the possessor of a lucid style rare
among German writers, and becoming rarer everywhere, owing to the very
influences which Nordau attacks with such unsparing energy, such eager
hatred."--_London Chronicle_.
"Let us say at once that the English-reading public should be grateful
for an English rendering of Max Nordau's polemic. It will provide
society with a subject that may last as long as the present
government.... We read the pages without finding one dull, sometimes
in reluctant agreement, sometimes with amused contempt, sometimes with
angry indignation."--_London Saturday Review_.
"Herr Nordau's book fills a void, not merely in the systems of
Lombroso, as he says, but in all existing systems of English and
American criticism with which we are acquainted. It is not literary
criticism pure and simple, though it is not lacking in literary
qualities of a high order, but it is something which has long been
needed, for of literary criticism, so called, good, bad, and
indifferent, there is always an abundance: but it is scientific
criticism--the penetration to and the interpretation of the spirit
within the letter, the apprehension of motives as well as means and
the comprehension of temporal effects as well as final results, its
explanation, classification, and largely condemnation, for it is not a
healthy condition which he has studied, but its absence, its loss; it
is degeneration.... He has written a great book, which every
thoughtful lover of art and literature and every serious student of
sociology and morality should read carefully and ponder slowly and
wisely."--_Richard Henry Stoddard in the Mail and Express_.
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7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 | 16 |
17