270 NATURAL SCIENCE. April, 



These modern leaders are not absolutely insane, although in a few 

 notorious cases they have actually developed acute mania. The 

 most of them are "higher degenerates," what Lombroso called 

 " mattoids." The asymmetry of face and cranium finds its counter- 

 part in asymmetry of mental faculties. " Some of the latter are 

 completely stunted, others morbidly exaggerated. That which 

 nearly all degenerates lack is the sense of morality and of right and 

 wrong. For them there exists no law, no decency, no modesty. In 

 order to satisfy any momentary impulse, or inclination, or caprice, 

 they commit crimes and trespasses with the greatest calmness and 

 self-complacency, and do not comprehend that other persons take 

 offence thereat." The psychological roots of these characters are 

 unbounded egoism and impulsiveness. Another mental stigma is 

 emotionalism. The degenerate "is quite proud of being so vibrant a 

 musical instrument, and boasts that where the Philistine remains 

 completely cold, he feels his inner self confounded, the depths of his 

 being broken up, and the bliss of the beautiful possessing him to the 

 tips of his fingers. His excitability appears to him a mark of 

 superiority. He believes himself to be possessed by a peculiar 

 insight lacking in other mortals, and he is fain to despise the vulgar 

 herd for the dulness and narrowness of their minds." Other signs 

 are despondency, which appears as the pessimism of modern authors, 

 apathy, which appears in devotion to ideals like the Buddhist 

 Nirvana, and the predilection for reverie. But the cardinal mark of 

 degeneracy is what Nordau calls mysticism. This is due to the lack 

 of the power of attention in the degenerate. When an idea floats 

 into the brain of one of them, the mental processes are vague, — the 

 thing is not clearly and sharply defined, but is surrounded with a 

 halo of confusing sentiment. What the mystic sees through a glass 

 darkly are not things transcendental, unseen of other men, but 

 merely what the normal person sees clearly, by him seen indistinctly. 

 A still more common feature of the degenerate is abnormal sexuality. 

 In its extremer forms, this is found in the so-called realism of many 

 writers and painters, and in the undisguised obscenity of others. 

 In another guise it mingles with mysticism and symbolism, and 

 appears as a disordered religious emotion. 



Seeking for such characters, Nordau ranges over modern litera- 

 ture and art. A few examples of his method will serve our purpose. 

 Nordau regards religion as a typical character of the English race, 

 whence their mental degeneration assumed a religious character. 

 " The first result of the epidemic of degeneration and hysteria " (that 

 had come to England from Europe) "was the Oxford Movement in 

 the thirties and forties. Wiseman turned all the weaker heads. 

 Newman went over to Catholicism. Pusey clothed the entire Estab- 

 lished Church in Romish garb. Spiritualism soon followed, and 

 it is worthy of remark that all the mediums adopted theological 

 modes of speech, and that their disclosures were concerned with 

 Heaven and Hell. The ' Revival Meetings ' of the seventies, 

 and the Salvation Army of to-day, are the direct sequel of the 

 Oxford stream of thought, but rendered turbid and foul in accord- 

 ance with the lower intellectual grade of their adherents. In the 

 world of art, however, the religious enthusiasm of degenerate and 

 hysterical Englishmen sought its expression in pre-Raphaelitism." 

 Taking a poet like Rossetti, he analyses some of his verses line by 

 line and finds in them " shadowy ideation, mixture of transcen- 

 dentalism and sensuality, senseless combinations of mutually incom- 

 patible ideas." The refrains " possess the character of an obsession, 



