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 its 

 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 dis- 

 passionately 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 per- 

 manent place among the authorities of science." — A^ezv 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 contem- 

 poraries, 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." — Btiffalo Commercial. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 



