New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-04-21

fIatsoNS,
dripp!ngs Of water act upon a stone. TIE power
of resistance has grown weaker m many divis-
irns Of the race. To follow his experiments in
this place would b. unnecessary, 1t
is to point Oh; in detail how Nordau has
Nidoncd his masters theory so as to include
authors and artists; but this much needs to be
well understood that the German proceeds from
the Italians clinical standpoint. He begins by
charging all modern socety-thc society. that is
which is typided by Paris. London. or New
York-with nervous exhaustion. and, as conse-
uuenco with general debility and genera, inca
pacity The growth of large cities. he says. and
the multiplicity Of inventions. intended. as one
50 often hears. to annhilate time AMI space
have undermined our system. Stress of living
has weakened the balance of our faculties well
nigh ruined cur capacity FOR attention. That
he makes this assertion general is important 10
remember. An age gets what 1t wants. We are
given hystorcal books and pictures because we
want them we are spinelcss In our art and iitera-
turo because as a race. We have no spine. II
our faculty 90 attention ls not aroused by an
author il is because that faculty is atrophicd.
How has ii become so atrophied? BY a crowd
ing into life of more sensations than We have az
yet the power to cXperienc" and preserv" IN
state Of equilibrium, by the daily reception OF
more ideas than nave the skill - coordinate
as they come. We rise unrefreshcd in the morn
ing having sought sleep at too late an boar the
night before. We cat hurriedly, ard We nervous
~ an,icipat" the pcStman as We Scatter our
powers Of perception across the newspaper page
ana try to keep pace with the movement of the
civilized globe We engage all day long in men
tai excitement terrific in its tension. and We
vary this from time to time by journeys So swift
that the brain rocls with the impetus. We live
forty-eieht hours in tweniy-four. ard have
neither the time nor tho means for rccupcratJn
Of our nervous force. The comparison is often
made between the modi1cva' lo.d who lived rude
II and in constant warfare. ard the modern man
protected aHd assisted at every sep 10y modern
inventions II Is urged that the modern man
"gets more into the DAY" than his fighting an'"s-
tors. ana runs fewer risks 10 life and limb. 10
doubt: hut what has he t. show for the hours
Of oyer air relaxation FOR the absence 81 p"uty
worries which uadc tn" lotd 81 feula! domain
lone-livcdo lie has late hours In ovcr-heatcd
rooms ana he has a proportion - alcohol ana
smoke in his regimen. which. under the changed
conditions. quadruplcs the III effects ~ m"di-
acvaI potatons. no matter how deep the latter
may have been Hurried. torn dcbllitatod. ~
haustod often in advan.o Il his lahors. IS 1t any
crn society ho docs not attack however the
rustic or the dwcllor ia q small town.. reaches
a high stage Of cerebral cxr!tahi.ity. that his
impressions are received too quickly ard are
too impusiycy pa; into concrete form. that
they are blurred. shifty. lowering forever be-
tween logic ana absurlliy7 Is Il surprising
above all. tina, The faculty II attention should
disappear?
In this last question lies the sist II this book.
Wlthou; attention. the capacity for consecutive
th,Ight a race Is confused t. it. ideals ana
uncertain as to whether It - realizing them or
not With inexorable force the artists and
authors arc brought under tn" yoke II the same
law and unlike IN" great public they yield ~
the data for IN" Specific diagn IS = their ILL.,
Jus, here N1rdal's task becomes one q OK
traordinary dclI-acy. jus; at tho point whore hts
examination overiaps Ne and art. whore ne
turns from the data II tho hospital Is tho da'a
" the library. the picture gallery or th" music
room. II" transition Is not unlikely To- appear
forced ana arbitrary. Is a matter u fact III"
analogy between bodily and mental health is
TIT" by this time From thr beginning man has
sought - emulate FL bis works th" Law 4 his
own nature. 81 great artist fails O. recognize Ne
importance = healthfuln"ss - a right balance Ia
his work Shakespeare Dante. Goethe Acs-
chyIus the immortal types. illustrate tran
sccndent genius allying itsolf TO elemental truth.
TO tho haanc" which governs Ia" universe.
Normal men Of lesser genius or # n genius
emulate thclr rule II right and learn 60 build
firmly befor. they build a, all WIN The alb
normal. with tho deg, ncrate. tho sense 81 rcla-
tions the power to fix the attention upon the
erection II unified idea In tune with established
laws. gives place to - vision too feeble to follow
,l,.. e l.n fp
sion. +, a faculty untitled to control that pro-
erosion The power Of genius 10 lly. In the idea,
to live IN the unlvcrse. In the whole. with con-
sciousncss 81 it, place therein. f. replaced in The
degenerate 10y az ego-nania which Hbaudons all
sense. Of relations and follows is own sweet
Will Thus II is with those whom b" regards AS
lawlcss that Nordau deals II" draws the dis
tinctlon between degenerate and healthy man
by pointing out IL" difference between "a man
Of ideas and a - moods. one trcads firm
footed through darkness, lighting his pam - he
goes Tho other loses himself In deeper ana
deeper oherurlty The though; II healthy
rain has "a flow which is regulated by the laws
Of logic and the supervision IL attention. 1t
takes for its content a definite object. maripu-
lates and cxhausts II. The healthy man can tell
what he thinks ma his telling has beginning
and an end. Tn" mystic imb"clc thinks merely
according - H." laws 81 association ana without
the red thread Of Intention. He has fugitive
idea;ion IL car never state accurately what he
IS thinking about: h" can only denote the emo
ton which Al the moment controls his conscious
ncrs" Pathology susiains NorIau in this differ
cntiation. with cruditiou. with dial"rtical
fncssc. with m imrlr,iality that Is none the
les, impartial bccaus" hc lacks serenity II man
ner. he endeayors E, cite mystic imLeeili'y and
90, mia hc - 1rupfpllfi
current literature and art Hi hypD.hcscs are
drawn from the Prc-Iilphdelitrs Of England ard
the Dcradcnts. the Symbolists. ~ France; from
the Ibscnlsm whch has spread from Norway all
over Europe. and from the Tolstosm which
came on Of Russia on an equally wide cpEq lcst.
lie sees signs Of degeneration in Besnards i'm
pression!sm and in the restless decoration Of
awing rooms throughout ChristcEdom. Whrr-
ever confusion Of thought rcigns. there reigns