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.'...