the littérateur and the lying of the imbecile, and the fact that some great men have actually had attacks of insanity. Yet he deems all these to be mere resemblances, not real affinities. Great men are not to be measured by the same standard as ordinary beings, and the reason why they are often deemed insane by those around them is because their superior powers are not understood. Taking up the subject of degeneration, he discusses the views of Morel, Krafft-Ebing, and Lombroso as to the characteristics of degenerates, and concludes that "in consequence of its common cause in all cases—namely, mental instability, discord of the mental faculties—the cases always have something to characterize them, and they give to the competent observer no occasion to confound them with great, fully developed, and harmonious minds." In his chapter on Secular Hysteria, Dr. Hirsch first comes in conflict with Nordau. He flatly contradicts the assertion of the latter that neurasthenia and hysteria are epidemic as they have never been in former centuries and are vitiating the literature, art, and culture of the time. He says:
He regards as Nordau's chief error the drawing of psychiatric conclusions from his purely subjective criticism of works of art, without regard to the purpose of the artist or author. In order to make his meaning clear he takes Richard Wagner as an example, and gives quite an extended analysis of his compositions, maintaining that they give no such evidence of degeneracy as Nordau alleges. In reading Dr. Hirsch's pages one can not help being impressed with his fairness. He never fails to admit what he can agree with in his opponent's position. At the same time he is a good fighter, and his blows fall thick and heavily upon those things that he undertakes to combat.
Although prepared chiefly for certain professional and business men, the little book on Theater Fires, recently published by Mr. Gerhard, deals with a matter which often becomes of wide and painful interest.[1] From the statistical pages, with which the author introduces his subject, we learn that before 1878 five hundred and sixteen theaters had been completely destroyed by fire. Theaters are in most danger from fire when they are new and their apparatus may not be in perfect working order, and again when forty to fifty years old and much of the apparatus has become worn out. The causes of theater fires are many and various, but most of them arise, naturally, on the stage or in the dressing rooms. Panics in theaters also have a number of causes besides the actual appearance of fire. One may be started by a false alarm, by an alarm of fire in the neighborhood, by the unannounced darkening of the house, by the plunging of a frightened horse on the stage, etc. As measures for preventing outbreaks of fire
- ↑ Theater Fires and Panics. By William Paul Gerhard. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 175, 12mo. Price, $1.50.
