This little book consists of a reprint of two interesting articles which appeared in the Deutsche Rundschau last year. The author is moved to expose the philosophic incoherence and historical absurdity of Nietzsche's views by the mischief which the growing influence of his "Neo-Cynicism" is doing to half-educated and ill-balanced minds who are fascinated by the literary brilliancy of his aphorisms and the splendid audacity of his paradoxes. At present this mischief is confined to Germany, but as it seems probable that before long somebody will achieve a great literary success by translating Nietzsche, Professor Stein's warning is likely to be called for also in the English-speaking world. For there are in every country a large number of what the late Master of Balliol used to call "very foolish young men," who at present have no prophet but Mr. Oscar Wilde, and would easily be seduced by Nietzsche's commendations of unrestrained indulgence in every animal instinct, to make disastrous experiments, and to wreck their constitutions and careers before they discovered that they had followed a brilliant will-of-the-wisp. But while agreeing with Professor Stein's estimate of Nietzsche's social noxiousness, it seems impossible to concede to him any efficacy as an antidote to Pessimism. For history shows that Pessimism is more than a passing fashion, and none are more likely to prove recruits to it than Nietzschians who have failed to live up to their ideas.
This is the second edition of a collection of popular essays, in which, the preface says, "the study of diseased function of the brain has helped the author to give explanations of some important events in history," while "in a similar way several questions in psychology are approached through knowledge gained by observations in mental derangement." There are historical essays on the delusions of Mohammed and Joan of Arc; and four papers on the insanity of power, tracing the hereditary neuroses of the Claudian-Julian family, the Romanoffs, and the royal family of Spain; and showing the effect of unbridled authority on the mind of Mohammed Toghlak, Sultan of India. Why the sketch of Francis Xavier's life should be included in this volume, is not clear, since it contains not the slightest information as to whether his mental disposition was pathological or not. The remaining essays treat, with much illustrative anecdote, of such popularly attractive subjects as fixed ideas, unconscious cerebration, left-handedness, and double personality.
