_I have no doubt as to the consequences to myself of my initiative. There is at the present day no danger in attacking the Church, for it no longer has the stake at its disposal. To write against rulers and governments is likewise nothing venturesome, for at the worst nothing more than imprisonment could follow, with compensating glory of martyrdom. But grievous is the fate of him who has the audacity to characterize æsthetic fashions as forms of mental decay. The author or artist attacked never pardons a man for recognising in him a lunatic or a charlatan; the subjectively garrulous critics are furious when it is pointed out how shallow and incompetent they are, or how cowardly in swimming with the stream; and even the public is angered when forced to see that it has been running after fools, quack dentists, and mountebanks, as so many prophets. Now, the graphomaniacs and their critical bodyguard dominate nearly the entire press, and in the latter possess an instrument of torture by which, in Indian fashion, they can rack the troublesome spoiler of sport, to his life’s end._ _The danger, however, to which he exposes himself cannot deter a man from doing that which he regards as his duty. When a scientific truth has been discovered, he owes it to humanity, and has no right to withhold it. Moreover, it is as little possible to do this as for a woman voluntarily to prevent the birth of the mature fruit of her womb._ _Without aspiring to the most distant comparison of myself with you, one of the loftiest mental phenomena of the century, I may yet take for my example the smiling serenity with which you pursue your own way, indifferent to ingratitude, insult, and misunderstanding._ _Pray remain, dear and honoured master, ever favourably disposed towards your gratefully devoted_ _MAX NORDAU_. CONTENTS BOOK I. _FIN-DE-SIÈCLE._ CHAPTER I. PAGE THE DUSK OF THE NATIONS 1 CHAPTER II. THE SYMPTOMS 7 CHAPTER III. DIAGNOSIS 15 CHAPTER IV. ETIOLOGY 34 BOOK II. _MYSTICISM._ CHAPTER I. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MYSTICISM 45 CHAPTER II. THE PRE-RAPHAELITES 67 CHAPTER III. SYMBOLISM 100 CHAPTER IV. TOLSTOISM 144 CHAPTER V. THE RICHARD WAGNER CULT 171 CHAPTER VI. PARODIES OF MYSTICISM 214 BOOK III. _EGO-MANIA._ CHAPTER I. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EGO-MANIA 241 CHAPTER II. PARNASSIANS AND DIABOLISTS 266 CHAPTER III. DECADENTS AND ÆSTHETES 296 CHAPTER IV.