is only a confirmation of her fatalistic belief, at which she clutches that she may rid herself of her responsibility. If we must look for a tendency in Ibsen’s works, it might be found in his attempt to show up this generally prevailing weakness in will and character which Nordau himself finds everywhere and which he calls degeneration. Regina, as well as Oswald, are “frightful examples” of this weakness, and in placing them on the stage Ibsen has the same object as Nordau, namely, to exhibit a deplorable defect in modern society. Ibsen may therefore be looked upon as Nordau’s co-operator, and even precursor, because Ibsen’s characters are types of that very degeneration which Nordau desires to combat. In fact, the importance that our alienist attaches to Ibsen’s characters suggests the idea that if there were no Ibsen there would be no Nordau. By the aid of an extremely confused and distorted reasoning, he condemns Ibsen for that very weakness which he, like Nordau, has discovered in modern society and incarnated in his characters as a warning to his contemporaries. If we had not a strong objection to the _tu quoque_ argument, and were not resolved to avoid it, we could here say a great deal about Nordau’s condemnation of Ibsen’s supposed illogical references to heredity, while Nordau himself yields to the temptation of using the absurdest logic in order to discover supposed proofs in favour of his own pet theories. Even supposing that Ibsen did believe in heredity, is he not in harmony with his time? One does not require to be an alienist or a biologist to understand that the Darwinian theory of evolution is the theory of heredity; and one does not require to be very old to have observed that the characteristics of parents often repeat themselves in their children. In his criticism of Ibsen, Nordau seems to go too far when he casts discredit on the theory of heredity, with regard to which he himself goes to an extreme when he attributes to heredity the lurking belief in a personal God in the inmost recesses of the consciousness of certain scientists. The manner in which he refers to little Hedwig’s blindness will certainly induce his readers to infer that he himself does not believe in cases of hereditary blindness—an affliction which has however come within the knowledge of many. Nordau, in his purposeless eagerness to tear Ibsen down from his pedestal, seems to imagine that he would further his object if he could show that Ibsen is influenced by the religion of his childhood, of his youth, and of his country. To be influenced by such religion has been the case with many sane people of strong mind, especially in countries where the morality implanted in young children is based entirely on religious instruction. Even when a man ceases to believe literally all that has been taught him, it is natural that his religious thoughts should mould themselves on the early impressions, which then become symbols instead of fact.