string of aberrations which Nordau finds accumulated in Wagner. They
are all of the same kind, and all equally fanciful.

The endeavours to prove Wagner a "degenerate" are professedly made in
the name of science, so often a cloak for the most unscientific
vagaries, by men who are disciples of the late Professor Lombroso of
Florence. Lombroso was a serious man of science, and many of his
investigations into the nature and indications of insanity have
permanent value, but it is certain that he went much too far, and his
views are only very partially accepted by those who are qualified to
judge of them.[5] When a theory of insanity is made to include such
men as Newton, Goethe, Darwin, and others who are generally supposed
to be the very types of sober sanity, a Richard Wagner may well be
content to remain in such company. We are reminded of Lombroso's own
story of the lunatic's reply to one who asked when he was coming out
of the asylum: "When the people outside are sane." In fact the
theories when pushed to their extreme consequences become absurd.
There is nothing discreditable to a serious student of science who in
the enthusiasm of discovery presses his inferences beyond their valid
limits, since all theory must at first be more or less tentative. Very
different is the case when these dubious theories are applied by men
with very modest scientific acquirements, or with none at all, to
injure the reputation of a man whom they dislike. We may then fairly
ask, with Lichtenberger, on which side the degeneration is more likely
to be. These are the men who bring science into discredit.

[Footnote 5: For a very fair estimate of his work, see an article in
the _Times_, October 20, 1909.]

It would not have been worth my while to dwell at such length upon the