ABSTRACT
Dread exercises a strong fascination in some instances. All are familiar with the taste for witnessing dangerous spectacles of gymnasts, and rope-walkers. Many of the vagaries of the “dangerous age” are due to the courting of adventure, and the thrill gained from its hopes and fears, which creates a sentiment of “living” in those whose lives seem dead and dull. The fascination of some women for men of sinister repute is in part due to their fear. This kind of situation has appealed very much to writers of fiction and it has entered largely into the way in which hypnosis is regarded by the ignorant. This notion was used by Du Maurier in depicting the fascination of Trilby for Svengali. In the young, apparent recklessness may really be a courting of fear because of the excitement it brings.
