84 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



fleeting, and for this reason they are called changeable. On the other 

 hand, certain of these delusions are fixed. They persist for long periods 

 of time, and although they may not remain rigidly the same, their 

 general character persists in spite of slight alterations or elaborations. 



One may also consider the delusions from another standpoint. Some 

 of them have very few mental connections, and they do not result in 

 forms of activity which are combined with the remainder of the indi- 

 vidual's mentality. Apparently they do not become an integral part of 

 his personality and they do not appear to affect him in many ways. His 

 life is carried on as though these beliefs were not present. Such delu- 

 sions we call unsystematized. Opposed to them we have others in which 

 there is greater or less systematization. The belief of the patient with 

 general paralysis of the insane that he is wealthy causes him to go out 

 and order dozens of horses, to purchase hundreds of knives or razors, 

 to dine at the most expensive restaurants, to commit all kinds of 

 absurd actions which are quite consistent with his beliefs, but which 

 are inconsistent with the experience of his neighbors. Such delusions 

 which lead to appropriate reactions, and which dominate the activities 

 and mind of the individual are spoken of as systematized. They have 

 become a part of the individual. 



From another standpoint delusions have been divided into a number 

 of classes in accordance with the ways in which the ideas have relation to 

 the individual. We may speak, therefore, of somatopsychic delusions 

 when the delusions refer to the body, of autopsycMc delusions when 

 they refer to the personality, and of allopsychic delusions when they 

 refer to the external world. These different classes are not always dis- 

 tinct, and it is not always possible to classify all delusions in this 

 manner. As examples of these delusions the following may be cited: 

 of the somatopsychic, the individual may believe there is a snake or 

 rabbit in the abdomen, or that the abdomen does not contain its full 

 quota of organs, or that the individual has lost a leg or that the whole 

 body is missing; of the autopsychic, delusions of poisoning (possibly 

 also somatopsychic), the individual has very great strength or power, 

 he has a hypnotic eye; of the allopsychic, those in relation to the ex- 

 ternal world, the individual may be a Messiah, he has committed the 

 unpardonable sin. There are many varieties of these referring to the 

 different parts of the body and to the different relations of parts, and at 

 the same time the somatopsychic, the allopsychic and the autopsychic 

 may be compounded into one. 



Some delusions have a gradual growth, others are almost fully 

 developed in an instant. The latter are usually found associated with 

 hallucinations, or strictly speaking, they themselves may be hallucina- 

 tions. If we consider the mode of development of one of these delu- 

 sions, we shall realize this. Let us say, for example, that an individual 



