DELUSIONS 85 



expresses a belief that he is a king. This delusion, when analyzed, or 

 carefully observed during its development, is found to result from 

 processes like the following. The individual has always been poor; 

 he has had very great difficulty in making sufficient money to purchase 

 for himself food of the character he craves, or to buy clothes to keep 

 himself clean and respectable in appearance. At times, because his 

 views of life have been different from those of his companions, he has 

 found that he has been associated with other people of his own financial 

 situation with whom he has not been en rapport. Their mental and 

 moral coarseness has jarred upon him and caused him to believe that he 

 is somehow and in certain particulars quite different from those with 

 whom he normally associates. Then he finds it difficult to obtain a 

 position. Owing to his inefficiency he loses one position after another, 

 and because of his belief that he is different from his co-workers, there 

 comes the. next step in the delusion formation, the belief that people are 

 down upon him, or are persecuting him. The final step is easy. The 

 reasons for the persecution are sought; he considers various possi- 

 bilities; he thinks about his past life, of the various positions from 

 which he has been separated owing to no fault of his own (as he thinks) ; 

 he sees no definite connection between the losses of his positions and his 

 own incompetency, or between his lack of harmony with his fellow 

 workmen and his own mental condition ; he begins to believe that thsre 

 must be some united effort to bring about these adverse conditions. 

 Sometimes he believes this external influence is exerted by the Masons ; 

 sometimes it is one or other of the churches; and at other times he 

 believes his difficulty has been due to the fact that his social position, 

 if known, would be higher than that of those who persecute him. Even- 

 tually he comes to believe that he is a legitimate son of a certain ruler, 

 and that all of his troubles have been due to the fact that in childhood, 

 or perhaps in babyhood, another infant or child was substituted for 

 him and that various difficulties have been made to prevent his assum- 

 ing his proper place and to keep him down. From these beliefs it ia 

 an easy step to the belief that he is to be the lawful king when his sup- 

 posed father dies. In general, such is the mode of development of the 

 so-called systematized delusion which arises gradually, and which is 

 thought out. 



On the other hand, delusions may arise suddenly as if by inspiration. 

 These latter, as has been previoiisly suggested, usually come because of 

 particular kinds of hallucinations which convey messages indicating 

 the individual's supposed greatness or his unworthiness. Here the 

 auditory hallucinations usually play the most important part. The 

 voice of God may be heard telling him that he is the Messiah, or he 

 hears voices constantly saying that he must be kept out of the way in 

 order that another may have the place which lawfully belongs to him, 



