PERCEPTIONAL INSANITIES. 761 



perceptions illusions and hallucinations. Uncomplicated illusions are 

 rare ; still thei - e is no doubt that thei*e are illusions not the results of 

 disease in the organs of sense or of circumstances unfavorable to exact 

 perception, but which are due to a morbid condition of the percep- 

 tional ganglia, and the unreal nature of which is clearly recognized by 

 the individual. 



Illusions of sight often relate merely to the size of objects. Thus, 

 a young lady who had overtasked herself at school saw everything of 

 enormous size at which she looked. The head of a person seemed to 

 be several feet in diameter, and little children looked like giants. So 

 far as her own person was concerned there were no illusions. Her 

 own hands appeared of the natural size, but those of other people 

 seemed to be of enormous proportions. Sauvages refers to a case in 

 which a young woman, suffering from epilepsy, had the illusion of 

 seeing objects greatly magnified. A fly seemed to her to be as large 

 as a chicken. In the case which came under my observation, the un- 

 real character of the perception was fully recognized, and hence the 

 intellect was not involved. 



Morbid illusions of hearing, unaccompanied by other evidences of 

 mental derangement, are not very common. One case only has come 

 under my observation. It was that of a gentleman to whom the 

 ticking of a clock was resolved into articulate words. Generally the 

 expressions were in the form of commands. For instance, if at din- 

 ner, they would be, " Eat your soup ! " " Drink no wine ! " and so 

 on. One day he made the discovery that, if he closed the right ear 

 firmly, the illusion disappeared ; but, if the left ear were closed, the 

 words were still distinctly heard. It was hence clear that the center 

 for hearing on the right side was the one affected, and that that on 

 the left side was normal. For a long time this gentleman resisted 

 accepting any of these illusions as facts, but after a time he began to 

 be influenced by them to the extent of regarding them as guides. 

 Eventually he put clocks in every room in his house, and professed to 

 be governed altogether by the directions they gave him. 



Illusions of touch, as Michea says, may relate to temperature, move- 

 ment, weight, and the character of surfaces. Thus, to some patients, 

 substances that are hot feel cold, and vice versa; others feel the 

 things on which they sit or lie glide from under them. Illusions of a 

 general character as regards the whole body are quite common giving 

 the sensation of extreme weight or lightness, or as if the body were 

 immensely lengthened or shortened. 



As regards frequency, illusions of the sense of touch occupy the 

 front rank ; next are those of sight, and next those of hearing. Illu- 

 sions of taste and of smell, except with persons who are otherwise in- 

 sane, are not common. A few instances of the latter, however, have 

 occurred within my personal experience. To one of these, a lady, 

 everything she put into her mouth tasted like cauliflower ; in another 



