Hallucination has been described as "seeing" something which has no
basis in reality. Thus it differs from delusion, which is rather a
misinterpretation of what is seen. "Delusions are closely allied to
hallucinations and generally accompany the latter. The distinction lies
in the fact that delusions are not false sensations but false
beliefs."[44] Anxiety, distraction by grief and loss, as well as nervous
shock play freely with the mind and fancy and often swerve the judgment
of perception. This was especially noticeable at Halifax in the hospital
identification, particularly of children. A distracted father looked
into a little girl's face four different times but did not recognize her
as his own which, in fact, she was. The precisely opposite occurrence
was also noted. A fond parent time and time again "discovered" his lost
child, "seeing" to complete satisfaction special marks and features on
its little body. But often there were present those who knew better, and
the better judgment prevailed. Again this phenomenon was repeated in
numberless instances at the morgue. Wearied and white after frantic and
fruitless search wherever refugees were gathered together, the
overwrought searchers would walk through the long lines of dead, and
suddenly "recognize" a missing relative or friend.[45] Regretfully the
attendant fulfilled the same thankless task from day to day. There had
been no recognition at all. The observer had seen "not the object itself
but the image evoked in the mind."[46]
[44] Hart, _op. cit._, ch. iii, p. 31.
[45] For parallel cases of erroneous recognition of the dead, _vide_
Le Bon, Gustave, _The Crowd, a Study of the Popular Mind_ (London),
bk. i, ch. i, p. 51.
[46] _Ibid._, p. 51.
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