Bernard Risch[10] has seen many cases of delinquents with more or less marked psychopathic signs in which pathological lying was the focal point. He reports five cases at great length, in all of whom the inclination to fabricate stories, ``der Hang zum fabulieren,'' is irresistible and apparently not to be repressed by efforts of the will. Risch's main points, built up from study of his cases, are worthy of close consideration: 1. Mental processes similar to those forming the basis of the impulse to literary creation in normal people lie at the foundation of the morbid romances and fancies of those afflicted with pseudologia phantastica. The coercive impulse for self-expression, with an accompanying feeling of desire and dissatisfaction, plays a similar part in both. That the making up of tales is an end in itself for the abnormal swindler, just as it is for the normal author, seems clear to Risch. 2. The morbid impulse which forces ``zum fabulieren'' is bound up with the desire to play the role of the person depicted. Fiction and real life are not separated as in the mind of the normal author. 3. The bent of thought is egocentric, the morbid liar and swindler can think of nothing but himself. 4. There is a reduction of the powers of attention in these cases; only upon supposition that this faculty is disturbed can we account for the discrepancies in the statements of patients. One has the impression that their memory for their delinquencies is not clear. Careful investigation proves that they do not like to remember them and this dislike has to be overcome. 5. There is a special weakness in judgment, which for general purposes is sound. The train of thought is logical, but in ethical discernment the lack appears. The pathological liar does not face openly the question of whether his lies can be seen through. [10] `` `Ueber die phantastische Form des degenerativen Irrseins, Pseudologia phantastica.'' Allgemeine Zeitschrift fur Psychiatrie, 65, 1908, H. 4; pp. 576-639.