=Hallucination and Illusion.=--Hallucinations are easily produced by
verbal suggestion in hypnotic subjects. Thus, point to a dot on a sheet
of paper, and call it 'General Grant's photograph,' and your subject
will see a photograph of the General there instead of the dot. The dot
gives objectivity to the appearance, and the suggested notion of the
General gives it form. Then magnify the dot by a lens; double it by a
prism or by nudging the eyeball; reflect it in a mirror; turn it
upside-down; or wipe it out; and the subject will tell you that the
'photograph' has been enlarged, doubled, reflected, turned about, or
made to disappear. In M. Binet's language, the dot is the outward _point
de repère_ which is needed to give objectivity to your suggestion, and
without which the latter will only produce an inner image in the
subject's mind. M. Binet has shown that such a peripheral _point de
repère_ is used in an enormous number, not only of hypnotic
hallucinations, but of hallucinations of the insane. These latter are
often _unilateral_; that is, the patient hears the voices always on one
side of him, or sees the figure only when a certain one of his eyes is
open. In many of these cases it has been distinctly proved that a morbid
irritation in the internal ear, or an opacity in the humors of the eye,
was the starting point of the current which the patient's diseased
acoustic or optical centres clothed with their peculiar products in the
way of ideas. _Hallucinations produced in this way are 'illusions'; and
M. Binet's theory, that all hallucinations must start in the periphery,
may be called an attempt to reduce hallucination and illusion to one
physiological type_, the type, namely, to which normal perception
belongs. In every case, according to M. Binet, whether of perception, of
hallucination, or of illusion, we get the sensational vividness by means
of a current from the peripheral nerves. It may be a mere trace of a
current. But that trace is enough to kindle the maximal process of
disintegration in the cells (cf. p. 310), and to give to the object
perceived the character of _externality_. What the _nature_ of the
object shall be will depend wholly on the particular system of paths in
which the process is kindled. Part of the thing in all cases comes from
the sense-organ, the rest is furnished by the mind. But we cannot by
introspection distinguish between these parts; and our only formula for
the result is that the brain has _reacted on_ the impression in the
resulting way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account