Abstract
THIS is a very thorough account of the subject, in fact it is, perhaps, for the series to which the book belongs, almost too thorough, and the general reader may find some difficulty in getting a clear account of the author's views out of the mass of detail. The conditions of fallacious perception are fully considered, and the general phenomena are referred to disturbed association. The author gives new definitions of illusion and hallucination, ihe former being supposed to depend on the suppression of certain processes which normally intervene between the immediate sensory change and the perception process, while hallucination is referred to forced association. These definitions have the advantage that they refer both phenomena to a common cause, i.e. to dissociation of centres normally acting together; but they are open to the objection that they are based on purely theoretical and uncertain views, and it would probably be better to retain the old definition depending on the existence or nonexistence of an external stimulus while recognising that there is no hard and fast line between the two conditions. There are two interesting chapters on the results of the international census of waking hallucinations. The author brings forward much evidence that the real nature of the “waking state” in most cases was one of abnormal dissociation. He criticises adversely the evidence for telepathy derived from the census, which was regarded as valid by the authors of the English Report. He brings forward from the Report itself evidence against this conclusion, and in regard to the supposed positive evidence, he lays great stress on the importance of similarity of association of ideas in the two cases. Among many other interesting points, only one can be mentioned here, viz. the criticism of the view that the negative hallucinations of hypnotism depend on suggested inattention. The author points out that an object may be made by suggestion to appear smaller and smaller, till it finally disappears. In this case, according to the theory, a phenomenon due to concentration or special direction of attention would be suddenly replaced by one due to lack of attention.
Illusions and Hallucinations.
By Edmund Parish. Pp. xiv + 390. (London: Walter Scott, Ltd., 1897.)
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Illusions and Hallucinations. Nature 57, 197 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/057197c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/057197c0