The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-01-17
Illusions.

Every day may be said to bring to the healthy
mind practical instances of the occurrence of
subjective sensations, such as in more typical
development constitute the illusions of the
curious. To select an example within the
practical reach of all who may be disposed to
try the experiment, suppose we allow the head
to depend for some time as in the STOPPING
posture, we hear noises in the ears, sounds Of
"singing" or ringing" as we popularity term
them; flashes of light before the eyes-also
beheld in cases of direct irritation of the organ
OF sight-and we may also experience variety
of other Sc nsations which are truly "subiect-
ive," in that they are produced by no outward
noises or sights, but by an internal cause,
most probably temporary congestion of the
nerve-centres. That there should exist "a
perfectly natural tendency to speak of the
phenomena just mentioned as "heard'' and
"seen," respectively, is matter exciting no
comment We continually refer to the out
ward and usual sources of sensations, the i'm
pressons which may actually be produced
from within. The effect OF this perfectly nat
ural method of discerning the origin of sensa-
tions becomes ludicrous in practice when
through surgical circumstances over which
the patient has no control, a change of locality
befallS the nerves. A subjective sensational
for instance, refers pain at the extremity of a
stump to the portion OF limb which has been
removed n VINO possesses no leg
may thus feel pain in his toes More curious
still are the results of the Talacotian opera
tion for the restoration If the nose. In such
procedure flap of skin is detached from the
forehead and folded down so as to form the
new olfactory organ. So long as the flap re-
mains connected with the forhead, so long will
the patient refer his sensations to the fore
head when the new nose is touched. That
"things are not what they seem" may thus be
illustrated physiologically in very perfect
fao Suh Wa fnyh har pQf tba
impression to the original seat of the skin
namely, the forehead-athough in time the
nose-hap adjusts its sensibility to its new pos
ition. So, also, in the well-known experiment
of crossing the fore and middle fingers and
feeling the tip of the nose with the crossed dig
its, the organ of smell appears double. Here
the surfaces of touch being altered and trans
posed, the double sensation or illusion arises
from the mind referring the impression re-
ceived by each finger to the natural and sep
arate position of the digits. Still more remark
abe are certain subjective sensations produced
by potent belief in the existence of the con-
ditions which give rise to the actual (or object
ive) sensations of like kind. The late Prof.
Bennett, of Edinburgh reiates a case in which
procuratOr fiscal, or public prosecutor, in
Scotland, attended the exhumation of body
in case of supposed murder, and had to with
draw from the scene on account as he alleged,
of the overpowering odor attending the pro-
cedure, and emitted as he believed, by the
coffin. On the latter being examined it was
found to be emptyl Another case illustrates,
in an equally interesting fashion, the idea
tional and internal origin of sensations through
an intense belief in the real nature of the ex-
ternal conditions which ordinarily produce
them. An Edinburg butcher, engaged in
placing a heavy joint of meat on hook stu
ated above his head, slipped so that the hook
appeared to penetrate his arm, and to suspend
him thereby. Carried into druggists shop
close at hand he was pale, well-nigh pulseless,
and suffering, as he said acute agony, which
was intensified on the arm being moved.
When however, the arm was examined, not
a trace of injury was to be observed. The
hook had merely penetrated the sleeve of his
coat; yet his subjective sensations, referring
the injury to his arm were SO real that the
pallor and shock were as typically represented
as if he had really been rans6xed.-Belgrayia.