Illusion

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ILLUSION. A species of mania in which the sensibility of the nervous system is altered, excited, weakened or perverted. The patient is deceived by the false appearance of things, and his reason is not sufficiently active and powerful to correct the error, and this last particular is what distinguishes the sane from the insane. Illusions are not unfrequent in a state of health, but reason corrects the errors and dissipates them. A square tower seen from a distance may appear round, but on approaching it, the error is corrected. A distant mountain may be taken for a cloud, but as we approach, we discover the truth. To a person in the cabin of a vessel under sail, the shore appears to move; but reflection and a closer examination soon destroy this illusion. An insane individual is mistaken on the qualities, connexions, and causes of the impressions he actually receives, and he forms wrong judgments as to his internal and external sensations; and his reason does not correct the error. 1 Beck's Med. Jur. 538; Esquirol, Maladies Mentales, prem. partie, III., tome 1, p. 202. Dict. des Sciences Medicales, Hallucination, tome 20, p. 64. See Hallucination.

A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856.
References in periodicals archive ?
Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, had sacked the Electricity Minister, Raad Shallal, from his post, in the background of financial and administrative corruption in his Ministry, following reports that he had concluded "illusionary" contracts in the name of his Ministry for U.S.
"It's two points dropped because we had the best chances and we had a regular goal that was cancelled by an illusionary foul seen only by the referee," he said.
Not only was this assignment a good method for engaging students in a discussion of the differences between real and illusionary concepts in terms of sculpture and painting but also the discussion was relevant to concepts of self.
At St Patrick's College there were science experiments, illusionary photos where children could be captured riding a broom or posing in a mock Ford Anglia, visitors from Kirkleatham Owl Centre, bubbles, stalls and refreshments.
You know well that humiliation and spreading hatred and illusionary fear of the "other" have been the common base of all those oppressive profiteers.
The others are no more than illusionary, fantasies as real as, say, Lara Croft.
And then like David Copperfield, there were illusionary straw men, tautological gobbledygook and spurious arguments by charging Dr Joe with all the ills of the BBC, or not knowing the difference between party leadership and rulership, and supporting violence, when all poor Joe had done was to talk about the importance of leadership.
What a police commissioner will be able to do is illusionary, apart from the disadvantage of having a person in office with the attendant risks which past events have shown in such a situation to be less than beneficial to the public.
Performing for the very first time in the UAE, the Fabulous Quick Change International Duo from Russia, an illusionary show, will certainly hold the audience spellbound.
"He continued "There is the Arab party which is ready for peace and the Israeli party which does not really exist in the peace process, or what we call the 'illusionary partner' or the 'absence of a partner'.
The representative of the Supreme Shiite Religious Leader, Sayid Ali al-Sistani, in Karbala, Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalae, demanded, in his Friday address, the accounting of MPs, who have been receiving high salaries and "illusionary" allocations for their protection guards, demanding the laying down of an internal system that practices severe decisions against any MP, who does not attend the parliament meetings, similar to any employee or student.
The former is definitely not an option as Brown himself admits his work is only illusionary and involves no psychic powers per se.