Visual Hallucinations as a Cerebral Localizing Phenomenon

Visual hallucinatory phenomena in cases of definitely authenticated organic disease of the brain were recorded as early as 1879 when Westphal 1 cited such an instance and gave the clinical and necropsy findings. His case was in man, aged 42, who suffered from focal epilepsy involving the left side. Before death had developed left hemiplegia and left homonymous hemianopia. His hallucinations consisted in seeing not only bright colors before his eyes, but on one occasion the appearance of a sword hovering over his head, about to drop on him. At this time he stared up at the ceiling as if saw something horrible there. Postmortem, there was found atrophy and softening of the posterior half of the right hemisphere. Since this early reference, numerous instances not only of color phenomena, but also of the apparent seeing of figures and objects by patients who later were shown