This interesting subjective phenomenon is characterized by the appearance of figures, minute in size and usually living, but always with surrounding objects that are seen in their proper proportions. And while the observed tiny creatures may be picturesque, fantastic or grotesque, they are never terrifying, but are prone to induce a pleasant or a humorous frame of mind. The phenomenon should not be mistaken for micropsia, a combined subjective and objective manifestation well known in ophthalmology, and which is an illusion in which real objects are seen, all of them uniformly reduced in size.
It is stated that the experience of diminutive visual hallucinations is first mentioned in the "Lives of Saints," in which Father Macaire, of the fourth century, told of having seen many little black creatures playing unseemly pranks on some priests. For years there have been occasional case reports showing this condition, and writers of fiction have