are valuable to emphasize for the purpose of this monograph: the
complexity of details to be examined in the life of any one
patient in whose delinquencies pathological lying is a factor,
the variety of cases in which this factor may occur, hence the
difficulties in the way of determining the extent to which the
patient is responsible for his deeds and whether he belongs in a
reformatory or an insane hospital. From the standpoint of
society Delbruck's work has great use, since it reveals so
plainly the menace that these liars are to their families and to
the community as a whole, their unscrupulousness in financial
dealings, their tendencies to bring false accusations involving
families and friends alike in useless expense and litigation.

German studies on pseudologia phantastica since Delbruck's time
have followed the line of amplification of his views and
clarification of the subject by the addition of new types.

Koppen[9] attempted to differentiate sharply and to analyze more
accurately the conception of the pathological lie. He found it
impossible to make an absolute separation between pathological
lies and normal lies. The lies of the mentally diseased are
seldom pathological. They lie, but their lies do not differ from
those of the mentally sound. We cannot call the results
delusional lies. Among imbeciles we find a peculiar disposition
to lying, especially among those of criminal inclination. Their
lies do not separate themselves either in content or in relation
to the rest of their ideas from the lies of the mentally
diseased. Here follows his positive contribution to the
conception; the pathological lie is active in character, a whole
sequence of experiences is fabricated and the products of fancy