CHAPTER XV 



DREAMS 



MOST people, even though they may he much interested 

 in the achievements of science, will probably be found 

 quite skeptical concerning the idea that dreams are 

 worthy of any serious notice. In common judgment it is 

 a weakness to think or talk much about the strange scenes 

 we witness in sleep. This feeling is probably the result of 

 emancipation from the superstitious faith in the revealing 

 virtue of dreams which was once universal. Tawdry 

 books, purporting to give a basis for the interpretation of 

 dreams and attaching an occult significance to every 

 common object seen by the dreamer, are still circulated. 

 However fanciful then- publications may be, their purpose 

 is not wholly unlike that of a rapidly increasing mas- of 

 sober scientific writing. 



We cannot follow this subject far, but it would be unwise 

 to omit all reference to dreaming, for it is fruitful of sug- 

 gestions concerning hygiene. One of the most obvious 

 has to do with the general content of the dream. Ilavelock 

 Kilis 1 classifies dreams as follows: (1) There are those 

 which are determined by the bodily conditions existing 

 at the moment; these may be called somatic, present ativo 

 dre;mis. (2) There are those which are shaped by stimuli 

 acting from without; they may be called external, presen- 

 tative dreams. Other dreams are not clearly related to 

 present circumstances, but are mosaics of memories. 

 Klli- calls such dreams /< presentative and subdivides 

 them into two classes, | he recent and the remote. It is 

 a matter of moment whether one's memory dreams are of 

 I he recent or the remote kind. 



"The \\orM <if DrcMins," Houston, Mililin & Co., Boston, Hill. 



