Editofial. 21 



mon belief that special precautions are necessary to prevent the 

 spirit from returning to its once familiar scenes. The Green- 

 landers, Siamese and Hottentots carry the body through a 

 breech in the wall or a window, to prevent this unwelcome vis- 

 itation. Many African races avoid the hut for a certain time. 

 It is not difficult to believe that this time is an approximate 

 measure of the vividness of the association which calls up in 

 sleep the image of the departed one. 



Lower animals and even inanimate objects thus come to be 

 animated with a being, an essence which corresponds in certain 

 points with the corporeal object of experience. This dualism is 

 so universal that philosophy is quite as much under its influence 

 as popular language and thought. Some modern thinkers seem 

 to react so far from this view as to be willing to ascribe all onto- 

 logical concepts to the effects of visionary misconceptions — in 

 fine, to dreams and analogous products. The monism of a 

 modern psycho-physicist is inclined to say with Fechner, "The 

 soul is not an independent being within or associated with the 

 body, but it is bound up with the corporeal substratum. Spirit 

 and matter, soul and body are two different aspects of one and 

 the identical essence, depending on whether it is presented to 

 the external or internal experience." 



Enough has been said to indicate that the phenomena of 

 dreams have a deep interest for every thinking man and, inas- 

 much as the scope of this article does not include the specula- 

 tive problems just referred to, it will be sufficient to add a word 

 of warning. Because it seems more or less probable or possi- 

 ble that some of the very highest and most potent beliefs of the 

 human mind may have been formulated or given conceptual ex- 

 pression through the instrumentality of the airy touch of dreams 

 it by no means logically follows that these same beliefs and con- 

 cepts may be lightly rejected as a tissue of fantasy with no real 

 foundation. It would be quite as legitimate to distrust visual 

 impressions because they are the result of an intangible image 

 utterly dissimilar to the real object which they present to our 

 perception. To the psychologist dreams are of value primarily 

 because they afford a method of analysis which serves to sepa- 



