28 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



"The method of study of the will does not consist simply in 

 self-observation but in a first stage of involuntary perception, 

 and second, a stage of reproduction in memory of the percep- 

 tion, and third, analytical dismemberment of the reproduction." 

 But it is well known that only a very few elements in any pre- 

 sentation of sense are selected by attention for actual perception 

 and the vast spaces between these characteristic elements are 

 unconsciously filled out by fancy under the laws of association. 

 In dreams the number of elements associated in a presentation 

 or concept is very much reduced and the interval between the 

 perception and act of recollection is greater. We are able to 

 observe more accurately the process of rehabilitating the isolated 

 elements. Often it is beyond our power to combine them by 

 associational processes proper to waking states and they slip 

 through our fingers. 



The sensorial side of dreams finds many analogies in wak- 

 ing states. It is the belief of of the writer that the images 

 (visual or otherwise) which have once set their seal upon the 

 mechanism of consciousness continue to glow there for a longer 

 or shorter period and that, while ordinary states of attention 

 obscure them by the superior brilliancy of immediate recepts, 

 there are physical and mental conditions which may blow them 

 into a flame vivid even to waking consciousness. As a child, 

 living apart from others of the same age and nervously sensitive, 

 it was for many months an almost constant experience, when- 

 ever tired at night, to be greeted on closing the eyes in a re- 

 cumbent posture by a succession of involuntary images of the 

 most varied and complicated description. These appeared in 

 monochrome or in natural or even brilliant colors, embracing 

 landscapes of great beauty as well as faces with the most diverse 

 expressions. These panoramic displays were enjoyed and the 

 attempt was made to prolong them, which was rarely successful for 

 more than a moment. They seemed to be associated with after 

 images which in my then condition persisted for hours. The 

 effort to retain the visions were chiefly oculomotor. No con- 

 scious control or immediate suggestion was recognized, though 

 landscapes usually succeeded landscapes and faces followed faces. 



