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awake by the very act of writing them down. When the mind is relieved 
and sleep is about to come, there may be another train of thought, and 
this teo must be disposed of. This may recur over and over, and as a re- 
sult there is a sleepless night. Insomnia is usually considered the bane 
of the brain worker, but perhaps after all it has its compensations. 
Some individuals can distinguish very clearly between dreaming and 
subconscious mental activity. Some who utilize their thoughts refer to 
the latter as “inspiration,” and in their attempts to bring on such a con- 
dition have tried all sorts of experiments. In reading biography one at 
times comes across statements that seem to refer to this condition of mind, 
as when Voltaire or Pope in the middle of the night called for his clerk 
or stenographer to take down a train of thought. This form of mental 
activity occurs in all kinds of persons, but as already mentioned is most 
marked in brain workers. The question naturally arises, What is back 
of it all? What produces this form of mental activity? By gathering a 
large mass of data one may be able to arrive at some conclusions. One 
can not solve the problem from a study of books, it must be studied in 
living persons whom one can question about details and antecedents. 
Here again my own observations have been confined mainly to those 
in ill health. To what extent automatic mental activity is a question of 
medicine and to what extent a problem in psychology may largely de- 
pend on the individual studied, as well as on the student—sn his knowl- 
edge and purpose. But we should not forget that the modern psychologist 
studies and investigates largely by the use of instruments, in his lab ora- 
tory. 
To study the influence of blood pressure requires the use of a sphyg- 
mograph, and that means that the study of thought stimulation due to the 
changes in blood pressure is beyond the man who makes but simple ob- 
servations. The man not connected with a laboratory might, of course, 
seek out a physician who makes blood pressure tests and would interest 
himself in the subject. 
On the other hand, auto-observations of what is going on in one’s 
own mind are or can readily be made by any one who will take the 
trouble to observe, no apparatus being required, unless it be a watch or 
clock to note the time of day or night and a fever thermometer in the 
case of those who have “fever fantasy’—which may or may not be dis- 
tinguishable from the mental activity unaccompanied by fever or dis- 
