506 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



In order to make the relation between these two 

 Ts, in normal cases, clearer, I cite two commonplace ex- 

 amples from Dessoir: " A friend calls and tells me 

 something that necessitates my going out with him. 

 While he relates the most interesting occurrences I am 

 getting ready to go. I put on a fresh collar, turn my 

 cuffs, fasten the buttons, pull on my coat, get the door 

 key, and even glance in the mirror. All this time my 

 attention is occupied with my friend's narrative, as re- 

 peated questions prove. Once in the street, it suddenly 

 occurs to me that I have forgotten the key. I hurry 

 back, look in every nook and corner, and at last feel in 

 my pocket, where, of course, I find it. As I join my 

 friend, he says: ^ If you had told me what you wanted, 

 I could have told you that I saw you take the key out 

 of a drawer and put it in your pocket. How can any 

 one be so absent-minded?'^^ Still more remarkable 

 are the apparently rational automatic movements that 

 we perform mechanically, though they tend to accom- 

 plish results that we later acknowledge as our uncon- 

 scious purpose. An official, for example, sets out in 

 the morning and walks a long distance without once 

 having the idea of his destination enter his mind. But 

 as soon as an acquaintance meets him and inquires why 

 he is out so early, he replies without reflection that he 

 must be at the office.^'* 



Let us now take a simple example from the sphere 

 of hypnotic research. " In the sitting of April 30, 

 1888," says Dessoir, " the first experiment was made 



with our principal subject, Herr D . He received 



the post-hypnotic suggestion that he should resume the 

 condition as soon as I had clapped my hands seven- 



* M. Dessoir, Das Doppel-Tch, p. ?>. 



