DISCOVERY 



13 



pretation of the dream's function. The meaning which 

 Freud attaches to the word " wish " is vastly wider 

 than that which it bears for the average reader ; or for 

 the average psjxhologist. But there is steadily growing 

 a mass of material which supports the belief that, if 

 Freud's theorj' be broadened to include as the inciters 

 of dreams, besides unfulfilled (as well as repressed) 

 wishes, fear, ambitions, remorse, revenge — in fact, 

 any powerful emotional experience behind which lies 

 the driving force of the fundamental instincts — it 

 provides us with an explanation of many otherwise 

 inexplicable dreams. 



A dream of Dr. Bernard Hart's ' shows clearly how 

 a constellation of ideas or " comple.v," unacceptable 

 to the personality in waking life, may manifest itself 

 in the sleep-consciousness: 



" A colleague who occupies a post senior to me 

 upon the staff of recently applied for an appoint- 

 ment at another institution. His success would have 

 meant my promotion — but he happens to be one of 

 my greatest friends, and I should certainly resent the 

 suggestion that his departure could occasion me any- 

 thing but genuine sorrow. Nevertheless I dreamt 

 this dream : He and I were endeavouring to write in 

 an inconceivably small room. The space was so 

 cramped that the movements of one constantly inter- 

 fered with those of the other. A quarrel resulted, and 

 I had the satisfaction of finally pushing my colleague 

 and friend outside the door. In other words, the 

 complex whose e.xistence I would not acknowledge 

 in the waking state managed to express itself in a 

 symbolical form during sleep." 



We cannot close this essay without referring to the 

 views of Dr. C. G. Jung, who, beginning as Freud's 

 pupil, has now diverged from his former teacher in 

 several directions. He believes that Freud has given 

 us only a partial explanation of the dream, in that, 

 looking into the past, he has traced the dream back to 

 the memories which compose it. But to this retro- 

 spective interpretation he would add a prospective 

 one : that the dream represents an attempt by the mind 

 to adjust itself to the requirements of the present or 

 of the immediate future ; that if one understood a 

 person's dreams, one would know not only his past, 

 but also how he intended to deal with his present, and 

 thereby influence his future. 



Part of a dream related by a friend of the writer's 

 may illustrate this : 



"From the bank of a rapidly-flowing river he 

 rowed himself into mid-stream. A friend on the 

 bank thought it dangerous, but the dreamer knew 

 that what he was doing was right, and woke up saying 

 a phrase from the Bible, which was then forgotten." 



On analysis the river, the friend, and the scenery of 

 the dream were all accounted for in terms of his past 

 ' Journal of Menial Science, 1910, vol. Ivi, p. 443. 



experiences. Before going to sleep he had read of a 

 person who, having lived an uneventful hfe, dreamt 

 that she was surrounded by stagnant water. The day 

 before the dream he had joined the staff of a modern 

 hospital for psychotherapy,' and had remarked to a 

 friend that life there seemed to pass at ten times the 

 rate that it had done in his lonely private practice, 

 and that here, as of old, the doctor's functions seem 

 to be merged with those of the priest ; for, " Here," 

 he said, " it is possible to save souls." And at this 

 point in the analysis there flashed into consciousness 

 the Scriptural phrase which he had uttered on awaking. 

 It was " fishers of men." 



Of such a dream it seems undoubtedly true to say 

 that, whatever it may derive from the dreamer's past, 

 it undoubtedly illuminates his conception of his present 

 and his future. 



To regard psychology as the mere description of 

 conscious states is to pay attention only to the'surface 

 of experience. And in the modern exploration of the 

 depths of the mind, no light has proved more penetra- 

 ting than that which comes from Freud's pioneer dis- 

 coveries. By the analysis of dreams, and by similar 

 analytical methods applied to symptoms, it has already 

 been possible to discover the hidden causes of many 

 nervous and mental disorders. The value of Freud's 

 work to medicine, however, must not blind us to its 

 importance for general psychology. For it has already 

 altered the whole outlook, and probably the whole 

 future, of this study. 



' That is, the psychological treatment of mental cases. 



BOOKS SUGGESTED FOR FURTHER READING 

 On Dreams, by S. Freud. (London.) 

 " Freud's Theory of Dreams " in Papers on Psycho-analysis, 



by Ernest Jones. (London, 191S.) 

 The Meaning of Dreams, by I. H. Coriat. (London.) 

 Dreams and Primitive Culture, by W. H. R. Rivers. (London, 



1918.) 

 Dream Psychology, by Maurice Nicoll. (Oxford.) 



The British Academy, ^.t the invitation of and in con- 

 junction with the Palestine Exploration Fund, and with 

 the concurrence of the Foreign Office, have appointed 

 a strong Committee for the purpose of establishing a 

 permanent British School of .Archaeology at Jerusalem. 

 The objects of the School wiU be: (i) To facilitate the 

 researches of scholars ; (2) To provide instruction and 

 guidance for students ; (3) To train archaeological exca- 

 vators and administrators. The School will assist in 

 everj' possible way the excavations and explorations of 

 the Palestine Exploration Fund. The scope of periods 

 and subjects of study will be unrestricted, ranging from 

 the Stone Age and the early civilisations of .\morites 

 and Canaanites through all the history of Palestine and 

 SjTia, and their relations with the nations around them, 

 down through the Graeco-Roman Age to the Arab Conquest, 

 the Crusades, and the later Mohammedan period. 



