498 



NATURE 



[August 17, 19 16 



PSYCHOLOGY. 



(i) Human Motives. By Prof. J. J. Putnam. 

 Pp. xvii+i7g. (London: W. Heinemann, 

 1915.) Price 55. net. 



(2) Sleep and Sleeplessness. By H. A. Bruce. 

 Pp. ix + 219. (London: W. Heinemann, 

 1915.) Price 55. net. 



(3) The Meaning of Dreams. By Dr. L H. 

 Coriat. Pp. xiv + 194. (London: W. Heine- 

 mann, 191 5.) Price 5s. net. {Mind and 

 Health Series.) 



(i) A READABLE volume, with many apt 

 ■^ quotations for which Emersonians in 

 particular will be thankful. Motives may be 

 classified as, on the one hand, due to sense of 

 obligations (virtually religious), and on the 

 other to self-regarding, emotional impulses which 

 are the outcome of biological evolution. Prof. 

 Putnam emphasises and supports the rationality 

 of religious ideals, remarking that, " in so far 

 as religion is the expression of the truth, it 

 expresses the most important aspect of the 

 truth " — a pregnant phrase ; and he advances 

 weighty philosophical arguments in favour of 

 Theism. On the biological side he follows Freud 

 very largely in tracing many motives and ideas 

 to repressed desires. He wisely realises that 

 Freud goes rather far in pushing his theory, but 

 argues that it is based on a large accumulation 

 of data. A hostile critic might say with some 

 justification that Freud came to conclusions and 

 then interpreted all new data in terms of those 

 conclusions ; moreover — this is usually not suffi- 

 ciently recognised — the data themselves are un- 

 trustworthy when accumulated by a theorist with 

 an already elaborated system, for they will 

 inevitably be influenced by his conscious or un- 

 conscious suggestion. 



(2) We are still very ignorant of the physioloe^v 

 of sleep, but Mr. Bruce gives a good popular 

 survey of the psychological side. Dealine with 

 dreams, he explains the common flying" dream as 

 initiated by the rise and fall of the chest, plus 

 absence of sensations from the soles of the feet; 

 many dreams of discomfort in certain organs are 

 due to incipient disease noted by the subcon- 

 sciousness, though not known to the waking 

 mind ; and others are due to external stimuli as 

 of noises outside or to memories. Briefly, it may 

 be said that most dreams are attempts of the 

 subconscious to interpret internal or external 

 stimuli, the character of the dream being largely 

 determined by the emotion-complexes which 

 were roused by the experiences of the previous 

 day. As to dreams in which problems are solved 

 (e.g.. Prof. Hilprecht's case) or information 

 apparently supernormally received (Miss Conley's 

 case), Mr. Bruce quotes extensively from the 

 Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 

 but thinks that all can be explained on normal 

 lines. In attempting such explanation of some 

 actual cases, however, the phrases "it is probable 

 that," "it is safe to assume that," are notably 

 frequent; and though we may sympathise with 

 the author's aims, we may discern a certain rash- 



NO. 2442, VOL. 97] 



ness in his assumptions. On insomnia the anti 

 drug attitude is adopted, and stress laid on sug 

 gestion, for which, however, more is claimec 

 than most practitioners would concede. A drug 

 is sometimes necessary to break the insomnij 

 habit; but either veronal, trional, or adalin i; 

 better .than the old sulphonal, which is all that ii 

 here mentioned. 



(3) More Freud. Every dream represents th( 

 fulfilment of a repressed wish. If during youi 

 father's lifetime you dream that he is dead, it v. 

 because, through jealousy of his place in you: 

 mother's affections, you wished him dead. I 

 you deny it, the truth of it is confirmed ; you di( 

 wish it, but the wish was repressed into th( 

 subconscious and forgotten. And if you do no 

 dream that he is dead but only that he is ai 

 assistant in the business of which he is really th( 

 proprietor, the explanation is pretty much th( 

 same ; you have evidently wished him superseded 

 Similarly with the flyinp- dream : this is due to ; 

 wish for absolute freedom from all restraint. Thi 

 dream-flyer is evidently a Free Lover and an An 

 archist. If the dream absolutely refuses to b 

 an CEdipus affair, you interpret by other wishes 

 remembering for your assistance that the drean 

 itself is often a disguise. E.g., a woman dream: 

 that one of her brothers is going to be hanged 

 The interpretation is that in consequence of t\v( 

 other brothers having died of cancer and tuber 

 culosis, which she therefore feared in her owi 

 case, she wished that they had died of somethins 

 else; even hanging would have been preferable 

 Dr. Coriat advances this interpretation quit 

 seriously. Now we may readily admit — withou 

 comparing Freud with Darwin, as Dr. Coriat doe 

 — that dream-observation and analysis are im 

 portant for the investigation of the subconscious 

 and that Freud has done good pioneer work ; bi 

 in both Freud and many of his followers the goo 

 work is vitiated by a peculiar narrowness. The 

 suffer from idee fixe — a well-known psychosis 

 The neatness of the formula that every dreaij 

 represents a repressed wish has hypnotised theni 

 as a bright point will hvonotise the gazing sr 

 ject, and they can see nothing else. We n^ 

 hope before long for an interesting volume ' 

 the psychology of the Freudian psychologist 

 analysing their peculiar obsession. 



THE DECLINING BIRTH-RATE. 

 The Declining Birth-rate : Its Causes and Effec 

 Pp. xiv + 450. (London: Chapman and H; 

 Ltd., 1916.) Price i05. 6d. net. 



THIS book constitutes the Report of, and - 

 eludes the chief evidence taken by, i- 

 National Birth-rate Commission, instituted, ^^ ' 

 official recognition, by the National Council 

 Public Morals. The committee was a strong o 

 and included upon it Dr. Stevenson, Superint 

 dent of Statistics for the General Register Oft;^ 

 and Dr. Newsholme, Medical Officer of the Lc" 

 Government Board. The subject of the decling 

 birth-rate is one of enormous importance at 'C 

 present time. The birth-rate reached a maxin-ni 



