18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



the children unto the thii'd and fourth, and many generations, and 

 thus that the doctrine of " original sin " acquires an intelligible in- 

 terpretation. 



A brief reference may be made to the phenomena of dreams, which 

 have presented so puzzling a problem to thinkei'S of former times. 

 Of all the absurd hypotheses fi-amed for the explanation of subtle 

 mental processes, none were more absurd than those framed to explain 

 the phenomena of dreams. More light has been thrown upon them 

 by the principle of the universal connection of the bodily organs with 

 mental workings than by all previous theories together. In fact, 

 without it dreams are unintelligible. Every person is familiar, in 

 his own experience, with the stirring-up of imaginary pictures during 

 sleep, connected with various parts of the body, and caused by dis- 

 ease, irritation or injury in the part interested. If the material of 

 memory and imagination is given by bodily movement and modifica- 

 tion, why not also that of dreams, which difiers only in arrangement 1 

 If, during sleep, the falling of a poker, the rolling out of bed, the 

 flicker of a candle before the eyelids, the sound of a voice, the smell 

 of sulphur, or the taste of acid in the mouth, can call up, as they 

 undoubtedly do, all sorts of clear or obscure images and scenes, why 

 may not the whole of those images and scenes be connected with 

 bodily organism 1 If sensation and nervous affection, irritation and 

 combination, can cause so much of the content of dreams, why not 

 all '? Why seek a supernatui-al cause to explain what is capable of 

 explanation by natural laws 1 



A few words may be allowed upon the practical importance which 

 this question, rightly understood, assumes. 



We have seen the importance of a due consideration of the relation 

 now dealt with, in the study of medicine, and particularly in the study 

 of lunacy. In these, rapid advance has resulted from a reversal of 

 method, and the study of body and mind hand in hand. Hence, 

 too, the light which has been thrown upon the question as to what 

 has been called " moral insanity," and the wider question as to 

 Responsibility for Crime. 



We see, too, the influence of a correct theory, in this direction, 

 upon Education. As the possibility of all education is based upon 

 the existence of the power which the nervous system possesses of 

 organizing conscious actions into more or less unconscious reflex 

 operations, we see, in view of what has been said as to the influence 



