Ill 



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 too 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 — on 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 oilier hand, auto-observations of what is going on in one's 

 own mind are or can readily he 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 lie dis- 

 tinguishable from the mental activity unaccompanied by fever or dis- 



