152 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
that he is and always has been George Elliot the house-carpenter ; 
or, at least, a reminiscence, however vague, would induce doubt. 
But no such results followed, and the belief is fixed and un- 
wavering. 
These considerations apply to belief only; but to understand the 
questions at issue better, I shall inquire how a man comes to doubt, 
and what is essential to as accurate knowledge as he can attain 
under the circumstances. For this purpose I shall select the state 
of consciousness known as dreaming. No well-informed inquirer 
now holds the doctrine that in that state man is inspired, or that 
the soul or mind acts independently of the body ; it is admitted 
that every such change of consciousness as constitutes dreaming is 
directly dependent upon molecular changes in the brain-tissue. In 
accordance with the physiological law already laid down, the dreamer 
believes in the reality of his dreams, however absurd they may 
be, and however far removed from the normal conditions the mole- 
cular changes. It is only when he awakes, and the normal condi- 
tion is restored, that he doubts or disbelieves. Now, an analysis 
of these purely physiological phenomena shows that those states 
of consciousness which in the waking condition of the brain are 
either reminiscences or anticipations, have in dreams no true 
element of time, either past or to come ; they are either wholly of 
the present, or have no true relation either to time or to space. 
Memory, therefore, as the knowing reminiscence of past states of 
existence, and judgment as the perception of the future, are 
abolished. Memory of the past is abolished, on the one hand, 
because the association of ideas upon which that faculty depends, 
and which began at some past time, is abolished ; while, on the 
other hand, there is no knowledge of any existing personal rela- 
tions to time and space, because the senses being shut, there is no 
perception possible of these relations. Hence the merest phan- 
tasms of the imagination, admittedly due to molecular changes 
induced under these conditions, are received as verities. Beid 
relates how, on a certain occasion, when he slept with a blister on 
his head, he believed he was being scalped by Indians. It is only 
on awaking, when memory, and external perception, and normal 
associations of ideas are restored, that a true knowledge of the 
fallacious character of the beliefs can be attained. Hence it is 
