to conclude that "hallucinations are waking dreams and that dreams are sleeping hallucinations." As brain activity is functional association of nerve clusters, so sleep is a dissociation of few or many brain centers, just as it is less or more profound.

As we know, some people seem to sleep " with one eye open," being aroused by the slightest unusual sound, while others fall into a profound lethargy. Dreams do not occur in the sound sleeper, except when he is in the transition stage between sleeping and waking. We are often conscious of having dreamed, but find it impossible to recollect the subject matter. At other times the dream is so vivid as to waken one with a start.

Sidis argues that the cause is always a centripetal stimulus, that is, something from outside the brain, since the brain does not originate impressions. For example, indigestion giving rise to pain may cause in the dissociated cell groups of the brain a sleeping hallucination of a gastric ulcer, and cold applied to a sleeper's feet call forth a dream of an arctic expedition.

A recent experience of the writer is such a perfect illustration of this point that he cannot refrain from introducing it.

At a dinner with some medical friends a large Idish of anchovies was allowed to remain on the table during several courses. Without thinking of how many I was eating I continued nibbling during the meal.

Before going to sleep I was not conscious of any unpleasant sensations from the indulgence, but in the middle of the night I dreamed that I was seated at a café table, and opposite sat my friend of the evening.

I do not remember giving the order, but the waiter brought to my friend a large glass bowl which would hold two or three quarts. This was filled with some light pink sherbet, and completely encircling the dish was a row of most luscious strawberries.

With some impatience I asked the waiter why he did not serve me with the same. He replied, “In just a minute, sir.”

My friend very politely said he would wait till I was served, but I insisted that he should not.

He ate very leisurely, and all the time my thirst increased, and with equal rate my anger rose at that waiter and his repeated "Yes, sir, just a minute." But the climax came when he finally put before me a bowl similar to the one from which my friend was eating, but alas! empty.

To add to my exasperation, the bowl had a red stain around the top where the strawberries had been. My anger became uncontrollable, and I waked with such a parched mouth that I immediately drank off several glasses of water.

The short duration of the dream state, notwithstanding the varied experiences thru which one passes, is well illustrated by the following account which was given the writer by a telegraph operator.

One evening in the summer of 1882, or possibly 1881, while taking press report for the Rochester Herald, at Rochester, N. Y., I had what appears to me to be a somewhat unusual experience, so unusual, in fact, that its impression has been lasting.

"At the time of this occurrence I had been doing some extra work, and was feeling considerably worn out and extremely sleepy.

"At about ten o'clock P. M. I was engaged in taking a baseball score by innings. The sending of these scores, I will state for the benefit of the uninitiated, would require not to exceed one-half a minute on a wire worked at the speed the report wires are worked. I had taken the first team score, which would appear about as follows:

"At the point marked * I dropped asleep. I dreamed that I started on a long vacation trip, New York being my first stopping-point. The trip from Rochester to New York City over the Central, especially that part from Albany down the Hudson, with its beautiful scenery, was one of the many details noted.

"After reaching New York I seemed to have plenty of time to spare, and this was spent in visiting points of interest, calling on friends and acquaintances. About two weeks were spent in this manner, when I started for Europe.

"The voyage across the Atlantic was a pleasant

one, the sightseeing in London was intensely interesting, and the return trip all that could be desired, in fact, the whole trip was delightful, the more so as I seemed to have no cares.

"The entire trip occupied about six weeks, and I seemed to be greatly benefited thereby.

When I awoke my first thought was that I had about finished the night, and instinctively reached for the telegraph-key to find out how much 'report I had lost, supposing, of course, that I was in for trouble. Upon asking New York what he was sending he replied: 'Ball scores, Chicago-Boston.' I started him on the Boston score, which I had put down in very small figures (as per above) during my sleep.

"How it was done, I will make no attempt to explain, I simply give it up. The figures were there, and furthermore they were correct.

"The actual time consumed by me in taking this imaginary trip could not have exceeded ten seconds. I had absolutely missed nothing in the report. Neither had the circuit been interrupted in any way, which I took pains to verify. The explanation of all this, I leave to those better informed on such matters.

'My friend Mr. Lee,' to whom I related this little experience at about the time it occurred, will doubtless remember it, as will also others, were it really worth the trouble to look them up."

'Mr. Lee is a friend of the author.

THE SUBCONSCIOUS

29

A good deal is being said just now about the education of the subconscious. In mercantile affairs a man is spoken of as a good organizer, which means that he can call others to work out certain details, confining his attention to the larger concern, and the relation of the whole to the outside world.

So in the psychic realm, in proportion as one is developed intellectually has he relegated to the subconscious the routine work of life. So long as things run smoothly in his mental workshop he pays no attention to it. Should an accident happen in any department, the central office is immediately informed, and the necessary steps taken to meet the emergency.

So the education of the subconscious is simply the formation of correct habits, and, as was said before, the formation of a habit requires acting on the impulse. Failing to act, the next time the impulse is felt, its impulsiveness is lessened, the very failing to act has established a habit of inaction.

Impulsiveness must, it is true, be curbed by moderation, but excessive indecision is worse.

Many a man will fire with enthusiasms over some project, but failing to act, soon cools down to a state of disinterestedness. People who devote an excessive amount of time to fiction and the theatre, often mistake their sympathy for the hero for a real virtue. This sentimentality soothes their consciences in lieu of genuine philanthropy, and their fine impulses are barren of any actual good deeds.