A further peculiarity of the dream life is that the stimuli of the senses, which affect the sleeper, scarcely ever call forth the normal proper perception in the sleep consciousness. They are allegorized - that is, they are inadequately associated. This allegory becomes, in consequence, the dream picture, the dream illusion. The hypnotized person is in part only distinguishable from the spontaneous dreamer in that he is adequately conscious of the influences of the hypnotist. He allegorizes, it is true, just like the dreamer, as soon as the hypnotist leaves him, and, on the other hand, the hypnotist actually uses these allegory qualities of the sleeper in order to deceive him in a hundred ways - e.g., in causing him to eat a potato in the belief that it is an orange. In the same way, the normal dreamer imagines that he performs movements which he really does not perform, while he is usually not able to translate his impulses into movements.

A further peculiarity of the dream life is the ethical and aesthetic defect, or the weakness which is met with in this sphere. The dreamer is frequently a coward, and behaves badly. In a dream the best person can commit murder, steal, be unfaithful, and lie, and remain thereby quite calm, or at most feel more fear than remorse. This is undoubtedly due again to the dissociation of the opposing perceptions.

The mutual reactions of the dream life on the waking condition, and of the waking condition on the dream life, are extremely interesting and important. It is clear to all, and is well known, that the contents of the dreams are influenced by what we have experienced, read, etc., during the condition of waking; but it is not so clear to us to explain how deeply and strongly the dream activity reacts on our life in waking condition, in spite of the fact that much that is true has been written on this subject. But, as a rule, we are not conscious of it, on account of the amnesia. Post-hypnotic phenomena are an experimental homologue of the corresponding facts of spontaneous life. Vivid dreams can often influence our thoughts and dealings for days, just as stupid actions can, much more than the finest logic. It is amusing to make such observations on persons who make a boast of their sobriety and unsentimental reasoning. We only know of the actions of those dreams which we can remember, but suggestion proves to us that the forgotten ones also can act on us. This demonstrates most clearly that the brain activities which appear in the subjectively separated introspections (consciousnesses) stand in intimate connection with one another, and influence one another mutually.

My friend, Professor Otto Stall, calmly stated to a man who smiled at hypnotism that he would dream certain things about the devil at midnight of the following day. The man obviously did not feel quite safe, for he attempted to remain awake in order to escape from the prediction. But what happened ? Shortly before twelve o'clock he fell asleep in his chair, and at the stroke of midnight he awoke just as that episode of the suggested dream was taking place at which he had been told to awaken. The dream had presented itself exactly as had been foretold.

A few examples of spontaneous dreams which bad been written down immediately on. awakening may help to illustrate what has been said:

1. Dissociation

Someone dreamed that "the chief attendant, X., of the Zurich Lunatic Asylum, was delivering a lecture on 'Suggestion exercised on Horses' in Norway."

2. Dissociation, Etc.; Long Dream Chain

Miss Y. dreamed: "I was at home with my mother. An uncle came in, had dinner with us, and complained of cold feet, whereupon I placed a hot-water bottle under his feet. The hot-water bottle was there without my knowing how it got there, but this did not occur to me as being strange. Then several people (relatives) came in; it was a party. The table was spread; my uncle had disappeared. I helped to entertain the people, and had just begun to relate something when my mother interrupted me, and in a severe tone told me to hold my tongue - 'You need not always interrupt.' Being very angry and offended (for I am no longer a child), I kept silent, with the firm resolve not to speak another word, but to let my mother entertain her people herself. The party was suddenly gone; other visitors bad come, and I was talking to a cousin, but crying at times, for my sulkiness about the order to keep silence still continued" (continuation of effect). "My mother told a story, which had really been written to me a short time previously. Suddenly I found myself in a strange part of the town, and was seeking a lady who lived in a certain house. I made up my mind to search each room one after the other in this house, because I had not found her the last time. I did this, and went into each room, in which strange people lived, who were lying in bed, or just getting up, or hiding themselves. At last I found her; but it was another lady, Mrs. C, who was just then speaking French to a boy, and at once invited me to join in the conversation. I made a mistake in speaking, and was very angry with myself for it. Then suddenly Mrs. C changed into my friend, who took me out with her, as she wanted to show me a lovely view. We came to a bridge over a broad river. At the one bank we saw several covered baskets, half kept under water by planks, and I said to my friend that they were for keeping fishes in, I supposed; to which she answered: 'Yes; there the untamable fishes are kept.' (I was not astonished at this nonsense.) It was still broad daylight. We then turned back, and came to a large house, with many illuminated windows on the ground floor. Without having been conscious of it, it had suddenly become night." (This is the same mechanism as that by means of which a suggestion is amplified by autosuggestion - the perception of the lights called forth that of night unconsciously through association.) " A lurid smoke issued from a chimney of the house, and I said to my friend that the house must be on fire. We looked in at the windows, and saw that a number of men (workmen) were preparing to escape, and were only waiting to find out if there was any danger before they escaped. But all at once it was all quite dark; the fire had been suddenly put out. We had not noticed this, but we knew that it was so, and it all appeared quite natural to us. I could not see my way any longer, and asked my friend to lead me. She then lit a candle with a match, and we were in a room. A strange old lady came into the room and asked us something, when I woke up."

This dream shows very clearly that the reflection of the consciousness in the cerebral activity during sleep can be composed of a very variegated mixture of associated and dissociated imaginary perceptions of all the senses - of imaginary perceptions of actions, of feelings, of abstract ideas, etc. A continuous deception of the place and time consciousness arises also from it.