As a result of what has been said, we must come to the conclusion that our human superconsciousness only means a summary, synthetic, incomplete, subjective illumination of the more developed portions of our cerebral activity.

(6) A very important phenomenon of consciousness takes place by the recalling (ecphoria) of passed activity complexes of the brain - i.e., by the play of engrams or imaginations. One deals in this case with the linking together (as far as time and space are concerned) of the brain activity - i.e., with the relative illumination of the latter by means of the superconscious-ness. It is especially on this point that hypnotism throws an important light. The whole process of memory is in itself quite independent from consciousness, and shows some very interesting laws.1 We recognize, however, the laws of memory psychologically chiefly in ourselves. But it is incorrect to contrast a conceived memory with the organic or "unconceived" memory. There is only one memory, and that is composed of (a) the reception of molecular traces (engrams) of every brain action, and, indeed, of every nerve action; (i) the reviving (ecphoria) of the same; and (c) sometimes the recognition - i.e., the identification (homophonia) - of the activity which has been restimulated by the first named (time localization).

Whether consciousness is or is not subjectively demonstrable in one or other of these processes has actually nothing at all to do with the subject, even if we are inclined to be convinced subjectively to the contrary.

The subjective reflections of consciousness can not only be dismissed and reintroduced into the actual impressions of memory ad libitum (suggested amnesia), hut recognition can be counterfeited by suggestion - i.e., a quite new mental process can produce, by means of suggestion, the erroneous consciousness of a remembrance of that which has taken place once (falsification of memory).

For example, it is absolutely immaterial for the later consciousness of an individual whether I render by means of suggestion a usually painful nerve irritation - e.g., the extraction of a tooth - painless during the moment in which it is taking place, or whether, after the pain has really been perceived during consciousness, I banish the memory of the perceived pain completely and permanently from the memory by suggestion. In both cases, as I have been able to prove experimentally, the individual retains the same firm conscious conviction, that the tooth was extracted painlessly.

1 In a published lecture ("The Memory and its Abnormalities," Zurich: Orel Fuessli, 1885) I discussed these questions minulely - for the moat part, According to Ribot - but I made the one mistake in calling the consciousness an activity. It is true that no consciousness can exist without activity of the brain, out one must not designate this activity with the word "conscious-ness," On the other hand, in this lecture I interpreted Hering's ideas on instinct and memory correctly, although I had not followed this out further, as Semon has done. I only dimly realized the importance of this.

Ribot ("Memory and its Abnormalities") believes that recognition, taken as meaning the "becoming conceived" by the memory, belongs only to consciousness. This is, however, excluded after what we have seen, since there is no such thing as the unrecognized in the activity of the brain. One can even prove recognition in insects - e.g., bees and ants - as well as the fixing of engrams, their association and their ecphoria, with certainty.

One gathers from this what a very important part amnesia plays in those processes which we call conceived or unconceived. That which we look on as unconceived by us has obviously only lost the subjective connection with our superconeeived brain activity through so-called functional amnesia.

One can therefore accept that, when a marked activity of the brain of recent date has been forgotten to the consciousness, either by means of suggestion or spontaneously, this means that an inhibitory mechanism has come into action, which prevents a more marked revival (ecphoria) of this activity. The cutting off of the reflections of the superconsciousness obviously usually indicates an inhibition, while conversely those processes which act by increasing stimulation of the brain call forth such reflections, or render them more intense.

In this way we again arrive at the conclusion that living nerve substance, nerve activity, and consciousness arc three forms of appearances of the same thing in their relations to ourselves, which we have abstracted by analysis, and are not three separate things. In consideration of their nature, subjectivism, energy, and matter are identical, and are revealed to us in their most complicated and most complete form as cerebrum and mind.

All that has been said so far only refers to our usual waking consciousness. The subjective contents of this, taken from a moniatic point of view, can only ho a synthetic symbol of the combination of cerebral activities which momentarily heightens the subjective reflex at the time when they take place. These activities are linked together by associations, and are capable of being more or less completely recalled at any time by the memory - i.e., are capable of being ecphorized.

Still, we all possess a second consciousness - the dream or sleep consciousness - which does differ considerably, qualitatively speaking, from the waking consciousness. The study of its contents, however, offers the most striking confirmation of the views expressed above (see Chapter IV., section 16).

Our perception during waking consciousness gains a partial, imperfect insight into this condition by means of the remembrance of dreams. It will be necessary to return to this later, but it must be pointed out here that the subjectively differing quality of the dream consciousness must correspond to an objectively differing quality of the brain activity during sleep. If the difference were absolute, in all probability our waking consciousness would have no knowledge of our dream consciousness. But this is not so. There are often gradual transitions, which cause the connection, and which carry over certain ill-defined remembrances, associated with the subjective reflection, from the sleep activity to the waking activity of the brain, and the reverse.