New-York tribune., 1911-01-29

liable TO light up at any time by some
sudden association with a place, face OF
a word
THAT is why grief that is too great
for tears is such a terrible thing. Tears
and sobs give an outlet-a pitiful, insig-
n!acant outlet. IT is true. nut a normal one
to an unendurable emotion. II they do
not come, if the feeling Is suppressed IL
may pass out Of the field Of normal wax
ing consciousness. but it IS not forgotten
it is still there in the subconscious, and
often and often we find that ii has not been
idle.
But in many cases the sufferer from
mental disturbances does not know himself
what started his trouble. Not infrequently
he telieyes that it was some recent expert
encC TO which he attaches importance,
when really it was a far earlier and for
gotten one. To find the real trauma VIC
must search not only the patients con-
sciousness but his sub-consciousness as
well. For this we employ 'psychanalysis
The word itself means, literally. analysis of
the soul or course it is only in the
broadest sense that soul is meant-or the
whole mental being. conscious and sub
conscious. Two instruments for this study
have recently been developed. They are
word association tess and the study of
dreams
II think It was Schopenhauer who said
Insanity is a long dream. and a dream Is
brief insanity. There is. in fact. more
than n superficial resemblance between
dreams and insanity. 50 much so that
scientists the world over are now devot-
ing themselves to the study Of dreams as
a part OF their clinical and scientific work
There is no phenomenon that presents
itself in dreams that we may not observe
among the inmates Of an asylum ward
"In the study Of dreams the first thing
to be noted is that they always seem 10
be the fulflment of some wish or desire.
In children this is invariably true. as
you Will find by asking a child a few
simple questions. When a dream is re-
corded we have before US curious piece
Of patchwork. often piecing out scraps
from the days Of childhood with expert
ences of yesterday. full Of absurd dis
tortions Of events and words. transforma-
tions. allegories and symbols.
"But there is nothing accidental i'm the
arrangement Nothing goes on haphazard
lil ilit EDul ny Iss s'iiaiiAlN L. Va Nti' ~
son having the dream one determines the
origin of every patch IN the crazy quilt,
and by Investigation one discovers the
wish nj the foundation which is directly or
indirectly fulfilled by the dream.
The other new instrument for gather
ing material for psychanalyss Is the word
association test. Each mans vocabulary,
be it the three hundred words of the sailor
or the ten thousand words Of n Shake
speare or the average fifteen hundred "a
two thousand words belonging 70 us. is
related 10 all that wealth OF material that
lies stored ana not lost In the chambers
Of sul.consciousness a word has a magic
power in IL to summon from the vaults OF
memory all sorts of apparitlons. Each
word has an emotional value. some more
than others. because all our deepest ex-
periences are associated with the words
we know
80. when | pronounce an apparently
empty word and you answer me with the
word that rises most quickly in response,
may not only obtain an association from
your memory storehouse but / may strike
some emotional experience that lies very
deep in YOU II that is the case, If the
word Is associated with "A sore spot In
your sub-consciousness then that fact will
be shown by your slow reply. The word
will call UP such "A rush OF ideas and i'm
ages that you Will pause to think what
single word could represent them all.
For the purpose or psychanalysis we
time the patients answers with stoT
watch. The method is simple. There is no
attempt TO hide the fact that there Is O