21

III.

THE conversion of the latent dream
thoughts into those manifest deserves our
close study as the first known example of
the transformation of psychical stuff from
one mode of expression into another. From
a mode of expression which, moreover, is
readily intelligible into another which we
can only penetrate by effort and with guid-
ance, although this new mode must be
equally reckoned as an effort of our own
psychical activity. From the standpoint of
the relationship of latent to manifest dream-
content, dreams can be divided into three
classes. We can, in the first place, dis-
tinguish those dreams which have a meaning
and are, at the same time, intelligible,
which allow us to penetrate into our
psychical life without further ado. Such
dreams are numerous; they are usually

22

ON DREAMS

short, and, as a general rule, do not seem
very noticeable, because everything remark-
able or exciting surprise is absent. Their
occurrence is, moreover, a strong argument
against the doctrine which derives the
dream from the isolated activity of certain
cortical elements. All signs of a lowered or
subdivided psychical activity are wanting.
Yet we never raise any objection to character-
ising them as dreams, nor do we confound
them with the products of our waking life.

A second group is formed by those dreams
which are indeed self-coherent and have a
distinct meaning, but appear strange be-
cause we are unable to reconcile their
meaning with our mental life. That is the
case when we dream, for instance, that some
dear relative has died of plague when we
know of no ground for expecting, appre-
hending, or assuming anything of the sort;
we can only ask ourself wonderingly:
“What brought that into my head?” To

the third group those dreams belong which
are void of both meaning and intelligibility;

23

ON DREAMS

they are incoherent, complicated, and mean-
ingless. The overwhelming number of our
dreams partake of this character, and this
has given rise to the contemptuous attitude
towards dreams and the medical theory
of their limited psychical activity. It is
especially in the longer and more compli-
cated dream-plots that signs of incoherence
are seldom missing.

The contrast between manifest and latent
dream-content is clearly only of value for
the dreams of the second and more especi-
ally for those of the third class. Here are
problems which are only solved when the
manifest dream is replaced by its latent
content; it was an example of this kind, a
complicated and unintelligible dream, that
we subjected to analysis. Against our ex-
pectation we, however, struck upon reasons
which prevented a complete cognizance of
the latent dream thought. On the repe-
tition of this same experience we were
forced to the supposition that there is an
intimate bond, with laws of its own, between

24

the unintelligible and complicated nature of
the dream and the difficulties attending com-
munication of the thoughts connected with
the dream. Before investigating the nature
of this bond, it will be advantageous to turn
our attention to the more readily intelligible
dreams of the first class where, the manifest
and latent content being identical, the
dream work seems to be omitted.

The investigation of these dreams is also
advisable from another standpoint. The
dreams of children are of this nature; they
have a meaning, and are not bizarre. This,
by the way, is a further objection to reduc-
ing dreams to a dissociation of cerebral
activity in sleep, for why should such a
lowering of psychical functions belong to
the nature of sleep in adults, but not in
children? We are, however, fully justified
in expecting that the explanation of psychi-
cal processes in children, essentially simpli-
fied as they may be, should serve as an
indispensable preparation towards the psy-
chology of the adult.

25

ON DREAMS

I shall therefore cite some examples of
dreams which I have gathered from chil-
dren. A girl of nineteen months was made
to go without food for a day because she
had been sick in the morning, and, accord-
ing to nurse, had made herself ill through
eating strawberries. During the night,
after her day of fasting, she was heard
calling out her name during sleep, and
adding: “Tawberry, eggs, pap.” She is
dreaming that she is eating, and selects
out of her menu exactly what she sup-
poses she will not get much of just now.

The same kind of dream about a for-
bidden dish was that of a little boy of
twenty-two months. The day before he
was told to offer his uncle a present of a
small basket of cherries, of which the child
was, of course, only allowed one to taste.
He woke up with the joyful news: “Her-
mann eaten up all the cherries.”

A girl of three and a half years had made
during the day a sea trip which was too
short for her, and she cried when she had

26

to get out of the boat. The next morning
her story was that during the night she had
been on the sea, thus continuing the inter-
rupted trip.

A boy of five and a half years was not at
all pleased with his party during a walk in
the Dachstein region. Whenever a new
peak came into sight he asked if that were
the Dachstein, and, finally, refused to
accompany the party to the waterfall. His
behaviour was ascribed to fatigue; but a
better explanation was forthcoming when
the next morning he told his dream: he had
ascended the Dachstein. Obviously he ex-
pected the ascent of the Dachstein to be
the object of the excursion, and was vexed
by not getting a glimpse of the mountain.
The dream gave him what the day had
withheld. The dream of a girl of six was
similar; her father had cut short the walk
before reaching the promised objective on
account of the lateness of the hour. On
the way back she noticed a signpost giving
the name of another place for excursions;

27

ON DREAMS

her father promised to take her there also
some other day. She greeted her father
next day with the news that she had dreamt
that her father had been with her to both
places.

What is common in all these dreams is
obvious. They completely satisfy wishes
excited during the day which remain
unrealised. They are simply and undis-
guisedly realisations of wishes.

The following child-dream, not quite
understandable at first sight, is nothing
else than a wish realised. On account of
poliomyelitis a girl, not quite four years of
age, was brought from the country into
town, and remained over night with a
child-
less aunt in a big—for her, naturally,
huge-
bed. The next morning she stated
that she had dreamt that the bed was much
too small for her, so that she could find no
place in it. To explain this dream as a
wish is easy when we remember that to be
“big” is a frequently expressed wish of
all children. The bigness of the bed re-

28

ON DREAMS

minded Miss Little-Would-be-Big only too
forcibly of her smallness. This nasty situa-
tion became righted in her dream, and she
grew so big that the bed now became too
small for her.

Even when children’s dreams are com-
plicated and polished, their comprehension
as a realisation of desire is fairly evident.
A boy of eight dreamt that he was being
driven with Achilles in a war-chariot, guided
by Diomedes. The day before he was
assiduously reading about great heroes. It
is easy to show that he took these heroes
as his models, and regretted that he was
not living in those days.

From this short collection a further char-
acteristic of the dreams of children is mani-
fest—their connection with the life of the day.
The desires which are realised in these
dreams are left over from the day or, as a
rule, the day previous, and the feeling has
become intently emphasised and fixed dur-
ing the day thoughts. Accidental and in-
different matters, or what must appear so

29

ON DREAMS

to the child, find no acceptance in the
contents of the dream.

Innumerable instances of such dreams of
the infantile type can be found among adults
also, but, as mentioned, these are mostly
exactly like the manifest content. Thus, a
random selection of persons will generally
respond to thirst at night-time with a dream
about drinking, thus striving to get rid of
the sensation and to let sleep continue.
Many persons frequently have these com-
forting dreams before waking, just when
they are called. They then dream that
they are already up, that they are washing,
or already in school, at the office, etc.,
where they ought to be at a given time.
The night before an intended journey one
not infrequently dreams that one has
already arrived at the destination; before
going to a play or to a party the dream not
infrequently anticipates, in impatience, as
it were, the expected pleasure. At other
times the dream expresses the realisation
of the desire somewhat indirectly; some

30

ON DREAMS

connection, some sequel must be known—
the first step towards recognising the desire.
Thus, when a husband related to me the
dream of his young wife, that her monthly
period had begun, I had to bethink myself
that the young wife would have expected a
pregnancy if the period had been absent.
The dream is then a sign of pregnancy. Its
meaning is that it shows the wish realised
that pregnancy should not occur just yet.
Under unusual and extreme circumstances,
these dreams of the infantile type become
very frequent. The leader of a polar ex-
pedition tells us, for instance, that during
the wintering amid the ice the crew, with
their monotonous diet and slight rations,
dreamt regularly, like children, of fine meals,
of mountains of tobacco, and of home.
It is not uncommon that out of some long,
complicated and intricate dream one speci-
ally lucid part stands out containing un-
mistakably the realisation of a desire, but
bound up with much unintelligible matter.
On more frequently analysing the seem-
 

31

ON DREAMS

ingly more transparent dreams of adults,
it is astonishing to discover that these are
rarely as simple as the dreams of children,
and that they cover another meaning be-
yond that of the realisation of a wish.

It would certainly be a simple and con-
venient solution of the riddle if the work of
analysis made it at all possible for us to
trace the meaningless and intricate dreams
of adults back to the infantile type, to the
realisation of some intensely experienced
desire of the day. But there is no warrant
for such an expectation. Their dreams are
generally full of the most indifferent and
bizarre matter, and no trace of the realisa-
tion of the wish is to be found in their
content.

Before leaving these infantile dreams,
which are obviously unrealised desires, we
must not fail to mention another chief char-
acteristic of dreams, one that has been long
noticed, and one which stands out most
clearly in this class. I can replace any of
these dreams by a phrase expressing a

32

desire. If the sea trip had only lasted
longer; if I were only washed and dressed; if
I had only been allowed to keep the cherries
instead of giving them to my uncle. But
the dream gives something more than the
choice, for here the desire is already realised;
its realisation is real and actual. The
dream presentations consist chiefly, if not
wholly, of scenes and mainly of visual sense
images. Hence a kind of transformation
is not entirely absent in this class of dreams,
and this may be fairly designated as the
dream work. An idea merely existing in the
region of possibility is replaced by a vision
of its accomplishment.