Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, April 1899: Volume LIV, No. 6, April 1899 — John Shaqi
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, April 1899: Volume LIV, No. 6, April 1899Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, April 1899: Volume LIV, No. 6, April 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
I have had frequent occasion to refer to the objectivation of
subjective sensations as a phenomenon of dreaming. It is, indeed, so
frequent and so important a phenomenon that it needs some further
reference. In hysteria (which by some of the most recent authorities,
like Sollier, is regarded as a species of somnambulism), in
"demon-possession," and many other abnormal phenomena it is well known
that there is, as it were, a doubling of personality; the _ego_ is
split up into two or more parts, each of which may act as a separate
personality. The literature of morbid psychology is full of
extraordinary and varied cases exhibiting this splitting up of
personality. But it is usually forgotten that in dreams the doubling
of personality is a normal and constant phenomenon in all healthy
people. In dreaming we can divide our body between ourselves and
another person. Thus a medical friend dreamed that in conversation
with a lady patient he found his hand resting on her knee and was
unable to remove it; awakening in horror from this unprofessional
situation he found his own hand firmly clasped between his knees; the
hand had remained his own, the knee had become another person's, the
hand being claimed, rather than the knee, on account of its greater
tactile sensibility. Again, we sometimes objectify our own physical
discomforts felt during sleep in the emotions of some other person, or
even in some external situations. And, possibly, every dream in which
there is any dramatic element is an instance of the same splitting up
of personality; in our dreams we may experience shame or confusion
from the rebuke or the arguments of other persons, but the persons who
administer the rebuke or apply the argument are still ourselves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account