dream in another manner, by uniting the actual features of two or more
persons in one dream image. It is in this manner that Dr. M. in my dream
was constructed, he bears the name of Dr. M., and speaks and acts as Dr.
M. does, but his bodily characteristics and his suffering belong to
another person, my eldest brother; a single feature, paleness, is doubly
determined, owing to the fact that it is common to both persons. Dr. R.
in my dream about my uncle is a similar composite person. But here the
dream image is prepared in still another manner. I have not united
features peculiar to the one with features of the other, and thereby
abridged the remembered image of each by certain features, but I have
adopted the method employed by Galton in producing family portraits, by
which he projects both pictures upon one another, whereupon the common
features stand out in stronger relief, while those which do not coincide
neutralize one another and become obscure in the picture. In the dream
of my uncle the _blond beard_ stands out in relief, as an emphasized
feature, from the physiognomy, which belongs to two persons, and which
is therefore blurred; furthermore the beard contains an allusion to my
father and to myself, which is made possible by its reference to the
fact of growing grey.
The construction of collective and composite persons is one of the chief
resources of the activity of dream condensation. There will soon be an
occasion for treating of this in another connection.
The notion “dysentery” in the dream about the injection likewise has a
manifold determination, on the one hand because of its paraphasic
assonance with diphtheria, and on the other because of its reference to
the patient, whom I have sent to the Orient, and whose hysteria has been
wrongly recognised.
The mention of “propyls” in the dream also proves to be an interesting
case of condensation. Not “propyls” but “amyls” were contained in the
dream thoughts. One might think that here a simple displacement had
occurred in the dream formation. And this is the case, but the
displacement serves the purposes of condensation, as is shown by the
following supplementary analysis. If I dwell for a moment upon the word
“propyls,” its assonance to the word “propylæum” suggests itself to me.
But the propylæum is to be found not only in Athens but also in Munich.
In the latter city I visited a friend the year before who was seriously
ill, and the reference to him becomes unmistakable on account of
_trimethylamin_, which follows closely upon _propyls_.
I pass over the striking circumstance that here, as elsewhere in the
analysis of dreams, associations of the most widely different values are
employed for the establishment of thought connections as though they
were equivalent, and I yield to the temptation to regard the process by
which _amyls_ in the dream thoughts are replaced by _propyls_, as though
it were plastic in the dream content.
On the one hand is the chain of ideas about my friend Otto, who does not
understand me, who thinks I am in the wrong, and who gives me the
cordial that smells like amyls; on the other the chain of
ideas—connected with the first by contrast—about my friend William, who
understands me and who would always think I was in the right, and to
whom I am indebted for so much valuable information about the chemistry
of the sexual processes.
Those characteristics of the associations centering about Otto which
ought particularly to attract my attention are determined by the recent
occasions which are responsible for the dream; _amyls_ belong to these
elements so determined which are destined to get into the dream content.
The group of associations “William” is distinctly vivified by the
contrast to Otto, and the elements in it which correspond to those
already excited in the “Otto” associations are thrown into relief. In
this whole dream I am continually referring to a person who excites my
displeasure and to another person whom I can oppose to him or her at
will, and I conjure up the friend as against the enemy, feature for
feature. Thus amyls in the Otto-group suggests recollections in the
other group belonging to chemistry; trimethylamin, which receives
support from several quarters, finds its way into the dream content.
“Amyls,” too, might have got into the dream content without undergoing
change, but it yields to the influence of the “William” group of
associations, owing to the fact that an element which is capable of
furnishing a double determination for amyls is sought out from the whole
range of recollections which the name “William” covers. The association
“propyls” lies in the neighbourhood of _amyls_; Munich with the
propylæum comes to meet _amyls_ from the series of associations
belonging to “William.” Both groups are united in _propyls—propylœum_.
As though by a compromise, this intermediary element gets into the dream
content. Here a _common mean_ which permits of a manifold determination
has been created. It thus becomes perfectly obvious that manifold
determination must facilitate penetration into the dream content. A
displacement of attention from what is really intended to something
lying near in the associations has thoughtlessly taken place, for the
sake of this mean-formation.
The study of the injection dream has now enabled us to get some insight
into the process of condensation which takes place in the formation of
dreams. The selection of those elements which occur in the dream content
more than once, the formation of new unities (collective persons,
composite images), and the construction of the common mean, these we
have been able to recognise as details of the condensing process. The
purpose which is served by condensation and the means by which it is
brought about will be investigated when we come to study the psychic
processes in the formation of dreams as a whole. Let us be content for
the present with establishing dream _condensation_ as an important
relation between the dream thoughts and the dream content.
The condensing activity of the dream becomes most tangible when it has
selected words and names as its object. In general words are often
treated as things by the dream, and thus undergo the same combinations,
displacements, and substitutions, and therefore also condensations, as
ideas of things. The results of such dreams are comical and bizarre word
formations. Upon one occasion when a colleague had sent me one of his
essays, in which he had, in my judgment, overestimated the value of a
recent physiological discovery and had expressed himself in extravagant
terms, I dreamed the following night a sentence which obviously referred
to this treatise: “_That is in true norekdal style_.” The solution of
this word formation at first gave me difficulties, although it was
unquestionably formed as a parody after the pattern of the superlatives
“colossal,” “pyramidal”; but to tell where it came from was not easy. At
last the monster fell apart into the two names Nora and Ekdal from two
well-known plays by Ibsen. I had previously read a newspaper essay on
Ibsen by the same author, whose latest work I was thus criticising in
the dream.
II.[DN] One of my female patients dreams that _a man with a light beard
and a peculiar glittering eye is pointing to a sign board attached to a
tree which reads: uclamparia—wet_.
Analysis. The man was rather authoritative looking, and his peculiar
glittering eye at once recalled St. Paul’s Cathedral, near Rome, where
she saw in mosaics the Popes that have so far ruled. One of the early
Popes had a golden eye (this was really an optical illusion which the
guides usually call attention to). Further associations showed that the
general physiognomy corresponded to her own clergyman (Pope), and the
shape of the light beard recalled her doctor (myself), while the stature
of the man in the dream recalled her father. All these persons stand in
the same relation to her; they are all guiding and directing her course
of life. On further questioning, the golden eye recalled gold—money—the
rather expensive psychoanalytic treatment which gives her a great deal
of concern. Gold, moreover, recalls the gold cure for alcoholism—Mr. D.,
whom she would have married if it had not been for his clinging to the
disgusting alcohol habit—she does not object to a person taking an
occasional drink; she herself sometimes drinks beer and cordials—this
again brings her back to her visit to St. Paul’s without the walls and
its surroundings. She remembers that in the neighbouring monastery of
the Three Fountains she drank a liquor made of eucalyptus by the
Trappist monks who inhabit this monastery. She then relates how the
monks transformed this malarial and swampy region into a dry and
healthful neighbourhood by planting there many eucalyptus trees. The
word “uclamparia” then resolves itself into eucalyptus and malaria, and
the word “wet” refers to the former swampy nature of the place. Wet also
suggests dry. Dry is actually the name of the man whom she would have
married except for his over-indulgence in alcohol. The peculiar name of
Dry is of Germanic origin (drei = three) and hence alludes to the Abbey
of the Three (drei) Fountains above mentioned. In talking about Mr.
Dry’s habit she used the strong words, “He could drink a fountain.” Mr.
Dry jocosely refers to his habit by saying, “You know I must drink
because I am always _dry_” (referring to his name). The eucalyptus also
refers to her neurosis, which was at first diagnosed as malaria. She
went to Italy because her attacks of anxiety, which were accompanied by
marked trembling and shivering, were thought to be of malarial origin.
She bought some eucalyptus oil from the monks, and she maintains that it
has done her much good.
The condensation _uclamparia—wet_ is therefore the point of junction for
the dream as well as for the neurosis.[DO]
III. In a somewhat long and wild dream of my own, the chief point of
which is apparently a sea voyage, it happens that the next landing is
called _Hearsing_ and the one farther on _Fliess_. The latter is the
name of my friend living in B., who has often been the objective point
of my travels. But Hearsing is put together from the names of places in
the local environment of Vienna, which so often end in _ing_:
_Hietzing_, _Liesing_, _Moedling_ (Medelitz, “meæ deliciæ,” my own name,
“_my joy_”) (joy = German Freude), and the English _hearsay_, which
points to libel and establishes the relation to the indifferent dream
excitement of the day—a poem in the _Fliegende Blaetter_ about a
slanderous dwarf, “Saidhe Hashesaid.” By connecting the final syllable
“_ing_” with the name _Fliess_, “_Vlissingen_” is obtained, which is a
real port on the sea-voyage which my brother passes when he comes to
visit us from England. But the English for _Vlissingen_ is _Flushing_,
which signifies blushing and recalls erythrophobia (fear of blushing),
which I treat, and also reminds me of a recent publication by Bechterew
about this neurosis, which has given occasion for angry feelings in me.
IV. Upon another occasion I had a dream which consisted of two parts.
The first was the vividly remembered word “Autodidasker,” the second was
truthfully covered by a short and harmless fancy which had been
developed a few days before, and which was to the effect that I must
tell Professor N., when I saw him next: “The patient about whose
condition I last consulted you is really suffering from a neurosis, just
as you suspected.” The coinage “_Autodidasker_” must, then, not only
satisfy the requirement that it should contain or represent a compressed
meaning, but also that this meaning should have a valid connection with
my purpose, which is repeated from waking life, of giving Professor N.
his due credit.
Now _Autodidasker_ is easily separated into _author_ (German _Autor_),
_autodidact_, and _Lasker_, with whom is associated the name Lasalle.
The first of these words leads to the occasion of the dream—which this
time is significant. I had brought home to my wife several volumes by a
well-known author, who is a friend of my brother’s, and who, as I have
learned, comes from the same town as I (J. J. David). One evening she
spoke to me about the profound impression which the touching sadness of
a story in one of David’s novels, about a talented but degenerate
person, had made upon her, and our conversation turned upon the
indications of talent which we perceive in our own children. Under the
influence of what she had just read, my wife expressed a concern
relative to our children, and I comforted her with the remark that it is
just such dangers that can be averted by education. During the night my
train of thoughts proceeded further, took up the concern of my wife, and
connected with it all sorts of other things. An opinion which the poet
had expressed to my brother upon the subject of marriage showed my
thoughts a by-path which might lead to a representation in the dream.
This path led to Breslau, into which city a lady who was a very good
friend of ours had married. I found in Breslau Lasker and Lasalle as
examples realising our concern about being ruined at the hands of a
woman, examples which enabled me to represent both manifestations of
this influence for the bad at once.[DP] The “Cherchez la femme,” in
which these thoughts may be summed up, when taken in another sense,
brings me to my brother, who is still unmarried and whose name is
Alexander. Now I see that Alex, as we abbreviate the name, sounds almost
like inversion of Lasker and that this factor must have taken part in
giving my thoughts their detour by way of Breslau.
But this playing with names and syllables in which I am here engaged
contains still another meaning. The wish that my brother may have a
happy family life is represented by it in the following manner. In the
artistic romance _L’Œuvre_, the writer, as is well known, has
incidentally given an episodic account of himself and of his own family
happiness, and he appears under the name of _Sandoz_. Probably he has
taken the following course in the name transformation. _Zola_ when
inverted (as children like so much to do) gives _Aloz_. But that was
still too undisguised for him; therefore he replaced the syllable _Al_,
which stands at the beginning of the name Alexander, by the third
syllable of the same name, _sand_, and thus _Sandoz_ came about. In a
similar manner my _autodidasker_ originated.
My fancy, that I am telling Professor N. that the patient whom we had
both seen is suffering from a neurosis, got into the dream in the
following manner. Shortly before the close of my working year I received
a patient in whose case my diagnosis failed me. A serious organic
affliction—perhaps some changes in the spine—was to be assumed, but
could not be proved. It would have been tempting to diagnose the trouble
as a neurosis, and this would have put an end to all difficulties, had
it not been for the fact that the sexual anamnesis, without which I am
unwilling to admit a neurosis, was so energetically denied by the
patient. In my embarrassment I called to my assistance the physician
whom I respect most of all men (as others do also), and to whose
authority I surrender most completely. He listened to my doubts, told me
he thought them justified, and then said: “Keep on observing the man, it
is probably a neurosis.” Since I know that he does not share my opinions
about the etiology of neuroses, I suppressed my disagreement, but I did
not conceal my scepticism. A few days after I informed the patient that
I did not know what to do with him, and advised him to go to some one
else. Thereupon, to my great astonishment, he began to beg my pardon for
having lied to me, saying that he had felt very much ashamed; and now he
revealed to me just that piece of sexual etiology which I had expected,
and which I found necessary for assuming the existence of a neurosis.
This was a relief to me, but at the same time a humiliation; for I had
to admit that my consultant, who was not disconcerted by the absence of
anamnesis, had made a correct observation. I made up my mind to tell him
about it when I saw him again, and to say to him that he had been in the
right and I in the wrong.
This is just what I do in the dream. But what sort of a wish is supposed
to be fulfilled if I acknowledge that I am in the wrong? This is exactly
my wish; I wish to be in the wrong with my apprehensions—that is to say,
I wish that my wife whose fears I have appropriated in the dream
thoughts may remain in the wrong. The subject to which the matter of
being in the right or in the wrong is related in the dream is not far
distant from what is really interesting to the dream thoughts. It is the
same pair of alternatives of either organic or functional impairment
through a woman, more properly through the sexual life—either tabetic
paralysis or a neurosis—with which the manner of Lasalle’s ruin is more
or less loosely connected.
In this well-joined dream (which, however, is quite transparent with the
help of careful analysis) Professor N. plays a part not merely on
account of this analogy and of my wish to remain in the wrong, or on
account of the associated references to Breslau and to the family of our
friend who is married there—but also on account of the following little
occurrence which was connected with our consultation. After he had
attended to our medical task by giving the above mentioned suggestion,
his interest was directed to personal matters. “How many children have
you now?”—“Six.”—A gesture of respect and reflection.—“Girls,
boys?”—“Three of each. They are my pride and my treasure.”—“Well, there
is no difficulty about the girls, but the boys give trouble later on in
their education.” I replied that until now they had been very tractable;
this second diagnosis concerning the future of my boys of course pleased
me as little as the one he had made earlier, namely, that my patient had
only a neurosis. These two impressions, then, are bound together by
contiguity, by being successively received, and if I incorporate the
story of the neurosis into the dream, I substitute it for the
conversation upon education which shows itself to be even more closely
connected with the dream thoughts owing to the fact that it has such an
intimate bearing upon the subsequently expressed concerns of my wife.
Thus even my fear that N. may turn out to be right in his remarks on the
educational difficulties in the case of boys is admitted into the dream
content, in that it is concealed behind the representation of my wish
that I may be wrong in such apprehensions. The same fancy serves without
change to represent both conflicting alternatives.
The verbal compositions of the dream are very similar to those which are
known to occur in paranoia, but which are also found in hysteria and in
compulsive ideas. The linguistic habits of children, who at certain
periods actually treat words as objects and invent new languages and
artificial syntaxes, are in this case the common source for the dream as
well as for psychoneuroses.
When speeches occur in the dream, which are expressly distinguished from
thoughts as such, it is an invariable rule that the dream speech has
originated from a remembered speech in the dream material. Either the
wording has been preserved in its integrity, or it has been slightly
changed in the course of expression; frequently the dream speech is
pieced together from various recollections of speeches, while the
wording has remained the same and the meaning has possibly been changed
so as to have two or more significations. Not infrequently the dream
speech serves merely as an allusion to an incident, at which the
recollected speech occurred.[DQ]
(_b_) _The Work of Displacement_
Another sort of relation, which is no less significant, must have come
to our notice while we were collecting examples of dream condensation.
We have seen that those elements which obtrude themselves in the dream
content as its essential components play a part in the dream thoughts
which is by no means the same. As a correlative to this the converse of
this thesis is also true. That which is clearly the essential thing in
the dream thoughts need not be represented in the dream at all. The
dream, as it were, is _eccentric_; its contents are grouped about other
elements than the dream thoughts as a central point. Thus, for example,
in the dream about the botanical monograph the central point of the
dream content is apparently the element “botanical”; in the dream
thoughts we are concerned with the complications and conflicts which
result from services rendered among colleagues which put them under
obligations to one another, subsequently with the reproach that I am in
the habit of sacrificing too much to my hobbies, and the element
“botanical” would in no case find a place in this nucleus of the dream
thoughts if it were not loosely connected with it by an antithesis, for
botany was never among my favourite studies. In the Sappho dream of my
patient the ascending and descending, being upstairs and down, is made
the central point; the dream, however, is concerned with the danger of
sexual relations with persons of low _degree_, so that only one of the
elements of the dream thoughts seems to have been taken over into the
dream content, albeit with unseemly elaboration. Similarly in the dream
about June bugs, whose subject is the relation of sexuality to cruelty,
the factor of cruelty has indeed reappeared but in a different
connection and without the mention of the sexual, that is to say, it has
been torn from its context and transformed into something strange.
Again, in the dream about my uncle, the blond beard, which seems to be
its central point, appears to have no rational connection with the
wishes for greatness which we have recognised as the nucleus of the
dream thoughts. It is only to be expected if such dreams give a
displaced impression. In complete contrast to these examples, the dream
of Irma’s injection shows that individual elements can claim the same
place in the formation of dreams which they occupy in the dream
thoughts. The recognition of these new and entirely variable relations
between the dream thoughts and the dream content is at first likely to
excite our astonishment. If we find in a psychic process of normal life
that an idea has been culled from among a number of others, and has
acquired particular vividness in our consciousness, we are in the habit
of regarding this result as a proof that the victorious idea is endowed
with a peculiarly high degree of psychic value—a certain degree of
interest. We now discover that this value of the individual elements in
the dream thoughts is not preserved in the formation of the dream, or
does not come into consideration. For there is no doubt as to the
elements of the dream thoughts which are of the highest value; our
judgment tells us immediately. In the formation of dreams those elements
which are emphasized with intense interest may be treated as though they
were inferior, and other elements are put in their place which certainly
were inferior in the dream thoughts. We are at first given the
impression that the psychic intensity[DR] of the individual ideas does
not come into consideration at all for the selection made by the dream,
but only their greater or smaller multiplicity of determination. Not
what is important in the dream thoughts gets into the dream, but what is
contained in them several times over, one might be inclined to think;
but our understanding of the formation of dreams is not much furthered
by this assumption, for at the outset it will be impossible to believe
that the two factors of manifold determination and of integral value do
not tend in the same direction in the influence they exert on the
selection made by the dream. Those ideas in the dream thoughts which are
most important are probably also those which recur most frequently, for
the individual dream thoughts radiate from them as from central points.
And still the dream may reject those elements which are especially
emphasized and which receive manifold support, and may take up into its
content elements which are endowed only with the latter property.