For the understanding of repression, Freud has found it necessary to describe a theoretical but very potent 'censor' who, as before explained, stands between the conscious and unconscious, and who disallows activities from becoming conscious. The power of the censor is seen in hysterical repression and conversion, and allied neuroses, but its handiwork can best be studied in dreams.

In healthy normal life painful ideas are ab-reacted * in various ways. An insult is avenged by a blow, or an expression of scorn, ironical wit, a storm of tears; or otherwise; or by bringing the painful affect into association with moral ideas leading to wholesome 'forgetting.' In another case, owing perhaps to the nature of the emotion and the social amenities, added to the innate tendencies of the individual, the affect is suppressed into the unconscious, the forgetting is unsuccessful, and a psychoneurotic symptom supervenes, as in the case of Miss Lucy R------, to which we shall refer later.

* The German abreagiren has no exact English equivalent. It will therefore be rendered by 'ab-react'; the literal meaning is to react away from, or to react off (Brill's footnote, Papers on Hysteria).

An instance of suppression of a distasteful incident occurred in a member of my own family recently. A little girl of two years and two months was discovered by a friend, who was in charge of her at the time, in a deeply cyanosed state, and obviously choking. Mrs. A------, suspecting the cause, instantly picked her up and inverted her, giving her at the same time a few vigorous slaps and shakes; the swallowed halfpenny was dislodged and brought up, accompanied by the child's supper. She was thereupon very resentful and very frightened, and refused to be comforted, and, whenever she saw Mrs. A------ during the next two days, greeted her with shrieks of fright and temper. Mrs. A------'s visit then came to an end, and the child's proper guardian returned to take care of her again. From the moment the latter appeared on the scene, sweet temper and good spirits were restored, and whenever Mrs. A------'s visit and the doings of the child during that time were referred to, a stony and vacant expression descended upon her, nor could she be made to respond in any way to memories in this connection, though it was clearly proved that other events occurring immediately before and after the disagreeable incident were minutely recalled - for instance, the arrival of a postcard directed to herself, with two ' meows ' (cats) upon it.

This appears to be one of those complete and rapid suppressions into the unconscious, of which young children are capable to a very much larger extent than adults, and which may easily form a focus of psychic trouble in the future.*

* Several months after this incident the child in question, on the rare occasions when she sees Mrs. A------, still bursts into tears and runs frightened to the nearest protector. The only explanation she can give of her conduct being ' Me not like Mrs. A------,' nor is there any other person in her small world to whom she gives a similar reception. The stimulus always produces an exhibition of dislike or dread undoubtedly fed from the unconscious.

Dreams reveal many trends in the ego which are concealed in waking life. Eder writes: * 'Do we want to know the springs of our conduct, it is the unconscious we must lay bare; though this can be done in diverse ways, it is most readily disclosed in dream life; we may without exaggeration talk of "ruling passion strong in dreams." Here we receive the first and rudest shock that Freud delivers - dreams have a meaning . . . there is nothing else in Freud's theory which is likely to play the same havoc with our preconceptions, though there will be, and should be, much to give us pause.'

It is in dreams that the censor's handiwork can be most readily studied, and the analogies of its conduct as applied to waking life best seen. There is a close connection between day dreams and night dreams - especially significant when one bears in mind the fact that in certain instances 'phantasies or day dreams are immediate precursors of hysterical symptoms. . . . These depend directly, not on the memories themselves, but upon phantasies built on the basis of memories.' † Both day and night dreams have the following characteristics in common - viz., they are the fulfilment of wishes, are based on childish experiences, and enjoy a certain amount of indulgence from the censor.

Freud says that nothing that gets into the dream is unimportant; it appears so because it is not understood. That misunderstanding takes place is due to the fact that the wishes are usually antagonistic to the conscious ego of the dreamer. In order that they may pass the endo-psychic censor, the dream thoughts must undergo distortion and disguise; this is part of the dream work, as also is condensation, dramatization, and inversion. It is by means of an analysis of the latent dream thoughts and 'free associations' therewith that the true meaning of the symbols is found.

A censor is constantly active in waking life. It has tentatively been described as ' the spirit of the age.' Another thinks of it as ' the racial conscience,' or ' the ethical sense.' Thus suppression of unwelcome wishes constantly takes place, and from these some are supplied to the dream. Others are contributed from the infantile suppressed wishes - e.g., those relating to the infantile sexual life of the dreamer. These, as before indicated, have from their nature met with most vigorous repression, and, having failed to become sublimated, remain psychically active, and able to appear in a day dream, a night dream, or a psychoneurotic state. As in infantile life, so in dream life, they are quickly censored out of recognition.

* Transactions of the Psycho-Medical Society, vol. iii., part iii. † ' Interpretation of Dreams,' Freud, p. 393.

A brief reference must be made to the word-association test. This method of investigation was introduced by Galton thirty years ago, and is now elaborated by Professor Jung into a most useful technique applicable to psycho-analysis. A list of some hundred carefully selected words is made. These are called out to the patient one by one, and he is asked to reply with the first word that comes into his head, his attention having been previously directed by conversation to the symptoms it is desirable to investigate. A long reaction time usually points to a resistance, so also does failure to respond within a given time, and the frequent repetition of the same word in subsequent reactions, or the use of far-fetched associations. The technique is easy to acquire, but the same cannot be said of the interpretation of the reactions, in which, as in the interpretation of dreams, long practice and experience alone can give authority. But it is quite obvious that by this means even a beginner may find much that is useful and suggestive in unearthing the origin of a symptom. Even in ordinary conversation, a sympathetic person is able to feel that certain topics are unacceptable, and that certain words bring up a chain of painful ideas.

A blush, a stammer, a twitching lip, a restless foot, as well as hesitation or sudden change of subject, betray perturbation. To conceal this perturbation, the subject of the wordassociation test uses extra care, consciously or unconsciously, in selecting the reaction word, instead of producing the first that comes into his mind. Any normal adult will resort to the same artifice in a social dilemma, and I have under observation a child of less than two, who is a past-mistress in the art of diversion: when corrected for a little fault, she will betray by a blush that the rebuke has gone home, but will artfully try and divert her mentor by such a remark as, 'Look at the bow-wow!'