Another of the many interesting peculiarities of dreams is their language, namely symbolism. At times the dreamer is able to recognize the symbolism but most often it escapes him. For example, a thoughtful person who dreams that he is being prodded by some one who is using a sharp instrument of some kind, and who awakens to find that he has been bitten by an insect has no difficulty in understanding that the prodding was symbolic of the insect. In other dreams the symbolism is a little more complex; for example, the labouring heart sometimes causes dreams of driving panting, sweating horses up hill; in this case, the horses symbolize the labouring heart. In other dreams the symbolism is even more difficult. Thus, in a dream we may see a friend in a hole in the ground, or caught beneath boards. Such a situation would seem to have no particular meaning, yet if it occurred to us that we had thought of our friend as likely to get himself into a hole, in a tight place, into difficulties in other words, we might understand that the dream made our thought appear fulfilled, and symbolized the thought.

Concerning the dream's use of symbols there has been much discussion. However, it is a fact that dreams make use of them, for without symbols dream-life would be almost impossible. Moreover, symbolism is not peculiar to dreams, for our language, our daily thoughts are full of it. We have statues symbolizing famous persons, heroic deeds, battles. Medicine has the cadu-ceus as its symbol; medicine also makes use of various signs symbolic of the amounts of certain specified drugs to be used in preparing the prescription, and signs denoting the way in which the medicine is to be employed. The Red Cross signifies humane care of the injured, the sick. We have flags symbolizing each country. Business employs many symbols, as Socony standing for the Standard Oil Company of New York. Religion has a great number of symbols; thus, statues symbolize the saints, baptism symbolizes purification, Good Friday the Crucifixion. The common idea that Friday is an unlucky day probably originated from Christ's being crucified on Friday. The notion that thirteen is of ill-omen is probably due to the fact that Christ had twelve apostles one of whom was a traitor; Christ plus twelve apostles make thirteen; especially significant, in some minds, is thirteen at table, also Friday the thirteenth. The wedding ring symbolizes eternity; each flower, colour and jewel has a symbolic meaning associated with it. Indeed, one might quote page after page of symbolisms in almost daily use.

Symbols are used for many useful purposes. In some instances they are employed for distinction, brevity, identification, as Socony. Sometimes they are used to rob unpleasant ideas of their associations. For example, death is often referred to as "going West," "passing away." If the person has no unpleasant ideas associated with death he may speak of it as "kicking the bucket," "petering out," "passing in the checks," "shoving up the daisies." If a certain thing is tabooed it is apt to have a number of symbols; this is quite true of sex matters, as "sowing wild oats," "animal passion," "living a fast life." Things of universal interest, as love, have innumerable symbols, as "cooing," "sweet on one another," "keeping company." Symbols are often used as witticisms. Thus an intoxicated person is said to be "pickled," "canned," "stewed," "soaked." As a means of showing contempt a person may be referred to as a "sap head," "solid ivory," "a piece of cheese." In the underworld any number of symbols are employed, as "mouth piece," for a lawyer;

"gay cat" a young boy used to beg and steal; "harnessed bulls" meaning uniformed officers; "hacks," meaning private watchmen; "the cannon" or "wire," meaning a pickpocket; " the old man " or " can opener," meaning a heavy instrument used to open small safes; "getting the office or high sign," meaning a signal from the outside man that all is well. Dreams are apt to use symbols more than waking thought. This is because practically all dreams are of a visual nature, and the thoughts must be dramatized accordingly; obviously, symbols which can be most easily made into images are preferred. In dreams one is practically in the same position as a person who had to act out what he wished another person to understand. We might compare the dream to plays in which the actors say nothing, acting out everything (pantomime). And as it is necessary to condense the thoughts of a pantomime performance in order that the play will be completed in a reasonable time, so must a condensation occur in dream plays.

If dreams appear absurd it is often because we fail to understand their symbolism.; A person kicking a bucket in a dream would not suggest to many of us the probability that death was symbolized; a person having a pig's head suggest the thought that a squealer, a betrayer was meant; a man with a pile of rocks, suggest riches. Moreover, some dreams may use symbols so freely that many of them are likely to escape the recognition of even a person familiar with dream life. Dreams are, also, swiftly acted, and the dream does not wait for us to study the significance of those portions which we fail to grasp. We are somewhat in the same position as we are at the theatre; the performance does not wait; we look on endeavouring to comprehend the significance of what we witness, but if the significance of some action escapes us we must pass this by, else miss the succeeding portions while we ponder over what has already occurred. In dreams, however, we are denied the privilege of pausing.

Without a knowledge of symbolism it is difficult, if not impossible, to properly understand certain dreams. Some dreams are comparatively free from symbolisms while others are replete with them. This is a matter which depends greatly upon the thought habits of the individual, some persons being more or less habituated to thinking symbolically. While some symbols are identical for many persons, in most instances each symbol will usually be found to vary with each dreamer; further, one symbol may have a variety of meanings just as one word may have different meanings. Thus, a can of soup may symbolize nitro-glycerine to a safe burglar but something entirely different to one who does not follow this profession. It follows, therefore, that the meaning of the symbols, if any, in a given dream cannot usually be told offhand, even by an expert in dream analysis, unless the dreamer makes known the thoughts on which the dream has been built.

From the foregoing, it is hoped that the reader will not conclude that a knowledge of symbols is the key by which all dreams may be understood. As stated, symbols vary with the dreamer; again, one symbol may have a variety of meanings to the same person. Though the writer feels convinced that dreams may, and often do make use of symbols, he believes also that many dreams do not employ them at all; and that, when present, their object is not chiefly the deception of the dreamer by hiding unethical thoughts, as some psychologists believe, but merely to meet the requirements of the visual nature of most dreams. "Where the dreams are purely or mostly visual, symbols are more apt to be found. The psycho-analysts have formulated a number of symbols which are supposedly constant, but it is hard to conceive that these symbols are as invariable as the psychoanalysts allege, or that they are so much of a sexual make-up. The psycho-analysts, or many of them at least, seem to be suffering from "fixed" ideas. In an effort toward making all things agree with their views, they have seized certain truths which are generally applicable to a limited extent, and have disregarded or minimized others that have as much, if not more, bearing on the problems with which their theories are concerned. Human thoughts, and human actions as well, are too complex to be explained in any one way. However, if we believe that dream symbolism is not sinister in its meaning, and that its meaning is a factor which varies with the dreamer, we will avoid burdening our minds with one-sided, imaginative ideas.

Probably the following example of the dream's use of symbolism will give the reader unfamiliar with the subject some idea of the matter.

I dreamed that I was leaving my room at a hotel. The hotel was peculiar; it had a great number of hallways, twists, and turns. The proprietress objected to my leaving; she said that there was to be an entertainment at the other side of the hotel. I argued with her: I failed to see how I would be interfering with the entertainment, etc. The dream scene quickly changed. I thought I was in the lobby of a theatre. The theatre had a ticket office almost on the sidewalk, and another well inside the lobby. There was a crowd of people present. I recognized a young man, who was sitting beside a grey-haired, old man; the latter seemed to be blind. He was introduced as the young man's father.

There are many interesting features about this dream. For instance, the hotel with the many hallways was identified with a hotel in Rutland, Vermont. While there I had noted this, actual peculiarity. The theatre, the shifting to which was doubtless due to the lady's saying there was to be an entertainment, was identified with a theatre in New York City, where I had been a day or two before my trip to Rutland. Our chief interest in the dream is with the young man's father. I was fairly well acquainted with this young man some ten or more years ago. He had two brothers and a mother living. Whether or not his father was living I did not know; I had heard that the father was addicted to alcohol and lived loosely, and had been denied entrance to his former home. I had not heard that he was blind, however. In my profession I occasionally meet with persons blind because of' alcoholism; also blind because of venereal disease. In fact, a day or two before the dream I had examined a patient who was blind, probably because of alcoholism; she had a bad moral history in addition. This examination was probably the instigator of the dream. In the dream the blindness of the young man's father stands for, or symbolizes intemperance and dissolute living. But like all symbols, this symbol might mean something else to another dreamer. For example, a person might dream of being blind, or of some one else who was blind, and the blindness might symbolize a groping for something desired with an inability to find it; it might symbolize ignorance, darkness, and many other things. However, in my own case, since the contact with a blind man would be likely to stir up my professional interest, the blindness symbol was of the nature given, especially since I was already conversant with the man's history.