Mental mechanisms / by William A. White.

  • White, William A. (William Alanson), 1870-1937.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Mental mechanisms / by William A. White. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    different experiences of the same thing; and so we see how the same influences that condition the dream also condition certain phenomena in the waking state. Symbolism A word only about symbolism in connection with this subject of dreams, for it seems the most appropriate place, although the phenomenon is widespread and by no means confined to expres- sion in dreams. A symbolic method of thought or expression implies a primi- tive, simple type of mind; one that does not look beneath the surface of things, but accepts without question the obvious. One thing resembles another in some single character only perhaps, and immediately the conclusion is reached that they are related in nature or perhaps even identical. This is the crudest of all forms of reasoning—reasoning by analogy,^ and gives rise not only to all sorts of errors but to beliefs that are most grotesque and fantastical. Examples are many and may be found in abun- dance in the superstitions and folk-lore of all peoples. We all know something of the good and evil spirits, in the beliefs of different peoples, that are supposed to account for things; of the dryads and nymphs, the demons and the furies, the fairies and trolls, the banshee, hobgoblins, ghouls, ghosts and gnomes. They could all be pressed into service as examples of symbolism and reasoning by analogy. Shute gives in illustration^ the belief of the English peasants that they hear in the gale that sweeps past their cottage the wail of the spirits of unbaptized children, and cites Tylor, who recorded an experience in Cornwall of the belief that shingles was attributed to a kind of coiling serpent. A young girl was afflicted and the family waited in grave apprehension lest the animal completely encircle her. They believed that if the crea- * D. K. Shute: The Philosophical Foundations of Charlatanry in Medi- cine. Washington Medical Annals, Vol. VI, No. 6. * Loc. cit.