Page:American Journal of Psychology Volume 21.djvu/305

Rh In real life Mr. X, who is still alive, is an indifferent acquaintance, but his brother had been engaged to be married to the patient, and they were deeply attached to each other. Her parents, however, manoeuvred to bring about a misunderstanding between the two, and at their instigation, in a fit of pique, she* married her present husband, to her enduring regret. Mr. X's brother was furiously jealous at this, and the paean of joy he raised in the dream does not appear so incongruous when we relate it to the idea of the death of the patient's husband as it does in reference to his own brother's death. His exuberant movements and ' 'dancing like a savage' ' reminded the patient of native ceremonies she had seen, particularly marriage ceremonies. The yucca tree (a sturdy shrub indigenous to the Western States) proved to be a phallic symbol, and the young blossoms represented offspring. The patient bitterly regrets never having had any children, a circumstance she ascribes to her husband's vices. In the dream, therefore, her husband dies unregretted by any one, she marries her lover and has many children.

(4) The following two dreams illustrate the formation of neologisms. The patient, a woman of thirty-nine, dreamt that ''she was sitting on a stage with four others, rehearsing a play they were to take part in; it seemed to be called "The Wreck of the Kipperling." Her title rôle was called Kipper. She felt foolish and embarrassed''. This feeling she had several times recently experienced, circumstances having placed her in an awkward and compromising situation in regard to a man and woman, for both of whom she cared. Years ago, when in school in France, she had greatly suffered from feeling awkward and silly at having to read aloud in class from French plays, a language she imperfectly pronounced. Three days before the dream she had been reading a volume of satirical poems by Owen Seaman, and being a foreigner had had considerable difficulty in understanding and appreciating them. This had distressed her, for her friends thought very highly of them. Her embarrassment culminated at the reading of one poem, in which Rudyard Kipling is depreciated and entitled "Kipperling;" she much admired Kipling's writings and had felt foolish when her two friends assured her he was crude and vulgar. She resented his being nicknamed Kipperliug, and said "Fancy giving a poet the name of a silly little fish." From the fusion of Kipling and Kipperling, and perhaps influenced by the fact that the latter name had been employed by Seaman, she had coined for herself in the dream the title of Kipper. Kipper (fried herring) is frequently used in London slang to denote foolish people.

(5) In another dream the same patient imagined she was –8