We should be mindful, too, that many of the supposedly remarkable performances of dreams are impositions on our gullible sleeping judgment. Frequently we think that we have made some wonderful discovery; when we awake, and should we be able to recall the apparently remarkable find, we are likely to be disgusted when waking judgment submits it to inspection. If we do not recall it, many of us sigh, and feel that our memories have cheated us out of something valuable. Some persons inclined to the mystical may, also, believe in such cases that some supernatural or otherwise mysterious person gave them the information, since, in the dream, a figure which they did not recognize explained the matter to them. However, it is the tendency of the dream to be dramatic, to talk in parables; and we may be sure that no one tells us anything in dreams that we did not know before.

1 Op. cit., p. 523.

If many valuable suggestions have been received in or following dreams, many, more, of much more value, have come to mind more or less peculiarly, in the waking state. Galileo, while idly watching the oscillations of the great bronze lamp swinging from the roof of Pisa Cathedral had the idea of the pendulum come to mind; it might be mentioned, however, that it was something like fifty years before Galileo successfully worked out the idea, and made a practical pendulum. The telegraph code is said to have been suggested in a moment of profound abstraction. Jastrow,1 in speaking of important discoveries emerging into consciousness at moments of leisurely occupation, says: " Sir William Hamilton evolved the intricate conception of the invention of quaternions while walking with Lady Hamilton in the streets of Dublin, the flash of discovery coming to him just as he was approaching Brougham Bridge. Mozart had the aria of the beautiful quintette in 'The Magic Flute' come to him while playing a game of billiards, and seemed prepared for occasional influxes of musical ideas by carrying a note-book for their instant record. An inventor suddenly conceived the proper way of constructing a prism for a binocular microscope - a problem which he had long thought of and abandoned - while reading an uninteresting novel. Professor Kir-kule tells how he saw the atoms dancing in mid-air in conformity with his theory of atomic grouping while riding on top of a London bus."

1 The Subconscious, 1906, p. 95, Houghton, Mifflin Co.

No doubt, many of us ordinary people receive many suggestions which, if we were able to utilize them, would make us famous. However, countless persons saw an apple fall before Newton1; many heard of the immunity conferred by cow-pox before Jenner; countless had watched soap bubbles but it was to Dr. Young that they suggested the theory of interferences, and led to his discovery of the laws relative to the diffraction of light; ship worms taught Sir Isambard Brunei how to build a tunnel under the Thames; two children playing with a log of wood, one tapping at one end, the other listening at the other end gave Laennec the idea of the stethoscope; a spider's web gave Sir Samuel Brown the idea of his suspension bridge. 'Round about us daily are countless things, full of value, but which mean little or nothing to most of us, because our training, experience, and ability to apply what we observe or think about are feeble. Moreover, even if we did get a valuable idea we would expect it to quickly solve itself and quickly make us famous. Few of us would spend as much time as Galileo did with his idea; yet, if we study so-called geniuses we will find that they were close students of what we would call little things; nothing was too small for their notice. Further, once they received an idea they followed it up, undaunted by failure, or derision even.

1This story of Newton is probably not true: the same can be said of the suggestion Watt is supposed to have received while watching a kettle on his mother's stove. Both instances, however, even though historical inventions, illustrate the methods by which valuable ideas come to the minds able to use them.

It is true that, at times, men of greatness have ideas of value suddenly suggested to them, and that they cany these ideas to completion quickly. This does not mean, however, that genius is a peculiar state, a gift, requiring no labour. Concerning the man of genius there are any number of misconceptions. Many believe that the genius is born. While it is true that genius is hereditary in some cases, it is usually a matter of hard work. If we study men of genius we will find that they worked hard, from boyhood usually. Mozart said: "Nobody takes so much pains in the study of composition as I. You could not easily name a famous master in music whom I have not industriously studied, often going through his work several times." Napoleon is said to have occupied his moments supposedly given to pleasure, as in the opera, by pondering over questions such as: "I have ten thousand men at Strassburg, fifteen thousand at Magdeburg, twenty thousand at Wurzburg. By what stages must they march so as to reach Ratisbon on three successive days." Moreover, genius is far from being partial madness as some contend. There are some feeble-minded and insane geniuses, but these are few and their genius is rarely of practical value. If genius appears to have eccentricities, it is because we note them in the genius and not in the average man. For every peculiar genius there are thousands of ordinary mortals similarly afflicted but whose peculiarities receive no attention.

The discoveries of genius which come suddenly are, therefore, the product of hard work. By dint of long study geniuses have accumulated a great wealth of material which has been stocked up in their minds. Given a problem all the data is there to help them; they do not need reference to other libraries other than their own minds. Moreover, years of study and application enable them to readily see the significance of what would be valueless to the untrained.