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The aim of this communication can be indicated best by stating the source of the material with which it deals. The writer recently requested a class of university students who were studying psychology to write out an account of some well-remembered dream. The class being an introductory one, none of those who handed in reports had, so far as is known, any acquaintance with psycho-analysis. Among the dreams recorded was the following;
'Last year I taught school in the country. My room was upstairs with a window at the back from which was a fire-escape. One night I dreamt that some men attacked the school and the teacher from downstairs rushed up, followed by all her pupils to climb out of my fire-escape. She carried a dish-pan full of dishes. When she came to the window she threw out the dishes one by one. Then I remember helping the children to climb out. Of course all this was done very quickly, for the attackers were smashing in the doors downstairs. The dream did not end very satisfactorily, as the men did not get in, or we did not get out'.
The general meaning of this dream is plain. The dream thoughts contain a sexual wish coupled with a wish for children. The manifest content employs the familiar 'house' and 'burglar' symbols; and in relation to the teacher who rushes up from downstairs, one is reminded of Freud's words in the Traumdeutung, 'there are also