Meetings of the New York Psychoanalytic Society

DISCUSSION: Dr. Max Schur quoted Otto Loewi's dream experiences which led to the discovery of the chemical transmission of nerve impulses. Eighteen years previously, Loewi had an idea about chemical transmission, then had two dreams, only the second of which was recalled. Schur postulated that some hypercathexis had taken place, allowing ideas created via the secondary process to reach consciousness after many years. The first dream message was a subliminal perception and created a stimulus which was activated the next night.

Dr. Jacob Arlow took issue with certain points in the paper and suggested that the so-called dreams from above could also be understood in terms of the fulfilment of an unconscious wish. Insights might be used as day residues, and in sleep the dreamer takes over the father's phallus which can then be exhibited to the world. He also pointed out that in dreams and reveries where discoveries were made, symbolic representations of the mother's body are frequently found. Examples are riding in a bus or floating in a tub. The operation of a common fantasy is thus suggested: 'When I was inside mother, I was close to father's phallus'.

Dr. Edward Harkavy wondered about the distinction between dreams from above and the usual garden variety of dreams. He pointed out that the symbolism in the dreams quoted by Lewin is the same as we see in ordinary dreams. The difference may lie in the economic properties. Dr. Rudolph Loewenstein felt it might be useful to distinguish between the manifest content of the dreams under discussion and the reaction of the dreamer. Some dreams do not contain the revelation in the manifest content but, as in the case of Descartes, only in the associations to the dream. These differences may be sociological and anthropological.

Dr. Walter Stewart commented on the relationship between manifest and latent dream content and recalled that Freud modified his ideas about the wish-fulfilling function of the dream in Beyond Th