rmal and
peculiar mental action, of which numerous examples might be given, but
which are so well known that it is hardly necessary at this late date to
elaborate in detail. The idea has been so extensively employed by Hudson
in his theory of "the subjective mind," and by others, that the general
theory has pretty well saturated the public mind. Hudson's
theory--otherwise open to many criticisms--is very lax, not to say
erroneous, in its construction, and is not accepted today by any
competent psychologist. Apart from the mysterious powers with which he
endowed the "subjective" mind, he makes it now synonymous with the
_whole_ of the subconscious life outside the field of immediate
consciousness; now as equivalent merely to the hypnotic stratum; now to
a dream-like self, etc., until the term has become so elastic that it
means nothing intelligible but everything in general! As understood by
the modern psychologist, the term "subconscious mind" must be defined
far more accurately before we can proceed to use it as a working
hypothesis. What, then, is understood by the subconscious mind? What
part of us can perform conscious operations without our being conscious
of them? How can we perform intelligent operations without intelligence?
It all depends upon the meaning we give to our terms. We must begin by
explaining just what is meant by the "subconscious mind"; then, perhaps,
we can better understand its operations and aberrations.

There are several theories as to the nature of this subterranean stratum
of our being--this hidden self--each of which finds its champion in the
modern psychological schools. First, there is the theory that it
consists merely in the mechanical workings of the brain--a purely
physiological theory, which makes the subconscious mind synonymous with
certain brain activities--much the same as a series of complex
reactions. It is well known that there is a brain-change corresponding
to every thought we think; and the nature of the connection between the
two has been one of the most debated points in metaphysics, and is one
which, if we thoroughly understood it, would doubtless solve in a great
measure the nature of life and of consciousness. Without going into this
very complex question, however, there remains the undoubted _fact_ of
the connection; the thought, which is known by us in consciousness; and
the brain-change, which has been verified by ingenious mechanical and
electrical instruments, an