ABSTRACT
Dreaming, very possibly, begins as far back as the child's first year, for even the sleeping infant shows at times reactions such as screams, sudden sucking movements, etc., which lead us to infer a dream-concept, no matter of how indefinite a character. Only suppositions are possible with regard to the frequency of childhood's dreams. Most likely only the lighter sleep periods, just after falling asleep, or shortly before awakening, the restless sleep of sickness, are accompanied by vivid dream-fantasies. That such nervous fantasies are especially violent in feverish attacks is a matter of common knowledge. But, quite apart from health, even outer circumstances likely to disturb sleep may affect the child's dream-fantasy by producing terror; of this we have a very plain instance in Hilde. In one case the Scupins could very plainly observe the transition of a real dream-account into a confabulation; at the same time this example is interesting from the wealth of detail in the dream-account.
