ABSTRACT
Herbert Silberer's thoughts on the hypnagogic state contained in his "Report on a Method of Eliciting and Observing Certain Symbolic Hallucination-Phenomena" were groundbreaking. Like a true scientist of a bygone era, the genesis of his original inquiry was his own self-reflection. Silberer delineates three types of such symbols: material phenomena; functional phenomena; and somatic phenomena. Silberer offers numerous examples of each category, and also discusses the, at times, overlapping of the categories. His descriptions are vivid; his reasoning mostly compelling; and the cohesion of his arguments strong. The autosymbolic phenomenon in the hypnagogic state does not correlate with the 'real' meaning of symbols in Freudian wish-fulfillment dream theory. Silberer is also clear to pay appropriate homage to Freud at the very onset of his exposition.
