THE ULTIMATE AID TO LEARNING: Page 118

knowledge available to us today. And if adults stock up on facts necessary in their fields painlessly, it is all to the good. It is to be hoped that mere accumulation of facts is not going to be substituted for understanding, evaluation, interpretation or analysis of material. There is a general tendency in our time to value information per se more highly than the capacity to think. Sleep-learning can aid greatly in time-saving, in increased efficiency, and in improving general knowledge. It will be up to the individual practitioners to use it wisely. Warnings that sleep-therapy should not be employed as a substitute for medical or psychotherapeutic treatment are included in most of the literature. Again it is up to the individual to follow these instructions for his own protection. But it is also a responsibility of the manufacturers of recorded material aimed as psychological self-help to keep them within the limits approved by specialists in the field of psychotherapy. Just as hypnosis, in the hands of a careless or irresponsible practitioner who does not combine it with intelligent application of psychotherapeutic methods where necessary, can be a dangerous technique, so sleep-therapy misapplied, can do a disservice to people seeking help. Sleep-learning's potential is staggering. Increasing sales of sleep-learning equipment indicate that interest in the technique is growing constantly. The beneficial uses of sleep-study have barely begun. It is to be hoped that so important a scientific achievement will be given its rightful place among educational and learning techniques.