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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Psychopathology of Everyday Life, by
-Sigmund Freud
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Psychopathology of Everyday Life
-
-Author: Sigmund Freud
-
-Translator: A. A. Brill
-
-Release Date: February 5, 2022 [eBook #67332]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Thomas Frost, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed
-             Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-             produced from images generously made available by The
-             Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY
-LIFE ***
-
-
-
-
-
-
-  PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
-  OF EVERYDAY LIFE
-
-
-  BY
-  PROFESSOR DR. SIGMUND FREUD, LL.D.
-
-  AUTHORIZED ENGLISH EDITION, WITH
-  INTRODUCTION BY
-
-  A. A. BRILL, Ph.B., M.D.
-
-_Chief of Clinic of Psychiatry Columbia University; Chief of the
-Neurological Department, Bronx Hospital and Dispensary;
-former Assistant Physician in the Central Islip State
-Hospital, and in the Clinic of Psychiatry, Zurich_
-
-
-  NEW YORK
-  THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
-  1914
-
-
-(_All rights reserved_)
-
-
-
-
-INTRODUCTION
-
-
-Professor Freud developed his system of psychoanalysis while studying
-the so-called border-line cases of mental diseases, such as hysteria
-and compulsion neurosis. By discarding the old methods of treatment
-and strictly applying himself to a study of the patient’s life he
-discovered that the hitherto puzzling symptoms had a definite meaning,
-and that there was nothing arbitrary in any morbid manifestation.
-Psychoanalysis always showed that they referred to some definite
-problem or conflict of the person concerned. It was while tracing back
-the abnormal to the normal state that Professor Freud found how faint
-the line of demarcation was between the normal and neurotic person,
-and that the psychopathologic mechanisms so glaringly observed in the
-psychoneuroses and psychoses could usually be demonstrated in a lesser
-degree in normal persons. This led to a study of the faulty actions
-of everyday life and later to the publication of the _Psychopathology
-of Everyday Life_, a book which passed through four editions in
-Germany and is considered the author’s most popular work. With great
-ingenuity and penetration the author throws much light on the complex
-problems of human behaviour, and clearly demonstrates that the hitherto
-considered impassable gap between normal and abnormal mental states is
-more apparent than real.
-
-This translation is made of the fourth German edition, and while the
-original text was strictly followed, linguistic difficulties often made
-it necessary to modify or substitute some of the author’s cases by
-examples comprehensible to the English-speaking reader.
-
- A. A. BRILL.
-
- NEW YORK.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
-  CHAPTER                                                   PAGE
-
-          INTRODUCTION                                         v
-
-       I. FORGETTING OF PROPER NAMES                           3
-
-      II. FORGETTING OF FOREIGN WORDS                         17
-
-     III. FORGETTING OF NAMES AND ORDER OF WORDS              29
-
-     IV. CHILDHOOD AND CONCEALING MEMORIES                    57
-
-      V. MISTAKES IN SPEECH                                   71
-
-     VI. MISTAKES IN READING AND WRITING                     117
-
-    VII. FORGETTING OF IMPRESSIONS AND RESOLUTIONS           135
-
-   VIII. ERRONEOUSLY CARRIED-OUT ACTIONS                     177
-
-     IX. SYMPTOMATIC AND CHANCE ACTIONS                      215
-
-      X. ERRORS                                              249
-
-     XI. COMBINED FAULTY ACTS                                265
-
-    XII. DETERMINISM, CHANCE, AND SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS      277
-
-
-         INDEX                                               339
-
-
-
-
-I
-
-FORGETTING OF PROPER NAMES
-
-
-During the year 1898 I published a short essay _On the Psychic
-Mechanism of Forgetfulness_.[1] I shall now repeat its contents and
-take it as a starting-point for further discussion. I have there
-undertaken a psychologic analysis of a common case of temporary
-forgetfulness of proper names, and from a pregnant example of my
-own observation I have reached the conclusion that this frequent
-and practically unimportant occurrence of a failure of a psychic
-function--of memory--admits an explanation which goes beyond the
-customary utilization of this phenomenon.
-
-If an average psychologist should be asked to explain how it happens
-that we often fail to recall a name which we are sure we know, he would
-probably content himself with the answer that proper names are more
-apt to be forgotten than any other content of memory. He might give
-plausible reasons for this “forgetting preference” for proper names,
-but he would not assume any deep determinant for the process.
-
-I was led to examine exhaustively the phenomenon of temporary
-forgetfulness through the observation of certain peculiarities,
-which, although not general, can, nevertheless, be seen clearly in
-some cases. In these there is not only _forgetfulness_, but also
-false _recollection_: he who strives for the escaped name brings to
-consciousness others--substitutive names--which, although immediately
-recognized as false, nevertheless obtrude themselves with great
-tenacity. The process which should lead to the reproduction of the lost
-name is, as it were, displaced, and thus brings one to an incorrect
-substitute.
-
-Now it is my assumption that the displacement is not left to psychic
-arbitrariness, but that it follows lawful and rational paths. In other
-words, I assume that the substitutive name (or names) stands in direct
-relation to the lost name, and I hope, if I succeed in demonstrating
-this connection, to throw light on the origin of the forgetting of
-names.
-
-In the example which I selected for analysis in 1898 I vainly strove
-to recall the name of the master who made the imposing frescoes of
-the “Last Judgment” in the dome of _Orvieto_. Instead of the lost
-name--_Signorelli_--two other names of artists--_Botticelli_ and
-_Boltraffio_--obtruded themselves, names which my judgment immediately
-and definitely rejected as being incorrect. When the correct name was
-imparted to me by an outsider I recognized it at once without any
-hesitation. The examination of the influence and association paths
-which caused the displacement from _Signorelli_ to _Botticelli_ and
-_Boltraffio_ led to the following results:--
-
-(_a_) The reason for the escape of the name _Signorelli_ is neither
-to be sought in the strangeness in itself of this name nor in the
-psychologic character of the connection in which it was inserted. The
-forgotten name was just as familiar to me as one of the substitutive
-names--Botticelli--and somewhat more familiar than the other
-substitute--Boltraffio--of the possessor of which I could hardly say
-more than that he belonged to the Milanese School. The connection,
-too, in which the forgetting of the name took place appeared to me
-harmless, and led to no further explanation. I journeyed by carriage
-with a stranger from Ragusa, Dalmatia, to a station in Herzegovina. Our
-conversation drifted to travelling in Italy, and I asked my companion
-whether he had been in Orvieto and had seen there the famous frescoes
-of----
-
-(_b_) The forgetting of the name could not be explained until after I
-had recalled the theme discussed immediately before this conversation.
-This forgetting then made itself known _as a disturbance of the
-newly emerging theme caused by the theme preceding it_. In brief,
-before I asked my travelling companion if he had been in Orvieto we
-had been discussing the customs of the Turks living in _Bosnia_ and
-_Herzegovina_. I had related what I heard from a colleague who was
-practising medicine among them, namely, that they show full confidence
-in the physician and complete submission to fate. When one is compelled
-to inform them that there is no help for the patient, they answer:
-“_Sir_ (Herr), what can I say? I know that if he could be saved you
-would save him.” In these sentences alone we can find the words and
-names: _Bosnia_, _Herzegovina_, and _Herr_ (sir), which may be inserted
-in an association series between _Signorelli_, _Botticelli_, and
-_Boltraffio_.
-
-(_c_) I assume that the stream of thoughts concerning the customs
-of the Turks in Bosnia, etc., was able to disturb the next thought,
-because I withdrew my attention from it before it came to an end. For
-I recalled that I wished to relate a second anecdote which was next to
-the first in my memory. These Turks value the sexual pleasure above
-all else, and at sexual disturbances merge into an utter despair which
-strangely contrasts with their resignation at the peril of losing their
-lives. One of my colleague’s patients once told him: “For you know, sir
-(Herr), if that ceases, life no longer has any charm.”
-
-I refrained from imparting this characteristic feature because I did
-not wish to touch upon such a delicate theme in conversation with a
-stranger. But I went still further; I also deflected my attention from
-the continuation of the thought which might have associated itself in
-me with the theme “Death and Sexuality.” I was at that time under the
-after-effects of a message which I had received a few weeks before,
-during a brief sojourn in _Trafoi_. A patient on whom I had spent
-much effort had ended his life on account of an incurable sexual
-disturbance. I know positively that this sad event, and everything
-connected with it, did not come to my conscious recollection on that
-trip in Herzegovina. However, the agreement between _Trafoi_ and
-_Boltraffio_ forces me to assume that this reminiscence was at that
-time brought to activity despite all the intentional deviation of my
-attention.
-
-(_d_) I can no longer conceive the forgetting of the name Signorelli
-as an accidental occurrence. I must recognize in this process the
-influence of a _motive_. There were motives which actuated the
-interruption in the communication of my thoughts (concerning the
-customs of the Turks, etc.), and which later influenced me to exclude
-from my consciousness the thought connected with them, and which might
-have led to the message concerning the incident in Trafoi--that is,
-I wanted to forget something, I _repressed_ something. To be sure,
-I wished to forget something other than the name of the master of
-Orvieto; but this other thought brought about an associative connection
-between itself and this name, so that my act of volition missed the
-aim, and I _forgot the one against my will_, while I _intentionally_
-wished to forget the other. The disinclination to recall directed
-itself against the one content; the inability to remember appeared
-in another. The case would have been obviously simpler if this
-disinclination and the inability to remember had concerned the same
-content. The substitutive names no longer seem so thoroughly justified
-as they were before this explanation. They remind me (after the form of
-a compromise) as much of what I wished to forget as of what I wished to
-remember, and show me that my object to forget something was neither a
-perfect success nor a failure.
-
-(_e_) The nature of the association formed between the lost name and
-the repressed theme (death and sexuality, etc.), containing the names
-of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Trafoi, is also very strange. In the scheme
-inserted here, which originally appeared in 1898, an attempt is made to
-graphically represent these associations.
-
-[Illustration:
-
-  +------+                                             /-----\
-  |Signor| _elli_           (Bo) tic_elli_      (Bo) l traffio
-  +------+                    |                 /      \--|--/
-  |   |                       |                /          |
-  |   |                       |    /----------/           |
-  |   |                       |   /                       |
-  | +---+                     |--/                        |
-  | |Her| zegovina and       (Bo) snia                    |
-  | +---+                                                 |
-  +----+                                                  |
-  |Herr| Sir, What can I say, etc.                        |
-  +----+       \                                          |
-                \                                      /--|--\
-              Death and Sexuality                      Trafoi
-                  \                                    \-----/
-                   \                                     /
-                    Repressed thoughts------------------/
-]
-
-The name Signorelli was thus divided into two parts. One pair of
-syllables (_elli_) returned unchanged in one of the substitutions,
-while the other had gained, through the translation of _signor_
-(sir, Herr), many and diverse relations to the name contained in the
-repressed theme, but was lost through it in the reproduction. Its
-substitution was formed in a way to suggest that a displacement took
-place along the same associations--“Herzegovina and Bosnia”--regardless
-of the sense and acoustic demarcation. The names were therefore treated
-in this process like the written pictures of a sentence which is to be
-transformed into a picture-puzzle (rebus). No information was given
-to consciousness concerning the whole process, which, instead of the
-name Signorelli, was thus changed to the substitutive names. At first
-sight no relation is apparent between the theme that contained the name
-Signorelli and the repressed one which immediately preceded it.
-
-Perhaps it is not superfluous to remark that the given explanation does
-not contradict the conditions of memory reproduction and forgetting
-assumed by other psychologists, which they seek in certain relations
-and dispositions. Only in certain cases have we added another _motive_
-to the factors long recognized as causative in forgetting names,
-and have thus laid bare the mechanism of faulty memory. The assumed
-dispositions are indispensable also in our case, in order to make it
-possible for the repressed element to associatively gain control
-over the desired name and take it along into the repression. Perhaps
-this would not have occurred in another name having more favourable
-conditions of reproduction. For it is quite probable that a suppressed
-element continually strives to assert itself in some other way, but
-attains this success only where it meets with suitable conditions. At
-other times the suppression succeeds without disturbance of function,
-or, as we may justly say, without symptoms.
-
-When we recapitulate the conditions for forgetting a name with faulty
-recollection we find: (1) a certain disposition to forget the same;
-(2) a process of suppression which has taken place shortly before;
-and (3) the possibility of establishing an _outer_ association
-between the concerned name and the element previously suppressed. The
-last condition will probably not have to be much overrated, for the
-slightest claim on the association is apt in most cases to bring it
-about. But it is a different and farther-reaching question whether such
-outer association can really furnish the proper condition to enable
-the suppressed element to disturb the reproduction of the desired
-name, or whether after all a more intimate connection between the two
-themes is not necessarily required. On superficial consideration one
-may be willing to reject the latter requirement and consider the
-temporal meeting in perfectly dissimilar contents as sufficient. But
-on more thorough examination one finds more and more frequently that
-the two elements (the repressed and the new one) connected by an outer
-association, possess besides a connection in content, and this can also
-be demonstrated in the example _Signorelli_.
-
-The value of the understanding gained through the analysis of the
-example _Signorelli_ naturally depends on whether we must explain this
-case as a typical or as an isolated process. I must now maintain that
-the forgetting of a name associated with faulty recollection uncommonly
-often follows the same process as was demonstrated in the case of
-_Signorelli_. Almost every time that I observed this phenomenon in
-myself I was able to explain it in the manner indicated above as being
-motivated by repression.
-
-I must mention still another view-point in favour of the typical nature
-of our analysis. I believe that one is not justified in separating
-the cases of name-forgetting with faulty recollection from those in
-which incorrect substitutive names have not obtruded themselves. These
-substitutive names occur spontaneously in a number of cases; in other
-cases, where they do not come spontaneously, they can be brought to
-the surface by concentration of attention, and they then show the same
-relation to the repressed element and the lost name as those that
-come spontaneously. Two factors seem to play a part in bringing to
-consciousness the substitutive names: first, the effort of attention,
-and second, an inner determinant which adheres to the psychic material.
-I could find the latter in the greater or lesser facility which forms
-the required outer associations between the two elements. A great many
-of the cases of name-forgetting without faulty recollection therefore
-belong to the cases with substitutive name formation, the mechanism
-of which corresponds to the one in the example _Signorelli_. But I
-surely shall not venture to assert that all cases of name-forgetting
-belong to the same group. There is no doubt that there are cases of
-name-forgetting that proceed in a much simpler way. We shall represent
-this state of affairs carefully enough if we assert that _besides the
-simple forgetting of proper names there is another forgetting which is
-motivated by repression_.
-
-
-
-
-II
-
-FORGETTING OF FOREIGN WORDS
-
-
-The ordinary vocabulary of our own language seems to be protected
-against forgetting within the limits of normal function, but it is
-quite different with words from a foreign language. The tendency
-to forget such words extends to all parts of speech. In fact,
-depending on our own general state and the degree of fatigue, the
-first manifestation of functional disturbance evinces itself in the
-irregularity of our control over foreign vocabulary. In a series
-of cases this forgetting follows the same mechanism as the one
-revealed in the example _Signorelli_. As a demonstration of this I
-shall report a single analysis, characterized, however, by valuable
-features, concerning the forgetting of a word, not a noun, from a Latin
-quotation. Before proceeding, allow me to give a full and clear account
-of this little episode.
-
-Last summer, while journeying on my vacation, I renewed the
-acquaintance of a young man of academic education, who, as I soon
-noticed, was conversant with some of my works. In our conversation we
-drifted--I no longer remember how--to the social position of the race
-to which we both belonged. He, being ambitious, bemoaned the fact that
-his generation, as he expressed it, was destined to grow crippled, that
-it was prevented from developing its talents and from gratifying its
-desires. He concluded his passionately felt speech with the familiar
-verse from Virgil: _Exoriare_ ... in which the unhappy _Dido_ leaves
-her vengeance upon _Æneas_ to posterity. Instead of “concluded,” I
-should have said “wished to conclude,” for he could not bring the
-quotation to an end, and attempted to conceal the open gap in his
-memory by transposing the words:--
-
-    “_Exoriar(e) ex nostris ossibus ultor!_”
-
-He finally became piqued and said: “Please don’t make such a mocking
-face, as if you were gloating over my embarrassment, but help me. There
-is something missing in this verse. How does it read in its complete
-form?”
-
-“With pleasure,” I answered, and cited it correctly:--
-
-    “_Exoriar(e) aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor!_”
-
-“It is too stupid to forget such a word,” he said. “By the way, I
-understand you claim that forgetting is not without its reasons; I
-should be very curious to find out how I came to forget this indefinite
-pronoun ‘_aliquis_.’”
-
-I gladly accepted the challenge, as I hoped to get an addition to
-my collection, and said, “We can easily do this, but I must ask you
-to tell me frankly and without any criticism everything that occurs
-to your mind after you focus your attention, without any particular
-intention, on the forgotten word.”[2]
-
-“Very well, the ridiculous idea comes to me to divide the word in the
-following way: _a_ and _liquis_.”
-
-“What does that mean?”
-
-“I don’t know.”
-
-“What else does that recall to you?”
-
-“The thought goes on to _reliques_--_liquidation_--_liquidity_--_fluid_.”
-
-“Does that mean anything to you now?”
-
-“No, not by a long shot.”
-
-“Just go ahead.”
-
-“I now think,” he said, laughing sarcastically, “of Simon of Trent,
-whose relics I saw two years ago in a church in Trent. I think of the
-old accusation which has been brought against the Jews again, and
-of the work of _Kleinpaul_, who sees in these supposed sacrifices
-reincarnations or revivals, so to speak, of the Saviour.”
-
-“This stream of thoughts has some connection with the theme which we
-discussed before the Latin word escaped you.”
-
-“You are right. I now think of an article in an Italian journal which I
-have recently read. I believe it was entitled: ‘What St. Augustine said
-Concerning Women.’ What can you do with this?”
-
-I waited.
-
-“Now I think of something which surely has no connection with the
-theme.”
-
-“Oh, please abstain from all criticism, and----”
-
-“Oh, I know! I recall a handsome old gentleman whom I met on my journey
-last week. He was really an _original_ type. He looked like a big bird
-of prey. His name, if you care to know, is Benedict.”
-
-“Well, at least you give a grouping of saints and Church fathers: _St.
-Simon_, _St. Augustine_, and _St. Benedict_. I believe that there was a
-Church father named _Origines_. Three of these, moreover, are Christian
-names, like _Paul_ in the name _Kleinpaul_.”
-
-“Now I think of _St. Januarius_ and his blood miracle--I find that the
-thoughts are running mechanically.”
-
-“Just stop a moment; both _St. Januarius_ and _St. Augustine_ have
-something to do with the calendar. Will you recall to me the blood
-miracle?”
-
-“Don’t you know about it? The blood of St. Januarius is preserved in
-a phial in a church in Naples, and on a certain holiday a miracle
-takes place causing it to liquefy. The people think a great deal of
-this miracle, and become very excited if the liquefying process is
-retarded, as happened once during the French occupation. The General
-in command--or Garibaldi, if I am not mistaken--then took the priest
-aside, and with a very significant gesture pointed out to him the
-soldiers arrayed without, and expressed his hope that the miracle would
-soon take place. And it actually took place....”
-
-“Well, what else comes to your mind? Why do you hesitate?”
-
-“Something really occurred to me ... but it is too intimate a matter to
-impart ... besides, I see no connection and no necessity for telling
-it.”
-
-“I will take care of the connection. Of course I cannot compel you
-to reveal what is disagreeable to you, but then you should not have
-demanded that I tell you why you forgot the word ‘_aliquis_.’”
-
-“Really? Do you think so? Well, I suddenly thought of a woman from whom
-I could easily get a message that would be very annoying to us both.”
-
-“That she missed her courses?”
-
-“How could you guess such a thing?”
-
-“That was not very difficult. You prepared me for it long enough. Just
-think of the _saints of the calendar, the liquefying of the blood on a
-certain day, the excitement if the event does not take place, and the
-distinct threat that the miracle must take place_.... Indeed, you have
-elaborated the miracle of St. Januarius into a clever allusion to the
-courses of the woman.”
-
-“It was surely without my knowledge. And do you really believe that my
-inability to reproduce the word ‘_aliquis_’ was due to this anxious
-expectation?”
-
-“That appears to me absolutely certain. Don’t you recall dividing
-it into _a-liquis_ and the associations: _reliques_, _liquidation_,
-_fluid_? Shall I also add to this connection the fact that St. Simon,
-to whom you got by way of the _reliques_, was sacrificed as a child?”
-
-“Please stop. I hope you do not take these thoughts--if I really
-entertained them--seriously. I will, however, confess to you that the
-lady is Italian, and that I visited Naples in her company. But may not
-all this be coincidental?”
-
-“I must leave to your own judgment whether you can explain all these
-connections through the assumption of coincidence. I will tell you,
-however, that every similar case that you analyse will lead you to just
-such remarkable ‘coincidences!’”
-
-I have more than one reason for valuing this little analysis, for
-which I am indebted to my travelling companion. First, because in
-this case I was able to make use of a source which is otherwise
-inaccessible to me. Most of the examples of psychic disturbances
-of daily life that I have here compiled I was obliged to take from
-observation of myself. I endeavoured to evade the far richer material
-furnished me by my neurotic patients, because I had to preclude the
-objection that the phenomena in question were only the result and
-manifestation of the neurosis. It was therefore of special value for
-my purpose to have a stranger free from a neurosis offer himself as
-a subject for such examination. This analysis is also important in
-other respects, inasmuch as it elucidates a case of word-forgetting
-_without_ substitutive recollection, and thus confirms the principle
-formulated above, namely, that the appearance or nonappearance of
-incorrect substitutive recollections does not constitute an essential
-distinction[3].
-
-But the principal value of the example _aliquis_ lies in another of
-its distinctions from the case _Signorelli_. In the latter example the
-reproduction of the name becomes disturbed through the after-effects of
-a stream of thought which began shortly before and was interrupted, but
-whose content had no distinct relation to the new theme which contained
-the name Signorelli. Between the repression and the theme of the
-forgotten name there existed only the relation of temporal contiguity,
-which reached the other in order that the two should be able to form
-a connection through an outer association.[4] On the other hand, in
-the example _aliquis_ one can note no trace of such an independent
-repressed theme which could occupy conscious thought immediately before
-and then re-echo as a disturbance. The disturbance of the reproduction
-proceeded here from the inner part of the theme touched upon, and was
-brought about by the fact that unconsciously a contradiction arose
-against the wish-idea represented in the quotation.
-
-The origin must be construed in the following manner: The speaker
-deplored the fact that the present generation of his people was being
-deprived of its rights, and like Dido he presaged that a new generation
-would take upon itself vengeance against the oppressors. He therefore
-expressed the wish for posterity. In this moment he was interrupted by
-the contradictory thought: “Do you really wish so much for posterity?
-That is not true. Just think in what a predicament you would be if you
-should now receive the information that you must expect posterity from
-the quarter you have in mind! No, you want no posterity--as much as you
-need it for your vengeance.” This contradiction asserts itself, just
-as in the example _Signorelli_, by forming an outer association between
-one of his ideation elements and an element of the repressed wish, but
-here it is brought about in a most strained manner through what seems
-an artificial detour of associations. Another important agreement with
-the example _Signorelli_ results from the fact that the contradiction
-originates from repressed sources and emanates from thoughts which
-would cause a deviation of attention.
-
-So much for the diversity and the inner relationship of both paradigms
-of the forgetting of names. We have learned to know a second mechanism
-of forgetting, namely, the disturbance of thought through an inner
-contradiction emanating from the repression. In the course of this
-discussion we shall repeatedly meet with this process, which seems to
-me to be the more easily understood.
-
-
-
-
-III
-
-FORGETTING OF NAMES AND ORDER OF WORDS
-
-
-Experiences like those mentioned concerning the process of forgetting
-a part of the order of words from a foreign language may cause one
-to wonder whether the forgetting of the order of words in one’s own
-language requires an essentially different explanation. To be sure, one
-is not wont to be surprised if after awhile a formula or poem learned
-by heart can only be reproduced imperfectly, with variations and gaps.
-Still, as this forgetting does not affect equally all the things
-learned together, but seems to pick out therefrom definite parts, it
-may be worth our effort to investigate analytically some examples of
-such faulty reproductions.
-
-Brill reports the following example:--
-
-“While conversing one day with a very brilliant young woman she had
-occasion to quote from Keats. The poem was entitled ‘Ode to Apollo,’
-and she recited the following lines:--
-
-    “‘In thy western house of gold
-      Where thou livest in thy state,
-    Bards, that once sublimely told
-      Prosaic truths that came too late.’
-
-She hesitated many times during the recitation, being sure that
-there was something wrong with the last line. To her great surprise,
-on referring to the book she found that not only was the last line
-misquoted but that there were many other mistakes. The correct lines
-read as follows:--
-
-  ODE TO APOLLO
-
-    “‘In thy western _halls_ of gold
-      _When_ thou _sittest_ in thy state,
-    Bards, that _erst_ sublimely told
-      _Heroic deeds and sang of fate_.’
-
-The words italicized are those that have been forgotten and replaced by
-others during the recitation.
-
-“She was astonished at her many mistakes, and attributed them to a
-failure of memory. I could readily convince her, however, that there
-was no qualitative or quantitative disturbance of memory in her case,
-and recalled to her our conversation immediately before quoting these
-lines.
-
-“We were discussing the over-estimation of personality among lovers,
-and she thought it was Victor Hugo who said that love is the greatest
-thing in the world because it makes an angel or a god out of a grocery
-clerk. She continued: ‘Only when we are in love have we blind faith
-in humanity; everything is perfect, everything is beautiful, and
-... everything is so poetically unreal. Still, it is a wonderful
-experience; worth going through, notwithstanding the terrible
-disappointments that usually follow. It puts us on a level with the
-gods and incites us to all sorts of artistic activities. We become
-real poets; we not only memorize and quote poetry, but we often become
-Apollos ourselves.’ She then quoted the lines given above.
-
-“When I asked on what occasion she memorized the lines she could
-not recall. As a teacher of elocution she was wont to memorize so
-much and so often that it was difficult to tell just when she had
-memorized these lines. ‘Judging by the conversation,’ I suggested,
-‘it would seem that this poem is intimately associated with the idea
-of over-estimation of personality of one in love. Have you perhaps
-memorized this poem when you were in such a state?’ She became
-thoughtful for a while and soon recalled the following facts: Twelve
-years before, when she was eighteen years old, she fell in love.
-She met the young man while participating in an amateur theatrical
-performance. He was at the time studying for the stage, and it was
-predicted that some day he would be a matinée idol. He was endowed
-with all the attributes needed for such a calling. He was well built,
-fascinating, impulsive, very clever, and ... very fickle-minded. She
-was warned against him, but she paid no heed, attributing it all to
-the envy of her counsellors. Everything went well for a few months,
-when she suddenly received word that her Apollo, for whom she had
-memorized these lines, had eloped with and married a very wealthy young
-woman. A few years later she heard that he was living in a Western
-city, where he was taking care of his father-in-law’s interests.
-
-“The misquoted lines are now quite plain. The discussion about the
-over-estimation of personality among lovers unconsciously recalled to
-her a disagreeable experience, when she herself over-estimated the
-personality of the man she loved. She thought he was a god, but he
-turned out to be even worse than the average mortal. The episode could
-not come to the surface because it was determined by very disagreeable
-and painful thoughts, but the unconscious variations in the poem
-plainly showed her present mental state. The poetic expressions were
-not only changed to prosaic ones, but they clearly alluded to the whole
-episode.”
-
-Another example of forgetting the order of words of a poem well known
-to the person I shall cite from Dr. C. G. Jung,[5] quoting the words of
-the author:--
-
-“A man wished to recite the familiar poem, ‘A Pine-tree Stands Alone,’
-etc. In the line ‘He felt drowsy’ he became hopelessly stuck at the
-words ‘with the white sheet.’ This forgetting of such a well-known
-verse seemed to me rather peculiar, and I therefore asked him to
-reproduce what came to his mind when he thought of the words ‘with the
-white sheet.’ He gave the following series of associations ‘The white
-sheet makes one think of a white sheet on a corpse--a linen sheet
-with which one covers a dead body--[pause]--now I think of a near
-friend--his brother died quite recently--he is supposed to have died
-of heart disease--he was also very corpulent--my friend is corpulent,
-too, and I thought that he might meet the same fate--probably he
-doesn’t exercise enough--when I heard of this death I suddenly became
-frightened: the same thing might happen to me, as my own family is
-predisposed to obesity--my grandfather died of heart disease--I, also,
-am somewhat too corpulent, and for that reason I began an obesity cure
-a few days ago.’”
-
-Jung remarks: “The man had unconsciously immediately identified himself
-with the pine-tree which was covered with a white sheet.”
-
-For the following example of forgetting the order of words I am
-indebted to my friend Dr. Ferenczi, of Budapest. Unlike the former
-examples, it does not refer to a verse taken from poetry, but to a
-self-coined saying. It may also demonstrate to us the rather unusual
-case where the forgetting places itself at the disposal of discretion
-when the latter is in danger of yielding to a momentary desire. The
-mistake thus advances to a useful function. After we have sobered down
-we justify that inner striving which at first could manifest itself
-only by way of inability, as in forgetting or psychic impotence.
-
-“At a social gathering some one quoted, _Tout comprendre c’est tout
-pardonner_, to which I remarked that the first part of the sentence
-should suffice, as ‘pardoning’ is an exemption which must be left to
-God and the priest. One of the guests thought this observation very
-good, which in turn emboldened me to remark--probably to ensure myself
-of the good opinion of the well-disposed critic--that some time ago I
-thought of something still better. But when I was about to repeat this
-clever idea I was unable to recall it. Thereupon I immediately withdrew
-from the company and wrote my concealing thoughts. I first recalled
-the name of the friend who had witnessed the birth of this (desired)
-thought, and of the street in Budapest where it took place, and then
-the name of another friend, whose name was Max, whom we usually called
-Maxie. That led me to the word ‘maxim,’ and to the thought that at
-that time, as in the present case, it was a question of varying a
-well-known maxim. Strangely enough, I did not recall any maxim but
-the following sentence: ‘_God created man in His own image_,’ and its
-changed conception, ‘_Man created God in his own image_.’ Immediately I
-recalled the sought-for recollection.
-
-“My friend said to me at that time in Andrassy Street, ‘_Nothing human
-is foreign to me_.’ To which I remarked, basing it on psychoanalytic
-experience, ‘You should go further and acknowledge _that nothing animal
-is foreign to you_.’
-
-“But after I had finally found the desired recollection I was even then
-prevented from telling it in this social gathering. The young wife of
-the friend whom I had reminded of the animality of the unconscious was
-also among those present, and I was perforce reminded that she was not
-at all prepared for the reception of such unsympathetic views. The
-forgetting spared me a number of unpleasant questions from her and a
-hopeless discussion, and just that must have been the motive of the
-‘temporary amnesia.’
-
-“It is interesting to note that as a concealing thought there emerged a
-sentence in which the deity is degraded to a human invention, while in
-the sought-for sentence there was an allusion to the animal in the man.
-The _capitis diminutio_ is therefore common to both. The whole matter
-was apparently only a continuation of the stream of thought concerning
-understanding and forgiving which was stimulated by the discussion.
-
-“That the desired thought so rapidly appeared may be also due to the
-fact that I withdrew into a vacant room, away from the society in which
-it was censored.”
-
-I have since then analysed a large number of cases of forgetting
-or faulty reproduction of the order of words, and the consistent
-result of these investigations led me to assume that the mechanisms
-of forgetting, as demonstrated in the examples “_aliquis_” and “_Ode
-to Apollo_,” are almost of universal validity. It is not always very
-convenient to report such analyses, for, just as those cited, they
-usually lead to intimate and painful things in the person analysed; I
-shall therefore add no more to the number of such examples. What is
-common to all these cases, regardless of the material, is the fact that
-the forgotten or distorted material becomes connected through some
-associative road with an unconscious stream of thought, which gives
-rise to the influence that comes to light as forgetting.
-
-I am now returning to the forgetting of names, concerning which we
-have so far considered exhaustively neither the casuistic elements nor
-the motives. As this form of faulty acts can at times be abundantly
-observed in myself, I am not at a loss for examples. The slight
-attacks of migraine, from which I am still suffering, are wont to
-announce themselves hours before through the forgetting of names, and
-at the height of the attack, during which I am not forced, however, to
-give up my work, I am often unable to recall all proper names.
-
-Still, just such cases as mine may furnish the cause for a strong
-objection to our analytic efforts. Should not one be forced to conclude
-from such observations that the causation of the forgetfulness,
-especially the forgetting of names, is to be sought in circulatory or
-functional disturbances of the brain, and spare himself the trouble of
-searching for psychologic explanations for these phenomena? Not at all;
-that would mean to interchange the mechanism of a process, which is the
-same in all cases, with its variations. But instead of an analysis I
-shall cite a comparison which will settle the argument.
-
-Let us assume that I was so reckless as to take a walk at night in an
-uninhabited neighbourhood of a big city, and was attacked and robbed
-of my watch and purse. At the nearest police-station I report the
-matter in the following words: “I was in this or that street, and was
-there robbed of my watch and purse by _lonesomeness_ and _darkness_.”
-Although these words would not express anything that is incorrect,
-I would, nevertheless, run the danger of being considered--judging
-from the wording of this report--as not quite right in the head. To
-be correct, the state of affairs could only be described by saying
-that, _favoured_ by the lonesomeness of the place and under _cover_ of
-darkness, I was robbed of my valuables by _unknown malefactors_.
-
-Now, then, the state of affairs in forgetting names need not be
-different. Favoured by exhaustion, circulatory disturbances, and
-intoxication, I am robbed by an unknown psychic force of the disposal
-over the proper names belonging to my memory; it is the same force
-which in other cases may bring about the same failure of memory during
-perfect health and mental capacity.
-
-When I analyse those cases of name-forgetting occurring in myself, I
-find almost regularly that the name withheld shows some relation to a
-theme which concerns my own person, and is apt to provoke in me strong
-and often painful emotions. Following the convenient and commendable
-practice of the Zurich School (Bleuler, Jung, Riklin), I might express
-the same thing in the following form: The name withheld has touched
-a “personal complex” in me. The relation of the name to my person is
-an unexpected one, and is mostly brought about through superficial
-associations (words of double meaning and of similar sounds); it may
-generally be designated as a side association. A few simple examples
-will best illustrate the nature of the same:--
-
-(_a_) A patient requested me to recommend to him a sanatorium in the
-Riviera. I knew of such a place very near Genoa, I also recalled the
-name of the German colleague who was in charge of the place, but the
-place itself I could not name, well as I believed I knew it. There was
-nothing left to do but ask the patient to wait, and to appeal quickly
-to the women of the family.
-
-“Just what is the name of the place near Genoa where Dr. X. has his
-small institution in which Mrs. So-and-so remained so long under
-treatment?”
-
-“Of course you would forget a name of that sort. The name is Nervi.”
-
-To be sure, I have enough to do with nerves.
-
-(_b_) Another patient spoke about a neighbouring summer resort, and
-maintained that besides the two familiar inns there was a third. I
-disputed the existence of any third inn, and referred to the fact that
-I had spent seven summers in the vicinity and therefore knew more about
-the place than he. Instigated by my contradiction, he recalled the
-name. The name of the third inn was “The Hochwartner.” Of course, I had
-to admit it; indeed, I was forced to confess that for seven summers
-I had lived near this very inn whose existence I had so strenuously
-denied. But why should I have forgotten the name and the object? I
-believe because the name sounded very much like that of a Vienna
-colleague who practised the same specialty as my own. It touched in me
-the “professional complex.”
-
-(_c_) On another occasion, when about to buy a railroad ticket on the
-Reichenhall Station, I could not recall the very familiar name of the
-next big railroad station which I had so often passed. I was forced
-to look it up in the time-table. The name was Rosehome (Rosenheim). I
-soon discovered through what associations I lost it. An hour earlier I
-had visited my sister in her home near Reichenhall; my sister’s name
-is Rose, hence also a Rosehome. This name was taken away by my “family
-complex.”
-
-(_d_) This predatory influence of the “family complex” I can
-demonstrate in a whole series of complexes.
-
-One day I was consulted by a young man, a younger brother of one of my
-female patients, whom I saw any number of times, and whom I used to
-call by his first name. Later, while wishing to talk about his visit, I
-forgot his first name, in no way an unusual one, and could not recall
-it in any way. I walked into the street to read the business signs and
-recognized the name as soon as it met my eyes.
-
-The analysis showed that I had formed a parallel between the visitor
-and my own brother which centred in the question: “Would my brother,
-in a similar case, have behaved like him or even more contrarily?” The
-outer connection between the thoughts concerning the stranger and my
-own family was rendered possible through the accident that the name
-of the mothers in each case was the same, Amelia. Subsequently I also
-understood the substitutive names, Daniel and Frank, which obtruded
-themselves without any explanation. These names, as well as Amelia,
-belong to Schiller’s play _The Robbers_; they are all connected with a
-joke of the Vienna pedestrian, Daniel Spitzer.
-
-(_e_) On another occasion I was unable to find a patient’s name
-which had a certain reference to my early life. The analysis had to
-be followed over a long devious road before the desired name was
-discovered. The patient expressed his apprehension lest he should
-lose his eyesight; this recalled a young man who became blind from a
-gunshot, and this again led to a picture of another youth who shot
-himself, and the latter bore the same name as my first patient, though
-not at all related to him. The name became known to me, however, only
-after the anxious apprehension from these two juvenile cases was
-transferred to a person of my own family.
-
-Thus an incessant stream of “self-reference” flows through my thoughts
-concerning which I usually have no inkling, but which betrays itself
-through such name-forgetting. It seems as if I were forced to compare
-with my own person all that I hear about strangers, as if my personal
-complexes became stirred up at every information from others. It seems
-impossible that this should be an individual peculiarity of my own
-person; it must, on the contrary, point to the way we grasp outside
-matters in general. I have reasons to assume that other individuals
-meet with experiences quite similar to mine.
-
-The best example of this kind was reported to me by a gentleman named
-Lederer as a personal experience. While on his wedding trip in Venice
-he came across a man with whom he was but slightly acquainted, and
-whom he was obliged to introduce to his wife. As he forgot the name of
-the stranger he got himself out of the embarrassment the first time
-by mumbling the name unintelligibly. But when he met the man a second
-time, as is inevitable in Venice, he took him aside and begged him
-to help him out of the difficulty by telling him his name, which he
-unfortunately had forgotten. The answer of the stranger pointed to a
-superior knowledge of human nature: “I readily believe that you did not
-grasp my name. My name is like yours--Lederer!”
-
-One cannot suppress a slight feeling of unpleasantness on discovering
-his own name in a stranger. I had recently felt it very plainly when I
-was consulted during my office hours by a man named S. Freud. However,
-I am assured by one of my own critics that in this respect he behaves
-in quite the opposite manner.
-
-(_f_) The effect of personal relation can be recognized also in the
-following examples reported by Jung.[6]
-
-“Mr. Y. falls in love with a lady who soon thereafter marries Mr. X. In
-spite of the fact that Mr. Y. was an old acquaintance of Mr. X., and
-had business relations with him, he repeatedly forgot the name, and
-on a number of occasions, when wishing to correspond with X., he was
-obliged to ask other people for his name.”
-
-However, the motivation for the forgetting is more evident in this case
-than in the preceding ones, which were under the constellation of the
-personal reference. Here the forgetting is manifestly a direct result
-of the dislike of Y. for the happy rival; he does not wish to know
-anything about him.
-
-(_g_) The following case, reported by Ferenczi, the analysis of which
-is especially instructive through the explanation of the substitutive
-thoughts (like _Botticelli-Boltraffio_ to _Signorelli_), shows in a
-somewhat different way how self-reference leads to the forgetting of a
-name:--
-
-“A lady who heard something about psychoanalysis could not recall the
-name of the psychiatrist, Young (Jung).
-
-“Instead, the following names occurred to her: Kl. (a
-name)--Wilde--Nietzsche--Hauptmann.
-
-“I did not tell her the name, and requested her to repeat her free
-associations to every thought.
-
-“To Kl. she at once thought of Mrs. Kl., that she was an embellished
-and affected person who looked very well for her age. ‘She does not
-age.’ As a general and principal conception of Wilde and Nietzsche, she
-gave the association ‘mental disease.’ She then added jocosely: ‘The
-Freudians will continue looking for the causes of mental diseases until
-they themselves become insane.’ She continued: ‘I cannot bear Wilde
-and Nietzsche. I do not understand them. I hear that they were both
-homosexual. Wilde has occupied himself with _young_ people’ (although
-she uttered in this sentence the correct name she still could not
-remember it).
-
-“To Hauptmann she associated the words _half_ and _youth_, and only
-after I called her attention to the word _youth_ did she become aware
-that she was looking for the name Young (Jung).”
-
-It is clear that this lady, who had lost her husband at the age of
-thirty-nine, and had no prospect of marrying a second time, had
-cause enough to avoid reminiscences recalling youth or old age. The
-remarkable thing is that the concealing thoughts of the desired name
-came to the surface as simple associations of content without any
-sound-associations.
-
-(_h_) Still different and very finely motivated is an example of
-name-forgetting which the person concerned has himself explained.
-
-“While taking an examination in philosophy as a minor subject I was
-questioned by the examiner about the teachings of Epicurus, and was
-asked whether I knew who took up his teachings centuries later. I
-answered that it was Pierre Gassendi, whom two days before while in a
-café I had happened to hear spoken of as a follower of Epicurus. To the
-question how I knew this I boldly replied that I had taken an interest
-in Gassendi for a long time. This resulted in a certificate with a
-_magna cum laude_, but later, unfortunately, also in a persistent
-tendency to forget the name Gassendi. I believe that it is due to my
-guilty conscience that even now I cannot retain this name despite all
-efforts. I had no business knowing it at that time.”
-
-To have a proper appreciation of the intense repugnance entertained by
-our narrator against the recollection of this examination episode, one
-must have realized how highly he prizes his doctor’s degree, and for
-how many other things this substitute must stand.
-
-I add here another example of forgetting the name of a city, an
-instance which is perhaps not as simple as those given before, but
-which will appear credible and valuable to those more familiar with
-such investigations. The name of an Italian city withdrew itself
-from memory on account of its far-reaching sound-similarity to a
-woman’s first name, which was in turn connected with various emotional
-reminiscences which were surely not exhaustively treated in this
-report. Dr. S. Ferenczi, who observed this case of forgetting in
-himself, treated it--quite justly--as an analysis of a dream or an
-erotic idea.
-
-“To-day I visited some old friends, and the conversation turned to
-cities of Northern Italy. Some one remarked that they still showed the
-Austrian influence. A few of these cities were cited. I, too, wished
-to mention one, but the name did not come to me, although I knew that
-I had spent two very pleasant days there; this, of course, does not
-quite concur with Freud’s theory of forgetting. Instead of the desired
-name of the city there obtruded themselves the following thoughts:
-‘Capua--Brescia--the lion of Brescia.’ This lion I saw objectively
-before me in the form of a marble statue, but I soon noticed that he
-resembled less the lion of the statue of liberty in Brescia (which
-I saw only in a picture) than the other marble lion which I saw in
-Lucerne on the monument in honour of the Swiss Guard fallen in the
-Tuileries. I finally thought of the desired name: it was Verona.
-
-“I knew at once the cause of this amnesia. No other than a former
-servant of the family whom I visited at the time. Her name was
-Veronica; in Hungarian Verona. I felt a great antipathy for her on
-account of her repulsive physiognomy, as well as her hoarse, shrill
-voice and her unbearable self-assertion (to which she thought herself
-entitled on account of her long service). Also the tyrannical way in
-which she treated the children of the family was insufferable to me.
-Now I knew the significance of the substitutive thoughts.
-
-“To Capua I immediately associated _caput mortuum_. I had often
-compared Veronica’s head to a skull. The Hungarian word _kapzoi_ (greed
-after money) surely furnished a determinant for the displacement.
-Naturally I also found those more direct associations which connected
-Capua and Verona as geographical ideas and as Italian words of the same
-rhythm.
-
-“The same held true for Brescia; here, too, I found concealed
-side-tracks of associations of ideas.
-
-“My antipathy at that time was so violent that I thought Veronica very
-ugly, and have often expressed my astonishment at the fact that any one
-should love her: ‘Why, to kiss her,’ I said, ‘must provoke nausea.’
-
-“Brescia, at least in Hungary, is very often mentioned not in
-connection with the lion but with another wild beast. The most hated
-name in this country, as well as in North Italy, is that of General
-Haynau, who is briefly referred to as the hyena of Brescia. From the
-hated tyrant Haynau one stream of thought leads over Brescia to the
-city of Verona, and the other over the idea of the _grave-digging
-animal with the hoarse voice_ (which corresponds to the thought of a
-monument to the dead), to the skull, and to the disagreeable organ
-of Veronica, which was so cruelly insulted in my unconscious mind.
-Veronica in her time ruled as tyrannically as did the Austrian General
-after the Hungarian and Italian struggles for liberty.
-
-“Lucerne is associated with the idea of the summer which Veronica spent
-with her employers in a place near Lucerne. The Swiss Guard again
-recalls that she tyrannized not only the children but also the adult
-members of the family, and thus played the part of the ‘Garde-Dame.’
-
-“I expressly observe that this antipathy of mine against V. consciously
-belongs to things long overcome. Since that time she has changed in her
-appearance and manner, very much to her advantage, so that I am able to
-meet her with sincere regard (to be sure I hardly find such occasion).
-As usual, however, my unconscious sticks more tenaciously to those
-impressions; it is old in its resentment.
-
-“The Tuileries represent an allusion to a second personality, an old
-French lady who actually ‘guarded’ the women of the house, and who was
-in high regard and somewhat feared by everybody. For a long time I was
-her _élève_ in French conversation. The word _élève_ recalls that when
-I visited the brother-in-law of my present host in northern Bohemia I
-had to laugh a great deal because the rural population referred to the
-_élèves_ (pupils) of the school of forestry as _löwen_ (lions). Also
-this jocose recollection might have taken part in the displacement of
-the hyena by the lion.”
-
-(_i_) The following example can also show how a personal complex
-swaying the person at the time being may by devious ways bring about
-the forgetting of a name.[7]
-
-Two men, an elder and a younger, who had travelled together in Sicily
-six months before, exchanged reminiscences of those pleasant and
-interesting days.
-
-“Let’s see, what was the name of that place,” asked the younger, “where
-we passed the night before taking the trip to Selinunt? _Calatafini_,
-was it not?”
-
-The elder rejected this by saying: “Certainly not; but I have forgotten
-the name, too, although I can recall perfectly all the details of the
-place. Whenever I hear some one forget a name it immediately produces
-forgetfulness in me. Let us look for the name. I cannot think of any
-other name except _Caltanisetta_, which is surely not correct.”
-
-“No,” said the younger, “the name begins with, or contains, a _w_.”
-
-“But the Italian language contains no _w_,” retorted the elder.
-
-“I really meant a _v_, and I said _w_ because I am accustomed to
-interchange them in my mother tongue.”
-
-The elder, however, objected to the _v_. He added: “I believe that I
-have already forgotten many of the Sicilian names. Suppose we try to
-find out. For example, what is the name of the place situated on a
-height which was called _Enna_ in antiquity?”
-
-“Oh, I know that: _Castrogiovanni_.” In the next moment the younger
-man discovered the lost name. He cried out ‘_Castelvetrano_,’ and was
-pleased to be able to demonstrate the supposed _v_.
-
-For a moment the elder still lacked the feeling of recognition, but
-after he accepted the name he was able to state why it had escaped him.
-He thought: “Obviously because the second half, _vetrano_, suggests
-_veteran_. I am aware that I am not quite anxious to think of ageing,
-and react peculiarly when I am reminded of it. Thus, _e.g._, I had
-recently reminded a very esteemed friend in most unmistakable terms
-that he had ‘long ago passed the years of youth,’ because before this
-he once remarked in the most flattering manner, ‘I am no longer a
-young man.’ That my resistance was directed against the second half of
-the name _Castelvetrano_ is shown by the fact that the initial sound of
-the same returned in the substitutive name Caltanisetta.”
-
-“What about the name Caltanisetta itself?” asked the younger.
-
-“That always seemed to me like a pet name of a young woman,” admitted
-the elder.
-
-Somewhat later he added: “The name for _Enna_ was also only
-a substitutive name. And now it occurs to me that the name
-_Castrogiovanni_, which obtruded itself with the aid of a
-rationalization, alludes as expressly to _giovane_, young, as the last
-name, _Castelvetrano_, to _veteran_.”
-
-The older man believed that he had thus accounted for his forgetting
-the name. What the motive was that led the young man to this memory
-failure was not investigated.
-
-In some cases one must have recourse to all the fineness of
-psychoanalytic technique in order to explain the forgetting of a
-name. Those who wish to read an example of such work I refer to a
-communication by Professor E. Jones.[8]
-
-I could multiply the examples of name-forgetting and prolong the
-discussion very much further if I did not wish to avoid elucidating
-here almost all the view-points which will be considered in later
-themes. I shall, however, take the liberty of comprehending in a few
-sentences the results of the analyses reported here.
-
-The mechanism of forgetting, or rather of losing or temporary
-forgetting of a name, consists in the disturbance of the intended
-reproduction of the name through a strange stream of thought
-unconscious at the time. Between the disturbed name and the disturbing
-complex there exists a connection either from the beginning or such
-a connection has been formed--perhaps by artificial means--through
-superficial (outer) associations.
-
-The self-reference complex (personal, family or professional) proves to
-be the most effective of the disturbing complexes.
-
-A name which by virtue of its many meanings belongs to a number of
-thought associations (complexes) is frequently disturbed in its
-connection to one series of thoughts through a stronger complex
-belonging to the other associations.
-
-To avoid the awakening of pain through memory is one of the objects
-among the motives of these disturbances.
-
-In general one may distinguish two principal cases of name-forgetting;
-when the name itself touches something unpleasant, or when it is
-brought into connection with other associations which are influenced by
-such effects. So that names can be disturbed on their own account or
-on account of their nearer or more remote associative relations in the
-reproduction.
-
-A review of these general principles readily convinces us that the
-temporary forgetting of a name is observed as the most frequent faulty
-action of our mental functions.
-
-However, we are far from having described all the peculiarities of
-this phenomenon. I also wish to call attention to the fact that
-name-forgetting is extremely contagious. In a conversation between
-two persons the mere mention of having forgotten this or that name by
-one often suffices to induce the same memory slip in the other. But
-wherever the forgetting is induced, the sought for name easily comes to
-the surface.
-
-There is also a continuous forgetting of names in which whole chains
-of names are withdrawn from memory. If in the course of endeavouring
-to discover an escaped name one finds others with which the latter
-is intimately connected, it often happens that these new names also
-escape. The forgetting thus jumps from one name to another, as if to
-demonstrate the existence of a hindrance not to be easily removed.
-
-
-
-
-IV
-
-CHILDHOOD AND CONCEALING MEMORIES
-
-
-In a second essay[9] I was able to demonstrate the purposive nature
-of our memories in an unexpected field. I started with the remarkable
-fact that the earliest recollections of a person often seemed to
-preserve the unimportant and accidental, whereas (frequently though
-not universally!) not a trace is found in the adult memory of the
-weighty and affective impressions of this period. As it is known that
-the memory exercises a certain selection among the impressions at
-its disposal, it would seem logical to suppose that this selection
-follows entirely different principles in childhood than at the time
-of intellectual maturity. However, close investigation points to the
-fact that such an assumption is superfluous. The indifferent childhood
-memories owe their existence to a process of displacement. It may be
-shown by psychoanalysis that in the reproduction they represent the
-substitute for other really significant impressions, whose direct
-reproduction is hindered by some resistance. As they do not owe their
-existence to their own contents, but to an associative relation of
-their contents to another repressed thought, they deserve the title of
-“concealing memories,” by which I have designated them.
-
-In the aforementioned essay I only touched upon, but in no way
-exhausted, the varieties in the relations and meanings of concealed
-memories. In the given example fully analysed I particularly emphasized
-a peculiarity in the temporal relation between the concealing memory
-and the contents of the memory concealed by it. The content of the
-concealing memory in that example belonged to one of the first years
-of childhood, while the thoughts represented by it, which remained
-practically unconscious, belonged to a later period of the individual
-in question. I called this form of displacement a retro-active
-or _regressive_ one. Perhaps more often one finds the reversed
-relation--that is, an indifferent impression of the most remote period
-becomes a concealing memory in consciousness, which simply owes its
-existence to an association with an earlier experience, against
-whose direct reproduction there are resistances. We would call these
-_encroaching_ or _interposing_ concealing memories. What most concerns
-the memory lies here chronologically beyond the concealing memory.
-Finally, there may be a third possible case, namely, the concealing
-memory may be connected with the impression it conceals, not only
-through its contents, but also through contiguity of time; this is the
-_contemporaneous_ or _contiguous_ concealing memory.
-
-How large a portion of the sum total of our memory belongs to the
-category of concealing memories, and what part it plays in various
-neurotic hidden processes, these are problems into the value of which I
-have neither inquired nor shall I enter here. I am concerned only with
-emphasizing the sameness between the forgetting of proper names with
-faulty recollection and the formation of concealing memories.
-
-At first sight it would seem that the diversities of both phenomena are
-far more striking than their exact analogies. There we deal with proper
-names, here with complete impressions experienced either in reality
-or in thought; there we deal with a manifest failure of the memory
-function, here with a memory act which appears strange to us. Again,
-there we are concerned with a momentary disturbance--for the name just
-forgotten could have been reproduced correctly a hundred times before,
-and will be so again from to-morrow on; here we deal with lasting
-possession without a failure, for the indifferent childhood memories
-seem to be able to accompany us through a great part of life. In both
-these cases the riddle seems to be solved in an entirely different way.
-There it is the forgetting, while here it is the remembering which
-excites our scientific curiosity.
-
-After deeper reflection one realizes that, although there is a
-diversity in the psychic material and in the duration of time of the
-two phenomena, yet these are by far outweighed by the conformities
-between the two. In both cases we deal with the failure of remembering:
-what should be correctly reproduced by the memory fails to appear,
-and instead something else comes as a substitute. In the case of
-forgetting a name there is no lack of memory function in the form
-of name substitution. The formation of a concealing memory depends
-on the forgetting of other important impressions. In both cases we
-are reminded by an intellectual feeling of the intervention of a
-disturbance, which in each case takes a different form. In the case
-of forgetting of names we are aware that the substitutive names
-are incorrect, while in concealing memories we are surprised that
-we have them at all. Hence, if psychologic analysis demonstrates
-that the substitutive formation in each case is brought about in
-the same manner--that is, through displacement along a superficial
-association--we are justified in saying that the diversities in
-material, in duration of time, and in the centring of both phenomena
-serve to enhance our expectation, that we have discovered something
-that is important and of general value. This generality purports that
-the stopping and straying of the reproducing function indicates more
-often than we suppose that there is an intervention of a prejudicial
-factor, a tendency which favours one memory and at the same time works
-against another.
-
-The subject of childhood memories appears to me so important and
-interesting that I would like to devote to it a few additional remarks
-which go beyond the views expressed so far.
-
-How far back into childhood do our memories reach? I am familiar
-with some investigations on this question by V. and C. Henri[10] and
-Potwin.[11] They assert that such examinations show wide individual
-variations, inasmuch as some trace their first reminiscences to
-the sixth month of life, while others can recall nothing of their
-lives before the end of the sixth or even the eighth year. But what
-connection is there between these variations in the behaviour of
-childhood reminiscences, and what signification may be ascribed to
-them? It seems that it is not enough to procure the material for this
-question by simple inquiry, but it must later be subjected to a study
-in which the person furnishing the information must participate.
-
-I believe we accept too indifferently the fact of infantile
-amnesia--that is, the failure of memory for the first years of our
-lives--and fail to find in it a strange riddle. We forget of what
-great intellectual accomplishments and of what complicated emotions
-a child of four years is capable. We really ought to wonder why the
-memory of later years has, as a rule, retained so little of these
-psychic processes, especially as we have every reason for assuming that
-these same forgotten childhood activities have not glided off without
-leaving a trace in the development of the person, but that they have
-left a definite influence for all future time. Yet in spite of this
-unparalleled effectiveness they were forgotten! This would suggest that
-there are particularly formed conditions of memory (in the sense of
-conscious reproduction) which have thus far eluded our knowledge. It
-is quite possible that the forgetting of childhood may give us the key
-to the understanding of those amnesias which, according to our newer
-studies, lie at the basis of the formation of all neurotic symptoms.
-
-Of these retained childhood reminiscences, some appear to us readily
-comprehensible, while others seem strange or unintelligible. It is not
-difficult to correct certain errors in regard to both kinds. If the
-retained reminiscences of a person are subjected to an analytic test,
-it can be readily ascertained that a guarantee for their correctness
-does not exist. Some of the memory pictures are surely falsified and
-incomplete, or displaced in point of time and place. The assertions of
-persons examined that their first memories reach back perhaps to their
-second year are evidently unreliable. Motives can soon be discovered
-which explain the disfigurement and the displacement of these
-experiences, but they also demonstrate that these memory lapses are not
-the result of a mere unreliable memory. Powerful forces from a later
-period have moulded the memory capacity of our infantile experiences,
-and it is probably due to these same forces that the understanding of
-our childhood is generally so very strange to us.
-
-The recollection of adults, as is known, proceeds through different
-psychic material. Some recall by means of visual pictures--their
-memories are of a visual character; other individuals can scarcely
-reproduce in memory the most paltry sketch of an experience; we
-call such persons “_auditifs_” and “_moteurs_” in contrast to the
-“_visuels_,” terms proposed by Charcot. These differences vanish
-in dreams; all our dreams are preponderatingly visual. But this
-development is also found in the childhood memories; the latter are
-plastic and visual, even in those people whose later memory lacks the
-visual element. The visual memory, therefore, preserves the type of
-the infantile recollections. Only my earliest childhood memories are
-of a visual character; they represent plastically depicted scenes,
-comparable only to stage settings.
-
-In these scenes of childhood, whether they prove true or false, one
-usually sees his own childish person both in contour and dress. This
-circumstance must excite our wonder, for adults do not see their
-own persons in their recollections of later experiences.[12] It is,
-moreover, against our experiences to assume that the child’s attention
-during his experiences is centred on himself rather than exclusively
-on outside impressions. Various sources force us to assume that the
-so-called earliest childhood recollections are not true memory traces
-but later elaborations of the same, elaborations which might have been
-subjected to the influences of many later psychic forces. Thus the
-“childhood reminiscences” of individuals altogether advance to the
-signification of “concealing memories,” and thereby form a noteworthy
-analogy to the childhood reminiscences as laid down in the legends and
-myths of nations.
-
-Whoever has examined mentally a number of persons by the method of
-psychoanalysis must have gathered in this work numerous examples
-of concealing memories of every description. However, owing to
-the previously discussed nature of the relations of the childhood
-reminiscences to later life, it becomes extraordinarily difficult
-to report such examples. For, in order to attach the value of the
-concealing memory to an infantile reminiscence, it would be often
-necessary to present the entire life-history of the person concerned.
-Only seldom is it possible, as in the following good example, to take
-out from its context and report a single childhood memory.
-
-A twenty-four-year-old man preserved the following picture from the
-fifth year of his life: In the garden of a summer-house he sat on a
-stool next to his aunt, who was engaged in teaching him the alphabet.
-He found difficulty in distinguishing the letter _m_ from _n_, and he
-begged his aunt to tell him how to tell one from the other. His aunt
-called his attention to the fact that the letter _m_ had one whole
-portion (a stroke) more than the letter _n_. There was no reason to
-dispute the reliability of this childhood recollection; its meaning,
-however, was discovered only later, when it showed itself to be the
-symbolic representation of another boyish inquisitiveness. For just as
-he wanted to know the difference between _m_ and _n_ at that time,
-so he concerned himself later about the difference between boy and
-girl, and he would have been willing that just this aunt should be his
-teacher. He also discovered that the difference was a similar one; that
-the boy again had one whole portion more than the girl, and at the time
-of this recognition his memory awoke to the corresponding childish
-inquisitiveness.
-
-I would like to show by one more example the sense that may be gained
-by a childhood reminiscence through analytic work, although it may
-seem to contain no sense before. In my forty-third year, when I began
-to interest myself in what remained in my memory of my own childhood,
-a scene struck me which for a long time, as I afterwards believed,
-had repeatedly come to consciousness, and which through reliable
-identification could be traced to a period before the completion of my
-third year. I saw myself in front of a chest, the door of which was
-held open by my half-brother, twenty years my senior. I stood there
-demanding something and screaming; my mother, pretty and slender, then
-suddenly entered the room, as if returning from the street.
-
-In these words I formulated this scene so vividly seen, which, however,
-furnished no other clue. Whether my brother wished to open or lock the
-chest (in the first explanation it was a “cupboard”), why I cried,
-and what bearing the arrival of my mother had, all these questions
-were dim to me; I was tempted to explain to myself that it dealt with
-the memory of a hoax by my older brother, which was interrupted by my
-mother. Such misunderstandings of childhood scenes retained in memory
-are not uncommon; we recall a situation, but it is not centralized;
-we do not know on which of the elements to place the psychic accent.
-Analytic effort led me to an entirely unexpected solution of the
-picture. I missed my mother and began to suspect that she was locked in
-this cupboard or chest, and therefore demanded that my brother should
-unlock it. As he obliged me, and I became convinced that she was not in
-the chest, I began to cry; this is the moment firmly retained in the
-memory, which was directly followed by the appearance of my mother, who
-appeased my worry and anxiety.
-
-But how did the child get the idea of looking for the absent mother
-in the chest? Dreams which occurred at the same time pointed dimly to
-a nurse, concerning whom other reminiscences were retained; as, for
-example, that she conscientiously urged me to deliver to her the small
-coins which I received as gifts, a detail which in itself may lay claim
-to the value of a concealing memory for later things. I then concluded
-to facilitate for myself this time the task of interpretation, and
-asked my now aged mother about that nurse. I found out all sorts of
-things, among others the fact that this shrewd but dishonest person had
-committed extensive robberies during the confinement of my mother, and
-that my half-brother was instrumental in bringing her to justice.
-
-This information gave me the key to the scene from childhood, as
-through a sort of inspiration. The sudden disappearance of the nurse
-was not a matter of indifference to me; I had just asked this brother
-where she was, probably because I had noticed that he had played a
-part in her disappearance, and he, evasive and witty as he is to this
-day, answered that she was “boxed in.” I understood this answer in
-the childish way, but asked no more, as there was nothing else to be
-discovered. When my mother left me shortly thereafter I suspected that
-the naughty brother had treated her in the same way as he did the
-nurse, and therefore pressed him to open the chest.
-
-I also understand now why in the translation of the visual childhood
-scene my mother’s slenderness was accentuated; she must have struck
-me as being newly restored. I am two and a half years older than the
-sister born at that time, and when I was three years of age I was
-separated from my half-brother.
-
-
-
-
-V
-
-MISTAKES IN SPEECH
-
-
-Although the ordinary material of speech of our mother-tongue seems to
-be guarded against forgetting, its application, however, more often
-succumbs to another disturbance which is familiar to us as “slips
-of the tongue.” What we observe in normal persons as slips of the
-tongue gives the same impression as the first step of the so-called
-“paraphasias” which manifest themselves under pathologic conditions.
-
-I am in the exceptional position of being about to refer to a previous
-work on the subject. In the year 1895 Meringer and C. Mayer published
-a study on _Mistakes in Speech and Reading_, with whose view-points I
-do not agree. One of the authors, who is the spokesman in the text,
-is a philologist actuated by a linguistic interest to examine the
-rules governing those slips. He hoped to deduce from these rules the
-existence “of a definite psychic mechanism,” “whereby the sounds of a
-word, of a sentence, and even the words themselves, would be associated
-and connected with one another in a quite peculiar manner” (p. 10).
-
-The authors grouped the examples of speech-mistakes collected by
-them first according to purely descriptive view-points, such as
-interchangings (_e.g._, the Milo of Venus instead of the Venus of
-Milo), as anticipations (_e.g._, the shoes made her sorft ... the shoes
-made her feet sore), as echoes and post positions, as contaminations
-(_e.g._, “I will soon him home,” instead of “I will soon go home and
-I will see him”), and substitutions (_e.g._, “he entrusted his money
-to a savings crank,” instead of “a savings bank”).[13] Besides these
-principal categories there are some others of lesser importance (or
-of lesser significance for our purpose). In this grouping it makes no
-difference whether the transposition, disfigurement, fusion, etc.,
-affects single sounds of the word or syllables, or whole words of the
-concerned sentence.
-
-To explain the various forms of mistakes in speech, Meringer assumes a
-varied psychic value of phonetics. As soon as the innervation affects
-the first syllable of a word, or the first word of a sentence, the
-stimulating process immediately strikes the succeeding sounds, and the
-following words, and in so far as these innervations are synchronous
-they may effect some changes in one another. The stimulus of the
-psychically more intensive sound “rings” before or continues echoing,
-and thus disturbs the less important process of innervation. It is
-necessary therefore to determine which are the most important sounds
-of a word. Meringer states: “If one wishes to know which sound of a
-word possesses the greatest intensity he should examine himself while
-searching for a forgotten word, for example, a name. That which first
-returns to consciousness invariably had the greatest intensity prior to
-the forgetting (p. 160). Thus the most important sounds are the initial
-sound of the root-syllable and the initial sound of the word itself, as
-well as one or another of the accentuated vowels” (p. 162).
-
-Here I cannot help voicing a contradiction. Whether or not the initial
-sound of the name belongs to the most important elements of the word,
-it is surely not true that in the case of the forgetting of the word
-it first returns to consciousness; the above rule is therefore of no
-use. When we observe ourselves during the search for a forgotten name
-we are comparatively often forced to express the opinion that it begins
-with a certain letter. This conviction proves to be as often unfounded
-as founded. Indeed, I would even go so far as to assert that in the
-majority of cases one reproduces a false initial sound. Also in our
-example _Signorelli_ the substitutive name lacked the initial sound,
-and the principal syllables were lost; on the other hand, the less
-important pair of syllables _elli_ returned to consciousness in the
-substitutive name _Botticelli_.
-
-How little substitutive names respect the initial sound of the lost
-names may be learned from the following case. One day I found it
-impossible to recall the name of the small country whose capital is
-Monte Carlo. The substitutive names were as follows: _Piedmont_,
-_Albania_, _Montevideo_, _Colico_. In place of Albania _Montenegro_
-soon appeared, and then it struck me that the syllable _Mont_
-(pronounced _Mon_) occurred in all but the last of the substitutive
-names. It thus became easy for me to find from the name of Prince
-Albert the forgotten name _Monaco_. _Colico_ practically imitates the
-syllabic sequence and rhythm of the forgotten name.
-
-If we admit the conjecture that a mechanism similar to that pointed
-out in the forgetting of names may also play a part in the phenomena
-of speech-blunders, we are then led to a better founded judgment of
-cases of speech-blunders. The speech disturbance which manifests
-itself as a speech-blunder may in the first place be caused by the
-influence of another component of the same speech, that is, through a
-fore-sound or an echo, or through another meaning within the sentence
-or context which differs from that which the speaker wishes to utter.
-In the second place, however, the disturbance could be brought about
-analogously to the process in the case _Signorelli_, through influences
-outside this word, sentence or context, from elements which we did not
-intend to express, and of whose incitement we became conscious only
-through the disturbance. In both modes of origin of the mistake in
-speech the common element lies in the simultaneity of the stimulus,
-while the differentiating elements lie in the arrangement within or
-without the same sentence or context.
-
-The difference does not at first appear as wide as when it is taken
-into consideration in certain conclusions drawn from the symptomatology
-of speech-mistakes. It is clear, however, that only in the first case
-is there a prospect of drawing conclusions from the manifestations of
-speech-blunders concerning a mechanism which connects together sounds
-and words for the reciprocal influence of their articulation; that is,
-conclusions such as the philologist hopes to gain from the study of
-speech-blunders. In the case of disturbance through influence outside
-of the same sentence or context, it would before all be a question of
-becoming acquainted with the disturbing elements, and then the question
-would arise whether the mechanism of this disturbance cannot also
-suggest the probable laws of the formation of speech.
-
-We cannot maintain that Meringer and Mayer have overlooked the
-possibility of speech disturbance through “complicated psychic
-influences,” that is, through elements outside of the same word or
-sentence or the same sequence of words. Indeed, they must have observed
-that the theory of the psychic variation of sounds applies, strictly
-speaking, only to the explanation of sound disturbances as well as to
-fore-sounds and after-sounds. Where the word disturbances cannot be
-reduced to sound disturbances, as, for example, in the substitutions
-and contaminations of words, they, too, have without hesitation sought
-the cause of the mistake in speech outside of the intended context,
-and proved this state of affairs by means of fitting examples.[14]
-According to the author’s own understanding it is some similarity
-between a certain word in the intended sentence and some other not
-intended, which allows the latter to assert itself in consciousness
-by causing a disfigurement, a composition, or a compromise formation
-(contamination).
-
-Now, in my work on the _Interpretation of Dreams_ I have shown the
-part played by the process of condensation in the origin of the
-so-called manifest contents of the dream from the latent thoughts of
-the dream. Any similarity of objects or of word-presentations between
-two elements of the unconscious material is taken as a cause for the
-formation of a third, which is a composite or compromise formation.
-This element represents both components in the dream content, and
-in view of this origin it is frequently endowed with numerous
-contradictory individual determinants. The formation of substitutions
-and contaminations in speech-mistakes is, therefore, the beginning of
-that work of condensation which we find taking a most active part in
-the construction of the dream.
-
-In a small essay destined for the general reader,[15] Meringer
-advanced a theory of very practical significance for certain cases of
-interchanging of words, especially for such cases where one word is
-substituted by another of opposite meaning. He says: “We may still
-recall the manner in which the President of the Austrian House of
-Deputies opened the session some time ago: ‘Honoured Sirs! I announce
-the presence of so and so many gentlemen, and therefore declare
-the session as “closed”’!” The general merriment first attracted
-his attention and he corrected his mistake. In the present case
-the probable explanation is that the President wished himself in a
-position to close this session, from which he had little good to
-expect, and the thought broke through at least partially--a frequent
-manifestation--resulting in his use of “closed” in place of “opened,”
-that is, the opposite of the statement intended. Numerous observations
-have taught me, however, that we frequently interchange contrasting
-words; they are already associated in our speech consciousness; they
-lie very close together and are easily incorrectly evoked.
-
-Still, not in all cases of contrast substitution is it so simple
-as in the example of the President as to appear plausible that the
-speech-mistake occurs merely as a contradiction which arises in the
-inner thought of the speaker opposing the sentence uttered. We have
-found the analogous mechanism in the analysis of the example _aliquis_;
-there the inner contradiction asserts itself in the form of forgetting
-a word instead of a substitution through its opposite. But in order to
-adjust the difference we may remark that the little word _aliquis_ is
-incapable of a contrast similar to “closing” and “opening,” and that
-the word “opening” cannot be subject to forgetting on account of its
-being a common component of speech.
-
-Having been shown by the last examples of Meringer and Mayer that
-speech disturbance may be caused through the influence of fore-sounds,
-after-sounds, words from the same sentence that were intended for
-expression, as well as through the effect of words outside the sentence
-intended, _the stimulus of which would otherwise not have been
-suspected_, we shall next wish to discover whether we can definitely
-separate the two classes of mistakes in speech, and how we can
-distinguish the example of the one from a case of the other class.
-
-But at this stage of the discussion we must also think of the
-assertions of Wundt, who deals with the manifestations of
-speech-mistakes in his recent work on the development of language.[16]
-Psychic influences, according to Wundt, never lack in these as well as
-in other phenomena related to them. “The uninhibited stream of _sound_
-and _word associations_ stimulated by spoken sounds belongs here in the
-first place as a positive determinant. This is supported as a negative
-factor by the relaxation or suppression of the influences of the will
-which inhibit this stream, and by the active attention which is here a
-function of volition. Whether that play of association manifests itself
-in the fact that a coming sound is anticipated or a preceding sound
-reproduced, or whether a familiar practised sound becomes intercalated
-between others, or finally, whether it manifests itself in the fact
-that altogether different sounds associatively related to the spoken
-sounds act upon these--all these questions designate only differences
-in the direction, and at most in the play of the occurring associations
-but not in the general nature of the same. In some cases it may be
-also doubtful to which form a certain disturbance may be attributed,
-or whether it would not be more correct to refer such disturbance
-to a concurrence of many motives, _following the principle of the
-complication of causes_[17] (cf. pp. 380-81).”
-
-I consider these observations of Wundt as absolutely justified and very
-instructive. Perhaps we could emphasize with even greater firmness
-than Wundt that the positive factor favouring mistakes in speech (the
-uninhibited stream of associations, and its negative, the relaxation of
-the inhibiting attention) regularly attain synchronous action, so that
-both factors become only different determinants of the same process.
-With the relaxation, or, more unequivocally expressed, _through_ this
-relaxation, of the inhibiting attention the uninhibited stream of
-associations becomes active.
-
-Among the examples of the mistakes in speech collected by me I can
-scarcely find one in which I would be obliged to attribute the speech
-disturbance simply and solely to what Wundt calls “contact effect
-of sound.” Almost invariably I discover besides this a disturbing
-influence of something outside of the intended speech. The disturbing
-element is either a single unconscious thought, which comes to light
-through the speech-blunder, and can only be brought to consciousness
-through a searching analysis, or it is a more general psychic motive,
-which directs itself against the entire speech.
-
-(_Example_ _a_) Seeing my daughter make an unpleasant face while biting
-into an apple, I wished to quote the following couplet:--
-
-    “The ape he is a funny sight,
-    When in the apple he takes a bite.”
-
-But I began: “The apel....” This seems to be a contamination of “ape”
-and “apple” (compromise formation), or it may be also conceived as
-an anticipation of the prepared “apple.” The true state of affairs,
-however, was this: I began the quotation once before, and made no
-mistake the first time. I made the mistake only during the repetition,
-which was necessary because my daughter, having been distracted from
-another side, did not listen to me. This repetition with the added
-impatience to disburden myself of the sentence I must include in
-the motivation of the speech-blunder, which represented itself as a
-function of condensation.
-
-(_b_) My daughter said, “I wrote to Mrs. Schresinger.” The woman’s name
-was Schlesinger. This speech-blunder may depend on the tendency to
-facilitate articulation. I must state, however, that this mistake was
-made by my daughter a few moments after I had said _apel_ instead of
-_ape_. Mistakes in speech are in a great measure contagious; a similar
-peculiarity was noticed by Meringer and Mayer in the forgetting of
-names. I know of no reason for this psychic contagiousness.
-
-(_c_) “I _sut_ up like a pocket-knife,” said a patient in the beginning
-of treatment, instead of “I _shut_ up.” This suggests a difficulty
-of articulation which may serve as an excuse for the interchanging
-of sounds. When her attention was called to the speech-blunder, she
-promptly replied, “Yes, that happened because you said ‘_earnesht_’
-instead of ‘_earnest_.’” As a matter of fact I received her with the
-remark, “To-day we shall be in earnest” (because it was the last hour
-before her discharge from treatment), and I jokingly changed the word
-into _earnesht_. In the course of the hour she repeatedly made mistakes
-in speech, and I finally observed that it was not only because she
-imitated me but because she had a special reason in her unconscious to
-linger at the word earnest (Ernst) as a name.[18]
-
-(_d_) A woman, speaking about a game invented by her children and
-called by them “the man in the box,” said “the manx in the boc.”
-I could readily understand her mistake. It was while analysing
-her dream, in which her husband is depicted as very generous in
-money matters--just the reverse of reality--that she made this
-speech-blunder. The day before she had asked for a new set of furs,
-which her husband denied her, claiming that he could not afford to
-spend so much money. She upbraided him for his stinginess, “for putting
-away so much into the strong-box,” and mentioned a friend whose husband
-has not nearly his income, and yet he presented his wife with a _mink_
-coat for her birthday. The mistake is now comprehensible. The word
-_manx_ (_manks_) reduces itself to the “minks” which she longs for, and
-the _box_ refers to her husband’s stinginess.
-
-(_e_) A similar mechanism is shown in the mistake of another patient
-whose memory deserted her in the midst of a long-forgotten childish
-reminiscence. Her memory failed to inform her on what part of the body
-the prying and lustful hand of another had touched her. Soon thereafter
-she visited one of her friends, with whom she discussed summer homes.
-Asked where her cottage in M. was located, she answered, “Near the
-_mountain loin_” instead of “_mountain lane_.”
-
-(_f_) Another patient, whom I asked at the end of her visit how her
-uncle was, answered: “I don’t know, I only see him now _in flagranti_.”
-
-The following day she said, “I am really ashamed of myself for having
-given you yesterday such a stupid answer. Naturally you must have
-thought me a very uneducated person who always mistakes the meaning
-of foreign words. I wished to say _en passant_.” We did not know at
-the time where she got the incorrectly used foreign words, but during
-the same session she reproduced a reminiscence as a continuation of
-the theme from the previous day, in which being caught _in flagranti_
-played the principal part. The mistake of the previous day had
-therefore anticipated the recollection, which at that time had not yet
-become conscious.
-
-(_g_) In discussing her summer plans, a patient said, “I shall remain
-most of the summer in _Elberlon_.” She noted her mistake, and asked me
-to analyse it. The associations to _Elberlon_ elicited: seashore on
-the Jersey coast--summer resort--vacation travelling. This recalled
-travelling in Europe with her cousin, a topic which we had discussed
-the day before during the analysis of a dream. The dream dealt with
-her dislike for this cousin, and she admitted that it was mainly due
-to the fact that the latter was the favourite of the man whom they met
-together while travelling abroad. During the dream analysis she could
-not recall the name of the city in which they met this man, and I did
-not make any effort at the time to bring it to her consciousness, as we
-were engrossed in a totally different problem. When asked to focus her
-attention again on Elberlon and reproduce her associations, she said,
-“It brings to mind _Elberlawn_--_lawn_--_field_--and _Elberfield_.”
-_Elberfeld_ was the lost name of the city in Germany. Here the mistake
-served to bring to consciousness in a concealed manner a memory which
-was connected with a painful feeling.
-
-(_h_) A woman said to me, “If you wish to buy a carpet, go to
-_Merchant_ (Kaufmann) in _Matthew Street_ (Mathäusgasse).” I repeated,
-“Then at Matthew’s--I mean at Merchant’s----” It would seem that my
-repeating of one name in place of the other was simply the result of
-distraction. The woman’s remark really did distract me, as she turned
-my attention to something else much more vital to me than carpet. In
-Matthew Street stands the house in which my wife lived as a bride.
-The entrance to the house was in another street, and now I noticed
-that I had forgotten its name and could only recall it through a
-roundabout method. The name Matthew, which kept my attention, is thus
-a substitutive name for the forgotten name of the street. It is more
-suitable than the name Merchant, for Matthew is exclusively the name of
-a person, while Merchant is not. The forgotten street, too, bears the
-name of a person: _Radetzky_.
-
-(_i_) A patient consulted me for the first time, and from her history
-it became apparent that the cause of her nervousness was largely an
-unhappy married life. Without any encouragement she went into details
-about her marital troubles. She had not lived with her husband for
-about six months, and she saw him last at the theatre, when she saw
-the play _Officer 606_. I called her attention to the mistake, and she
-immediately corrected herself, saying that she meant to say _Officer
-666_ (the name of a recent popular play). I decided to find out the
-reason for the mistake, and as the patient came to me for analytic
-treatment, I discovered that the immediate cause of the rupture between
-herself and husband was the disease which is treated by “606.”[19]
-
-(_k_) Before calling on me a patient telephoned for an appointment,
-and also wished to be informed about my consultation fee. He was told
-that the first consultation was ten dollars; after the examination was
-over he again asked what he was to pay, and added: “I don’t like to owe
-money to any one, especially to doctors; I prefer to pay right away.”
-Instead of _pay_ he said _play_. His last voluntary remarks and his
-mistake put me on my guard, but after a few more uncalled-for remarks
-he set me at ease by taking money from his pocket. He counted four
-paper dollars and was very chagrined and surprised because he had no
-more money with him, and promised to send me a cheque for the balance.
-I was sure that his mistake betrayed him, that he was only _playing_
-with me, but there was nothing to be done. At the end of a few weeks I
-sent him a bill for the balance, and the letter was returned to me by
-the post-office authorities marked “Not found.”
-
-(_l_) Miss X. spoke very warmly of Mr. Y., which was rather strange, as
-before this she had always expressed her indifference, not to say her
-contempt, for him. On being asked about this sudden change of heart she
-said: “I really never had anything against him; he was always nice to
-me, but I never gave him the chance to cultivate my acquaintance.” She
-said “cuptivate.” This neologism was a contamination of _cultivate_ and
-_captivate_, and foretold the coming betrothal.
-
-(_m_) An illustration of the mechanisms of contamination and
-condensation will be found in the following _lapsus linguæ_. Speaking
-of Miss Z., Miss W. depicted her as a very “straitlaced” person who
-was not given to levities, etc. Miss X. thereupon remarked: “Yes,
-that is a very characteristic description, she always appealed to me
-as very ‘_straicet-brazed_.’” Here the mistake resolved itself into
-_straitlaced_ and _brazen-faced_, which corresponded to Miss W.’s
-opinion of Miss Z.
-
-(_n_) I shall quote a number of examples from a paper by my colleague,
-Dr. W. Stekel, which appeared in the Berlin _Tageblatt_ of January,
-1904, entitled “Unconscious Confessions.”
-
-“An unpleasant trick of my unpleasant thoughts was revealed by the
-following example: To begin with, I may state that in my capacity
-as a physician I never consider my remuneration, but always keep in
-view the patient’s interest only: this goes without saying. I was
-visiting a patient who was convalescing from a serious illness. We
-had passed through hard days and nights. I was happy to find her
-improved, and I portrayed to her the pleasures of a sojourn in Abbazia,
-concluding with: ‘If, as I hope, you will _not_ soon leave your bed.’
-This obviously came from an unconscious selfish motive, to be able
-to continue treating this wealthy patient, a wish which is entirely
-foreign to my waking consciousness, and which I would reject with
-indignation.”
-
-(_o_) Another example (Dr. W. Stekel): “My wife engaged a French
-governess for the afternoons, and later, coming to a satisfactory
-agreement, wished to retain her testimonials. The governess begged
-to be allowed to keep them, saying, ‘Je cherche encore pour les
-_après-midis_--pardons, pour les _avant-midis_.’ She apparently
-intended to seek another place which would perhaps offer more
-profitable arrangements--an intention which she carried out.”
-
-(_p_) I was to give a lecture to a woman. Her husband, upon whose
-request this was done, stood behind the door listening. At the end of
-my sermonizing, which had made a visible impression, I said: “Good-bye,
-sir!” To the experienced person I thus betrayed the fact that the words
-were directed towards the husband; that I had spoken to oblige him.
-
-(_q_) Dr. Stekel reports about himself that he had under treatment
-at the same time two patients from Triest, each of whom he always
-addressed incorrectly. “Good morning, Mr. Peloni!” he would say to
-Askoli, and to Peloni, “Good morning, Mr. Askoli!” He was at first
-inclined to attribute no deeper motive to this mistake, but to explain
-it through a number of similarities in both persons. However, he easily
-convinced himself that here the interchange of names bespoke a sort
-of boast--that is, he was acquainting each of his Italian patients
-with the fact that neither was the only resident of Triest who came to
-Vienna in search of his medical advice.
-
-(_r_) Two women stopped in front of a drug-store, and one said to her
-companion, “If you will wait a few _moments_ I’ll soon be back,” but
-she said _movements_ instead. She was on her way to buy some castoria
-for her child.
-
-(_s_) Mr. L., who is fonder of being called on than of calling, spoke
-to me through the telephone from a nearby summer resort. He wanted
-to know when I would pay him a visit. I reminded him that it was his
-turn to visit me, and called his attention to the fact that, as he was
-the happy possessor of an automobile, it would be easier for him to
-call on me. (We were at different summer resorts, separated by about
-one half-hour’s railway trip.) He gladly promised to call, and asked:
-“How about Labour Day (September 1st), will it be convenient for you?”
-When I answered affirmatively, he said, “Very well, then, put me down
-for _Election_ Day” (November). His mistake was quite plain. He likes
-to visit me, but it was inconvenient to travel so far. In November we
-would both be in the city. My analysis proved correct.
-
-(_t_) A friend described to me a nervous patient, and wished to know
-whether I could benefit him. I remarked: “I believe that in time I can
-remove all his symptoms by psychoanalysis, because it is a durable
-case,” wishing to say “curable”!
-
-(_u_) I repeatedly addressed my patient as Mrs. Smith, her married
-daughter’s name, when her real name is Mrs. James. My attention having
-been called to it, I soon discovered that I had another patient of the
-same name who refused to pay for the treatment. Mrs. Smith was also my
-patient and paid her bills promptly.
-
-(_v_) A _lapsus linguæ_ sometimes stands for a particular
-characteristic. A young woman, who is the domineering spirit in her
-home, said of her ailing husband that he had consulted the doctor about
-a wholesome diet for himself, and then added: “The doctor said that
-diet has nothing to do with his ailments, and that he can eat and drink
-what _I_ want.”
-
-(_w_) I cannot omit this excellent and instructive example, although,
-according to my authority, it is about twenty years old. A lady once
-expressed herself in society--the very words show that they were
-uttered with fervour and under the pressure of a great many secret
-emotions: “Yes, a woman must be pretty if she is to please the men. A
-man is much better off. As long as he has _five_ straight limbs, he
-needs no more!”
-
-This example affords us a good insight into the intimate mechanisms of
-a mistake in speech by means of condensation and contamination (cf.
-p. 72). It is quite obvious that we have here a fusion of two similar
-modes of expression:--
-
-  “As long as he has his four _straight limbs_.”
-  “As long as he has all his _five senses_.”
-
-Or the term “straight” may be the common element of the two intended
-expressions:--
-
-  “As long as he has his _straight_ limbs.”
-  “All five should be _straight_.”
-
-It may also be assumed that both modes of expression--viz., those of
-the five senses and those of the straight five--have co-operated to
-introduce into the sentence about the straight limbs first a number and
-then the mysterious five instead of the simple four. But this fusion
-surely would not have succeeded if it had not expressed good sense in
-the form resulting from the mistake; if it had not expressed a cynical
-truth which, naturally, could not be uttered unconcealed, coming as it
-did from a woman.
-
-Finally, we shall not hesitate to call attention to the fact that
-the woman’s saying, following its wording, could just as well be
-an excellent witticism as a jocose speech-blunder. It is simply a
-question whether she uttered these words with conscious or unconscious
-intention. The behaviour of the speaker in this case certainly speaks
-against the conscious intention, and thus excludes wit.
-
-(_x_) Owing to similarity of material, I add here another case of
-speech-blunder, the interpretation of which requires less skill. A
-professor of anatomy strove to explain the nostril, which, as is known,
-is a very difficult anatomical structure. To his question whether
-his audience grasped his ideas he received an affirmative reply. The
-professor, known for his self-esteem, thereupon remarked: “I can
-hardly believe this, for the number of people who understand the
-nostril, even in a city of millions like Vienna, can be counted _on a
-finger_--pardon me, I meant to say _on the fingers_ of a hand.”
-
-(_y_) I am indebted to Dr. Alf. Robitsek, of Vienna, for calling my
-attention to two speech-blunders from an old French author, which I
-shall reproduce in the original.
-
-Brantôme (1527-1614), _Vies des Dames galantes_, Discours second: “Si
-ay-je cogneu une très belle et honneste dame de par le monde, qui,
-devisant avec un honneste gentilhomme de la cour des affaires de la
-guerre durant ces civiles, elle luy dit: ‘J’ay ouy dire que le roy a
-faiet rompre tous les c---- de ce pays là.’ Elle vouloit dire le ponts.
-Pensez que, venant de coucher d’avec son mary, ou songeant à son amant,
-elle avoit encor ce nom frais en la bouche; et le gentilhomme s’en
-eschauffer en amours d’elle pour ce mot.
-
-“Une autre dame que j’ai cogneue, entretenant une autre grand dame
-plus qu’elle, et luy louant et exaltant ses beautez, elle luy dit
-après: ‘Non, madame, ce que je vous en dis, ce n’est point pour vous
-_adultérer_’; voulant dire _adulater_, comme elle le rhabilla ainsi:
-pensez qu’elle songeoit à adultérer.”
-
-In the psychotherapeutic procedure which I employ in the solution and
-removal of neurotic symptoms, I am often confronted with the task
-of discovering from the accidental utterances and fancies of the
-patient the thought contents, which, though striving for concealment,
-nevertheless unintentionally betray themselves. In doing this the
-mistakes often perform the most valuable service, as I can show through
-most convincing and still most singular examples.
-
-For example, patients speak of an aunt and later, without noting the
-mistake, call her “my mother,” or designate a husband as a “brother.”
-In this way they attract my attention to the fact that they have
-“identified” these persons with each other, that they have placed them
-in the same category, which for their emotional life signifies the
-recurrence of the same type. Or, a young man of twenty years presents
-himself during my office hours with these words: “I am the father of
-N. N., whom you have treated--pardon me, I mean the brother; why, he
-is four years older than I.” I understand through this mistake that
-he wishes to express that, like the brother, he, too, is ill through
-the fault of the father; like his brother, he wishes to be cured, but
-that the father is the one most in need of treatment. At other times an
-unusual arrangement of words, or a forced expression, is sufficient to
-disclose in the speech of the patient the participation of a repressed
-thought having a different motive.
-
-Hence, in coarse as well as in finer speech disturbances, which may,
-nevertheless, be subsumed as “speech-blunders,” I find that it is
-not the contact effects of the sound, but the thoughts outside the
-intended speech, which determine the origin of the speech-blunder, and
-also suffice to explain the newly formed mistakes in speech. I do not
-doubt the laws whereby the sounds produce changes upon one another;
-but they alone do not appear to me sufficiently forcible to mar the
-correct execution of speech. In those cases which I have studied
-and investigated more closely they merely represent the preformed
-mechanism, which is conveniently utilized by a more remote psychic
-motive. The latter does not, however, form a part of the sphere of
-influence of these sound relations. _In a large number of substitutions
-caused by mistakes in talking there is an entire absence of such
-phonetic laws._ In this respect I am in full accord with Wundt, who
-likewise assumes that the conditions underlying speech-blunders are
-complex and go far beyond the contact effect of the sounds.
-
-If I accept as certain “these more remote psychic influences,”
-following Wundt’s expression, there is still nothing to detain me from
-conceding also that in accelerated speech, with a certain amount of
-diverted attention, the causes of speech-blunder may be easily limited
-to the definite law of Meringer and Mayer. However, in a number of
-examples gathered by these authors a more complicated solution is
-quite apparent.
-
-In some forms of speech-blunders we may assume that the disturbing
-factor is the result of striking against obscene words and meanings.
-The purposive disfigurement and distortion of words and phrases,
-which is so popular with vulgar persons, aims at nothing else but the
-employing of a harmless motive as a reminder of the obscene, and this
-sport is so frequent that it would not be at all remarkable if it
-appeared unintentionally and contrary to the will.
-
-I trust that the readers will not depreciate the value of these
-interpretations, for which there is no proof, and of these examples
-which I have myself collected and explained by means of analysis. But
-if secretly I still cherish the expectation that even the apparently
-simple cases of speech-blunder will be traced to a disturbance caused
-by a half-repressed idea outside of the intended context, I am tempted
-to it by a noteworthy observation of Meringer. This author asserts that
-it is remarkable that nobody wishes to admit having made a mistake in
-speaking. There are many intelligent and honest people who are offended
-if we tell them that they made a mistake in speaking. I would not risk
-making this assertion as general as does Meringer, using the term
-“nobody.” But the emotional trace which clings to the demonstration
-of the mistake, which manifestly belongs to the nature of shame, has
-its significance. It may be classed with the anger displayed at the
-inability to recall a forgotten name, and with the surprise at the
-tenaciousness of an apparently indifferent memory, and it invariably
-points to the participation of a motive in the formation of the
-disturbance.
-
-The distorting of names amounts to an insult when done intentionally,
-and could have the same significance in a whole series of cases
-where it appears as unintentional speech-blunders. The person who,
-according to Mayer’s report, once said “Freuder” instead of “Freud,”
-because shortly before he pronounced the name “Breuer” (p. 38), and
-who at another time spoke of the “Freuer-Breudian” method (p. 28), was
-certainly not particularly enthusiastic over this method. Later, under
-the mistakes in writing, I shall report a case of name disfigurement
-which certainly admits of no other explanation.[20]
-
-As a disturbing element in these cases there is an intermingling of a
-criticism which must be omitted, because at the time being it does not
-correspond to the intention of the speaker.
-
-Or it may be just the reverse; the substituted name, or the adoption
-of the strange name, signifies an appreciation of the same. The
-identification which is brought about by the mistake is equivalent
-to a recognition which for the moment must remain in the background.
-An experience of this kind from his schooldays is related by Dr.
-Ferenczi:--
-
-“While in my first year at college I was obliged to recite a poem
-before the whole class. It was the first experience of the kind in my
-life, but I was well prepared. As soon as I began my recitation I was
-dismayed at being disturbed by an outburst of laughter. The professor
-later explained to me this strange reception. I started by giving the
-title ‘From the Distance,’ which was correct, but instead of giving the
-name of the real author, I mentioned--my own. The name of the poet is
-Alexander Petöfi. The identity of the first name with my own favoured
-the interchange of names, but the real reason was surely the fact that
-I identified myself at that time with the celebrated poet-hero. Even
-consciously I entertained for him a love and respect which verged on
-adoration. The whole ambition-complex hides itself under this faulty
-action.”
-
-A similar identification was reported to me concerning a young
-physician who timidly and reverently introduced himself to the
-celebrated Virchow with the following words: “I am Dr. Virchow.”
-The surprised professor turned to him and asked, “Is your name also
-Virchow?” I do not know how the ambitious young man justified his
-speech-blunder, whether he thought of the charming excuse that he
-imagined himself so insignificant next to this big man that his own
-name slipped from him, or whether he had the courage to admit that he
-hoped that he, too, would some day be as great a man as Virchow, and
-that the professor should therefore not treat him in too disparaging a
-manner. One or both of these thoughts may have put this young man in an
-embarrassing position during the introduction.
-
-Owing to very personal motives I must leave it undecided whether a
-similar interpretation may also apply in the case to be cited. At the
-International Congress in Amsterdam, in 1907, my theories of hysteria
-were the subject of a lively discussion. One of my most violent
-opponents, in his diatribe against me, repeatedly made mistakes in
-speech in such a manner that he put himself in my place and spoke in
-my name. He said, for example, “Breuer and I, as is well known, have
-demonstrated,” etc., when he wished to say “Breuer and Freud.” The name
-of this opponent does not show the slightest sound similarity to my
-own. From this example, as well as from other cases of interchanging
-names in speech-blunders, we are reminded of the fact that the
-speech-blunder can fully forego the facility afforded to it through
-similar sounds, and can achieve its purpose if only supported in
-content by concealed relations.
-
-In other and more significant cases it is a self-criticism, an
-internal contradiction against one’s own utterance, which causes the
-speech-blunder, and even forces a contrasting substitution for the one
-intended. We then observe with surprise how the wording of an assertion
-removes the purpose of the same, and how the error in speech lays bare
-the inner dishonesty. Here the _lapsus linguæ_ becomes a mimicking form
-of expression, often, indeed, for the expression of what one does not
-wish to say. It is thus a means of self-betrayal.
-
-Brill relates: “I had recently been consulted by a woman who showed
-many paranoid trends, and as she had no relatives who could co-operate
-with me, I urged her to enter a State hospital as a voluntary patient.
-She was quite willing to do so, but on the following day she told
-me that her friends with whom she leased an apartment objected to
-her going to a hospital, as it would interfere with their plans,
-and so on. I lost patience and said: ‘There is no use listening to
-your friends who know nothing about your mental condition; you are
-quite _incompetent_ to take care of your own affairs.’ I meant to say
-‘competent.’ Here the _lapsus linguæ_ expressed my true opinion.”
-
-Favoured by chance the speech material often gives origin to examples
-of speech-blunders which serve to bring about an overwhelming
-revelation or a full comic effect, as shown by the following examples
-reported by Brill:--
-
-“A wealthy but not very generous host invited his friends for an
-evening dance. Everything went well until about 11.30 p.m., when there
-was an intermission, presumably for supper. To the great disappointment
-of most of the guests there was no supper; instead, they were regaled
-with thin sandwiches and lemonade. As it was close to Election day the
-conversation centred on the different candidates; and as the discussion
-grew warmer, one of the guests, an ardent admirer of the Progressive
-Party candidate, remarked to the host: ‘You may say what you please
-about Teddy, but there is one thing--he can always be relied upon;
-he always gives you a _square meal_,’ wishing to say _square deal_.
-The assembled guests burst into a roar of laughter, to the great
-embarrassment of the speaker and the host, who fully understood each
-other.”
-
-“While writing a prescription for a woman who was especially weighed
-down by the financial burden of the treatment, I was interested to hear
-her say suddenly: ‘Please do not give me _big bills_, because I cannot
-swallow them.’ Of course she meant to say _pills_.”
-
-The following example illustrates a rather serious case of
-self-betrayal through a mistake in talking. Some accessory details
-justify full reproduction as first printed by Dr. A. A. Brill.[21]
-
-“While walking one night with Dr. Frink we accidentally met a
-colleague, Dr. P., whom I had not seen for years, and of whose private
-life I knew nothing. We were naturally very pleased to meet again, and
-on my invitation he accompanied us to a café, where we spent about two
-hours in pleasant conversation. To my question as to whether he was
-married he gave a negative answer, and added, ‘Why should a man like me
-marry?’
-
-“On leaving the café, he suddenly turned to me and said: ‘I should
-like to know what you would do in a case like this: I know a nurse
-who was named as co-respondent in a divorce case. The wife sued the
-husband for divorce and named her as co-respondent, and _he_ got the
-divorce.’ I interrupted him, saying, ‘You mean _she_ got the divorce.’
-He immediately corrected himself, saying, ‘Yes, she got the divorce,’
-and continued to tell how the excitement of the trial had affected this
-nurse to such an extent that she became nervous and took to drink. He
-wanted me to advise him how to treat her.
-
-“As soon as I had corrected his mistake I asked him to explain it, but,
-as is usually the case, he was surprised at my question. He wanted
-to know whether a person had no right to make mistakes in talking. I
-explained to him that there is a reason for every mistake, and that if
-he had not told me that he was unmarried, I would say that he was the
-hero of the divorce case in question, and that the mistake showed that
-he wished he had obtained the divorce instead of his wife, so as not
-to be obliged to pay alimony and to be permitted to marry again in New
-York State.
-
-“He stoutly denied my interpretation, but his emotional agitation,
-followed by loud laughter, only strengthened my suspicions. To my
-appeal that he should tell the truth ‘for science’ sake,’ he said,
-‘Unless you wish me to lie you must believe that I was never married,
-and hence your psychoanalytic interpretation is all wrong.’ He,
-however, added that it was dangerous to be with a person who paid
-attention to such little things. Then he suddenly remembered that he
-had another appointment and left us.
-
-“Both Dr. Frink and I were convinced that my interpretation of his
-_lapsus linguæ_ was correct, and I decided to corroborate or disprove
-it by further investigation. The next day I found a neighbour and old
-friend of Dr. P., who confirmed my interpretation in every particular.
-The divorce was granted to Dr. P.’s wife a few weeks before, and a
-nurse was named as co-respondent. A few weeks later I met Dr. P., and
-he told me that he was thoroughly convinced of the Freudian mechanisms.”
-
-The self-betrayal is just as plain in the following case reported by
-Otto Rank:--
-
-A father who was devoid of all patriotic feeling and desirous of
-educating his children to be just as free from this superfluous
-sentiment, reproached his sons for participating in a patriotic
-demonstration, and rejected their reference to a similar behaviour of
-their uncle with these words: “You are not obliged to imitate him;
-why, he is an _idiot_.” The astonished features of the children at
-their father’s unusual tone aroused him to the fact that he had made a
-mistake, and he remarked apologetically, “Of course, I wished to say
-_patriot_.”
-
-When such a speech-blunder occurs in a serious squabble and reverses
-the intended meaning of one of the disputants, at once it puts him at a
-disadvantage with his adversary--a disadvantage which the latter seldom
-fails to utilize.
-
-This clearly shows that although people are unwilling to accept
-the theory of my conception and are not inclined to forego the
-convenience that is connected with the tolerance of a faulty action,
-they nevertheless interpret speech-blunders and other faulty acts in
-a manner similar to the one presented in this book. The merriment and
-derision which are sure to be evoked at the decisive moment through
-such linguistic mistakes speak conclusively against the generally
-accepted convention that such a speech-blunder is a _lapsus linguæ_
-and psychologically of no importance. It was no less a man than the
-German Chancellor, Prince Bülow, who endeavoured to save the situation
-through such a protest when the wording of his defence of his Emperor
-(November, 1907) turned into the opposite through a speech-blunder.
-
-“Concerning the present, the new epoch of Emperor Wilhelm II, I can
-only repeat what I said a year ago, that _it would be unfair and unjust
-to speak of a coterie of responsible advisers around our Emperor_ (loud
-calls, ‘Irresponsible!’)--to speak of _irresponsible_ advisers. Pardon
-the _lapsus linguæ_” (hilarity).
-
-A nice example of speech-blunder, which aims not so much at the
-betrayal of the speaker as at the enlightenment of the listener outside
-the scene, is found in Wallenstein (_Piccolomini_, Act I, Scene 5),
-and shows us that the poet who here uses this means is well versed in
-the mechanism and intent of speech-blunders. In the preceding scene
-Max Piccolomini was passionately in favour of the ducal party, and was
-enthusiastic over the blessings of the peace which became known to him
-in the course of a journey while accompanying Wallenstein’s daughter
-to the encampment. He leaves his father and the Court ambassador,
-Questenberg, in great consternation. The scene proceeds as follows:--
-
- QUESTENBERG. Woe unto us! Are matters thus? Friend, should we allow
- him to go there with this false opinion, and not recall him at once in
- order to open his eyes instantly.
-
- OCTAVIO (_rousing himself from profound meditation_). He has already
- opened mine, and I see more than pleases me.
-
- QUESTENBERG. What is it, friend?
-
- OCTAVIO. A curse on that journey!
-
- QUESTENBERG. Why? What is it?
-
- OCTAVIO. Come! I must immediately follow the unlucky trail, must see
- with my own eyes--come----(_Wishes to lead him away._)
-
- QUESTENBERG. What is the matter? Where?
-
- OCTAVIO (_urging_). To _her_!
-
- QUESTENBERG. To----?
-
- OCTAVIO (_corrects himself_). To the duke! Let us go, etc.
-
-The slight speech-blunder _to her_ in place of _to him_ is meant to
-betray to us the fact that the father has seen through his son’s motive
-for espousing the other cause, while the courtier complains that “he
-speaks to him altogether in riddles.”
-
-Another example wherein a poet makes use of a speech-blunder was
-discovered by Otto Rank in Shakespeare. I quote Rank’s report from the
-_Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse_, I. 3.
-
-“A poetic speech-blunder, very delicately motivated and technically
-remarkably well utilized, which, like the one pointed out by Freud in
-Wallenstein (_Zur Psychopathologie des Alltagslebens_, 2nd Edition, p.
-48), not only shows that poets knew the mechanism and sense of this
-error, but also presupposes an understanding of it on the part of the
-hearer, can be found in Shakespeare’s _Merchant of Venice_ (Act III,
-Scene 2). By the will of her father, Portia was bound to select a
-husband through a lottery. She escaped all her distasteful suitors by
-lucky chance. When she finally found in Bassanio the suitor after her
-own heart, she had cause to fear lest he, too, should draw the unlucky
-lottery. In the scene she would like to tell him that even if he chose
-the wrong casket, he might, nevertheless, be sure of her love. But she
-is hampered by her vow. In this mental conflict the poet puts these
-words in her mouth, which were directed to the welcome suitor:--
-
-    “There is something tells me (but it is not love),
-    I would not lose you; and you know yourself
-    Hate counsels not in such a quality.
-    But lest you should not understand me well
-    (And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought),
-    I would detain you here some month or two,
-    Before you venture for me. I could teach you
-    How to choose right, but then I am forsworn;
-    So will I never be; so may you miss me;
-    But if you do, you’ll make me wish a sin,
-    That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,
-    They have o’erlooked me, and divided me:
-    _One half of me is yours, the other half yours_--
-    _Mine own, I would say_; but if mine, then yours--
-    And so all yours.”
-
-“Just the very thing which she would like to hint to him gently,
-because really she should keep it from him, namely, that even before
-the choice she is wholly his--that she loves him, the poet, with
-admirable psychologic sensitiveness, allows to come to the surface in
-the speech-blunder. It is through this artifice that he manages to
-allay the intolerable uncertainty of the lover as well as the like
-tension of the hearer concerning the outcome of the choice.”
-
-The interest merited by the confirmation of our conception of
-speech-blunders through the great poets justifies the citation of a
-third example which was reported by Dr. E. Jones.[22]
-
-“Our great novelist, George Meredith, in his masterpiece, _The Egoist_,
-shows an even finer understanding of the mechanism. The plot of the
-novel is, shortly, as follows: Sir Willoughby Patterne, an aristocrat
-greatly admired by his circle, becomes engaged to a Miss Constantia
-Durham. She discovers in him an intense egoism, which he skilfully
-conceals from the world, and to escape the marriage she elopes with a
-Captain Oxford. Some years later Patterne becomes engaged to a Miss
-Clara Middleton, and most of the book is taken up with a detailed
-description of the conflict that arises in her mind on also discovering
-his egoism. External circumstances and her conception of honour hold
-her to her pledge, while he becomes more and more distasteful in her
-eyes. She partly confided in his cousin and secretary, Vernon Whitford,
-the man whom she ultimately marries, but from a mixture of motives he
-stands aloof.
-
-“In the soliloquy Clara speaks as follows: ‘If some noble gentleman
-could see me as I am and not disdain to aid me! Oh! to be caught out of
-this prison of thorns and brambles. I cannot tear my own way out. I am
-a coward. A beckoning of a finger would change me, I believe. I could
-fly bleeding and through hootings to a comrade.... Constantia met a
-soldier. Perhaps she prayed and her prayer was answered. She did ill.
-But, oh, how I love her for it! His name was Harry Oxford.... She did
-not waver, she cut the links, she signed herself over. Oh, brave girl,
-what do you think of me? But I have no Harry Whitford; I am alone....’
-The sudden consciousness that she had put another name for Oxford
-struck her a buffet, drowning her in crimson.
-
-“The fact that both men’s names end in ‘ford’ evidently renders the
-confounding of them more easy, and would by many be regarded as an
-adequate cause for this, but the real underlying motive for it is
-plainly indicated by the author. In another passage the same _lapsus_
-occurs, and is followed by the hesitation and change of subject that
-one is familiar with in psychoanalysis when a half-conscious complex
-is touched. Sir Willoughby patronizingly says of Whitford: ‘False
-alarm. The resolution to do anything unaccustomed is quite beyond
-poor old Vernon.’ Clara replies: ‘But if Mr. Oxford--Whitford ...
-your swans, coming sailing up the lake; how beautiful they look when
-they are indignant! I was going to ask you, surely men witnessing a
-marked admiration for some one else will naturally be discouraged?’ Sir
-Willoughby stiffened with sudden enlightenment.
-
-“In still another passage Clara, by another _lapsus_, betrays her
-secret wish that she was on a more intimate footing with Vernon
-Whitford. Speaking to a boy friend, she says, ‘Tell Mr. Vernon--tell
-Mr. Whitford.’”
-
-The conception of speech-blunders here defended can be readily verified
-in the smallest details. I have been able to demonstrate repeatedly
-that the most insignificant and most natural cases of speech-blunders
-have their good sense, and admit of the same interpretation as the
-more striking examples. A patient who, contrary to my wishes but
-with firm personal motives, decided upon a short trip to Budapest,
-justified herself by saying that she was going for only three days, but
-she blundered and said for only three weeks. She betrayed her secret
-feeling that, to spite me, she preferred spending three weeks to three
-days in that society which I considered unfit for her.
-
-One evening, wishing to excuse myself for not having called for my wife
-at the theatre, I said: “I was at the theatre at ten minutes after
-ten.” I was corrected: “You meant to say before ten o’clock.” Naturally
-I wanted to say before ten. After ten would certainly be no excuse. I
-had been told that the theatre programme read, “Finished before ten
-o’clock.” When I arrived at the theatre I found the foyer dark and
-the theatre empty. Evidently the performance was over earlier and my
-wife did not wait for me. When I looked at the clock it still wanted
-five minutes to ten. I determined to make my case more favourable
-at home, and say that it was ten minutes to ten. Unfortunately, the
-speech-blunder spoiled the intent and laid bare my dishonesty, in which
-I acknowledged more than there really was to confess.
-
-This leads us to those speech disturbances which can no longer be
-described as speech-blunders, for they do not injure the individual
-word, but affect the rhythm and execution of the entire speech, as,
-for example, the stammering and stuttering of embarrassment. But here,
-as in the former cases, it is the inner conflict that is betrayed to
-us through the disturbance in speech. I really do not believe that any
-one will make mistakes in talking in an audience with His Majesty,
-in a serious love declaration, or in defending one’s name and honour
-before a jury; in short, people make no mistakes where _they are all
-there_, as the saying goes. Even in criticizing an author’s style we
-are allowed and accustomed to follow the principle of explanation,
-which we cannot miss in the origin of a single speech-blunder. A
-clear and unequivocal manner of writing shows us that here the author
-is in harmony with himself, but where we find a forced and involved
-expression, aiming at more than one target, as appropriately expressed,
-we can thereby recognize the participation of an unfinished and
-complicated thought, or we can hear through it the stifled voice of
-the author’s self-criticism.[23]
-
-
-
-
-VI
-
-MISTAKES IN READING AND WRITING
-
-
-That the same view-points and observation should hold true for mistakes
-in reading and writing as for lapses in speech is not at all surprising
-when one remembers the inner relation of these functions. I shall here
-confine myself to the reports of several carefully analysed examples
-and shall make no attempt to include all of the phenomena.
-
-
-A. LAPSES IN READING.
-
-(_a_) While looking over a number of the _Leipziger Illustrierten_,
-which I was holding obliquely, I read as the title of the front-page
-picture, “A Wedding Celebration in the Odyssey.” Astonished and with my
-attention aroused, I moved the page into the proper position only to
-read correctly, “A Wedding Celebration in the Ostsee (Baltic Sea).” How
-did this senseless mistake in reading come about?
-
-Immediately my thoughts turned to a book by Ruth, _Experimental
-Investigations of “Music Phantoms”_, etc., with which I had recently
-been much occupied, as it closely touched the psychologic problems
-that are of interest to me. The author promised a work in the near
-future to be called _Analysis and Principles of Dream Phenomena_. No
-wonder that I, having just published an _Interpretation of Dreams_,
-awaited the appearance of this book with the most intense interest. In
-Ruth’s work concerning music phantoms I found an announcement in the
-beginning of the table of contents of the detailed inductive proof that
-the old Hellenic myths and traditions originated mainly from slumber
-and music phantoms, from dream phenomena and from deliria. Thereupon I
-had immediately plunged into the text in order to find out whether he
-was also aware that the scene where Odysseus appears before Nausicaa
-was based upon the common dream of nakedness. One of my friends
-called my attention to the clever passage in G. Keller’s _Grünem
-Heinrich_, which explains this episode in the Odyssey as an objective
-representation of the dream of the mariner straying far from home. I
-added to it the reference to the exhibition dream of nakedness.[24]
-
-(_b_) A woman who is very anxious to get children always reads _storks_
-instead of _stocks_.
-
-(_c_) One day I received a letter which contained very disturbing news.
-I immediately called my wife and informed her that poor Mrs. Wm. H.
-was seriously ill and was given up by the doctors. There must have been
-a false ring to the words in which I expressed my sympathy, as my wife
-grew suspicious, asked to see the letter, and expressed her opinion
-that it could not read as stated by me, because no one calls the wife
-by the husband’s name. Moreover, the correspondent was well acquainted
-with the Christian name of the woman concerned. I defended my assertion
-obstinately and referred to the customary visiting-cards, on which a
-woman designates herself by the Christian name of her husband. I was
-finally compelled to take up the letter, and, as a matter of fact, we
-read therein “Poor W. M.” What is more, I had even overlooked “Poor Dr.
-W. M.” My mistake in reading signified a spasmodic effort, so to speak,
-to turn the sad news from the man towards the woman. The title between
-the adjective and the name did not go well with my claim that the woman
-must have been meant. That is why it was omitted in the reading. The
-motive for this falsifying was not that the woman was less an object
-of my sympathy than the man, but the fate of this poor man had excited
-my fears regarding another and nearer person who, I was aware, had the
-same disease.
-
-(_d_) Both irritating and laughable is a lapse in reading to which I am
-frequently subject when I walk through the streets of a strange city
-during my vacation. I then read _antiquities_ on every shop sign that
-shows the slightest resemblance to the word; this displays the questing
-spirit of the collector.
-
-(_e_) In his important work[25] Bleuler relates: “While reading I
-once had the intellectual feeling of seeing my name two lines below.
-To my astonishment I found only the words blood corpuscles. Of the
-many thousands of lapses in reading in the peripheral as well as in
-the central field of vision that I have analysed, this was the most
-striking case. Whenever I imagined that I saw my name, the word that
-induced this illusion usually showed a greater resemblance to my name
-than the word _bloodcorpuscles_. In most cases all the letters of my
-name had to be close together before I could commit such an error. In
-this case, however, I could readily explain the delusion of reference
-and the illusion. What I had just read was the end of a statement
-concerning a form of bad style in scientific works, a tendency from
-which I am not entirely free.”
-
-
-B. LAPSES IN WRITING.
-
-(_a_) On a sheet of paper containing principally short daily notes
-of business interest, I found, to my surprise, the incorrect date,
-“Thursday, October 20th,” bracketed under the correct date of the
-month of September. It was not difficult to explain this anticipation
-as the expression of a wish. A few days before I had returned fresh
-from my vacation and felt ready for any amount of professional work,
-but as yet there were few patients. On my arrival I had found a letter
-from a patient announcing her arrival on the 20th of October. As I
-wrote the same date in September I may certainly have thought “X. ought
-to be here already; what a pity about that whole month!” and with this
-thought I pushed the current date a month ahead. In this case the
-disturbing thought can scarcely be called unpleasant; therefore after
-noticing this lapse in writing, I immediately knew the solution. In
-the fall of the following year I experienced an entirely analogous
-and similarly motivated lapse in writing. E. Jones has made a study
-of similar cases, and found that most mistakes in writing dates are
-motivated.
-
-(_b_) I received the proof sheets of my contribution to the annual
-report on neurology and psychiatry, and I was naturally obliged to
-review with special care the names of authors, which, because of
-the many different nationalities represented, offer the greatest
-difficulties to the compositor. As a matter of fact, I found some
-strange-sounding names still in need of correction; but, oddly enough,
-the compositor had corrected one single name in my manuscript,
-and with very good reason. I had written _Buckrhard_, which the
-compositor guessed to be _Burckhard_. I had praised the treatise of
-this obstetrician entitled _The Influence of Birth on the Origin of
-Infantile Paralysis_, and I was not conscious of the least enmity
-toward him. But an author in Vienna, who had angered me by an adverse
-criticism of my _Traumdeutung_, bears the same name. It was as if in
-writing the name Burckhard, meaning the obstetrician, a wicked thought
-concerning the other B. had obtruded itself. The twisting of the name,
-as I have already stated in regard to lapses in speech, often signifies
-a depreciation.[26]
-
-(_c_) The following is seemingly a serious case of _lapsus calami_,
-which it would be equally correct to describe as an erroneously carried
-out action. I intended to withdraw from the postal savings bank the sum
-of 300 crowns, which I wished to send to an absent relative to enable
-him to take treatment at a watering-place. I noted that my account was
-4,380 crowns, and I decided to bring it down to the round sum of 4,000
-crowns, which was not to be touched in the near future. After making
-out the regular cheque I suddenly noticed that I had written not 380
-crowns, as I had intended, but exactly 438 crowns. I was frightened
-at the untrustworthiness of my action. I soon realized that my fear
-was groundless, as I had not grown poorer than I was before. But I
-had to reflect for quite a while in order to discover what influence
-diverted me from my first intention without making itself known to my
-consciousness.
-
-First I got on a wrong track: I subtracted 380 from 438, but after that
-I did not know what to do with the difference. Finally an idea occurred
-to me which showed me the true connection. 438 is exactly 10 per cent.
-of the entire account of 4,380 crowns! But the bookseller, too, gives a
-10 per cent. discount! I recalled that a few days before I had selected
-several books, in which I was no longer interested, in order to offer
-them to the bookseller for 300 crowns. He thought the price demanded
-too high, but promised to give me a final answer within the next few
-days. If he should accept my first offer he would replace the exact sum
-that I was to spend on the sufferer. There is no doubt that I was sorry
-about this expenditure. The emotion at the realization of my mistakes
-can be more easily understood as a fear of growing poor through such
-outlays. But both the sorrow over this expense and the fear of poverty
-connected with it were entirely foreign to my consciousness; I did not
-regret this expense when I promised the sum, and would have laughed
-at the idea of any such underlying motive. I should probably not have
-assigned such feelings to myself had not my psychoanalytic practice
-made me quite familiar with the repressed elements of psychic life, and
-if I had not had a dream a few days before which brought forth the same
-solution.
-
-(_d_) Although it is usually difficult to find the person responsible
-for printers’ errors, the psychologic mechanisms underlying them
-are the same as in other mistakes. Typographical errors also well
-demonstrate the fact that people are not at all indifferent to such
-trivialities as “mistakes,” and, judging by the indignant reactions of
-the parties concerned, one is forced to the conclusion that mistakes
-are not treated by the public at large as mere accidents. This state
-of affairs is very well summed up in the following editorial from the
-_New York Times_ of April 14, 1913. Not the least interesting are the
-comments of the keen-witted editor, who seems to share our views:--
-
- “A BLUNDER TRULY UNFORTUNATE.
-
- “Typographical errors come only too frequently from even the
- best-regulated newspaper presses. They are always humiliating, often
- a cause of anger, and occasionally dangerous, but now and then they
- are distinctly amusing. This latter quality they are most apt to have
- when they are made in the office of a journalistic neighbour, a fact
- that probably explains why we can read with smiling composure an
- elaborate editorial apology which appears in the _Hartford Courant_.
-
- “Its able political commentator tried the other day to say that,
- _unfortunately_ for Connecticut, ‘J. H. is no longer a Member of
- Congress. Printer and proof-reader combined to deprive the adverb of
- its negative particle.’ At least, the able political commentator so
- declares, and we wouldn’t question his veracity for the world; but
- sorrowful experience has taught most of us that it’s safer to get
- that sort of editorial disclaimer of responsibility into print before
- looking up the copy, and perhaps--just perhaps--the world-enlightener,
- who _knows_ that he wrote _unfortunate_, because that is what he
- intended to write, didn’t rashly chance the discovery of his own guilt
- before he convicted the composing-room of it.
-
- “Be that as it may, the meaning of the sentence was cruelly changed,
- and a friend was grieved or offended. Not so long ago a more
- astonishing error than this one crept into a book review of ours--a
- very solemn and scientific book. It consisted of the substitution
- of the word ‘caribou’ for the word ‘carbon’ in a paragraph dealing
- with the chemical composition of the stars. In that case the writer’s
- fierce self-exculpation is at least highly plausible, as it seems
- hardly possible that he wrote ‘caribou’ when he intended to write
- ‘carbon,’ but even he was cautious enough to make no deep inquiry into
- the matter.”
-
-(_e_) I cite the following case contributed by Dr. W. Stekel, for
-the authenticity of which I can vouch: “An almost unbelievable
-example of miswriting and misreading occurred in the editing of a
-widely circulated weekly. It concerned an article of defence and
-vindication which was written with much warmth and great pathos. The
-editor-in-chief of the paper read the article, while the author himself
-naturally read it from the manuscript and proof-sheets more than once.
-Everybody was satisfied, when the printer’s reader suddenly noticed
-a slight error which had escaped the attention of all. There it was,
-plainly enough: ‘Our readers will bear witness to the fact that we have
-always acted in a _selfish_ manner for the good of the community.’
-It is quite evident that it was meant to read _unselfish_. The real
-thoughts, however, broke through the pathetic speech with elemental
-force.”
-
-(_f_) The following example of misprinting is taken from a Western
-gazette: The teacher was giving an instruction paper on mathematical
-methods, and spoke of a plan “for the instruction of youth that might
-be carried out _ad libidinem_.”
-
-(_g_) Even the Bible did not escape misprints. Thus we have the “Wicked
-Bible,” so called from the fact that the negative was left out of the
-seventh commandment. This authorized edition of the Bible was published
-in London in 1631, and it is said that the printer had to pay a fine of
-two thousand pounds for the omission.
-
-Another biblical misprint dates back to the year 1580, and is found
-in the Bible of the famous library of Wolfenbuttel, in Hesse. In the
-passage in Genesis where God tells Eve that Adam shall be her master
-and shall rule over her, the German translation is “_Und er soll dein
-Herr sein_.” The word _Herr_ (master) was substituted by _Narr_, which
-means fool. Newly discovered evidence seems to show that the error was
-a conscious machination of the printer’s suffragette wife, who refused
-to be ruled by her husband.
-
-(_h_) Dr. Ernest Jones reports the following case concerning A. A.
-Brill: “Although by custom almost a teetotaler, he yielded to a
-friend’s importunity one evening, in order to avoid offending him,
-and took a little wine. During the next morning an exacerbation of an
-eye-strain headache gave him cause to regret this slight indulgence,
-and his reflection on the subject found expression in the following
-slip of the pen. Having occasion to write the name of a girl mentioned
-by a patient, he wrote not Ethel but Ethyl.[27] It happened that the
-girl in question was rather too fond of drink, and in Dr. Brill’s mood
-at the time this characteristic of hers stood out with conspicuous
-significance.”[28]
-
-(_i_) A woman wrote to her sister, felicitating her on the occasion
-of taking possession of a new and spacious residence. A friend who
-was present noticed that the writer put the wrong address on the
-letter, and what was still more remarkable was the fact that she did
-not address it to the previous residence, but to one long ago given
-up, but which her sister had occupied when she first married. When
-the friend called her attention to it the writer remarked, “You are
-right; but what in the world made me do this?” to which her friend
-replied: “Perhaps you begrudge her the nice big apartment into which
-she has just moved because you yourself are cramped for space, and
-for that reason you put her back into her first residence, where she
-was no better off than yourself.” “Of course I begrudge her the new
-apartment,” she honestly admitted. As an afterthought she added, “It is
-a pity that one is so mean in such matters.”
-
-(_k_) Ernest Jones reports the following example given to him by Dr.
-A. A. Brill. In a letter to Dr. Brill a patient tried to attribute
-his nervousness to business worries and excitement during the cotton
-crisis. He went on to say: “My trouble is all due to that d---- frigid
-wave; there isn’t even any seed to be obtained for new crops.” He
-referred to a cold wave which had destroyed the cotton crops, but
-instead of writing “wave” he wrote “wife.” In the bottom of his heart
-he entertained reproaches against his wife on account of her marital
-frigidity and childlessness, and he was not far from the cognition that
-the enforced abstinence played no little part in the causation of his
-malady.
-
-Omissions in writing are naturally explained in the same manner as
-mistakes in writing. A remarkable example of omission which is of
-historic importance was reported by Dr. B. Dattner.[29] In one of
-the legal articles dealing with the financial obligations of both
-countries, which was drawn up in the year 1867 during the readjustment
-between Austria and Hungary, the word “effective” was accidentally
-omitted in the Hungarian translation. Dattner thinks it probable that
-the unconscious desire of the Hungarian law-makers to grant Austria the
-least possible advantages had something to do with this omission.
-
-Another example of omission is the following related by Brill:
-“A prospective patient, who had corresponded with me relative to
-treatment, finally wrote for an appointment for a certain day. Instead
-of keeping his appointment he sent regrets which began as follows:
-‘Owing to _foreseen_ circumstances I am unable to keep my appointment.’
-He naturally meant to write _unforeseen_. He finally came to me
-months later, and in the course of the analysis I discovered that
-my suspicions at the time were justified; there were no unforeseen
-circumstances to prevent his coming at that time; he was advised not to
-come to me. The unconscious does not lie.”
-
-Wundt gives a most noteworthy proof for the easily ascertained fact
-that we more easily make mistakes in writing than in speaking (_loc.
-cit._, p. 374). He states: “In the course of normal conversation the
-inhibiting function of the will is constantly directed toward bringing
-into harmony the course of ideation with the movement of articulation.
-If the articulation following the ideas becomes retarded through
-mechanical causes, as in writing, such anticipations then readily make
-their appearance.”
-
-Observation of the determinants which favour lapses in reading gives
-rise to doubt, which I do not like to leave unmentioned, because I am
-of the opinion that it may become the starting-point of a fruitful
-investigation. It is a familiar fact that in reading aloud the
-attention of the reader often wanders from the text and is directed
-toward his own thoughts. The results of this deviation of attention
-are often such that when interrupted and questioned he cannot even
-state what he has read. In other words, he has read automatically,
-although the reading was nearly always correct. I do not think that
-such conditions favour any noticeable increase in the mistakes. We are
-accustomed to assume concerning a whole series of functions that they
-are most precisely performed when done automatically, with scarcely
-any conscious attention. This argues that the conditions governing
-attention in mistakes in speaking, writing, and reading must be
-differently determined than assumed by Wundt (cessation or diminution
-of attention). The examples which we have subjected to analysis have
-really not given us the right to take for granted a quantitative
-diminution of attention. We found what is probably not exactly the
-same thing, a disturbance of the attention through a strange obtruding
-thought.
-
-
-
-
-VII
-
-FORGETTING OF IMPRESSIONS AND RESOLUTIONS
-
-
-If any one should be inclined to overrate the state of our present
-knowledge of mental life, all that would be needed to force him to
-assume a modest attitude would be to remind him of the function of
-memory. No psychologic theory has yet been able to account for the
-connection between the fundamental phenomena of remembering and
-forgetting; indeed, even the complete analysis of that which one can
-actually observe has as yet scarcely been grasped. To-day forgetting
-has perhaps grown more puzzling than remembering, especially since
-we have learned from the study of dreams and pathologic states that
-even what for a long time we believed forgotten may suddenly return to
-consciousness.
-
-To be sure, we are in possession of some view-points which we hope
-will receive general recognition. Thus we assume that forgetting is
-a spontaneous process to which we may ascribe a certain temporal
-discharge. We emphasize the fact that, just as among the units of
-every impression or experience, in forgetting, too, a certain selection
-takes place among the existing impressions. We are acquainted with some
-of the conditions that underlie the tenaciousness of memory and the
-awakening of that which would otherwise remain forgotten. Nevertheless,
-we can observe in innumerable cases of daily life how unreliable and
-unsatisfactory our knowledge of the mechanism is. Thus we may listen
-to two persons exchanging reminiscences concerning the same outward
-impressions, say of a journey that they have taken together some time
-before. What remains most firmly in the memory of the one is often
-forgotten by the other, as if it had never occurred, even when there
-is not the slightest reason to assume that this impression is of
-greater psychic importance for the one than for the other. A great many
-of those factors which determine the selective power of memory are
-obviously still beyond our ken.
-
-With the purpose of adding some small contribution to the knowledge of
-the conditions of forgetting, I was wont to subject to a psychologic
-analysis those cases in which forgetting concerned me personally. As
-a rule I took up only a certain group of those cases, namely, those
-in which the forgetting astonished me, because, in my opinion, I
-should have remembered the experience in question. I wish further to
-remark that I am generally not inclined to forgetfulness (of things
-experienced, not of things learned), and that for a short period of my
-youth I was able to perform extraordinary feats of memory. When I was a
-schoolboy it was quite natural for me to be able to repeat from memory
-the page of a book which I had read; and shortly before I entered the
-University I could write down practically verbatim the popular lectures
-on scientific subjects directly after hearing them. In the tension
-before the final medical examination I must have made use of the
-remnant of this ability, for in certain subjects I gave the examiners
-apparently automatic answers, which proved to be exact reproductions
-of the text-book, which I had skimmed through but once and then in
-greatest haste.
-
-Since those days I have steadily lost control over my memory; of
-late, however, I became convinced that with the aid of a certain
-artifice I can recall far more than I would otherwise credit myself
-with remembering. For example, when, during my office hours, a patient
-states that I have seen him before and I cannot recall either the fact
-or the time, then I help myself by guessing--that is, I allow a number
-of years, beginning from the present time, to come to my mind quickly.
-Whenever this could be controlled by records of definite information
-from the patient, it was always shown that in over ten years[30] I
-have seldom missed it by more than six months. The same thing happens
-when I meet a casual acquaintance and, from politeness, inquire about
-his small child. When he tells of its progress I try to fancy how
-old the child now is. I control my estimate by the information given
-by the father, and at most I make a mistake of a month, and in older
-children of three months. I cannot state, however, what basis I have
-for this estimate. Of late I have grown so bold that I always offer my
-estimate spontaneously, and still run no risk of grieving the father by
-displaying my ignorance in regard to his offspring. Thus I extend my
-conscious memory by invoking my larger unconscious memory.
-
-I shall report some _striking_ examples of forgetting which for the
-most part I have observed in myself. I distinguish forgetting of
-impressions and experiences, that is, the forgetting of knowledge, from
-forgetting of resolutions, that is, the forgetting of omissions. The
-uniform result of the entire series of observations I can formulate
-as follows: _The forgetting in all cases is proved to be founded on a
-motive of displeasure._
-
-
-A. FORGETTING OF IMPRESSIONS AND KNOWLEDGE.
-
-(_a_) During the summer my wife once made me very angry, although
-the cause in itself was trifling. We sat in a restaurant opposite a
-gentleman from Vienna whom I knew, and who had cause to know me, and
-whose acquaintance I had reasons for not wishing to renew. My wife,
-who had heard nothing to the disrepute of the man opposite her, showed
-by her actions that she was listening to his conversation with his
-neighbours, for from time to time she asked me questions which took
-up the thread of their discussion. I became impatient and finally
-irritated. A few weeks later I complained to a relative about this
-behaviour on the part of my wife, but I was not able to recall even
-a single word of the conversation of the gentleman in the case. As I
-am usually rather resentful and cannot forget a single incident of an
-episode that has annoyed me, my amnesia in this case was undoubtedly
-determined by respect for my wife.
-
-A short time ago I had a similar experience. I wished to make merry
-with an intimate friend over a statement made by my wife only a few
-hours earlier, but I found myself hindered by the noteworthy fact that
-I had entirely forgotten the statement. I had first to beg my wife to
-recall it to me. It is easy to understand that my forgetting in this
-case may be analogous to the typical disturbance of judgment which
-dominates us when it concerns those nearest to us.
-
-(_b_) To oblige a woman who was a stranger in Vienna I had undertaken
-to procure a small iron safe for the preservation of documents and
-money. When I offered my services, the image of an establishment in
-the heart of the city where I was sure I had seen such safes floated
-before me with extraordinary visual vividness. To be sure, I could
-not recall the name of the street, but I felt certain that I would
-discover the store in a walk through the city, for my memory told me
-that I had passed it countless times. To my chagrin I could not find
-this establishment with the safes, though I walked through the inner
-part of the city in every direction. I concluded that the only thing
-left to do was to search through a business directory, and if that
-failed, to try to identify the establishment in a second round of the
-city. It did not, however, require so much effort; among the addresses
-in the directory I found one which immediately presented itself as
-that which had been forgotten. It was true that I had passed the show
-window countless times, each time, however, when I had gone to visit
-the M. family, who have lived a great many years in this identical
-building. After this intimate friendship had turned to an absolute
-estrangement, I had taken care to avoid the neighbourhood as well as
-the house, though without ever thinking of the reason for my action. In
-my walk through the city searching for the safe in the show window I
-had traversed every street in the neighbourhood but the right one, and
-I had avoided this as if it were forbidden ground.
-
-The motive of displeasure which was at the bottom of my disorientation
-is thus comprehensible. But the mechanism of forgetting is no longer so
-simple as in the former example. Here my aversion naturally does not
-extend to the vendor of safes, but to another person, concerning whom
-I wish to know nothing, and later transfers itself from the latter to
-this incident where it brings about the forgetting. Similarly, in the
-case of _Burckhard_ mentioned above, the grudge against the one brought
-about the error in writing the name of the other. The similarity of
-names which here established a connection between two essentially
-different streams of thought was accomplished in the showcase window
-instance by the contiguity of space and the inseparable environment.
-Moreover, this latter case was more closely knit together, for money
-played a great part in the causation of the estrangement from the
-family living in this house.
-
-(_c_) The B. and R. Company requested me to pay a professional call
-on one of their officers. On my way to him I was engrossed in the
-thought that I must already have been in the building occupied by the
-firm. It seemed as if I used to see their signboard in a lower story
-while my professional visit was taking me to a higher story. I could
-not recall, however, which house it was nor when I had called there.
-Although the entire matter was indifferent and of no consequence, I
-nevertheless occupied myself with it, and at last learned in the usual
-roundabout way, by collecting the thoughts that occurred to me in this
-connection, that one story above the floor occupied by the firm B. and
-R. was the _Pension Fischer_, where I had frequently visited patients.
-Then I remembered the building which sheltered both the company and the
-_pension_.
-
-I was still puzzled, however, as to the motive that entered into
-play in this forgetting. I found nothing disagreeable in my memory
-concerning the firm itself or the _Pension Fischer_, or the patients
-living there. I was also aware that it could not deal with anything
-very painful, otherwise I hardly would have been successful in tracing
-the thing forgotten in a roundabout way without resorting to external
-aid, as happened in the preceding example. Finally it occurred to me
-that a little before, while starting on my way to a new patient, a
-gentleman whom I had difficulty in recalling greeted me in the street.
-Some months previously I had seen this man in an apparently serious
-condition and had made the diagnosis of general paresis, but later
-I had learned of his recovery, consequently my judgment had been
-incorrect. Was it not possible that we had in this case a remission,
-which one usually finds in _dementia paralytica_? In that contingency
-my diagnosis would still be justified. The influence emanating from
-this meeting caused me to forget the neighbourhood of the B. and
-R. Company, and my interest to discover the thing forgotten was
-transferred from this case of disputed diagnosis. But the associative
-connection in this loose inner relation was effected by means of a
-similarity of names: the man who recovered, contrary to expectation,
-was also an officer of a large company that recommends patients to me.
-And the physician with whom I had seen the supposed paretic bore the
-name of Fischer, the name of the _pension_ in the house which I had
-forgotten.
-
-(_d_) Mislaying a thing really has the same significance as forgetting
-where we have placed it. Like most people delving in pamphlets and
-books, I am well oriented about my desk, and can produce what I want
-with one lunge. What appears to others as disorder has become for
-me perfect order. Why, then, did I mislay a catalogue which was
-sent to me not long ago so that it could not be found? What is more,
-it had been my intention to order a book which I found announced
-therein, entitled _Ueber die Sprache_, because it was written by an
-author whose spirited, vivacious style I like, whose insight into
-psychology and whose knowledge of the cultural world I have learned
-to appreciate. I believe that was just why I mislaid the catalogue.
-It was my habit to lend the books of this author among my friends for
-their enlightenment, and a few days before, on returning one, somebody
-had said: “His style reminds me altogether of yours, and his way of
-thinking is identical.” The speaker did not know what he was stirring
-up with this remark. Years ago, when I was younger and in greater need
-of forming alliances, I was told practically the same thing by an
-older colleague, to whom I had recommended the writings of a familiar
-medical author. To put it in his words, “It is absolutely your style
-and manner.” I was so influenced by these remarks that I wrote a letter
-to this author with the object of bringing about a closer relation, but
-a rather cool answer put me back “in my place.” Perhaps still earlier
-discouraging experiences conceal themselves behind this last one,
-for I did not find the mislaid catalogue. Through this premonition I
-was actually prevented from ordering the advertised book, although
-the disappearance of the catalogue formed no real hindrance, as I
-remembered well both the name of the book and the author.
-
-(_e_) Another case of mislaying merits our interest on account of
-the conditions under which the mislaid object was rediscovered. A
-younger man narrates as follows: “Several years ago there were some
-misunderstandings between me and my wife. I found her too cold, and
-though I fully appreciated her excellent qualities, we lived together
-without evincing any tenderness for each other. One day on her return
-from a walk she gave me a book which she had bought because she thought
-it would interest me. I thanked her for this mark of ‘attention,’
-promised to read the book, put it away, and did not find it again. So
-months passed, during which I occasionally remembered the lost book,
-and also tried in vain to find it.
-
-“About six months later my beloved mother, who was not living with
-us, became ill. My wife left home to nurse her mother-in-law. The
-patient’s condition became serious and gave my wife the opportunity
-to show the best side of herself. One evening I returned home full of
-enthusiasm over what my wife had accomplished, and felt very grateful
-to her. I stepped to my desk and, without definite intention but with
-the certainty of a somnambulist, I opened a certain drawer, and in the
-very top of it I found the long-missing, mislaid book.”
-
-The following example of “misplacing” belongs to a type well known to
-every psychoanalyst. I must add that the patient who experienced this
-misplacing has himself found the solution of it.
-
-This patient, whose psychoanalytic treatment had to be interrupted
-through the summer vacation when he was in a state of resistance and
-ill-health, put away his keys in the evening in their usual place, or
-so he thought. He then remembered that he wished to take some things
-from his desk, where he also had put the money which he needed on the
-journey. He was to depart the next day, which was the last day of
-treatment and the date when the doctor’s fee was due. But the keys had
-disappeared.
-
-He began a thorough and systematic search through his small apartment.
-He became more and more excited over it, but his search was
-unsuccessful. As he recognized this “misplacement” as a symptomatic
-act--that is, as being intentional--he aroused his servant in order
-to continue his search with the help of an “unprejudiced” person.
-After another hour he gave up the search and feared that he had lost
-the keys. The next morning he ordered new keys from the desk factory,
-which were hurriedly made for him. Two acquaintances who had been with
-him in a cab even recalled hearing something fall to the ground as he
-stepped out of the cab, and he was therefore convinced that the keys
-had slipped from his pocket. They were found lying between a thick book
-and a thin pamphlet, the latter a work of one of my pupils, which he
-wished to take along as reading matter for his vacation; and they were
-so skilfully placed that no one would have supposed that they were
-there. He himself was unable to replace the keys in such a position as
-to render them invisible. The unconscious skill with which an object
-is misplaced on account of secret but strong motives reminds one of
-“somnambulistic sureness.” The motive was naturally ill-humour over the
-interruption of the treatment and the secret rage over the fact that he
-had to pay such a high fee when he felt so ill.
-
-(_f_) Brill relates:[31] “A man was urged by his wife to attend a
-social function in which he really took no interest. Yielding to his
-wife’s entreaties, he began to take his dress-suit from the trunk when
-he suddenly thought of shaving. After accomplishing this he returned to
-the trunk and found it locked. Despite a long, earnest search the key
-could not be found. A locksmith could not be found on Sunday evening,
-so that the couple had to send their regrets. On having the trunk
-opened the next morning the lost key was found within. The husband had
-absent-mindedly dropped the key into the trunk and sprung the lock. He
-assured me that this was wholly unintentional and unconscious, but we
-know that he did not wish to go to this social affair. The mislaying of
-the key therefore lacked no motive.”
-
-Ernest Jones noticed in himself that he was in the habit of mislaying
-his pipe whenever he suffered from the effects of over-smoking. The
-pipe was then found in some unusual place where it did not belong and
-which it normally did not occupy.
-
-If one looks over the cases of mislaying it will be difficult to assume
-that mislaying is anything other than the result of an unconscious
-intention.
-
-(_g_) In the summer of 1901 I once remarked to a friend with whom I
-was then actively engaged in exchanging ideas on scientific questions:
-“These neurotic problems can be solved only if we take the position of
-absolutely accepting an original bi-sexuality in every individual.” To
-which he replied: “I told you that two and a half years ago while we
-were taking an evening walk in Br. At that time you wouldn’t listen to
-it.”
-
-It is truly painful to be thus requested to renounce one’s originality.
-I could neither recall such a conversation nor my friend’s revelation.
-One of us must be mistaken; and according to the principle of the
-question _cui prodest_? I must be the one. Indeed, in the course of
-the following weeks everything came back to me just as my friend had
-recalled it. I myself remembered that at that time I gave the answer:
-“I have not yet got so far, and I do not care to discuss it.” But since
-this incident I have grown more tolerant when I miss any mention of my
-name in medical literature in connection with ideas for which I deserve
-credit.
-
-It is scarcely accidental that the numerous examples of forgetting
-which have been collected without any selection should require for
-their solution the introduction of such painful themes as exposing of
-one’s wife; a friendship that has turned into the opposite; a mistake
-in medical diagnosis; enmity on account of similar pursuits, or the
-borrowing of somebody’s ideas. I am rather inclined to believe that
-every person who will undertake an inquiry into the motives underlying
-his forgetting will be able to fill up a similar sample card of
-vexatious circumstances. The tendency to forget the disagreeable seems
-to me to be quite general; the capacity for it is naturally differently
-developed in different persons. Certain _denials_ which we encounter
-in medical practice can probably be ascribed to _forgetting_.[32] Our
-conception of such forgetting confines the distinction between this and
-that behaviour to purely psychologic relations, and permits us to see
-in both forms of reaction the expression of the same motive. Of the
-numerous examples of denials of unpleasant recollection which I have
-observed in kinsmen of patients, one remains in my memory as especially
-singular.
-
-A mother telling me of the childhood of her nervous son, now in his
-puberty, made the statement that, like his brothers and sisters, he
-was subject to bed-wetting throughout his childhood, a symptom which
-certainly has some significance in a history of a neurotic patient.
-Some weeks later, while seeking information regarding the treatment, I
-had occasion to call her attention to signs of a constitutional morbid
-predisposition in the young man, and at the same time referred to the
-bed-wetting recounted in the anamnesis. To my surprise she contested
-this fact concerning him, denying it as well for the other children,
-and asked me how I could possibly know this. Finally I let her know
-that she herself had told me a short time before what she had thus
-forgotten.[33]
-
-One also finds abundant indications which show that even in healthy,
-not neurotic, persons resistances are found against the memory of
-disagreeable impressions and the idea of painful thoughts.[34] But the
-full significance of this fact can be estimated only when we enter
-into the psychology of neurotic persons. One is forced to make such
-elementary defensive striving against ideas which can awaken painful
-feelings, a striving which can be put side by side only with the
-flight-reflex in painful stimuli, as the main pillar of the mechanism
-which carries the hysterical symptoms. One need not offer any objection
-to the acceptance of such defensive tendency on the ground that we
-frequently find it impossible to rid ourselves of painful memories
-which cling to us, or to banish such painful emotions as remorse and
-reproaches of conscience. No one maintains that this defensive tendency
-invariably gains the upper hand, that in the play of psychic forces it
-may not strike against factors which stir up the contrary feeling for
-other purposes and bring it about in spite of it.
-
-_As the architectural principle of the psychic apparatus we may
-conjecture a certain stratification or structure of instances deposited
-in strata._ And it is quite possible that this defensive tendency
-belongs to a lower psychic instance, and is inhibited by higher
-instances. At all events, it speaks for the existence and force of
-this defensive tendency, when we can trace it to processes such as
-those found in our examples of forgetting. We see then that something
-is forgotten for its own sake, and where this is not possible the
-defensive tendency misses the target and causes something else to
-be forgotten--something less significant, but which has fallen into
-associative connection with the disagreeable material.
-
-The views here developed, namely, that painful memories merge into
-motivated forgetting with special ease, merits application in many
-spheres where as yet it has found no, or scarcely any, recognition.
-Thus it seems to me that it has not yet been strongly enough emphasized
-in the estimation of testimony taken in court,[35] where the putting
-of a witness under oath obviously leads us to place too great a
-trust on the purifying influence of his psychic play of forces. It
-is universally admitted that in the origin of the traditions and
-folklore of a people care must be taken to eliminate from memory
-such a motive as would be painful to the national feeling. Perhaps
-on closer investigation it may be possible to form a perfect analogy
-between the manner of development of national traditions and infantile
-reminiscences of the individual. The great Darwin has formulated a
-“golden rule” for the scientific worker from his insight into this
-pain-motive of forgetting.[36]
-
-Almost exactly as in the forgetting of names, faulty recollections can
-also appear in the forgetting of impressions, and when finding credence
-they may be designated as delusions of memory. The memory disturbance
-in pathologic cases (in paranoia it actually plays the rôle of a
-constituting factor in the formation of delusions) has brought to light
-an extensive literature in which there is no reference whatever to its
-being motivated. As this theme also belongs to the psychology of the
-neuroses it goes beyond our present treatment. Instead, I will give
-from my own experience a curious example of memory disturbance showing
-clearly enough its determination through unconscious repressed material
-and its connection with this material.
-
-While writing the latter chapters of my volume on the interpretation
-of dreams, I happened to be in a summer resort without access to
-libraries and reference books, so that I was compelled to introduce
-into the manuscript all kinds of references and citations from memory.
-These I naturally reserved for future correction. In the chapter
-on day-dreams I thought of the distinguished figure of the poor
-book-keeper in Alphonse Daudet’s _Nabab_, through whom the author
-probably described his own day-dreams. I imagined that I distinctly
-remembered one fantasy of this man, whom I called Mr. Jocelyn, which he
-hatched while walking the streets of Paris, and I began to reproduce
-it from memory. This fantasy described how Mr. Jocelyn boldly hurled
-himself at a runaway horse and brought it to a standstill; how the
-carriage door opened and a great personage stepped from the coupé,
-pressed Mr. Jocelyn’s hand and said: “You are my saviour--I owe my life
-to you! What can I do for you?”
-
-I assured myself that casual inaccuracies in the rendition of this
-fantasy could readily be corrected at home on consulting the book. But
-when I perused _Nabab_ in order to compare it with my manuscript, I
-found to my very great shame and consternation that there was nothing
-to suggest such a dream by Mr. Jocelyn; indeed, the poor book-keeper
-did not even bear this name--he was called Mr. Joyeuse.
-
-This second error then furnished the key for the solution of the first
-mistake, the faulty reminiscence. Joyeux, of which Joyeuse is the
-feminine form, was the only possible word which would translate my
-own name _Freud_ into French. Whence, therefore, came this falsely
-remembered fantasy which I had attributed to Daudet? It could only be
-a product of my own, a day-dream which I myself had spun, and which
-did not become conscious, or which was once conscious and had since
-been absolutely forgotten. Perhaps I invented it myself in Paris, where
-frequently enough I walked the streets alone, and full of longing for
-a helper and protector, until Charcot took me into his circle. I had
-often met the author of _Nabab_ in Charcot’s house. But the provoking
-part of it all is the fact that there is scarcely anything to which I
-am so hostile as the thought of being some one’s protégé. What we see
-of this sort of thing in our country spoils all desire for it, and my
-character is little suited to the rôle of a protected child. I have
-always entertained an immense desire to “be the strong man myself.” And
-it had to happen that I should be reminded of such a, to be sure, never
-fulfilled, day-dream! Besides, this incident is a good example of how
-the restraint relation to one’s ego, which breaks forth triumphantly in
-paranoia, disturbs and entangles us in the objective grasp of things.
-
-Another case of faulty recollection which can be satisfactorily
-explained resembles the _fausse reconnaissance_ to be discussed later.
-I related to one of my patients, an ambitious and very capable man,
-that a young student had recently gained admittance into the circle
-of my pupils by means of an interesting work, _Der Künstler, Versuch
-einer Sexualpsychologie_. When, a year and a quarter later, this work
-lay before me in print, my patient maintained that he remembered
-with certainty having read somewhere, perhaps in a bookseller’s
-advertisement, the announcement of the same book even before I first
-mentioned it to him. He remembered that this announcement came to his
-mind at that time, and he ascertained besides that the author had
-changed the title, that it no longer read “_Versuch_” but “_Ansätze zu
-einer Sexualpsychologie_.”
-
-Careful inquiry of the author and comparison of all dates showed
-conclusively that my patient was trying to recall the impossible. No
-notice of this work had appeared anywhere before its publication,
-certainly not a year and a quarter before it went to print. However, I
-neglected to seek a solution for this false recollection until the same
-man brought about an equally valuable renewal of it. He thought that he
-had recently noticed a work on “agoraphobia” in the show window of a
-bookshop, and as he was now looking for it in all available catalogues
-I was able to explain to him why his effort must remain fruitless.
-The work on agoraphobia existed only in his fantasy as an unconscious
-resolution to write such a book himself. His ambition to emulate
-that young man, and through such a scientific work to become one of
-my pupils, had led him to the first as well as to the second false
-recollection. He also recalled later that the bookseller’s announcement
-which had occasioned his false reminiscence dealt with a work entitled
-_Genesis, Das Gesetz der Zeugung_ (“Genesis, The Law of Generation”).
-But the change in the title as mentioned by him was really instigated
-by me; I recalled that I myself have perpetrated the same inaccuracy
-in the repetition of the title by saying “_Ansätze_” in place of
-“_Versuch_.”
-
-
-B. FORGETTING OF INTENTIONS.
-
-No other group of phenomena is better qualified to demonstrate the
-thesis that lack of attention does not in itself suffice to explain
-faulty acts as the forgetting of intentions. An intention is an impulse
-for an action which has already found approbation, but whose execution
-is postponed for a suitable occasion. Now, in the interval thus created
-sufficient change may take place in the motive to prevent the intention
-from coming to execution. It is not, however, forgotten, it is simply
-revised and omitted.
-
-We are naturally not in the habit of explaining the forgetting of
-intentions which we daily experience in every possible situation as
-being due to a recent change in the adjustment of motives. We generally
-leave it unexplained, or we seek a psychologic explanation in the
-assumption that at the time of execution the required attention for the
-action, which was an indispensable condition for the occurrence of the
-intention, and was then at the disposal of the same action, no longer
-exists. Observation of our normal behaviour towards intentions urges
-us to reject this tentative explanation as arbitrary. If I resolve in
-the morning to carry out a certain intention in the evening, I may be
-reminded of it several times in the course of the day, but it is not
-at all necessary that it should become conscious throughout the day.
-As the time for its execution approaches it suddenly occurs to me and
-induces me to make the necessary preparation for the intended action.
-If I go walking and take a letter with me to be posted, it is not
-at all necessary that I, as a normal not nervous individual, should
-carry it in my hand and continually look for a letter-box. As a matter
-of fact I am accustomed to put it in my pocket and give my thoughts
-free rein on my way, feeling confident that the first letter-box will
-attract my attention and cause me to put my hand in my pocket and draw
-out the letter.
-
-This normal behaviour in a formed intention corresponds perfectly
-with the experimentally produced conduct of persons who are under a
-so-called “post-hypnotic suggestion” to perform something after a
-certain time.[37] We are accustomed to describe the phenomenon in
-the following manner: the suggested intention slumbers in the person
-concerned until the time for its execution approaches. Then it awakes
-and excites the action.
-
-In two positions of life even the layman is cognizant of the fact
-that forgetting referring to intended purposes can in no wise claim
-consideration as an elementary phenomenon no further reducible, but
-realizes that it ultimately depends on unadmitted motives. I refer
-to affairs of love and military service. A lover who is late at the
-appointed place will vainly tell his sweetheart that unfortunately
-he has entirely forgotten their rendezvous. She will not hesitate
-to answer him: “A year ago you would not have forgotten. Evidently
-you no longer care for me.” Even if he should grasp the above cited
-psychologic explanation, and should wish to excuse his forgetting
-on the plea of important business, he would only elicit the answer
-from the woman, who has become as keen-sighted as the physician in
-the psychoanalytic treatment, “How remarkable that such business
-disturbances did not occur before!” Of course the woman does not
-wish to deny the possibility of forgetting; but she believes, and
-not without reason, that practically the same inference of a certain
-unwillingness may be drawn from the unintentional forgetting as from a
-conscious subterfuge.
-
-Similarly, in military service no distinction is recognized between
-an omission resulting from forgetting and one in consequence of
-intentional neglect. And rightly so. The soldier dares forget nothing
-that military service demands of him. If he forgets in spite of this,
-even when he is acquainted with the demands, then it is due to the fact
-that the motives which urge the fulfilment of the military exactions
-are opposed by contrary motives. Thus the one year’s volunteer[38] who
-at inspection pleads forgetting as an excuse for not having polished
-his buttons is sure to be punished. But this punishment is small in
-comparison to the one he courts if he admits to his superiors that the
-motive for his negligence is because “this miserable menial service is
-altogether disgusting to me.” Owing to this saving of punishment for
-economic reasons, as it were, he makes use of forgetting as an excuse,
-or it comes about as a compromise.
-
-The service of women (as well as the military service of the State)
-demands that nothing relating to that service be subject to forgetting.
-Thus it but suggests that forgetting is permissible in unimportant
-matters, but in weighty matters its occurrence is an indication that
-one wishes to treat weighty matters as unimportant: that is, that
-their importance is disputed.[39] The view-point of psychic validity
-is in fact not to be contested here. No person forgets to carry out
-actions that seem important to himself without exposing himself to the
-suspicion of being a sufferer from mental weakness. Our investigations
-therefore can extend only to the forgetting of more or less secondary
-intentions, for no intention do we deem absolutely indifferent,
-otherwise it would certainly never have been formed.
-
-As in the preceding functional disturbances, I have collected the cases
-of neglect through forgetting which I have observed in myself, and
-endeavoured to explain them. I have found that they could invariably
-be traced to some interference of unknown and unadmitted motives--or,
-as may be said, they were due to a counter-will. In a number of
-these cases I found myself in a position similar to that of being in
-some distasteful service: I was under a constraint to which I had not
-entirely resigned myself, so that I showed my protest in the form of
-forgetting. This accounts for the fact that I am particularly prone
-to forget to send congratulations on such occasions as birthdays,
-jubilees, wedding celebrations, and promotions to higher rank. I
-continually make new resolutions, but I am more than ever convinced
-that I shall not succeed. I am now on the point of giving it up
-altogether, and to admit consciously the striving motives. In a period
-of transition, I told a friend who asked me to send a congratulatory
-telegram for him, at a certain time when I was to send one myself,
-that I would probably forget both. It was not surprising that the
-prophecy came true. It is undoubtedly due to painful experiences in
-life that I am unable to manifest sympathy where this manifestation
-must necessarily appear exaggerated, for the small amount of my feeling
-does not admit the corresponding expression. Since I have learned that
-I often mistook the pretended sympathy of others for real, I am in
-rebellion against the conventions of expressing sympathy, the social
-expediency of which I naturally acknowledge. Condolences in cases of
-death are excepted from this double treatment; once I determine to
-send them I do not neglect them. Where my emotional participation has
-nothing more to do with social duty, its expression is never inhibited
-by forgetting.
-
-Cases in which we forget to carry out actions which we have promised
-to do as a favour for others can similarly be explained as antagonism
-to conventional duty and as an unfavourable inward opinion. Here
-it regularly proves correct, inasmuch as the only person appealed
-to believes in the excusing power of forgetfulness, while the one
-requesting the favour has no doubt about the right answer: he has no
-interest in this matter, otherwise he would not have forgotten it.
-
-There are some who are noted as generally forgetful, and we
-excuse their lapses in the same manner as we excuse those who are
-short-sighted when they do not greet us in the street.[40] Such persons
-forget all small promises which they have made; they leave unexecuted
-all orders which they have received; they prove themselves unreliable
-in little things; and at the same time demand that we shall not take
-these slight offences amiss--that is, they do not want us to attribute
-these failings to personal characteristics but to refer them to an
-organic peculiarity.[41] I am not one of these people myself, and have
-had no opportunity to analyse the actions of such a person in order to
-discover from the selection of forgetting the motive underlying the
-same. I cannot forego, however, the conjecture _per analogiam_, that
-here the motive is an unusual large amount of unavowed disregard for
-others which exploits the constitutional factor for its purpose.[42]
-
-In other cases the motives for forgetting are less easy to discover,
-and when found excite greater astonishment. Thus, in former years I
-observed that of a great number of professional calls I only forgot
-those that I was to make on patients whom I treated gratis or on
-colleagues. The mortification caused by this discovery led me to
-the habit of noting every morning the calls of the day in a form of
-resolution. I do not know if other physicians have come to the same
-practice by a similar road. Thus we get an idea of what causes the
-so-called neurasthenic to make a memorandum of the communications
-he wishes to make to the doctor. He apparently lacks confidence in
-the reproductive capacity of his memory. This is true, but the scene
-usually proceeds in this manner. The patient has recounted his various
-complaints and inquiries at considerable length. After he has finished
-he pauses for a moment, then he pulls out the memorandum and says
-apologetically, “I have made some notes because I cannot remember
-anything.” As a rule he finds nothing new on the memorandum. He repeats
-each point and answers it himself: “Yes, I have already asked about
-that.” By means of the memorandum he probably only demonstrates one of
-his symptoms, the frequency with which his resolutions are disturbed
-through the interference of obscure motives.
-
-I am touching, moreover, on an affliction to which even most of my
-healthy acquaintances are subject, when I admit that especially in
-former years I had the habit of easily forgetting for a long time
-to return borrowed books, also that it very often happened that I
-deferred payments through forgetfulness. One morning not long ago I
-left the tobacco-shop where I make my daily purchase of cigars without
-paying. It was a most harmless omission, as I am known there and could
-therefore expect to be reminded of my debt the next morning. But
-this slight neglect, the attempt to contract a debt, was surely not
-unconnected with reflections concerning the budget with which I had
-occupied myself throughout the preceding day. Even among the so-called
-respectable people one can readily demonstrate a double behaviour when
-it concerns the theme of money and possession. The primitive greed of
-the suckling which wishes to seize every object (in order to put it in
-its mouth) has generally been only imperfectly subdued through culture
-and training.[43]
-
-I fear that in all the examples thus far given I have grown quite
-commonplace. But it can be only a pleasure to me if I happen upon
-familiar matters which every one understands, for my main object is
-to collect everyday material and utilize it scientifically. I cannot
-conceive why wisdom, which is, so to speak, the sediment of everyday
-experiences, should be denied admission among the acquisitions of
-knowledge. For it is not the diversity of objects but the stricter
-method of verification and the striving for far-reaching connections
-which make up the essential character of scientific work.
-
-We have invariably found that intentions of some importance are
-forgotten when obscure motives arise to disturb them. In still less
-important intentions we find a second mechanism of forgetting. Here
-a counter-will becomes transferred to the resolution from something
-else after an external association has been formed between the latter
-and the content of the resolution. The following example reported by
-Brill illustrates this: “A patient found that she had suddenly become
-very negligent in her correspondence. She was naturally punctual and
-took pleasure in letter-writing, but for the last few weeks she simply
-could not bring herself to write a letter without exerting the greatest
-amount of effort. The explanation was quite simple. Some weeks before
-she had received an important letter calling for a categorical answer.
-She was undecided what to say, and therefore did not answer it at all.
-This indecision in the form of inhibition was unconsciously transferred
-to other letters and caused the inhibition against letter-writing in
-general.”
-
-Direct counter-will and more remote motivation are found together in
-the following example of delaying: I had written a short treatise on
-the dream for the series _Grenzfragen des Nerven- und Seelenlebens_,
-in which I gave an abstract of my book, _The Interpretation of
-Dreams_.[44] Bergmann, the publisher, had sent me the proof sheets
-and asked for a speedy return of the same as he wished to issue the
-pamphlet before Christmas. I corrected the sheets the same night, and
-placed them on my desk in order to take them to the post office the
-next morning. In the morning I forgot all about it, and only thought
-of it in the afternoon at the sight of the paper cover on my desk.
-In the same way I forgot the proofs that evening and the following
-morning, and until the afternoon of the second day, when I quickly
-took them to a letter-box, wondering what might be the basis of this
-procrastination. Obviously I did not want to send them off, although I
-could find no explanation for such an attitude.
-
-After posting the letter I entered the shop of my Vienna publisher,
-who put out my _Interpretation of Dreams_. I left a few orders; then,
-as if impelled by a sudden thought, said, “You undoubtedly know that
-I have written the ‘Dream’ book a second time?” “Ah!” he exclaimed,
-“then I must ask you to----” “Calm yourself,” I interposed; “it is only
-a short treatise for the Löwenfeld-Kurella collection.” But still he
-was not satisfied; he feared that the abstract would hurt the sale of
-the book. I disagreed with him, and finally asked: “If I had come to
-you before, would you have objected to the publication?” “No; under no
-circumstances,” he answered.
-
-Personally I believe I acted within my full rights and did nothing
-contrary to the general practice; still it seems certain to me that a
-thought similar to that entertained by the publisher was the motive for
-my procrastination in dispatching the proof sheets.
-
-This reflection leads back to a former occasion when another publisher
-raised some difficulties because I was obliged to take out several
-pages of the text from an earlier work on cerebral infantile paralysis,
-and put them unchanged into a work on the same theme in Nothnagel’s
-handbook. There again the reproach received no recognition; that time
-also I had loyally informed my first publisher (the same who published
-_The Interpretation of Dreams_) of my intention.
-
-However, if this series of recollections is followed back still farther
-it brings to light a still earlier occasion relating to a translation
-from the French, in which I really violated the property rights that
-should be considered in a publication. I had added notes to the text
-without asking the author’s permission, and some years later I had
-cause to think that the author was dissatisfied with this arbitrary
-action.
-
-There is a proverb which indicates the popular knowledge that the
-forgetting of intentions is not accidental. It says: “What one forgets
-once he will often forget again.”
-
-Indeed, we sometimes cannot help feeling that no matter what may be
-said about forgetting and faulty actions, the whole subject is already
-known to everybody as something self-evident. It is strange enough that
-it is still necessary to push before consciousness such well-known
-facts. How often I have heard people remark: “Please do not ask me to
-do this, I shall surely forget it.” The coming true of this prophecy
-later is surely nothing mysterious in itself. He who speaks thus
-perceives the inner resolution not to carry out the request, and only
-hesitates to acknowledge it to himself.
-
-Much light is thrown, moreover, on the forgetting of resolutions
-through something which could be designated as “forming false
-resolutions.” I had once promised a young author to write a review of
-his short work, but on account of inner resistances, not unknown to
-me, I promised him that it would be done the same evening. I really
-had serious intentions of doing so, but I had forgotten that I had
-set aside that evening for the preparation of an expert testimony
-that could not be deferred. After I thus recognized my resolution as
-false, I gave up the struggle against my resistances and refused the
-author’s request.
-
-
-
-
-VIII
-
-ERRONEOUSLY CARRIED-OUT ACTIONS
-
-
-I shall give another passage from the above-mentioned work of Meringer
-and Mayer (p. 98):
-
-“Lapses in speech do not stand entirely alone. They resemble the errors
-which often occur in our other activities and are quite foolishly
-termed ‘forgetfulness.’”
-
-I am therefore in no way the first to presume that there is a sense and
-purpose behind the slight functional disturbances of the daily life of
-healthy people.[45]
-
-If the lapse in speech, which is without doubt a motor function,
-admits of such a conception, it is quite natural to transfer to the
-lapses of our other motor functions the same expectation. I have here
-formed two groups of cases; all these cases in which the faulty effect
-seems to be the essential element--that is, the deviation from the
-intention--I denote as erroneously carried-out actions (_Vergreifen_);
-the others, in which the entire action appears rather inexpedient,
-I call “symptomatic and chance actions.” But no distinct line of
-demarcation can be formed; indeed, we are forced to conclude that all
-divisions used in this treatise are of only descriptive significance
-and contradict the inner unity of the sphere of manifestation.
-
-The psychologic understanding of erroneous actions apparently gains
-little in clearness when we place it under the head of “ataxia,” and
-especially under “cortical ataxia.” Let us rather try to trace the
-individual examples to their proper determinants. To do this I shall
-again resort to personal observations, the opportunities for which I
-could not very frequently find in myself.
-
-(_a_) In former years, when I made more calls at the homes of patients
-than I do at present, it often happened, when I stood before a door
-where I should have knocked or rung the bell, that I would pull the
-key of my own house from my pocket, only to replace it, quite abashed.
-When I investigated in what patients’ homes this occurred, I had to
-admit that the faulty action--taking out my key instead of ringing the
-bell--signified paying a certain tribute to the house where the error
-occurred. It was equivalent to the thought “Here I feel at home,” as
-it happened only where I possessed the patient’s regard. (Naturally, I
-never rang my own door-bell.)
-
-The faulty action was therefore a symbolic representation of a definite
-thought which was not accepted consciously as serious; for in reality
-the neurologist is well aware that the patient seeks him only so long
-as he expects to be benefited by him, and that his own excessively
-warm interest for his patient is evinced only as a means of psychic
-treatment.
-
-An almost identical repetition of my experience is described by A.
-Maeder (“Contrib. à la psychopathologie de la vie quotidienne,” _Arch.
-de Psychol._, vi., 1906): “Il est arrivé à chacun de sortir son
-trousseau, en arrivant à la porte d’un ami particulièrement cher, de se
-surprendre pour ainsi dire, en train d’ouvrir avec sa clé comme chez
-soi. C’est un retard, puisqu’il faut sonner malgré tout, mais c’est
-une preuve qu’on se sent--ou qu’on voudrait se sentir--comme chez soi,
-auprès de cet ami.”
-
-Jones speaks as follows about the use of keys:[46] “The use of keys is
-a fertile source of occurrences of this kind, of which two examples may
-be given. If I am disturbed in the midst of some engrossing work at
-home by having to go to the hospital to carry out some routine work,
-I am very apt to find myself trying to open the door of my laboratory
-there with the key of my desk at home, although the two keys are quite
-unlike each other. The mistake unconsciously demonstrates where I
-would rather be at the moment.
-
-“Some years ago I was acting in a subordinate position at a certain
-institution, the front door of which was kept locked, so that it was
-necessary to ring for admission. On several occasions I found myself
-making serious attempts to open the door with my house key. Each one of
-the permanent visiting staff, of which I aspired to be a member, was
-provided with a key to avoid the trouble of having to wait at the door.
-My mistake thus expressed the desire to be on a similar footing and to
-be quite ‘at home’ there.”
-
-A similar experience is reported by Dr. Hans Sachs of Vienna: “I always
-carry two keys with me, one for the door of my office and one for my
-residence. They are not by any means easily interchanged, as the office
-key is at least three times as big as my house key. Besides, I carry
-the first in my trouser pocket and the other in my vest pocket. Yet it
-often happened that I noticed on reaching the door that while ascending
-the stairs I had taken out the wrong key. I decided to undertake a
-statistical examination; as I was daily in about the same emotional
-state when I stood before both doors, I thought that the interchanging
-of the two keys must show a regular tendency, if they were differently
-determined psychically. Observation of later occurrences showed that
-I regularly took out my house key before the office door. Only on one
-occasion was this reversed: I came home tired, knowing that I would
-find there a guest. I made an attempt to unlock the door with the,
-naturally too big, office key.”
-
-(_b_) At a certain time twice a day for six years I was accustomed
-to wait for admission before a door in the second story of the same
-house, and during this long period of time it happened twice (within a
-short interval) that I climbed a story higher. On the first of these
-occasions I was in an ambitious day-dream, which allowed me to “mount
-always higher and higher.” In fact, at that time I heard the door in
-question open as I put my foot on the first step of the third flight.
-On the other occasion I again went too far “engrossed in thought.” As
-soon as I became aware of it, I turned back and sought to snatch the
-dominating fantasy; I found that I was irritated over a criticism of
-my works, in which the reproach was made that I “always went too far,”
-which I replaced by the less respectful expression “climbed too high.”
-
-(_c_) For many years a reflex hammer and a tuning-fork lay side by side
-on my desk. One day I hurried off at the close of my office hours, as
-I wished to catch a certain train, and, despite broad daylight, put
-the tuning-fork in my coat pocket in place of the reflex hammer. My
-attention was called to the mistake through the weight of the object
-drawing down my pocket. Any one unaccustomed to reflect on such slight
-occurrences would without hesitation explain the faulty action by the
-hurry of the moment, and excuse it. In spite of that, I preferred to
-ask myself why I took the tuning-fork instead of the hammer. The haste
-could just as well have been a motive for carrying out the action
-properly in order not to waste time over the correction.
-
-“Who last grasped the tuning-fork?” was the question which immediately
-flashed through my mind. It happened that only a few days ago an
-idiotic child, whose attention to sensory impressions I was testing,
-had been so fascinated by the tuning-fork that I found it difficult to
-tear it away from him. Could it mean, therefore, that I was an idiot?
-To be sure, so it would seem, as the next thought which associated
-itself with the hammer was _chamer_ (Hebrew for “ass”).
-
-But what was the meaning of this abusive language? We must here inquire
-into the situation. I hurried to a consultation at a place on the
-Western railroad to see a patient who, according to the anamnesis which
-I received by letter, had fallen from a balcony some months before,
-and since then had been unable to walk. The physician who invited me
-wrote that he was still unable to say whether he was dealing with a
-spinal injury or traumatic neurosis--hysteria. That was what I was to
-decide. This could therefore be a reminder to be particularly careful
-in this delicate differential diagnosis. As it is, my colleagues think
-that hysteria is diagnosed far too carelessly where more serious
-matters are concerned. But the abuse is not yet justified. Yes, the
-next association was that the small railroad station is the same place
-in which, some years previous, I saw a young man who, after a certain
-emotional experience, could not walk properly. At that time I diagnosed
-his malady as hysteria, and later put him under psychic treatment; but
-it afterward turned out that my diagnosis was neither incorrect nor
-correct. A large number of the patient’s symptoms were hysterical,
-and they promptly disappeared in the course of treatment. But back
-of these there was a visible remnant that could not be reached by
-therapy, and could be referred only to a multiple sclerosis. Those who
-saw the patient after me had no difficulty in recognizing the organic
-affection. I could scarcely have acted or judged differently, still the
-impression was that of a serious mistake; the promise of a cure which I
-had given him could naturally not be kept.
-
-The mistake in grasping the tuning-fork instead of the hammer could
-therefore be translated into the following words: “You fool, you ass,
-get yourself together this time, and be careful not to diagnose again
-a case of hysteria where there is an incurable disease, as you did in
-this place years ago in the case of the poor man!” And fortunately for
-this little analysis, even if unfortunately for my mood, this same
-man, now having a very spastic gait, had been to my office a few days
-before, one day after the examination of the idiotic child.
-
-We observe that this time it is the voice of self-criticism which makes
-itself perceptible through the mistake in grasping. The erroneously
-carried-out action is specially suited to express self-reproach. The
-present mistake attempts to represent the mistake which was committed
-elsewhere.
-
-(_d_) It is quite obvious that grasping the wrong thing may also serve
-a whole series of other obscure purposes. Here is a first example: It
-is very seldom that I break anything. I am not particularly dexterous,
-but by virtue of the anatomic integrity of my nervous and muscular
-apparatus there are apparently no grounds in me for such awkward
-movements with undesirable results. I can recall no object in my home
-the counterpart of which I have ever broken. Owing to the narrowness
-of my study it has often been necessary for me to work in the most
-uncomfortable position among my numerous antique clay and stone
-objects, of which I have a small collection. So much is this true that
-onlookers have expressed fear lest I topple down something and shatter
-it. But it never happened. Then why did I brush to the floor the cover
-of my simple inkwell so that it broke into pieces?
-
-My inkstand is made of a flat piece of marble which is hollowed out
-for the reception of the glass inkwell; the inkwell has a marble cover
-with a knob of the same stone. A circle of bronze statuettes with small
-terra-cotta figures is set behind this inkstand. I seated myself at the
-desk to write, I made a remarkably awkward outward movement with the
-hand holding the pen-holder, and so swept the cover of the inkstand,
-which already lay on the desk, to the floor.
-
-It is not difficult to find the explanation. Some hours before my
-sister had been in the room to look at some of my new acquisitions. She
-found them very pretty, and then remarked: “Now the desk really looks
-very well, only the inkstand does not match. You must get a prettier
-one.” I accompanied my sister out and did not return for several hours.
-But then, as it seems, I performed the execution of the condemned
-inkstand.
-
-Did I perhaps conclude from my sister’s words that she intended to
-present me with a prettier inkstand on the next festive occasion, and
-did I shatter the unsightly old one in order to force her to carry out
-her signified intention? If that be so, then my swinging motion was
-only apparently awkward; in reality it was most skilful and designed,
-as it understood how to avoid all the valuable objects located near it.
-
-I actually believe that we must accept this explanation for a whole
-series of seemingly accidental awkward movements. It is true that
-on the surface these seem to show something violent and irregular,
-similar to spastic-ataxic movements, but on examination they seem to
-be dominated by some intention, and they accomplish their aim with a
-certainty that cannot be generally credited to conscious arbitrary
-motions. In both characteristics, the force as well as the sure aim,
-they show besides a resemblance to the motor manifestations of the
-hysterical neurosis, and in part also to the motor accomplishments of
-somnambulism, which here as well as there point to the same unfamiliar
-modification of the functions of innervation.
-
-In latter years, since I have been collecting such observations, it
-has happened several times that I have shattered and broken objects of
-some value, but the examination of these cases convinced me that it
-was never the result of accident or of my unintentional awkwardness.
-Thus, one morning while in my bath-robe and straw slippers I followed a
-sudden impulse as I passed a room, and hurled a slipper from my foot
-against the wall so that it brought down a beautiful little marble
-Venus from its bracket. As it fell to pieces I recited quite unmoved
-the following verse from Busch:--
-
-    “Ach! Die Venus ist perdü--[47]
-    Klickeradoms!--von Medici!”
-
-This crazy action and my calmness at the sight of the damage is
-explained in the then existing situation. We had a very sick person in
-the family, of whose recovery I had personally despaired. That morning
-I had been informed that there was a great improvement; I know that I
-had said to myself, “After all she will live.” My attack of destructive
-madness served therefore as the expression of a grateful feeling
-toward fate, and afforded me the opportunity of performing an “act
-of sacrifice,” just as if I had vowed, “If she gets well I will give
-this or that as a sacrifice.” That I chose the Venus of Medici as this
-sacrifice was only gallant homage to the convalescent. But even to-day
-it is still incomprehensible to me that I decided so quickly, aimed so
-accurately, and struck no other object in close proximity.
-
-Another breaking, in which I utilized a pen-holder falling from
-my hand, also signified a sacrifice, but this time it was a pious
-offering to avert some evil. I had once allowed myself to reproach a
-true and worthy friend for no other reason than certain manifestations
-which I interpreted from his unconscious activity. He took it amiss
-and wrote me a letter in which he bade me not to treat my friends by
-psychoanalysis. I had to admit that he was right and appeased him
-with my answer. While writing this letter I had before me my latest
-acquisition--a small, handsome glazed Egyptian figure. I broke it in
-the manner mentioned, and then immediately knew that I had caused this
-mischief to avert a greater one. Luckily, both the friendship and the
-figure could be so cemented that the break would not be noticed.
-
-A third case of breaking had a less serious connection; it was only a
-disguised “execution,” to use an expression from Th. Vischer’s _Auch
-Einer_, of an object that no longer suited my taste. For quite a while
-I had carried a cane with a silver handle; through no fault of mine the
-thin silver plate was once damaged and poorly repaired. Soon after the
-cane was returned I mirthfully used the handle to angle for the leg of
-one of my children. In that way it naturally broke, and I got rid of it.
-
-The indifference with which we accept the resulting damage in all
-these cases may certainly be taken as evidence for the existence of an
-unconscious purpose in their execution.
-
-(_e_) As can sometimes be demonstrated by analysis, the dropping of
-objects or the overturning and breaking of the same are very frequently
-utilized as the expression of unconscious streams of thought, but more
-often they serve to represent the superstitious or odd significances
-connected therewith in popular sayings. The meanings attached to the
-spilling of salt, the overturning of a wineglass, the sticking of a
-knife dropped to the floor, and so on, are well known. I shall discuss
-later the right to investigate such superstitious interpretations;
-here I shall simply observe that the individual awkward acts do not
-by any means always have the same meaning, but, depending on the
-circumstances, they serve to represent now this or that purpose.
-
-Recently we passed through a period in my house during which an
-unusual number of glass and china dishes were broken. I myself largely
-contributed to this damage. This little endemic was readily explained
-by the fact that it preceded the public betrothal of my eldest
-daughter. On such festivities it is customary to break some dishes and
-utter at the same time some felicitating expression. This custom may
-signify a sacrifice or express any other symbolic sense.
-
-When servants destroy fragile objects through dropping them, we
-certainly do not think in the first place of a psychologic motive for
-it; still, some obscure motives are not improbable even here. Nothing
-lies farther from the uneducated than the appreciation of art and works
-of art. Our servants are dominated by a foolish hostility against these
-productions, especially when the objects, whose worth they do not
-realize, become a source of a great deal of work for them. On the other
-hand, persons of the same education and origin employed in scientific
-institutions often distinguish themselves by great dexterity and
-reliability in the handling of delicate objects, as soon as they begin
-to identify themselves with their masters and consider themselves an
-essential part of the staff.
-
-I shall here add the report of a young mechanical engineer, which gives
-some insight into the mechanism of damaging things.
-
-“Some time ago I worked with many others in the laboratory of the
-High School on a series of complicated experiments on the subject of
-elasticity. It was a work that we undertook of our own volition, but it
-turned out that it took up more of our time than we expected. One day,
-while going to the laboratory with F., he complained of losing so much
-time, especially on this day, when he had so many other things to do at
-home. I could only agree with him, and he added half jokingly, alluding
-to an incident of the previous week: ‘Let us hope that the machine will
-refuse to work, so that we can interrupt the experiment and go home
-earlier.’
-
-“In arranging the work, it happened that F. was assigned to the
-regulation of the pressure valve, that is, it was his duty to carefully
-open the valve and let the fluid under pressure flow from the
-accumulator into the cylinder of the hydraulic press. The leader of
-the experiment stood at the manometer and called a loud ‘Stop!’ when
-the maximum pressure was reached. At this command F. grasped the valve
-and turned it with all his force--to the left (all valves, without
-any exception, are closed to the right). This caused a sudden full
-pressure in the accumulator of the press, and as there was no outlet,
-the connecting pipe burst. This was quite a trifling accident to the
-machine, but enough to force us to stop our work for the day and go
-home.
-
-“It is characteristic, moreover, that some time later, on discussing
-this occurrence, my friend F. could not recall the remark that I
-positively remember his having made.”
-
-Similarly, to fall, to make a misstep, or to slip need not always be
-interpreted as an entirely accidental miscarriage of a motor action.
-The linguistic double meaning of these expressions points to diverse
-hidden fantasies, which may present themselves through the giving up
-of bodily equilibrium. I recall a number of lighter nervous ailments
-in women and girls which made their appearance after falling without
-injury, and which were conceived as traumatic hysteria as a result
-of the shock of the fall. At that time I already entertained the
-impression that these conditions had a different connection, that the
-fall was already a preparation of the neurosis, and an expression of
-the same unconscious fantasies of sexual content which may be taken as
-the moving forces behind the symptoms. Was not this very thing meant in
-the proverb which says, “When a maiden falls, she falls on her back?”
-
-We can also add to these mistakes the case of one who gives a beggar a
-gold piece in place of a copper or a silver coin. The solution of such
-mishandling is simple: it is an act of sacrifice designed to mollify
-fate, to avert evil, and so on. If we hear a tender mother or aunt
-express concern regarding the health of a child, directly before taking
-a walk during which she displays her charity, contrary to her usual
-habit, we can no longer doubt the sense of this apparently undesirable
-accident. In this manner our faulty acts make possible the practice of
-all those pious and superstitious customs which must shun the light of
-consciousness, because of the strivings against them of our unbelieving
-reason.
-
-(_f_) That accidental actions are really intentional will find no
-greater credence in any other sphere than in sexual activity, where the
-border between the intention and accident hardly seems discernible.
-That an apparently clumsy movement may be utilized in a most refined
-way for sexual purposes I can verify by a nice example from my own
-experience. In a friend’s house I met a young girl visitor who excited
-in me a feeling of fondness which I had long believed extinct, thus
-putting me in a jovial, loquacious, and complaisant mood. At that time
-I endeavoured to find out how this came about, as a year before this
-same girl made no impression on me.
-
-As the girl’s uncle, a very old man, entered the room, we both jumped
-to our feet to bring him a chair which stood in the corner. She was
-more agile than I and also nearer the object, so that she was the
-first to take possession of the chair. She carried it with its back to
-her, holding both hands on the edge of the seat. As I got there later
-and did not give up the claim to carrying the chair, I suddenly stood
-directly back of her, and with both my arms was embracing her from
-behind, and for a moment my hands touched her lap. I naturally solved
-the situation as quickly as it came about. Nor did it occur to anybody
-how dexterously I had taken advantage of this awkward movement.
-
-Occasionally I have had to admit to myself that the annoying, awkward
-stepping aside on the street, whereby for some seconds one steps
-here and there, yet always in the same direction as the other person,
-until finally both stop facing each other, that this “barring one’s
-way” repeats an ill-mannered, provoking conduct of earlier times
-and conceals erotic purposes under the mask of awkwardness. From my
-psychoanalysis of neurotics I know that the so-called naïveté of young
-people and children is frequently only such a mask, employed in order
-that the subject may say or do the indecent without restraint.
-
-W. Stekel has reported similar observations in regard to himself: “I
-entered a house and offered my right hand to the hostess. In a most
-remarkable way I thereby loosened the bow which held together her loose
-morning-gown. I was conscious of no dishonourable intent, still I
-executed this awkward movement with the agility of a juggler.”
-
-(_g_) The effects which result from mistakes of normal persons are, as
-a rule, of a most harmless nature. Just for this reason it would be
-particularly interesting to find out whether mistakes of considerable
-importance, which could be followed by serious results, as, for
-example, those of physicians or druggists, fall within the range of our
-point of view.
-
-As I am seldom in a position to deal with active medical matters, I
-can only report one mistake from my own experience. I treated a very
-old woman, whom I visited twice daily for several years. My medical
-activities were limited to two acts, which I performed during my
-morning visits: I dropped a few drops of an eye lotion into her eyes
-and gave her a hypodermic injection of morphine. I prepared regularly
-two bottles--a blue one, containing the eye lotion, and a white one,
-containing the morphine solution. While performing these duties my
-thoughts were mostly occupied with something else, for they had been
-repeated so often that the attention acted as if free. One morning I
-noticed that the automaton worked wrong; I had put the dropper into the
-white instead of into the blue bottle, and had dropped into the eyes
-the morphine instead of the lotion. I was greatly frightened, but then
-calmed myself through the reflection that a few drops of a _two per
-cent_. solution of morphine would not likely do any harm even if left
-in the conjunctival sac. The cause of the fright manifestly belonged
-elsewhere.
-
-In attempting to analyse the slight mistake I first thought of the
-phrase, “to seize the old woman by mistake,” which pointed out the
-short way to the solution. I had been impressed by a dream which a
-young man had told me the previous evening, the contents of which could
-be explained only on the basis of sexual intercourse with his own
-mother.[48] The strangeness of the fact that the Œdipus legend takes
-no offence at the age of Queen Jocasta seemed to me to agree with the
-assumption that in being in love with one’s mother we never deal with
-the present personality, but with her youthful memory picture carried
-over from our childhood. Such incongruities always show themselves
-where one fantasy fluctuating between two periods is made conscious,
-and is then bound to one definite period.
-
-Deep in thoughts of this kind, I came to my patient of over ninety;
-I must have been well on the way to grasp the universal character
-of the Œdipus fable as the correlation of the fate which the oracle
-pronounces, for I made a blunder in reference to or on the old woman.
-Here, again, the mistake was harmless; of the two possible errors,
-taking the morphine solution for the eye, or the eye lotion for the
-injection, I chose the one by far the least harmful. The question still
-remains open whether in mistakes in handling things which may cause
-serious harm we can assume an unconscious intention as in the cases
-here discussed.
-
-The following case from Brill’s experience corroborates the assumption
-that even serious mistakes are determined by unconscious intentions:
-“A physician received a telegram informing him that his aged uncle was
-very sick. In spite of important family affairs at home he at once
-repaired to that distant town because his uncle was really his father,
-who had cared for him since he was one and a half years old, when his
-own father had died. On reaching there he found his uncle suffering
-from pneumonia, and, as the old man was an octogenarian, the doctors
-held out no hope for his recovery. ‘It was simply a question of a day
-or two,’ was the local doctor’s verdict. Although a prominent physician
-in a big city, he refused to co-operate in the treatment, as he found
-that the case was properly managed by the local doctor, and he could
-not suggest anything to improve matters.
-
-“Since death was daily expected, he decided to remain to the end. He
-waited a few days, but the sick man struggled hard, and although there
-was no question of any recovery, because of the many new complications
-which had arisen, death seemed to be deferred for a while. One night
-before retiring he went into the sick-room and took his uncle’s pulse.
-As it was quite weak, he decided not to wait for the doctor, and
-administered a hypodermic injection. The patient grew rapidly worse
-and died within a few hours. There was something strange in the last
-symptoms, and on later attempting to replace the tube of hypodermic
-tablets into the case, he found to his consternation that he had taken
-out the wrong tube, and instead of a small dose of digitalis he had
-given a large dose of hyoscine.
-
-“This case was related to me by the doctor after he read my paper on
-the Œdipus Complex.[49] We agreed that this mistake was determined not
-only by his impatience to get home to his sick child, but also by an
-old resentment and unconscious hostility toward his uncle (father).”
-
-It is known that in the more serious cases of psychoneuroses one
-sometimes finds self-mutilations as symptoms of the disease. That the
-psychic conflict may end in suicide can never be excluded in these
-cases. Thus I know from experience, which some day I shall support
-with convincing examples, that many apparently accidental injuries
-happening to such patients are really self-inflicted. This is brought
-about by the fact that there is a constantly lurking tendency to
-self-punishment, usually expressing itself in self-reproach, or
-contributing to the formation of a symptom, which skilfully makes
-use of an external situation. The required external situation may
-accidentally present itself or the punishment tendency may assist it
-until the way is open for the desired injurious effect.
-
-Such occurrences are by no means rare even in cases of moderate
-severity, and they betray the portion of unconscious intention through
-a series of special features--for example, through the striking
-presence of mind which the patients show in the pretended accidents.[50]
-
-I will report exhaustively one in place of many such examples from
-my professional experience. A young woman broke her leg below the
-knee in a carriage accident so that she was bedridden for weeks. The
-striking part of it was the lack of any manifestation of pain and the
-calmness with which she bore her misfortune. This calamity ushered in
-a long and serious neurotic illness, from which she was finally cured
-by psychotherapy. During the treatment I discovered the circumstances
-surrounding the accident, as well as certain impressions which preceded
-it. The young woman with her jealous husband spent some time on
-the farm of her married sister, in company with her numerous other
-brothers and sisters with their wives and husbands. One evening she
-gave an exhibition of one of her talents before this intimate circle;
-she danced artistically the “cancan,” to the great delight of her
-relatives, but to the great annoyance of her husband, who afterward
-whispered to her, “Again you have behaved like a prostitute.” The words
-took effect; we will leave it undecided whether it was just on account
-of the dance. That night she was restless in her sleep, and the next
-forenoon she decided to go out driving. She chose the horses herself,
-refusing one team and demanding another. Her youngest sister wished
-to have her baby with its nurse accompany her, but she opposed this
-vehemently. During the drive she was nervous; she reminded the coachman
-that the horses were getting skittish, and as the fidgety animals
-really produced a momentary difficulty she jumped from the carriage
-in fright and broke her leg, while those remaining in the carriage
-were uninjured. Although after the disclosure of these details we can
-hardly doubt that this accident was really contrived, we cannot fail
-to admire the skill which forced the accident to mete out a punishment
-so suitable to the crime. For as it happened “cancan” dancing with her
-became impossible for a long time.
-
-Concerning self-inflicted injuries of my own experience, I cannot
-report anything in calm times, but under extraordinary conditions I do
-not believe myself incapable of such acts. When a member of my family
-complains that he or she has bitten his tongue, bruised her finger,
-and so on, instead of the expected sympathy I put the question, “Why
-did you do that?” But I have most painfully squeezed my thumb, after a
-youthful patient acquainted me during the treatment with his intention
-(naturally not to be taken seriously) of marrying my eldest daughter,
-while I knew that she was then in a private hospital in extreme danger
-of losing her life.
-
-One of my boys, whose vivacious temperament was wont to put
-difficulties in the management of nursing him in his illness, had a fit
-of anger one morning because he was ordered to remain in bed during the
-forenoon, and threatened to kill himself: a way out suggested to him
-by the newspapers. In the evening he showed me a swelling on the side
-of his chest which was the result of bumping against the door knob.
-To my ironical question why he did it, and what he meant by it, the
-eleven-year-old child explained, “That was my attempt at suicide which
-I threatened this morning.” However, I do not believe that my views on
-self-inflicted wounds were accessible to my children at that time.
-
-Whoever believes in the occurrence of semi-intentional self-inflicted
-injury--if this awkward expression be permitted--will become prepared
-to accept through it the fact that aside from conscious intentional
-suicide there also exists semi-intentional annihilation--with
-unconscious intention--which is capable of aptly utilizing a threat
-against life and masking it as a casual mishap. Such mechanism is by no
-means rare. For the tendency to self-destruction exists to a certain
-degree in many more persons than in those who bring it to completion.
-Self-inflicted injuries are, as a rule, a compromise between this
-impulse and the forces working against it, and even where it really
-comes to suicide the inclination has existed for a long time with less
-strength or as an unconscious and repressed tendency.
-
-Even suicide consciously committed chooses its time, means, and
-opportunity; it is quite natural that unconscious suicide should wait
-for a motive to take upon itself one part of the causation and thus
-free it from its oppression by taking up the defensive forces of the
-person.[51] These are in no way idle discussions which I here bring
-up; more than one case of apparently accidental misfortune (on a
-horse or out of a carriage) has become known to me whose surrounding
-circumstances justified the suspicion of suicide.
-
-For example, during an officers’ horse-race one of the riders fell
-from his horse and was so seriously injured that a few days later he
-succumbed to his injuries. His behaviour after regaining consciousness
-was remarkable in more than one way, and his conduct previous to the
-accident was still more remarkable. He had been greatly depressed by
-the death of his beloved mother, had crying spells in the society of
-his comrades, and to his trusted friend had spoken of the _tædium
-vitæ_. He had wished to quit the service in order to take part in a
-war in Africa which had no interest for him.[52] Formerly a keen
-rider, he had later evaded riding whenever possible. Finally, before
-the horse-race, from which he could not withdraw, he expressed a sad
-foreboding, which most expectedly in the light of our conception came
-true. It may be contended that it is quite comprehensible without any
-further cause that a person in such a state of nervous depression
-cannot manage a horse as well as on normal days. I quite agree with
-that, only I should like to look for the mechanism of this motor
-inhibition through “nervousness” in the intention of self-destruction
-here emphasized.
-
-Dr. Ferenczi has left to me for publication the analysis of an
-apparently accidental injury by shooting which he explained as an
-unconscious attempt at suicide. I can only agree with his deduction:--
-
-“J. Ad., 22 years old, carpenter, visited me on the 18th of January,
-1908. He wished to know whether the bullet which pierced his left
-temple March 20, 1907, could or should be removed by operation. Aside
-from occasional, not very severe, headaches, he felt quite well, also
-the objective examination showed nothing besides the characteristic
-powder wound on the left temple, so that I advised against an
-operation. When questioned concerning the circumstances of the case he
-asserted that he injured himself accidentally. He was playing with his
-brother’s revolver, and _believing that it was not loaded_ he pressed
-it with his left hand against the left temple (he is not left-handed),
-put his finger on the trigger, and the shot went off. _There were three
-bullets in the six-shooter._
-
-“I asked him how he came to carry the revolver, and he answered that it
-was at the time of his army conscription, that he took it to the inn
-the evening before because he feared fights. At the army examination
-he was considered unfit for service on account of varicose veins,
-which caused him much mortification. He went home and played with the
-revolver. He had no intention of hurting himself, but the accident
-occurred. On further questioning whether he was otherwise satisfied
-with his fortune, he answered with a sigh, and related a love affair
-with a girl who loved him in return, but nevertheless left him. She
-emigrated to America out of sheer avariciousness. He wanted to follow
-her, but his parents prevented him. His lady-love left on the 20th of
-January, 1907, just two months before the accident.
-
-“Despite all these suspicious elements the patient insisted that the
-shot was an ‘accident.’ I was firmly convinced, however, that the
-neglect to find out whether the revolver was loaded before he began to
-play with it, as well as the self-inflicted injury, were psychically
-determined. He was still under the depressing effects of the unhappy
-love affair, and apparently wanted ‘to forget everything’ in the army.
-When this hope, too, was taken away from him he resorted to playing
-with the weapon--that is, to an unconscious attempt at suicide. The
-fact that he did not hold the revolver in the right but in the left
-hand speaks conclusively in favour of the fact that he was really only
-‘playing’--that is, he did not wish consciously to commit suicide.”
-
-Another analysis of an apparently accidental self-inflicted wound,
-detailed to me by an observer, recalls the saying, “He who digs a pit
-for others falls in himself.”[53]
-
-“Mrs. X., belonging to a good middle-class family, is married and has
-three children. She is somewhat nervous, but never needed any strenuous
-treatment, as she could sufficiently adapt herself to life. One day she
-sustained a rather striking though transitory disfigurement of her face
-in the following manner: She stumbled in a street that was in process
-of repair and struck her face against the house wall. The whole face
-was bruised, the eyelids blue and œdematous, and as she feared that
-something might happen to her eyes she sent for the doctor. After she
-was calmed I asked her, ‘But why did you fall in such a manner?’ She
-answered that just before this accident she warned her husband, who
-had been suffering for some months from a joint affection, to be very
-careful in the street, and she often had the experience that in some
-remarkable way those things occurred to her against which she warned
-others.
-
-“I was not satisfied with this as the determination of her accident,
-and asked her whether she had not something else to tell me. ‘Yes, just
-before the accident she noticed a nice picture in a shop on the other
-side of the street, which she suddenly desired as an ornament for her
-nursery, and wished to buy it at once. She thereupon walked across to
-the shop without looking at the street, stumbled over a heap of stones,
-and fell with her face against the wall without making the slightest
-effort to shield herself with her hands. The intention to buy the
-picture was immediately forgotten, and she walked home in haste.’
-
-“‘But why were you not more careful?’ I asked.
-
-“‘Oh!’ she answered, ‘perhaps it was only a punishment for that episode
-which I confided to you!’
-
-“‘Has this episode still bothered you?’
-
-“‘Yes, later I regretted it very much; I considered myself wicked,
-criminal, and immoral, but at the time I was almost crazy with
-nervousness.’
-
-“She referred to an abortion which was started by a quack and had to be
-brought to completion by a gynecologist. This abortion was initiated
-with the consent of her husband, as both wished, on account of their
-pecuniary circumstances, to be spared from being additionally blessed
-with children.
-
-“She said: ‘I had often reproached myself with the words, “You really
-had your child killed,” and I feared that such a crime could not
-remain unpunished. Now that you have assured me that there is nothing
-seriously wrong with my eyes I am quite assured I have already been
-sufficiently punished.’
-
-“This accident, therefore, was, on the one hand, a retribution for
-her sin, but, on the other hand, it may have served as an escape from
-a more dire punishment which she had feared for many months. In the
-moment that she ran to the shop to buy the picture the memory of this
-whole history, with its fears (already quite active in her unconscious
-at the time she warned her husband), became overwhelming and could
-perhaps find expression in words like these: ‘But why do you want an
-ornament for the nursery?--you who had your child killed! You are a
-murderer! The great punishment is surely approaching!’
-
-“This thought did not become conscious, but instead of it she made use
-of the situation--I might say of the psychologic moment--to utilize
-in a commonplace manner the heap of stones to inflict upon herself
-this punishment. It was for this reason that she did not even attempt
-to put out her arms while falling and was not much frightened. The
-second, and probably lesser, determinant of her accident was obviously
-the self-punishment for her unconscious wish to be rid of her husband,
-who was an accessory to the crime in this affair. This was betrayed by
-her absolutely superfluous warning to be very careful in the street on
-account of the stones. For, just because her husband had a weak leg, he
-was very careful in walking.”
-
-If such a rage against one’s own integrity and one’s own life
-can be hidden behind apparently accidental awkwardness and motor
-insufficiency, then it is not a big step forward to grasp the
-possibility of transferring the same conception to mistakes which
-seriously endanger the life and health of others. What I can put
-forward as evidence for the validity of this conception was taken
-from my experience with neurotics, and hence does not fully meet the
-demands of this situation. I will report a case in which it was not
-an erroneously carried-out action, but what may be more aptly termed
-a symbolic or chance action that gave me the clue which later made
-possible the solution of the patient’s conflict.
-
-I once undertook to improve the marriage relations of a very
-intelligent man, whose differences with his tenderly attached young
-wife could surely be traced to real causes, but as he himself admitted
-could not be altogether explained through them. He continually occupied
-himself with the thought of a separation, which he repeatedly rejected
-because he dearly loved his two small children. In spite of this he
-always returned to that resolution and sought no means to make the
-situation bearable to himself. Such an unsettlement of a conflict
-served to prove to me that there were unconscious and repressed
-motives which enforced the conflicting conscious thoughts, and in such
-cases I always undertake to end the conflict by psychic analysis. One
-day the man related to me a slight occurrence which had extremely
-frightened him. He was sporting with the older child, by far his
-favourite. He tossed it high in the air and repeated this tossing till
-finally he thrust it so high that its head almost struck the massive
-gas chandelier. Almost, but not quite, or say “just about!” Nothing
-happened to the child except that it became dizzy from fright. The
-father stood transfixed with the child in his arms, while the mother
-merged into an hysterical attack. The particular facility of this
-careless movement, with the violent reaction in the parents, suggested
-to me to look upon this accident as a symbolic action which gave
-expression to an evil intention toward the beloved child.
-
-I could remove the contradiction of the actual tenderness of this
-father for his child by referring the impulse to injure it to the
-time when it was the only one, and so small that as yet the father
-had no occasion for tender interest in it. Then it was easy to assume
-that this man, so little pleased with his wife at that time, might
-have thought: “If this small being for whom I have no regard whatever
-should die, I would be free and could separate from my wife.” The wish
-for the death of this much loved being must therefore have continued
-unconsciously. From here it was easy to find the way to the unconscious
-fixation of this wish.
-
-There was indeed a powerful determinant in a memory from the patient’s
-childhood: it referred to the death of a little brother, which the
-mother laid to his father’s negligence, and which led to serious
-quarrels with threats of separation between the parents. The continued
-course of my patient’s life, as well as the therapeutic success
-confirmed my analysis.
-
-
-
-
-IX
-
-SYMPTOMATIC AND CHANCE ACTIONS
-
-
-The actions described so far, in which we recognize the execution of
-an unconscious intention, appeared as disturbances of other unintended
-actions, and hid themselves under the pretext of awkwardness. Chance
-actions, which we shall now discuss, differ from erroneously carried
-out actions only in that they disdain the support of a conscious
-intention and really need no pretext. They appear independently and
-are accepted because one does not credit them with any aim or purpose.
-We execute them “without thinking anything of them,” “by mere chance,”
-“just to keep the hands busy,” and we feel confident that such
-information will be quite sufficient should one inquire as to their
-significance. In order to enjoy the advantage of this exceptional
-position these actions which no longer claim awkwardness as an excuse
-must fulfil certain conditions: they must not be striking, and their
-effects must be insignificant.
-
-I have collected a large number of such “chance actions” from myself
-and others, and after thoroughly investigating the individual
-examples, I believe that the name “symptomatic actions” is more
-suitable. They give expression to something which the actor himself
-does not suspect in them, and which as a rule he has no intention
-of imparting to others, but aims to keep to himself. Like the other
-phenomena considered so far, they thus play the part of symptoms.
-
-The richest output of such chance or symptomatic actions is above all
-obtained in the psychoanalytic treatment of neurotics. I cannot deny
-myself the pleasure of showing by two examples of this nature how
-far and how delicately the determination of these plain occurrences
-are swayed by unconscious thoughts. The line of demarcation between
-the symptomatic actions and the erroneously carried out actions is
-so indefinite that I could have disposed of these examples in the
-preceding chapter.
-
-(_a_) During the analysis a young woman reproduced this idea which
-suddenly occurred to her. Yesterday while cutting her nails “she had
-cut into the flesh while engaged in trimming the cuticle.” This is
-of so little interest that we ask in astonishment why it is at all
-remembered and mentioned, and therefore come to the conclusion that
-we deal with a symptomatic action. It was really the finger upon
-which the wedding-ring is worn which was injured through this slight
-awkwardness. It happened, moreover, on her wedding-day, which thus
-gives to the injury of the delicate skin a very definite and easily
-guessed meaning. At the same time she also related a dream which
-alluded to the awkwardness of her husband and her anesthesia as a
-woman. But why did she injure the ring finger of her left hand when the
-wedding-ring is worn on the right? Her husband is a jurist, a “Doctor
-of Laws” (_Doktor der Rechte_, literally a Doctor of Rights), and her
-secret affection as a girl belonged to a physician who was jokingly
-called _Doktor der Linke_ (literally Doctor of Left). Incidentally a
-left-handed marriage has a definite meaning.
-
-(_b_) A single young woman relates: “Yesterday, quite unintentionally,
-I tore a hundred-dollar note in two pieces and gave half to a woman
-who was visiting me. Is that, too, a symptomatic action?” After
-closer investigation the matter of the hundred-dollar note elicited
-the following associations: She dedicated a part of her time and
-her fortune to charitable work. Together with another woman she was
-taking care of the rearing of an orphan. The hundred dollars was the
-contribution sent her by that woman, which she enclosed in an envelope
-and provisionally deposited on her writing-desk.
-
-The visitor was a prominent woman with whom she was associated in
-another act of charity. This woman wished to note the names of a
-number of persons to whom she could apply for charitable aid. There was
-no paper, so my patient grasped the envelope from her desk, and without
-thinking of its contents tore it in two pieces, one of which she kept,
-in order to have a duplicate list of names, and gave the other to her
-visitor.
-
-Note the harmlessness of this aimless occurrence. It is known that a
-hundred-dollar note suffers no loss in value when it is torn, provided
-all the pieces are produced. That the woman would not throw away the
-piece of paper was assumed by the importance of the names on it, and
-there was just as little doubt that she would return the valuable
-content as soon as she noticed it.
-
-But to what unconscious thought should this chance action, which was
-made possible through forgetfulness, give expression? The visitor in
-this case had a very definite relation to my patient and myself. It was
-she who at one time had recommended me as physician to the suffering
-girl, and if I am not mistaken my patient considered herself indebted
-for this advice. Should this halved hundred-dollar note perhaps
-represent a fee for her mediation? That still remained enigmatic.
-
-But other material was added to this beginning. Several days before a
-woman mediator of a different sort had inquired of a relative whether
-the gracious young lady wished to make the acquaintance of a certain
-gentleman, and that morning, some hours before the woman’s visit, the
-wooing letter of the suitor arrived, giving occasion for much mirth.
-When therefore the visitor opened the conversation with inquiries
-regarding the health of my patient, the latter could well have thought:
-“You certainly found me the right doctor, but if you could assist me
-in obtaining the right husband (and a child) I should be still more
-grateful.”
-
-Both mediators became fused into one in this repressed thought, and
-she handed the visitor the fee which her fantasy was ready to give the
-other. This resolution became perfectly convincing when I add that I
-had told her of such chance or symptomatic actions only the previous
-evening. She then took advantage of the next occasion to produce an
-analogous action.
-
-We can undertake a grouping of these extremely frequent chance and
-symptomatic actions according to their occurrence as habitual, regular
-under certain circumstances, and as isolated ones. The first group
-(such as playing with the watch-chain, fingering one’s beard, and
-so on), which can almost serve as a characteristic of the person
-concerned, is related to the numerous tic movements, and certainly
-deserves to be dealt with in connection with the latter. In the second
-group I place the playing with one’s cane, the scribbling with one’s
-pencil, the jingling of coins in one’s pocket, kneading dough and other
-plastic materials, all sorts of handling of one’s clothing, and many
-other actions of the same order.
-
-These playful occupations during psychic treatment regularly conceal
-sense and meaning to which other expression is denied. Generally the
-person in question knows nothing about it; he is unaware whether he is
-doing the same thing or whether he has imitated certain modifications
-in his customary playing, and he also fails to see or hear the
-effects of these actions. For example, he does not hear the noise
-which is produced by the jingling of coins, and he is astonished and
-incredulous when his attention is called to it. Of equal significance
-to the physician, and worthy of his observation, is everything that
-one does with his clothing often without noticing it. Every change in
-the customary attire, every little negligence, such as an unfastened
-button, every trace of exposure means to express something that the
-wearer of the apparel does not wish to say directly, usually he is
-entirely unconscious of it.
-
-The interpretation of these trifling chance actions, as well as the
-proof for their interpretation, can be demonstrated every time with
-sufficient certainty from the surrounding circumstances during the
-treatment, from the themes under discussion, and from the ideas that
-come to the surface when attention is directed to the seeming accident.
-Because of this connection I will refrain from supporting my assertions
-by reporting examples with their analyses; but I mention these matters
-because I believe that they have the same meaning in normal persons as
-in my patients.
-
-I cannot, however, refrain from showing by at least one example how
-closely an habitually accomplished symbolic action may be connected
-with the most intimate and important part of the life of a normal
-individual.[54]
-
-“As Professor Freud has taught us, the symbolism in the infantile life
-of the normal plays a greater rôle than was expected from earlier
-psychoanalytic experiences. In view of this the following brief
-analysis may be of general interest, especially on account of its
-medical aspects.
-
-“A doctor on rearranging his furniture in a new house came across a
-straight, wooden stethoscope, and, after pausing to decide where he
-should put it, was impelled to place it on the side of his writing-desk
-in such a position that it stood exactly between his chair and the
-one reserved for his patients. The act in itself was certainly odd,
-for in the first place the straight stethoscope served no purpose,
-as he invariably used a binaural one; and in the second place all his
-medical apparatus and instruments were always kept in drawers, with the
-sole exception of this one. However, he gave no thought to the matter
-until one day it was brought to his notice by a patient who had never
-seen a wooden stethoscope, asking him what it was. On being told, she
-asked why he kept it there. He answered in an offhand way that that
-place was as good as any other. This, however, started him thinking,
-and he wondered whether there had been an unconscious motive in his
-action. Being interested in the psychoanalytic method, he asked me to
-investigate the matter.
-
-“The first memory that occurred to him was the fact that when a medical
-student he had been struck by the habit his hospital interne had of
-always carrying in his hand a wooden stethoscope on his ward visits,
-although he never used it. He greatly admired this interne, and was
-much attached to him. Later on, when he himself became an interne he
-contracted the same habit, and would feel very uncomfortable if by
-mistake he left the room without having the instrument to swing in his
-hand. The aimlessness of the habit was shown, not only by the fact
-that the only stethoscope he ever used was a binaural one, which he
-carried in his pocket, but also in that it was continued when he was a
-surgical interne and never needed any stethoscope at all.
-
-“From this it was evident that the idea of the instrument in question
-had in some way or other become invested with a greater psychic
-significance than normally belongs to it--in other words, that to the
-subject it stood for more than it does for other people. The idea
-must have got unconsciously associated with some other one, which
-it symbolized, and from which it derived its additional fulness of
-meaning. I will forestall the rest of the analysis by saying what
-this secondary idea was--namely, a phallic one; the way in which this
-curious association had been formed will presently be related. The
-discomfort he experienced in hospital on missing the instrument, and
-the relief and assurance the presence of it gave him, was related to
-what is known as a ‘castration-complex’--namely, a childhood fear,
-often continued in a disguised form into adult life, lest a private
-part of his body should be taken away from him, just as playthings so
-often were. The fear was due to paternal threats that it would be cut
-off if he were not a good boy, particularly in a certain direction.
-This is a very common complex, and accounts for a great deal of general
-nervousness and lack of confidence in later years.
-
-“Then came a number of childhood memories relating to his family
-doctor. He had been strongly attached to this doctor as a child, and
-during the analysis long-buried memories were recovered of a double
-phantasy he had in his fourth year concerning the birth of a younger
-sister--namely, that she was the child (1) of himself and his mother,
-the father being relegated to the background, and (2) of the doctor and
-himself; in this he thus played both a masculine and feminine part.[55]
-At the time, when his curiosity was being aroused by the event, he
-could not help noticing the prominent share taken by the doctor in the
-proceedings, and the subordinate position occupied by the father: the
-significance of this for his later life will presently be pointed out.
-
-“The stethoscope association was formed through many connections.
-In the first place, the physical appearance of the instrument--a
-straight, rigid, hollow tube, having a small bulbous summit at one
-extremity and a broad base at the other--and the fact of its being
-the essential part of the medical paraphernalia, the instrument with
-which the doctor performed his magical and interesting feats, were
-matters that attracted his boyish attention. He had had his chest
-repeatedly examined by the doctor at the age of six, and distinctly
-recollected the voluptuous sensation of feeling the latter’s head
-near him pressing the wooden stethoscope into his chest, and of the
-rhythmic to-and-fro respiratory movement. He had been struck by the
-doctor’s habit of carrying his stethoscope inside his hat; he found it
-interesting that the doctor should carry his chief instrument concealed
-about his person, always handy when he went to see patients, and that
-he only had to take off his hat (_i.e_., a part of his clothing) and
-‘pull it out.’ At the age of eight he was impressed by being told by
-an older boy that it was the doctor’s custom to get into bed with
-his women patients. It is certain that the doctor, who was young and
-handsome, was extremely popular among the women of the neighbourhood,
-including the subject’s own mother. The doctor and his ‘instrument’
-were therefore the objects of great interest throughout his boyhood.
-
-“It is probable that, as in many other cases, unconscious
-identification with the family doctor had been a main motive in
-determining the subject’s choice of profession. It was here doubly
-conditioned (1) by the superiority of the doctor on certain interesting
-occasions to the father, of whom the subject was very jealous, and (2)
-by the doctor’s knowledge of forbidden topics[56] and his opportunity
-for illicit indulgence. The subject admitted that he had on several
-occasions experienced erotic temptations in regard to his women
-patients; he had twice fallen in love with one, and finally had married
-one.
-
-“The next memory was of a dream, plainly of a homosexual-masochistic
-nature; in it a man, who proved to be a replacement figure of the
-family doctor, attacked the subject with a ‘sword.’ The idea of a
-sword, as is so frequently the case in dreams, represented the same
-idea that was mentioned above to be associated with that of a wooden
-stethoscope. The thought of a sword reminded the subject of the passage
-in the _Nibelung Saga_, where Sigurd sleeps with his naked sword
-(_Gram_) between him and Brunhilda, an incident that had always greatly
-struck his imagination.
-
-“The meaning of the symptomatic act now at last became clear. The
-subject had placed his wooden stethoscope between him and his patients,
-just as Sigurd had placed his sword (an equivalent symbol) between him
-and the maiden he was not to touch. The act was a compromise-formation;
-it served both to gratify in his imagination the repressed wish to
-enter into nearer relations with an attractive patient (interposition
-of phallus), and at the same time to remind him that this wish was not
-to become a reality (interposition of sword). It was, so to speak, a
-charm against yielding to temptation.
-
-“I might add that the following passage from Lord Lytton’s _Richelieu_
-made a great impression on the boy:--
-
-    ‘_Beneath the rule of men entirely great
-    The pen is mightier than the sword_,’[57]
-
-and that he became a prolific writer and uses an unusually large
-fountain-pen. When I asked him what need he had of this pen, he replied
-in a characteristic manner, ‘I have so much to express.’
-
-“This analysis again reminds us of the profound views that are afforded
-us in the psychic life through the ‘harmless’ and ‘senseless’ actions,
-and how early in life the tendency to symbolization develops.”
-
-I can also relate an experience from my psychotherapeutic practice in
-which the hand, playing with a mass of bread-crumbs, gave evidence of
-an eloquent declaration. My patient was a boy not yet thirteen years of
-age, who had been very hysterical for two years. I finally took him for
-psychoanalytic treatment, after a lengthy stay at a hydrotherapeutic
-institution had proved futile. My supposition was that he must have
-had sexual experiences, and that, corresponding to his age, he had
-been troubled by sexual questions; but I was cautious about helping
-him with explanations as I wished to test further my assumption. I was
-therefore curious as to the manner in which the desired material would
-evince itself in him.
-
-One day it struck me that he was rolling something between the fingers
-of his right hand; he would thrust it into his pocket and there
-continue playing with it, then would draw it out again, and so on. I
-did not ask what he had in his hand; but as he suddenly opened his hand
-he showed it to me. It was bread-crumbs kneaded into a mass. At the
-next session he again brought along a mass, and in the course of our
-conversation, although his eyes were closed, modelled a figure with an
-incredible rapidity which excited my interest. Without doubt it was a
-manikin like the crudest prehistoric idols, with a head, two arms, two
-legs, and an appendage between the legs which he drew out to a long
-point.
-
-This was scarcely completed when he kneaded the manikin together again:
-later he allowed it to remain, but modelled an identical appendage on
-the flat of the back and on other parts in order to veil the meaning of
-the first. I wished to show him that I had understood him, but at the
-same time I wanted to deprive him of the evasion that he had thought
-of nothing while actively forming these figures. With this intention
-I suddenly asked him whether he remembered the story of the Roman king
-who gave his son’s envoy a pantomimic answer in his garden.
-
-The boy did not wish to recall what he must have learned so much more
-recently than I. He asked if that was the story of the slave on whose
-bald skull the answer was written. I told him, “No, that belonged to
-Greek history,” and related the following: “King Tarquinius Superbus
-had induced his son Sextus to steal into a Latin city. The son, who had
-later obtained a foothold in the city, sent a messenger to the king
-asking what steps he should take next. The king gave no answer, but
-went into his garden, had the question repeated there, and silently
-struck off the heads of the largest and most beautiful poppies.
-All that the messenger could do was to report this to Sextus, who
-understood his father, and caused the most distinguished citizens of
-the city to be removed by assassination.”
-
-While I was speaking the boy stopped kneading, and as I was relating
-what the king did in his garden, I noticed that at the words “silently
-struck” he tore off the head of the manikin with a movement as quick
-as lightning. He therefore understood me, and showed that he was also
-understood by me. Now I could question him directly, and gave him the
-information that he desired, and in a short time the neurosis came to
-an end.
-
-The symptomatic actions which we observe in inexhaustible abundance in
-healthy as well as in nervous people are worthy of our interest for
-more than one reason. To the physician they often serve as valuable
-indications for orienting himself in new or unfamiliar conditions;
-to the keen observer they often betray everything, occasionally even
-more than he cares to know. He who is familiar with its application
-sometimes feels like King Solomon, who, according to the Oriental
-legend, understood the language of animals.
-
-One day I was to examine a strange young man at his mother’s home. As
-he came towards me I was attracted by a large stain on his trousers,
-which by its peculiar stiff edges I recognized as one produced by
-albumen. After a moment’s embarrassment the young man excused this
-stain by remarking that he was hoarse and therefore drank a raw egg,
-and that some of the slippery white of the egg had probably fallen on
-his clothes. To confirm his statements he showed the eggshell which
-could still be seen on a small plate in the room. The suspicious spot
-was thus explained in this harmless way; but as his mother left us
-alone I thanked him for having so greatly facilitated the diagnosis
-for me, and without further procedure I took as the topic of our
-discussion his confession that he was suffering from the effects of
-masturbation.
-
-Another time I called on a woman as rich as she was miserly and
-foolish, who was in the habit of giving the physician the task of
-working his way through a heap of her complaints before he could reach
-the simple cause of her condition. As I entered she was sitting at
-a small table engaged in arranging silver dollars in little piles:
-as she rose she tumbled some of the pieces of money to the floor.
-I helped her pick them up, but interrupted the recitation of her
-misery by remarking: “Has your good son-in-law been spending so much
-of your money again?” She bitterly denied this, only to relate a few
-moments later the lamentable story of the aggravation caused by her
-son-in-law’s extravagances. And she has not sent for me since. I cannot
-maintain that one always makes friends of those to whom he tells the
-meaning of their symptomatic actions.
-
-He who observes his fellow-men while at table will be able to verify in
-them the nicest and most instructive symptomatic actions.
-
-Dr. Hans Sachs relates the following:--
-
-“I happened to be present when an elderly couple related to me partook
-of their supper. The lady had stomach trouble and was forced to follow
-a strict diet. A roast was put before the husband, and he requested
-his wife, who was not allowed to partake of this food, to give him
-the mustard. The wife opened the closet and took out the small bottle
-of stomach drops, and placed it on the table before her husband.
-Between the barrel-shaped mustard-glass and the small drop-bottle
-there was naturally no similarity through which the mishandling could
-be explained; yet the wife only noticed the mistake after her husband
-laughingly called her attention to it. The sense of this symptomatic
-action needs no explanation.”
-
-For an excellent example of this kind which was very skilfully utilized
-by the observer, I am indebted to Dr. Bernh. Dattner (Vienna):--
-
-“I dined in a restaurant with my colleague H., a doctor of philosophy.
-He spoke about the injustice done to probationary students, and added
-that even before he finished his studies he was placed as secretary to
-the ambassador, or rather the extraordinary plenipotentiary Minister to
-Chili. ‘But,’ he added, ‘the minister was afterwards transferred, and
-I did not make any effort to meet the newly appointed.’ While uttering
-the last sentence he was lifting a piece of pie to his mouth, but he
-let it drop as if out of awkwardness. I immediately grasped the hidden
-sense of this symptomatic action, and remarked to my colleague, who was
-unacquainted with psychoanalysis, ‘You really allowed a very choice
-morsel to slip from you.’ He did not realize, however, that my words
-could equally refer to his symptomatic action, and he repeated the same
-words I uttered with a peculiarly agreeable and surprising vividness,
-as if I had actually taken the words from his mouth: ‘It was really
-a very choice morsel that I allowed to get away from me.’ He then
-followed this remark with a detailed description of his clumsiness,
-which has cost him this very remunerative position.
-
-“The sense of this symbolic action becomes clearer if we remember that
-my colleague had scruples about telling me, almost a perfect stranger,
-concerning his precarious material situation, and his repressed thought
-took on the mask of symptomatic action which expressed symbolically
-what was meant to be concealed, and the speaker thus got relief from
-his unconscious.”
-
-That the taking away or taking along things without any apparent
-intention may prove to be senseful may be shown by the following
-examples.
-
-I. Dr. B. Dattner relates: “An acquaintance paid the first
-after-marriage visit to a highly regarded lady friend of his youth. He
-told me of this visit and expressed his surprise at the fact that he
-failed in his resolution to visit with her only a short time, and then
-reported to me a rather strange faulty act which happened to him there.
-
-“The husband of this friend, who took part in the conversation, was
-looking for a box of matches which he was sure was on the table when
-he came there. My acquaintance, too, looked through his pockets to
-ascertain whether he had not put it in his pocket, but without avail.
-Some time later he actually found it in his pocket, and was struck by
-the fact that there was only one match in the box.
-
-“A dream a few days later showing the box symbolism in reference to
-the friend of his youth confirmed my explanation. With the symptomatic
-action my acquaintance meant to announce his priority-right and the
-exclusiveness of his possession (it contained only one match).”
-
-Dr. Hans Sachs relates the following: “Our cook is very fond of a
-certain kind of pie. There is no possible doubt about this, as it is
-the only kind of pastry which she always prepares well. One Sunday she
-brought this pie to the table, took it off the pie-plate, and proceeded
-to remove the dishes used in the former course, but on the top of this
-pile she placed the pie, and disappeared with it into the kitchen. We
-first thought that she had something to improve on the pie, but as she
-failed to appear my wife rang the bell and asked, ‘Betty, what happened
-to the pie?’ to which the girl answered, without comprehending the
-question, ‘How is that?’ We had to call her attention to the fact that
-she carried the pie back to the kitchen. She had put it on the pile of
-dishes, taken it out, and put it away ‘without noticing it.’
-
-“The next day, when we were about to consume the rest of the pie,
-my wife noticed that there was as much of it as we had left the day
-before--that is, the girl had disdained to eat the portion of her
-favourite dish which was rightly hers. Questioned why she did not eat
-the pie, she answered, somewhat embarrassed, that she did not care for
-it.
-
-“The infantile attitude is distinctly noticeable on both
-occasions--first the childish insatiableness in refusing to share with
-anybody the object of her wishes, then the reaction of spite which is
-just as childish: ‘If you grudge it to me, keep it for yourself, I want
-nothing of it.’”
-
-Chance or symptomatic actions occurring in affairs of married life have
-often a most serious significance, and could lead those who do not
-concern themselves with the psychology of the unconscious to a belief
-in omens. It is not an auspicious beginning if a young woman loses her
-wedding-ring on her wedding-tour, even if it were only mislaid and soon
-found.
-
-I know a woman, now divorced, who in the management of her business
-affairs frequently signed her maiden name many years before she
-actually resumed it.
-
-Once I was the guest of a newly married couple and heard the young
-woman laughingly relate her latest experience, how, on the day
-succeeding her return from the wedding tour she had sought out her
-single sister in order to go shopping with her as in former times,
-while her husband was attending business. Suddenly she noticed a man
-on the opposite side of the street; nudging her sister she said, “Why,
-that is surely Mr. L.” She forgot that for some weeks this man had been
-her husband. I was chilled at this tale, but I did not dare draw any
-inferences. The little story came back to me only several years later,
-after this marriage had ended most unhappily.
-
-The following observation, which could as well have found a place among
-the examples of forgetting, was taken from a noteworthy work published
-in French by A. Maeder.[58]
-
-“Une dame nous racontait récement qu’elle avait oublie d’essayer sa
-robe de noce et s’en souvint la veille du marriage, à huit heur du
-soir, la couturière désespérait de voir sa cliente. Ce détail suffit à
-montrer que la fiancée ne se sentait pas très heureuse de porter une
-robe d’épouse, elle cherchait à oublier cette représentation pénible.
-Elle est aujourd’hui ... divorcée.”
-
-A friend who has learned to observe signs related to me that the great
-actress Eleanora Duse introduces a symptomatic action into one of her
-rôles which shows very nicely from what depth she draws her acting. It
-is a drama dealing with adultery; she has just been discussing with
-her husband and now stands soliloquizing before the seducer makes his
-appearance. During this short interval she plays with her wedding-ring,
-she pulls it off, replaces it, and finally takes it off again. She is
-now ready for the other.
-
-I know of an elderly man who married a young girl, and instead of
-starting at once on his wedding tour he decided to spend the night in a
-hotel. Scarcely had they reached the hotel, when he noticed with fright
-that he was without his wallet, in which he had the entire sum of money
-for the wedding tour; he must have mislaid or lost it. He was still
-able to reach his servant by telephone; the latter found the missing
-article in the coat discarded for the travelling clothes and brought it
-to the hotel to the waiting bridegroom, who had thus entered upon his
-marriage without means.
-
-It is consoling to think that the “losing of objects” by people is
-merely an unsuspected extension of a symptomatic action, and is thus
-welcome at least to the secret intention of the loser. Often it is only
-an expression of slight appreciation of the lost article, a secret
-dislike for the same, or perhaps for the person from whom it came,
-or the desire to lose this object was transferred to it from other
-and more important objects through symbolic association. The loss of
-valuable articles serves as an expression of diverse feelings; it
-may either symbolically represent a repressed thought--that is, it
-may bring back a memory which one would rather not hear--or it may
-represent a sacrifice to the obscure forces of fate, the worship of
-which is not yet entirely extinct even with us.[59]
-
-The following examples will illustrate these statements concerning the
-losing of objects:--
-
-Dr. B. Dattner states: “A colleague related to me that he lost his
-steel pencil which he had had for over two years, and which, on
-account of its superior quality, was highly prized by him. Analysis
-elicited the following facts: The day before he had received a very
-disagreeable letter from his brother-in-law, the concluding sentence
-of which read: ‘At present I have neither the desire nor the time to
-assist you in your carelessness and laziness.’ The effect connected
-with this letter was so powerful that the next day he promptly
-sacrificed the pencil which was a present from this brother-in-law in
-order not to be burdened with his favours.”
-
-Brill reports the following example: “A doctor took exception to the
-following statement in my book, ‘We never lose what we really want’
-(_Psychanalysis, its Theories and Practical Application_, p. 214). His
-wife, who is very interested in psychologic subjects, read with him
-the chapter on “Psychopathology of Everyday Life”; they were both very
-much impressed with the novelty of the ideas, and so on, and were very
-willing to accept most of the statements. He could not, however, agree
-with the above-given statement because, as he said to his wife, ‘I
-surely did not wish to lose my knife.’ He referred to a valuable knife
-given to him by his wife, which he highly prized, the loss of which
-caused him much pain.
-
-“It did not take his wife very long to discover the solution for this
-loss in a manner to convince them both of the accuracy of my statement.
-When she presented him with this knife he was a bit loath to accept
-it. Although he considered himself quite emancipated, he nevertheless
-entertained some superstition about giving or accepting a knife as a
-gift, because it is said that a knife cuts friendship. He even remarked
-this to his wife, who only laughed at his superstition. He had the
-knife for years before it disappeared.
-
-“Analysis brought out the fact that the disappearance of the knife was
-directly connected with a period when there were violent quarrels
-between himself and his wife, which threatened to end in separation.
-They lived happily together until his step-daughter (it was his second
-marriage) came to live with them. His daughter was the cause of many
-misunderstandings, and it was at the height of these quarrels that he
-lost the knife.
-
-“The unconscious activity is very nicely shown in this symptomatic
-action. In spite of his apparent freedom from superstition, he still
-unconsciously believed that a donated knife may cut friendship between
-the persons concerned. The losing of it was simply an unconscious
-defence against losing his wife, and by sacrificing the knife he made
-the superstitious ban impotent.”
-
-In a lengthy discussion and with the aid of dream analysis[60] Otto
-Rank made clear the sacrificial tendency with its deep-reaching
-motivation. It must be said that just such symptomatic actions often
-give us access to the understanding of the intimate psychic life of the
-person.
-
-Of the many isolated chance-actions, I will relate one example which
-showed a deeper meaning even without analysis. This example clearly
-explains the conditions under which such symptoms may be produced most
-casually, and also shows that an observation of practical importance
-may be attached to it. During a summer tour it happened that I had to
-wait several days at a certain place for the arrival of my travelling
-companions. In the meantime I made the acquaintance of a young man, who
-also seemed lonely and was quite willing to join me. As we lived at the
-same hotel it was quite natural that we should take all our meals and
-our walks together.
-
-On the afternoon of the third day he suddenly informed me that he
-expected his wife to arrive on that evening’s express train. My
-psychologic interest was now aroused, as it had already struck me
-that morning that my companion rejected my proposal to make a long
-excursion, and in our short walk he objected to a certain path as too
-steep and dangerous. During our afternoon walk he suddenly thought that
-I must be hungry and insisted that I should not delay my evening meal
-on his account, that he would not sup before his wife’s arrival. I
-understood the hint and seated myself at the table while he went to the
-station.
-
-The next morning we met in the foyer of the hotel. He presented me to
-his wife, and added, “Of course, you will breakfast with us?” I had
-to attend first to a small matter in the next street, but assured him
-that I would return shortly. Later, as I entered the breakfast-room,
-I noticed that the couple were at a small table near the window, both
-seated on the same side of it. On the opposite side there was only one
-chair, which was covered, however, with a man’s large and heavy coat.
-I understood well the meaning of this unintentional, none the less
-expressive, disposition of the coat. It meant this: “There is no room
-for you here, you are superfluous now.”
-
-The man did not notice that I remained standing before the table, being
-unable to take the seat, but his wife noticed it, and quickly nudged
-her husband and whispered: “Why, you have covered the gentleman’s place
-with your coat.”
-
-These as well as other similar experiences have caused me to think that
-the actions executed unintentionally must inevitably become the source
-of misunderstanding in human relations. The perpetrator of the act, who
-is unaware of any associated intention, takes no account of it, and
-does not hold himself responsible for it. On the other hand, the second
-party, having regularly utilized even such acts as those of his partner
-to draw conclusions as to their purpose and meaning, recognizes more
-of the stranger’s psychic processes than the latter is ready either to
-admit or believe that he has imparted. He becomes indignant when these
-conclusions drawn from his symptomatic actions are held up to him; he
-declares them baseless because he does not see any conscious intention
-in their execution, and complains of being misunderstood by the other.
-Close examination shows that such misunderstandings are based on the
-fact that the person is too fine an observer and understands too much.
-The more “nervous” two persons are the more readily will they give
-each other cause for disputes, which are based on the fact that one as
-definitely denies about his own person what he is sure to accept about
-the other.
-
-And this is, indeed, the punishment for the inner dishonesty to which
-people grant expression under the guise of “forgetting,” of erroneous
-actions and accidental emotions, a feeling which they would do better
-to confess to themselves and others when they can no longer control
-it. As a matter of fact it can be generally affirmed that every one
-is continually practising psychoanalysis on his neighbours, and
-consequently learns to know them better than each individual knows
-himself. The road following the admonition γνῶθι σεαυτὁν leads through
-the study of one’s own apparently casual commissions and omissions.
-
-
-
-
-X
-
-ERRORS
-
-
-Errors of memory are distinguished from forgetting and false
-recollections through one feature only, namely, that the error (false
-recollection) is not recognized as such but finds credence. However,
-the use of the expression “error” seems to depend on still another
-condition. We speak of “erring” instead of “falsely recollecting” where
-the character of the objective reality is emphasized in the psychic
-material to be reproduced--that is, where something other than a fact
-of my own psychic life is to be remembered, or rather something that
-may be confirmed or refuted through the memory of others. The reverse
-of the error in memory in this sense is formed by ignorance.
-
-In my book _The Interpretation of Dreams_,[61] I was responsible for
-a series of errors in historical, and above all, in material facts,
-which I was astonished to discover after the appearance of the book.
-On closer examination I found that they did not originate from my
-ignorance, but could be traced to errors of memory explainable by means
-of analysis.
-
-(_a_) On page 361 I indicated as _Schiller’s_ birthplace the city of
-_Marburg_, a name which recurs in _Styria_. The error is found in the
-analysis of a dream during a night journey from which I was awakened
-by the conductor calling out the name of the station _Marburg_. In the
-contents of the dream inquiry is made concerning a book by _Schiller_.
-But _Schiller_ was not born in the university town of _Marburg_ but in
-the Swabian city _Marbach_. I maintain that I always knew this.
-
-(_b_) On page 165 _Hannibal’s_ father is called _Hasdrubal_. This error
-was particularly annoying to me, but it was most corroborative of my
-conception of such errors. Few readers of the book are better posted
-on the history of the _Barkides_ than the author who wrote this error
-and overlooked it in three proofs. The name of Hannibal’s father was
-_Hamilcar Barkas_; _Hasdrubal_ was the name of _Hannibal’s_ brother as
-well as that of his brother-in-law and predecessor in command.
-
-(_c_) On pages 217 and 492 I assert that _Zeus_ emasculates his father
-_Kronos_, and hurls him from the throne. This horror I have erroneously
-advanced by a generation; according to Greek mythology it was _Kronos_
-who committed this on his father _Uranos_.[62]
-
-How is it to be explained that my memory furnished me with false
-material on these points, while it usually places the most remote and
-unusual material at my disposal, as the readers of my books can verify?
-And, what is more, in three carefully executed proof-readings I passed
-over these errors as if struck blind.
-
-Goethe said of Lichtenberg: “Where he cracks a joke, there lies a
-concealed problem.” Similarly we can affirm of these passages cited
-from my book: back of every error is a repression. More accurately
-stated: the error conceals a falsehood, a disfigurement which is
-ultimately based on repressed material. In the analysis of the dreams
-there reported, I was compelled by the very nature of the theme to
-which the dream thoughts related, on the one hand, to break off the
-analysis in some places before it had reached its completion, and
-on the other hand, to remove an indiscreet detail through a slight
-disfigurement of its outline. I could not act differently, and had no
-other choice if I was at all to offer examples and illustrations. My
-constrained position was necessarily brought about by the peculiarity
-of dreams, which give expression to repressed thoughts, or to material
-which is incapable of becoming conscious. In spite of this it is said
-that enough material remained to offend the more sensitive souls. The
-disfigurement or concealment of the continuing thoughts known to me
-could not be accomplished without leaving some trace. What I wished to
-repress has often against my will obtruded itself on what I have taken
-up, and evinced itself in the matter as an unnoticeable error. Indeed,
-each of the three examples given is based on the same theme: the errors
-are the results of repressed thoughts which occupy themselves with my
-deceased father.
-
-(_ad a_) Whoever reads through the dream analysed on page 361 will
-find some parts unveiled; in some parts he will be able to divine
-through allusions that I have broken off the thoughts which would have
-contained an unfavourable criticism of my father. In the continuation
-of this line of thoughts and memories there lies an annoying tale, in
-which books and a business friend of my father, named _Marburg_, play
-a part; it is the same name the calling out of which in the southern
-railway-station had aroused me from sleep. I wished to suppress this
-Mr. _Marburg_ in the analysis from myself and my readers: he avenged
-himself by intruding where he did not belong, and changed the name of
-Schiller’s birthplace from _Marbach_ to _Marburg_.
-
-(_ad b_) The error _Hasdrubal_ in place of _Hamilcar_, the name of the
-brother instead of that of the father, originated from an association
-which dealt with the Hannibal fantasies of my college years and my
-dissatisfaction with the conduct of my father towards the “enemies
-of our people.” I could have continued and recounted how my attitude
-toward my father was changed by a visit to England, where I made the
-acquaintance of my half-brother, by a previous marriage of my father.
-My brother’s oldest son was my age exactly. Thus the age relations were
-no hindrance to a fantasy which may be stated thus: how much pleasanter
-it would be had I been born the son of my brother instead of the son of
-my father! This suppressed fantasy then falsified the text of my book
-at the point where I broke off the analysis, by forcing me to put the
-name of the brother for that of the father.
-
-(_ad c_) The influence of the memory of this same brother is
-responsible for my having advanced by a generation the mythological
-horror of the Greek deities. One of the admonitions of my brother has
-lingered long in my memory. “Do not forget one thing concerning your
-conduct in life,” he said: “you belong not to the second but really
-to the third generation of your father.” Our father had remarried at
-an advanced age, and was therefore an old man to his children by the
-second marriage. I commit the error mentioned where I discuss the
-piety between parents and children.
-
-Several times friends and patients have called my attention to the fact
-that in reporting their dreams or alluding to them in dream analyses,
-I have related inaccurately the circumstances experienced by us in
-common. These are also historic errors. On re-examining such individual
-cases I have found that my recollection of the facts was unreliable
-only where I had purposely disfigured or concealed something in the
-analysis. Here again we have _an unobserved error as a substitute for
-an intentional concealment or repression_.
-
-From these errors, which originate from repression, we must sharply
-distinguish those which are based on actual ignorance. Thus, for
-example, it was ignorance when on my excursion to Wachau I believed
-that I had passed the resting-place of the revolutionary leader
-Fischof. Only the name is common to both places. _Fischof’s Emmersdorf_
-is located in Kärnthen. But I did not know any better.
-
-Here is another embarrassing but instructive error, an example of
-temporary ignorance if you like. One day a patient reminded me to give
-him the two books on Venice which I had promised him, as he wished to
-use them in planning his Easter tour. I answered that I had them ready
-and went into the library to fetch them, though the truth of the
-matter was that I had forgotten to look them up, since I did not quite
-approve of my patient’s journey, looking upon it as an unnecessary
-interruption to the treatment, and as a material loss to the physician.
-Thereupon I made a quick survey of the library for the books.
-
-One was _Venedig als Kunststätte_, and besides this I imagined I had an
-historic work of a similar order. Certainly there was _Die Mediceer_
-(_The Medicis_); I took them and brought them in to him, then,
-embarrassed, I confessed my error. Of course I really knew that the
-Medicis had nothing to do with Venice, but for a short time it did not
-appear to me at all incorrect. Now I was compelled to practise justice;
-as I had so frequently interpreted my patient’s symptomatic actions I
-could save my prestige only by being honest and admitting to him the
-secret motives of my averseness to his trip.
-
-It may cause general astonishment to learn how much stronger is the
-impulse to tell the truth than is usually supposed. Perhaps it is a
-result of my occupation with psychoanalysis that I can scarcely lie any
-more. As often as I attempt a distortion I succumb to an error or some
-other faulty act, which betrays my dishonesty, as was manifest in this
-and in the preceding examples.
-
-Of all faulty actions the mechanism of the error seems to be the most
-superficial. That is, the occurrence of the error invariably indicates
-that the mental activity concerned had to struggle with some disturbing
-influence, although the nature of the error need not be determined by
-the quality of the disturbing idea, which may have remained obscure.
-It is not out of place to add that the same state of affairs may be
-assumed in many simple cases of lapses in speaking and writing. Every
-time we commit a lapse in speaking or writing we may conclude that
-through mental processes there has come a disturbance which is beyond
-our intention. It may be conceded, however, that lapses in speaking
-and writing often follow the laws of similarity and convenience, or
-the tendency to acceleration, without allowing the disturbing element
-to leave a trace of its own character in the error resulting from
-the lapses in speaking or writing. It is the responsiveness of the
-linguistic material which at first makes possible the determination of
-the error, but it also limits the same.
-
-In order not to confine myself exclusively to personal errors I will
-relate a few examples which could just as well have been ranged under
-“Lapses in Speech” or under “Erroneously Carried-out Actions,” but as
-all these forms of faulty action have the same value they may as well
-be reported here.
-
-(_a_) I forbade a patient to speak on the telephone to his lady-love,
-with whom he himself was willing to break off all relations, as each
-conversation only renewed the struggling against it. He was to write
-her his final decision, although there were some difficulties in the
-way of delivering the letter to her. He visited me at one o’clock to
-tell me that he had found a way of avoiding these difficulties, and
-among other things he asked me whether he might refer to me in my
-professional capacity.
-
-At two o’clock while he was engaged in composing the letter of refusal,
-he interrupted himself suddenly, and said to his mother, “Well, I
-have forgotten to ask the Professor whether I may use his name in the
-letter.” He hurried to the telephone, got the connection, and asked the
-question, “May I speak to the Professor after his dinner?” In answer
-he got an astonished “Adolf, have you gone crazy!” The answering voice
-was the very voice which at my command he had listened to for the last
-time. He had simply “made a mistake,” and in place of the physician’s
-number had called up that of his beloved.
-
-(_b_) During a summer vacation a schoolteacher, a poor but excellent
-young man, courted the daughter of a summer resident, until the girl
-fell passionately in love with him, and even prevailed upon her family
-to countenance the matrimonial alliance in spite of the difference in
-position and race. One day, however, the teacher wrote his brother a
-letter in which he said: “Pretty, the lass is not at all, but she is
-very amiable, and so far so good. But whether I can make up my mind to
-marry a Jewess I cannot yet tell.” This letter got into the hands of
-the fiancée, who put an end to the engagement, while at the same time
-his brother was wondering at the protestations of love directed to him.
-My informer assured me that this was really an error and not a cunning
-trick.
-
-I am familiar with another case in which a woman who was dissatisfied
-with her old physician, and still did not openly wish to discharge him,
-accomplished this purpose through the interchange of letters. Here, at
-least, I can assert confidently that it was error and not conscious
-cunning that made use of this familiar comedy-motive.
-
-(_c_) Brill[63] tells of a woman who, inquiring about a mutual friend,
-erroneously called her by her maiden name. Her attention having been
-directed to this error, she had to admit that she disliked her friend’s
-husband and had never been satisfied with her marriage.
-
-Maeder[64] relates a good example of how a reluctantly repressed
-wish can be satisfied by means of an “error.” A colleague wanted
-to enjoy his day of leave of absence absolutely undisturbed, but he
-also felt that he ought to go to Lucerne to pay a call which he did
-not anticipate with any pleasure. After long reflection, however, he
-concluded to go. For pastime on the train he read the daily newspapers.
-He journeyed from Zurich to Arth Goldau, where he changed trains for
-Lucerne, all the time engrossed in reading. Presently the conductor
-informed him that he was in the wrong train--that is, he had got into
-the one which was returning from Goldau to Zurich, whereas his ticket
-was for Lucerne.
-
-A very similar trick was played by me quite recently. I had promised my
-oldest brother to pay him a long-due visit at a sea-shore in England;
-as the time was short I felt obliged to travel by the shortest route
-and without interruption. I begged for a day’s sojourn in Holland,
-but he thought that I could stop there on my return trip. Accordingly
-I journeyed from Munich through Cologne to Rotterdam--Hook of
-Holland--where I was to take the steamer at midnight to Harwich. In
-Cologne I had to change cars; I left my train to go into the Rotterdam
-express, but it was not to be found. I asked various railway employees,
-was sent from one platform to another, got into an exaggerated state of
-despair, and could easily reckon that during this fruitless search I
-had probably missed my connection.
-
-After this was corroborated, I pondered whether or not I should spend
-the night in Cologne. This was favoured by a feeling of piety, for
-according to an old family tradition, my ancestors were once expelled
-from this city during a persecution of the Jews. But eventually I
-came to another decision; I took a later train to Rotterdam, where I
-arrived late at night and was thus compelled to spend a day in Holland.
-This brought me the fulfilment of a long-fostered wish--the sight
-of the beautiful Rembrandt paintings at The Hague and in the Royal
-Museum at Amsterdam. Not before the next forenoon, while collecting my
-impressions during the railway journey in England, did I definitely
-remember that only a few steps from the place where I got off at the
-railroad station in Cologne, indeed, on the same platform, I had seen
-a large sign, “Rotterdam--Hook of Holland.” There stood the train in
-which I should have continued my journey.
-
-If one does not wish to assume that, contrary to my brother’s orders, I
-had really resolved to admire the Rembrandt pictures on my way to him,
-then the fact that despite clear directions I hurried away and looked
-for another train must be designated as an incomprehensible “blinding.”
-Everything else--my well-acted perplexity, the emergence of the pious
-intention to spend the night in Cologne--was only a contrivance to hide
-my resolution until it had been fully accomplished.
-
-One may possibly be disinclined to consider the class of errors which I
-have here explained as very numerous or particularly significant. But I
-leave it to your consideration whether there is no ground for extending
-the same points of view also to the more important errors of judgment,
-as evinced by people in life and science. Only for the most select
-and most balanced minds does it seem possible to guard the perceived
-picture of external reality against the distortion to which it is
-otherwise subjected in its transit through the psychic individuality of
-the one perceiving it.
-
-
-
-
-XI
-
-COMBINED FAULTY ACTS
-
-
-Two of the last-mentioned examples, my error which transfers the
-Medici to Venice and that of the young man who knew how to circumvent
-a command against a conversation on the telephone with his lady love,
-have really not been fully discussed, as after careful consideration
-they may be shown to represent a union of forgetting with an error. I
-can show the same union still more clearly in certain other examples.
-
-(_a_) A friend related to me the following experience: “Some years
-ago I consented to be elected to the committee of a certain literary
-society, as I supposed the organization might some time be of use to
-me in assisting me in the production of my drama. Although not much
-interested, I attended the meetings regularly every Friday. Some months
-ago I was definitely assured that one of my dramas would be presented
-at the theatre in F., and since that time it regularly happened that
-I forgot the meeting of the association. As I read their programme
-announcements I was ashamed of my forgetfulness. I reproached myself,
-feeling that it was certainly rude of me to stay away now when I no
-longer needed them, and determined that I would certainly not forget
-the next Friday. Continually I reminded myself of this resolution
-until the hour came and I stood before the door of the meeting-room.
-To my astonishment it was locked; the meeting was already over. I had
-mistaken my day; it was already Saturday!”
-
-(_b_) The next example is the combination of a symptomatic action
-with a case of mislaying; it reached me by remote byways, but from a
-reliable source.
-
-A woman travelled to Rome with her brother-in-law, a renowned artist.
-The visitor was highly honoured by the German residents of Rome, and
-among other things received a gold medal of antique origin. The woman
-was grieved that her brother-in-law did not sufficiently appreciate
-the value of this beautiful gift. After she had returned home she
-discovered in unpacking that--without knowing how--she had brought the
-medal home with her. She immediately notified her brother-in-law of
-this by letter, and informed him that she would send it back to Rome
-the next day. The next day, however, the medal was so aptly mislaid
-that it could not be found and could not be sent back, and then it
-dawned on the woman what her “absent-mindedness” signified--namely,
-that she wished to keep the medal herself.
-
-(_c_) Here are some cases in which the falsified action persistently
-repeats itself, and at the same time also changes its mode of action:--
-
-Due to unknown motives, Jones[65] left a letter for several days on his
-desk, forgetting each time to post it. He ultimately posted it, but
-it was returned to him from the Dead-letter Office because he forgot
-to address it. After addressing and posting it a second time it was
-again returned to him, this time without a stamp. He was then forced to
-recognize the unconscious opposition to the sending of the letter.
-
-(_d_) A short account by Dr. Karl Weiss (Vienna)[66] of a case of
-forgetting impressively describes the futile effort to accomplish
-something in the face of opposition. “How persistently the unconscious
-activity can achieve its purpose if it has cause to prevent a
-resolution from being executed, and how difficult it is to guard
-against this tendency, will be illustrated by the following incident:
-An acquaintance requested me to lend him a book and bring it to him the
-next day. I immediately promised it, but perceived a distinct feeling
-of displeasure which I could not explain at the time. Later it became
-clear to me: this acquaintance had owed me for years a sum of money
-which he evidently had no intention of returning. I did not give this
-matter any more thought, but I recalled it the following forenoon with
-the same feeling of displeasure, and at once said to myself: ‘Your
-unconscious will see to it that you forget the book, but you don’t wish
-to appear unobliging and will therefore do everything not to forget
-it.’ I came home, wrapped the book in paper, and put it near me on the
-desk while I wrote some letters.
-
-“A little later I went away, but after a few steps I recollected that I
-had left on the desk the letters which I wished to post. (By the way,
-one of the letters was written to a person who urged me to undertake
-something disagreeable.) I returned, took the letters, and again left.
-While in the street-car it occurred to me that I had undertaken to
-purchase something for my wife, and I was pleased at the thought that
-it would be only a small package. The association, ‘small package,’
-suddenly recalled ‘book’--and only then I noticed that I did not have
-the book with me. Not only had I forgotten it when I left my home the
-first time, but I had overlooked it again when I got the letters near
-which it lay.”
-
-(_e_) A similar mechanism is shown in the following fully analysed
-observation of Otto Rank[67]:--
-
-“A scrupulously orderly and pedantically precise man reported the
-following occurrence, which he considered quite remarkable: One
-afternoon on the street wishing to find out the time, he discovered
-that he had left his watch at home, an omission which to his knowledge
-had never occurred before. As he had an engagement elsewhere and had
-not enough time to return for his watch, he made use of a visit to a
-woman friend to borrow her watch for the evening. This was the most
-convenient way out of the dilemma, as he had a previous engagement to
-visit this lady the next day. Accordingly, he promised to return her
-watch at that time.
-
-“But the following day when about to consummate this he found to his
-surprise that he had left the watch at home; his own watch he had with
-him. He then firmly resolved to return the lady’s property that same
-afternoon, and even followed out his resolution. But on wishing to see
-the time on leaving her he found to his chagrin and astonishment that
-he had again forgotten to take his own watch.
-
-“The repetition of this faulty action seemed so pathologic to this
-order-loving man that he was quite anxious to know its psychologic
-motivation, and when questioned whether he experienced anything
-disagreeable on the critical day of the first forgetting, and in what
-connection it had occurred, the motive was promptly found. He related
-that he had conversed with his mother after luncheon, shortly before
-leaving the house. She told him that an irresponsible relative, who had
-already caused him much worry and loss of money, had pawned his (the
-relative’s) watch, and, as it was needed in the house, the relative had
-asked for money to redeem it. This almost “forced” loan affected our
-man very painfully and brought back to his memory all the disagreeable
-episodes perpetrated by this relative for many years.
-
-“His symptomatic action therefore proves to be manifoldly determined.
-First, it gives expression to a stream of thought which runs perhaps
-as follows: ‘I won’t allow my money to be extorted this way, and if
-a watch is needed I will leave my own at home.’ But as he needed it
-for the evening to keep his appointment, this intention could only
-be brought about on an unconscious path in the form of a symptomatic
-action. Second, the forgetting expresses a sentiment something like
-the following: ‘This everlasting sacrificing of money for this
-good-for-nothing is bound to ruin me altogether, so that I will have to
-give up everything.’ Although the anger, according to the report of
-this man, was only momentary, the repetition of the same symptomatic
-action conclusively shows that in the unconscious it continued to act
-more intensely, and may be equivalent to the conscious expression:
-‘I cannot get this story out of my head.[68] That the lady’s watch
-should later meet the same fate will not surprise us after knowing this
-attitude of the unconscious.’
-
-“Yet there may be still other special motives which favour the
-transference on the ‘innocent’ lady’s watch. The nearest motive is
-probably that he would have liked to keep it as a substitute for his
-own sacrificed watch, and that hence he forgot to return it the next
-day. He also might have liked to possess this watch as a souvenir of
-the lady. Moreover, the forgetting of the lady’s watch gave him the
-excuse for calling on the admired one a second time; for he was obliged
-to visit her in the morning in reference to another matter, and with
-the forgetting of the watch he seemed to indicate that this visit for
-which an appointment had been made so long ago was too good for him to
-be used simply for the return of a watch.
-
-“Twice forgetting his own watch and thus making possible the
-substitution of the lady’s watch speaks for the fact that our man
-unconsciously endeavoured to avoid carrying both watches at the same
-time. He obviously thought of avoiding the appearance of superfluity
-which would have stood out in striking contrast to the want of the
-relative; but, on the other hand, he utilized this as a self-admonition
-against his apparent intention to marry this lady, reminding himself
-that he was tied to his family (mother) by indissoluble obligations.
-
-“Finally, another reason for the forgetting of the lady’s watch may be
-sought in the fact that the evening before he, a bachelor, was ashamed
-to be seen with a lady’s watch by his friends, so that he only looked
-at it stealthily, and in order to evade the repetition of this painful
-situation he could not take the watch along. But as he was obliged
-to return it, there resulted here, too, an unconsciously performed
-symptomatic action which proved to be a compromise formation between
-conflicting emotional feelings and a dearly bought victory of the
-unconscious instance.”
-
-In the same discussion Rank has also paid attention to the very
-interesting relation of “faulty actions and dreams,” which cannot,
-however, be followed here without a comprehensive analysis of the dream
-with which the faulty action is connected. I once dreamed at great
-length that I had lost my pocket-book. In the morning while dressing I
-actually missed it; while undressing the night before the dream I had
-forgotten to take it out of my trousers pocket and put it in its usual
-place. This forgetting was therefore not unknown to me; probably it was
-to give expression to an unconscious thought which was ready to appear
-in the dream content.
-
-I do not mean to assert that such cases of combined faulty actions can
-teach anything new that we have not already seen in the individual
-cases. But this change in form of the faulty action, which nevertheless
-attains the same result, gives the plastic impression of a will working
-towards a definite end, and in a far more energetic way contradicts
-the idea that the faulty action represents something fortuitous and
-requires no explanation. Not less remarkable is the fact that the
-conscious intention thoroughly fails to check the success of the faulty
-action. Despite all, my friend did not pay his visit to the meeting
-of the literary society, and the woman found it impossible to give
-up the medal. That unconscious something which worked against these
-resolutions found another outlet after the first road was closed to it.
-It requires something other than the conscious counter-resolution to
-overcome the unknown motive; it requires a psychic work which makes the
-unknown known to consciousness.
-
-
-
-
-XII
-
-DETERMINISM--CHANCE--AND SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS
-
-POINTS OF VIEW.
-
-
-As the general result of the preceding separate discussions we must
-put down the following principle: _Certain inadequacies of our psychic
-capacities--whose common character will soon be more definitely
-determined--and certain performances which are apparently unintentional
-prove to be well motivated when subjected to the psychoanalytic
-investigation, and are determined through the consciousness of unknown
-motives._
-
-In order to belong to this class of phenomena thus explained a faulty
-psychic action must satisfy the following conditions:--
-
-(_a_) It must not exceed a certain measure, which is firmly established
-through our estimation, and is designated by the expression “within
-normal limits.”
-
-(_b_) It must evince the character of the momentary and temporary
-disturbance. The same action must have been previously performed more
-correctly or we must always rely on ourselves to perform it more
-correctly; if we are corrected by others we must immediately recognize
-the truth of the correction and the incorrectness of our psychic action.
-
-(_c_) If we at all perceive a faulty action, we must not perceive in
-ourselves any motivation of the same, but must attempt to explain it
-through “inattention” or attribute it to an “accident.”
-
-Thus there remain in this group the cases of forgetting and the errors,
-despite better knowledge, the lapses in speaking, reading, writing, the
-erroneously carried-out actions, and the so-called chance actions. The
-explanations of these so definite psychic processes are connected with
-a series of observations which may in part arouse further interest.
-
-I. By abandoning a part of our psychic capacity as unexplainable
-through purposive ideas we ignore the realms of determinism in our
-mental life. Here, as in still other spheres, determinism reaches
-farther than we suppose. In the year 1900 I read an essay published
-in the _Zeit_ written by the literary historian R. M. Meyer, in which
-he maintains, and illustrates by examples, that it is impossible to
-compose nonsense intentionally and arbitrarily. For some time I have
-been aware that it is impossible to think of a number, or even of
-a name, of one’s own free will. If one investigates this seeming
-voluntary formation, let us say, of a number of many digits uttered
-in unrestrained mirth, it always proves to be so strictly determined
-that the determination seems impossible. I will now briefly discuss an
-example of an “arbitrarily chosen” first name, and then exhaustively
-analyse an analogous example of a “thoughtlessly uttered” number.
-
-While preparing the history of one of my patients for publication I
-considered what first name I should give her in the article. There
-seemed to be a wide choice; of course, certain names were at once
-excluded by me, in the first place the real name, then the names of
-members of my family to which I would have objected, also some female
-names having an especially peculiar pronunciation. But, excluding
-these, there should have been no need of being puzzled about such
-a name. It would be thought, and I myself supposed, that a whole
-multitude of feminine names would be placed at my disposal. Instead of
-this only one sprang up, no other besides it; it was the name Dora.
-
-I inquired as to its determination: “Who else is called Dora?” I wished
-to reject the next idea as incredulous; it occurred to me that the
-nurse of my sister’s children was named Dora. But I possess so much
-self-control, or practice in analysis, if you like, that I held firmly
-to the idea and proceeded. Then a slight incident of the previous
-evening soon flashed through my mind which brought the looked-for
-determination. On my sister’s dining-room table I noticed a letter
-bearing the address, “Miss Rosa W.” Astonished, I asked whose name this
-was, and was informed that the right name of the supposed Dora was
-really Rosa, and that on accepting the position she had to lay aside
-her name, because Rosa would also refer to my sister. I said pityingly,
-“Poor people! They cannot even retain their own names!” I now recall
-that on hearing this I became quiet for a moment and began to think of
-all sorts of serious matters which merged into the obscure, but which
-I could now easily bring into my consciousness. Thus when I sought a
-name for a person _who could not retain her own name_ no other except
-“Dora” occurred to me. The exclusiveness here is based, moreover, on
-firmer internal associations, for in the history of my patient it was a
-stranger in the house, the governess, who exerted a decisive influence
-on the course of the treatment.
-
-This slight incident found its unexpected continuation many years
-later. While discussing in a lecture the long-since published history
-of the girl called Dora it occurred to me that one of my two women
-pupils had the very name Dora which I was obliged to utter so often in
-the different associations of the case. I turned to the young student,
-whom I knew personally, with the apology that I had really not thought
-that she bore the same name, and that I was ready to substitute it in
-my lecture by another name.
-
-I was now confronted with the task of rapidly choosing another name,
-and reflected that I must not now choose the first name of the other
-woman student, and so set a poor example to the class, who were already
-quite conversant with psychoanalysis. I was therefore well pleased when
-the name “Erna” occurred to me as the substitute for Dora, and Erna I
-used in the discourse. After the lecture I asked myself whence the name
-“Erna” could possibly have originated, and had to laugh as I observed
-that the feared possibility in the choice of the substitutive name
-had come to pass, in part at least. The other lady’s family name was
-Lucerna, of which Erna was a part.
-
-In a letter to a friend I informed him that I had finished reading the
-proof-sheets of _The Interpretation of Dreams_, and that I did not
-intend to make any further changes in it, “even if it contained _2,467_
-mistakes.” I immediately attempted to explain to myself the number,
-and added this little analysis as a postscript to the letter. It will
-be best to quote it now as I wrote it when I caught myself in this
-transaction:--
-
-“I will add hastily another contribution to the Psychopathology of
-Everyday Life. You will find in the letter the number 2,467 as a
-jocose and arbitrary estimation of the number of errors that may be
-found in the dream-book. I meant to write: no matter how large the
-number might be, and this one presented itself. But there is nothing
-arbitrary or undetermined in the psychic life. You will therefore
-rightly suppose that the unconscious hastened to determine the number
-which was liberated by consciousness. Just previous to this I had read
-in the paper that General E. M. had been retired as Inspector-General
-of Ordnance. You must know that I am interested in this man. While I
-was serving as military medical student he, then a colonel, once came
-into the hospital and said to the physician: ‘You must make me well in
-eight days, as I have some work to do for which the Emperor is waiting.’
-
-“At that time I decided to follow this man’s career, and just think,
-to-day (1899) he is at the end of it--Inspector-General of Ordnance
-and already retired. I wished to figure out in what time he had
-covered this road, and assumed that I had seen him in the hospital in
-1882. That would make 17 years. I related this to my wife, and she
-remarked, ‘Then you, too, should be retired.’ And I protested, ‘The
-Lord forbid!’ After this conversation I seated myself at the table to
-write to you. The previous train of thought continued, and for good
-reason. The figuring was incorrect; I had a definite recollection of
-the circumstances in my mind. I had celebrated my coming of age, my
-_24th_ birthday, in the military prison (for being absent without
-permission). Therefore I must have seen him in 1880, which makes it 19
-years ago. You then have the number 24 in 2,467! Now take the number
-that represents my age, 43, and add 24 years to it and you get _67_!
-That is, to the question whether I wished to retire I had expressed the
-wish to work 24 years more. Obviously I am annoyed that in the interval
-during which I followed Colonel M. I have not accomplished much myself,
-and still there is a sort of triumph in the fact that he is already
-finished, while I still have all before me. Thus we may justly say
-that not even the unintentionally thrown-out number 2,467 lacks its
-determination from the unconscious.”
-
-Since this first example of the interpretation of an apparently
-arbitrary choice of a number I have repeated a similar test with the
-same result; but most cases are of such intimate content that they do
-not lend themselves to report.
-
-It is for this reason that I shall not hesitate to add here a very
-interesting analysis of a “chance number” which Dr. Alfred Adler
-(Vienna) received from a “perfectly healthy” man.[69] A. wrote to
-me: “Last night I devoted myself to the _Psychopathology of Everyday_
-Life, and I would have read it all through had I not been hindered
-by a remarkable coincidence. When I read that every number that we
-apparently conjure up quite arbitrarily in our consciousness has a
-definite meaning, I decided to test it. The number 1,734 occurred
-to my mind. The following associations then came up: 1,734 ÷ 17 =
-102; 102 ÷ 17 = 6. I then separated the number into 17 and 34. I am
-34 years old. I believe that I once told you that I consider 34 the
-last year of youth, and for this reason I felt miserable on my last
-birthday. The end of my 17th year was the beginning of a very nice and
-interesting period of my development. I divide my life into periods of
-17 years. What do the divisions signify? The number 102 recalls the
-fact that volume 102 of the Reclam Universal Library is Kotzebue’s play
-_Menschenhass und Reue_ (_Human Hatred and Repentance_).
-
-“My present psychic state is ‘human hatred and repentance.’ No. 6 of
-the U. L. (I know a great many numbers by heart) is Mullner’s ‘Schuld’
-(Fault). I am constantly annoyed at the thought that it is through
-my own fault that I have not become what I could have been with my
-abilities.
-
-“I then asked myself, ‘What is No. 17 of the U. L.?’ But I could not
-recall it. But as I positively knew it before, I assumed that I wished
-to forget this number. All reflection was in vain. I wished to continue
-with my reading, but I read only mechanically without understanding
-a word, for I was annoyed by the number 17. I extinguished the light
-and continued my search. It finally came to me that number 17 must be
-a play by Shakespeare. But which one? I thought of Hero and Leander.
-Apparently a stupid attempt of my will to distract me. I finally arose
-and consulted the catalogue of the U. L. Number 17 was _Macbeth_! To my
-surprise I had to discover that I knew nothing of the play, despite the
-fact that it did not interest me any less than any other Shakespearean
-drama. I only thought of: murder, Lady Macbeth, witches, ‘nice is
-ugly,’ and that I found Schiller’s version of _Macbeth_ very nice.
-Undoubtedly I also wished to forget the play. Then it occurred to me
-that 17 and 34 may be divided by 17 and result in 1 and 2. Numbers 1
-and 2 of the U. L. is Goethe’s _Faust_. Formerly I found much of Faust
-in me.”
-
-We must regret that the discretion of the physician did not allow us
-to see the significance of ideas. Adler remarked that the man did not
-succeed in the synthesis of his analysis. His association would hardly
-be worth reporting unless their continuation would bring out something
-that would give us the key to the understanding of the number 1,734 and
-the whole series of ideas.
-
-To quote further: “To be sure this morning I had an experience which
-speaks much for the correctness of the Freudian conception. My wife,
-whom I awakened through my getting up at night, asked me what I wanted
-with the catalogue of the U. L. I told her the story. She found it all
-pettifogging but--very interesting. _Macbeth_, which caused me so much
-trouble, she simply passed over. She said that nothing came to her mind
-when she thought of a number. I answered, ‘Let us try it.’ She named
-the number 117. To this I immediately replied: ‘17 refers to what I
-just told you; furthermore, I told you yesterday that if a wife is in
-the 82nd year and the husband is in the 35th year it must be a gross
-misunderstanding.’ For the last few days I have been teasing my wife
-by maintaining that she was a little old mother of 82 years. 82 + 35 =
-117.”
-
-The man who did not know how to determine his own number at once
-found the solution when his wife named a number which was apparently
-arbitrarily chosen. As a matter of fact, the woman understood very well
-from which complex the number of her husband originated, and chose her
-own number from the same complex, which was surely common to both, as
-it dealt in his case with their relative ages. Now, we find it easy to
-interpret the number that occurred to the man. As Dr. Adler indicates,
-it expressed a repressed wish of the husband which, fully developed,
-would read: “For a man of 34 years as I am, only a woman of 17 would be
-suitable.”
-
-Lest one should think too lightly of such “playing,” I will add that I
-was recently informed by Dr. Adler that a year after the publication of
-this analysis the man was divorced from his wife.[70]
-
-Adler gives a similar explanation for the origin of obsessive numbers.
-Also the choice of so-called “favourite numbers” is not without
-relation to the life of the person concerned, and does not lack a
-certain psychologic interest. A gentleman who evinced a particular
-partiality for the numbers 17 and 19 could specify, after brief
-reflection, that at the age of 17 he attained the greatly longed-for
-academic freedom by having been admitted to the university, that at 19
-he made his first long journey, and shortly thereafter made his first
-scientific discovery. But the fixation of this preference followed
-later, after two questionable affairs, when the same numbers were
-invested with importance in his “love-life.”
-
-Indeed, even those numbers which we use in a particular connection
-extremely often and with apparent arbitrariness can be traced by
-analysis to an unexpected meaning. Thus, one day it struck one of my
-patients that he was particularly fond of saying, “I have already told
-you this from 17 to 36 times.” And he asked himself whether there was
-any motive for it. It soon occurred to him that he was born on the 27th
-day of the month, and that his younger brother was born on the 26th
-day of another month, and he had grounds for complaint that Fate had
-robbed him of so many of the benefits of life only to bestow them on
-his younger brother. Thus he represented this partiality of Fate by
-deducting 10 from the date of his birth and adding it to the date of
-his brother’s birthday. I am the elder and yet am so “cut short.”
-
-I shall tarry a little longer at the analysis of chance numbers, for
-I know of no other individual observation which would so readily
-demonstrate the existence of highly organized thinking processes of
-which consciousness has no knowledge. Moreover, there is no better
-example of analysis in which the suggestion of the position, a frequent
-accusation, is so distinctly out of consideration. I shall therefore
-report the analysis of a chance number of one of my patients (with
-his consent), to which I will only add that he is the youngest of many
-children and that he lost his beloved father in his young years.
-
-While in a particularly happy mood he let the number _426,718_ come to
-his mind, and put to himself the question, “Well, what does it bring
-to your mind?” First came a joke he had heard: “If your catarrh of the
-nose is treated by a doctor it lasts 42 days, if it is not treated it
-lasts--6 weeks.” This corresponds to the first digit of the number (42
-= 6 × 7). During the obstruction that followed this first solution I
-called his attention to the fact that the number of six digits selected
-by him contains all the first numbers except 3 and 5. He at once found
-the continuation of this solution:--
-
-“We were altogether 7 children, I was the youngest. Number 3 in the
-order of the children corresponds to my sister A., and 5 to my brother
-L.; both of them were my enemies. As a child I used to pray to the Lord
-every night that He should take out of my life these two tormenting
-spirits. It seems to me that I have fulfilled for myself this wish: ‘3’
-and ‘5,’ the _evil_ brother and the hated sister, are omitted.”
-
-“If the number stands for your sisters and brothers, what significance
-is there to 18 at the end? You were altogether only 7.”
-
-“I often thought if my father had lived longer I should not have been
-the youngest child. If one more would have come, we should have been
-8, and there would have been a younger child, toward whom I could have
-played the rôle of the older one.”
-
-With this the number was explained, but we still wished to find the
-connection between the first part of the interpretation and the part
-following it. This came very readily from the condition required for
-the last digits--if the father had lived longer. 42 = 6 × 7 signifies
-the ridicule directed against the doctors who could not help the
-father, and in this way expresses the wish for the continued existence
-of the father. The whole number really corresponds to the fulfilment of
-his two wishes in reference to his family circle--namely, that both the
-evil brother and sister should die and that another little child should
-follow him. Or, briefly expressed: _If only these two had died in place
-of my father!_[71]
-
-Another analysis of numbers I take from Jones.[72] A gentleman of his
-acquaintance let the number 986 come to his mind, and defied him to
-connect it to anything of special interest in his mind. “Six years
-ago, on the hottest day he could remember, he had seen a joke in an
-evening newspaper, which stated that the thermometer had stood at
-98·6° F., evidently an exaggeration of 98·6° F. We were at the time
-seated in front of a very hot fire, from which he had just drawn back,
-and he remarked, probably quite correctly, that the heat had aroused
-his dormant memory. However, I was curious to know why this memory had
-persisted with such vividness as to be so readily brought out, for with
-most people it surely would have been forgotten beyond recall, unless
-it had become associated with some other mental experience of more
-significance.
-
-“He told me that on reading the joke he had laughed uproariously, and
-that on many subsequent occasions he had recalled it with great relish.
-As the joke was obviously of an exceedingly tenuous nature, this
-strengthened my expectation that more lay behind. His next thought was
-the general reflection that the conception of heat had always greatly
-impressed him, that heat was the most important thing in the universe,
-the source of all life, and so on. This remarkable attitude of a quite
-prosaic young man certainly needed some explanation, so I asked him
-to continue his free associations. The next thought was of a factory
-stack which he could see from his bedroom window. He often stood of an
-evening watching the flame and smoke issuing out of it, and reflecting
-on this deplorable waste of energy. Heat, flame, the source of life,
-the waste of vital energy issuing from an upright, hollow tube--it
-was not hard to divine from such associations that the ideas of heat
-and fire were unconsciously linked in his mind with the idea of love,
-as is so frequent in symbolic thinking, and that there was a strong
-masturbation complex present, a conclusion that he presently confirmed.”
-
-Those who wish to get a good impression of the way the material of
-numbers becomes elaborated in the unconscious thinking, I refer to two
-papers by Jung[73] and Jones.[74]
-
-In personal analysis of this kind two things were especially striking.
-First, the absolute somnambulistic certainty with which I attacked
-the unknown objective point, merging into a mathematical train of
-thought, which later suddenly extended to the looked-for number, and
-the rapidity with which the entire subsequent work was performed.
-Secondly, the fact that the numbers were always at the disposal of my
-unconscious mind, when as a matter of fact I am a poor mathematician
-and find it very difficult to consciously recall years, house numbers,
-and the like. Moreover, in these unconscious mental operations with
-figures I found a tendency to superstition, the origin of which had
-long remained unknown to me.
-
-It will not surprise us to find that not only numbers but also mental
-occurrences of different kinds of words regularly prove on analytic
-investigation to be well determined.
-
-Brill relates: “While working on the English edition of this book I was
-obsessed one morning with the strange word ‘Cardillac.’ Busily intent
-on my work, I refused at first to pay attention to it, but, as is
-usually the case, I simply could not do anything else. ‘Cardillac’ was
-constantly in my mind. Realizing that my refusal to recognize it was
-only a resistance, I decided to analyse it. The following associations
-occurred to me: _Cardillac_, _cardiac_, _carrefour_, _Cadillac_.
-
-“_Cardiac_ recalled cardalgia--heartache--a medical friend who had
-recently told me confidentially that he feared that he had some cardiac
-affection because he had suffered some attacks of pain in the region
-of his heart. Knowing him so well, I at once rejected his theory, and
-told him that his attacks were of a neurotic character, and that his
-other apparent physical ailments were also only the expression of his
-neurosis.
-
-“I might add that just before telling me of his heart trouble he spoke
-of a business matter of vital interest to him which had suddenly come
-to naught. Being a man of unbounded ambitions, he was very depressed
-because of late he had suffered many similar reverses. His neurotic
-conflicts, however, had become manifest a few months before this
-misfortune. Soon after his father’s death had left a big business on
-his hands. As the business could be continued only under my friend’s
-management, he was unable to decide whether to enter into commercial
-life or continue his chosen career. His great ambition was to become a
-successful medical practitioner, and although he had practised medicine
-successfully for many years, he was not altogether satisfied with the
-financial fluctuations of his professional income. On the other hand,
-his father’s business promised him an assured, though limited, return.
-In brief, he was ‘at a crossing and did not know which way to turn.’
-
-“I then recalled the word _carrefour_, which is the French for
-‘crossing,’ and it occurred to me that while working in a hospital
-in Paris I lived near the ‘Carrefour St. Lazarre.’ And now I could
-understand what relation all these associations had for me.
-
-“When I resolved to leave the State Hospital I made the decision,
-first, because I desired to get married, and, secondly, because I
-wished to enter private practice. This brought up a new problem.
-Although my State hospital service was an absolute success, judging
-by promotions and so on, I felt like a great many others in the
-same situation, namely, that my training was ill suited for private
-practice. To specialize in mental work was a daring undertaking for one
-without money and social connections. I also felt that the best I could
-do for patients should they ever come my way would be to commit them to
-one of the hospitals, as I had little confidence in the home treatment
-in vogue. In spite of the enormous advances made in recent years in
-mental work, the specialist is almost helpless when he is confronted
-with the average case of insanity. This may be partially attributed
-to the fact that such cases are brought to him after they have fully
-developed the psychosis when hospital treatment is imperative. Of the
-great army of milder mental disturbances, the so-called border-line
-cases, which make up the bulk of clinic and private work and which
-rightfully belong to the mental specialist, I knew very little, as
-those patients rarely, or never, came to the State hospital, and what I
-did know concerning the treatment of neurasthenia and psychasthenia was
-not conducive to make me more hopeful of success in private practice.
-
-“It was in this state of mind that I came to Paris, where I hoped to
-learn enough about the psychoneuroses to enable me to continue my
-specialty in private practice, and yet feel that I could do something
-for my patients. What I saw in Paris did not, however, help to change
-my state of mind. There, too, most of the work was directed to dead
-tissues. The mental aspects, as such, received but scant attention.
-I was, therefore, seriously thinking of giving up my mental work for
-some other specialty. As can be seen, I was confronted with a situation
-similar to the one of my medical friend. I, too, was at a crossing and
-did not know which way to turn. My suspense was soon ended. One day
-I received a letter from my friend Professor Peterson, who, by the
-way, was responsible for my entering the State hospital service. In
-this letter he advised me not to give up my work, and suggested the
-psychiatric clinic of Zurich, where he thought I could find what I
-desired.
-
-“But what does _Cadillac_ mean? Cadillac is the name of a hotel and
-of an automobile. A few days before in a country place my medical
-friend and I had been trying to hire an automobile, but there was none
-to be had. We both expressed the wish to own an automobile--again an
-unrealized ambition. I also recalled that the ‘Carrefour St. Lazarre’
-always impressed me as being one of the busiest thoroughfares in Paris.
-It was always congested with automobiles. Cadillac also recalled that
-only a few days ago on the way to my clinic I noticed a large sign over
-a building which announced that on a certain day ‘this building was
-to be occupied by the Cadillac,’ etc. This at first made me think of
-the Cadillac Hotel, but on second sight I noticed that it referred to
-the Cadillac motor-car. There was a sudden obstruction here for a few
-moments. The word Cadillac reappeared and by sound association the word
-_catalogue_ occurred to me. This word brought back a very mortifying
-occurrence of recent origin, the motive of which is again blighted
-ambition.
-
-“When one wishes to report any auto-analysis he must be prepared to lay
-bare many intimate affairs of his own life. Any one reading carefully
-Professor Freud’s works cannot fail to become intimately acquainted
-with him and his family. I have often been asked by persons who claim
-to have read and studied Freud’s works such questions as: ‘How old is
-Freud?’ ‘Is Freud married?’ ‘How many children has he?’ etc. Whenever I
-hear these or similar questions I know that the questioner has either
-lied when he made these assertions, or, to be more charitable, that he
-is a very careless and superficial reader. All these questions and many
-more are answered in Freud’s works. Auto-analyses are autobiographies
-_par excellence_; but whereas the autobiographer may for definite
-reasons consciously and unconsciously hide many facts of his life, the
-auto-analyst not only tells the truth consciously, but perforce brings
-to light his whole intimate personality. It is for these reasons that
-one finds it very unpleasant to report his own auto-analyses. However,
-as we often report our patients’ unconscious productions, it is but
-fair that we should sacrifice ourselves on the altar of publicity when
-occasion demands. This is my apology for having thrust some of my
-personal affairs on the reader, and for being obliged to continue a
-little longer in the same strain.
-
-“Before digressing with the last remarks I mentioned that the word
-_Cadillac_ brought the sound association _catalogue_. This association
-brought back another important epoch in my life with which Professor
-Peterson is connected. Last May I was informed by the secretary of
-the faculty that I was appointed chief of clinic of the department of
-psychiatry. I need hardly say that I was exceedingly pleased to be
-so honoured--in the first place because it was the realization of an
-ambition which I dared entertain only under special euphoric states;
-and, secondly, it was a compensation for the many unmerited criticisms
-from those who are blindly and unreasonably opposing some of my work.
-Soon thereafter I called on the stenographer of the faculty and spoke
-to her about a correction to be made in my name as it was printed in
-the catalogue. For some unknown reason (perhaps racial prejudice) this
-stenographer, a maiden lady, must have taken a dislike to me. For
-about three years I repeatedly requested her to have this correction
-made, but she had paid no attention to me. To be sure she always
-promised to attend to it, but the mistake remained uncorrected.
-
-“When I saw her last May I again reminded her of this correction, and
-also called her attention to the fact that as I had been appointed
-chief of clinic I was especially anxious to have my name correctly
-printed in the catalogue. She apologized for her remissness and assured
-me that everything should be as I requested. Imagine my surprise and
-chagrin when on receiving the new catalogue I found that while the
-correction had been made in my name I was not listed as chief of
-clinic. When I asked her about this she was quite puzzled; she said
-she had no idea that I had been appointed chief of clinic. She had to
-consult the minutes of the faculty, written by herself, before she was
-convinced of it. It should be noted that as recorder to the faculty it
-was her duty to know all these things as soon as they transpired.[75]
-When she finally ascertained that I was right she was very apologetic
-and informed me that she would at once write to the superintendent of
-the clinic to inform him of my appointment, something which she should
-have done months before. Of course I gained nothing by her regrets and
-apologies. The catalogue was published and those who read it did not
-find my name in the desired place. I am chief of clinic in fact but not
-in name. Moreover, as the appointments are made only for one year, it
-is quite likely that my great ambition will never be actually realized.
-
-“Thus the obsessive neologism _cardillac_, which is a condensation
-of _cardiac_, _Cadillac_, and _catalogue_, contains some of the most
-important efforts of my medical experience. When I was almost at the
-end of this analysis I suddenly recalled a dream containing this
-neologism cardillac in which my wish was realized. My name appeared
-in its rightful place in the catalogue. The person who showed it to
-me in the dream was Professor Peterson. It was when I was at the
-first ‘crossing’ after I had graduated from the medical college that
-Professor Peterson urged me to enter the hospital service. About
-five years later while I was in the state of indecision which I have
-described, it was Professor Peterson who advised me to go to the clinic
-of psychiatry at Zurich where through Bleuler and Jung I first became
-acquainted with Professor Freud and his works, and it was also through
-the kind recommendation of Dr. Peterson that I was elevated to my
-present position.”
-
-I am indebted to Dr. Hitschman for the solution of another case in
-which a line of poetry repeatedly obtruded itself on the mind in a
-certain place without showing any trace of its origin and relation.
-
-Related by Dr. E.: “Six years ago I travelled from Biarritz to San
-Sebastian. The railroad crosses over the Bidassao--a river which here
-forms the boundary between France and Spain. On the bridge one has a
-splendid view, on the one side of the broad valley and the Pyrenees
-and on the other of the sea. It was a beautiful, bright summer day;
-everything was filled with sun and light. I was on a vacation and
-pleased with my trip to Spain. Suddenly the following words came to me:
-‘_But the soul is already free, floating on a sea of light._’
-
-“At that time I was trying to remember where these lines came from,
-but I could not remember; judging by the rhythm, the words must be a
-part of some poem, which, however, entirely escaped my memory. Later
-when the verse repeatedly came to my mind, I asked many people about it
-without receiving any information.
-
-“Last year I crossed the same bridge on my return journey from Spain.
-It was a very dark night and it rained. I looked through the window
-to ascertain whether we had already reached the frontier station
-and noticed that we were on the Bidassao bridge. Immediately the
-above-cited verse returned to my memory and again I could not recall
-its origin.
-
-“At home many months later I found Uhland’s poems. I opened the volume
-and my glance fell upon the verse: ‘_But the soul is already free,
-floating on a sea of light_,’ which were the concluding lines of the
-poem entitled ‘The Pilgrim.’ I read the poem and dimly recalled that
-I had known it many years ago. The scene of action is in Spain, and
-this seemed to me to be the only relation between the quoted verse and
-the place on the railroad journey described by me. I was only half
-satisfied with my discovery and mechanically continued to turn the
-pages of the book. On turning the next page I found a poem the title of
-which was ‘_Bidassao Bridge_.’
-
-“I may add that the contents of this poem seemed even stranger to me
-than that of the first, and that its first verse read:
-
-“‘On the Bidassao bridge stands a saint grey with age, he blesses to
-the right the Spanish mountain, to the left he blesses the French
-land.’”
-
-II. This understanding of the determination of apparently arbitrarily
-selected names, numbers, and words may perhaps contribute to the
-solution of another problem. As is known, many persons argue against
-the assumption of an absolute psychic determinism by referring to
-an intense feeling of conviction that there is a free will. This
-feeling of conviction exists, but is not incompatible with the belief
-in determinism. Like all normal feelings, it must be justified by
-something. But, so far as I can observe, it does not manifest itself
-in weighty and important decisions; on these occasions one has much
-more the feeling of a psychic compulsion and gladly falls back upon it.
-(Compare Luther’s “Here I stand, I cannot do anything else.”)
-
-On the other hand, it is in trivial and indifferent decisions that
-one feels sure that he could just as easily have acted differently,
-that he acted of his own free will, and without any motives. From
-our analyses we therefore need not contest the right of the feeling
-of conviction that there is a free will. If we distinguish conscious
-from unconscious motivation, we are then informed by the feeling of
-conviction that the conscious motivation does not extend over all our
-motor resolutions. _Minima non curat prætor._ What is thus left free
-from the one side receives its motive from the other side, from the
-unconscious, and the determinism in the psychic realm is thus carried
-out uninterruptedly.[76]
-
-III. Although conscious thought must be altogether ignorant of the
-motivation of the faulty actions described above, yet it would be
-desirable to discover a psychologic proof of its existence; indeed,
-reasons obtained through a deeper knowledge of the unconscious make it
-probable that such proofs are to be discovered somewhere. As a matter
-of fact phenomena can be demonstrated in two spheres which seem to
-correspond to an unconscious and hence to a displaced knowledge of
-these motives.
-
-(_a_)It is a striking and generally to be recognized feature in the
-behaviour of paranoiacs, that they attach the greatest significance
-to the trivial details in the behaviour of others. Details which are
-usually overlooked by others they interpret and utilize as the basis
-of far-reaching conclusions. For example, the last paranoiac seen by
-me concluded that there was a general understanding among people of
-his environment, because at his departure from the railway-station
-they made a certain motion with one hand. Another noticed how people
-walked on the street, how they brandished their walking-sticks, and the
-like.[77]
-
-The category of the accidental, requiring no motivation, which the
-normal person lets pass as a part of his own psychic activities and
-faulty actions, is thus rejected by the paranoiac in the application to
-the psychic manifestations to others. All that he observes in others is
-full of meaning, all is explainable. But how does he come to look at it
-in this manner? Probably here as in so many other cases, he projects
-into the mental life of others what exists in his own unconscious
-activity. Many things obtrude themselves on consciousness in paranoia
-which in normal and neurotic persons can only be demonstrated through
-psychoanalysis as existing in their unconscious.[78] In a certain sense
-the paranoiac is here justified, he perceives something that escapes
-the normal person, he sees clearer than one of normal intellectual
-capacity, but his knowledge becomes worthless when he imputes to
-others the state of affairs he thus recognizes. I hope that I shall
-not be expected to justify every paranoic interpretation. But the
-point which we grant to paranoia in this conception of chance actions
-will facilitate for us the psychologic understanding of the conviction
-which the paranoiac attaches to all these interpretations. _There is
-certainly some truth to it_; even our errors of judgment, which are
-not designated as morbid, acquire their feeling of conviction in the
-same way. This feeling is justified for a certain part of the erroneous
-train of thought or for the source of its origin, and we shall later
-extend to it the remaining relationships.
-
-(_b_) The phenomena of superstition furnish another indication of the
-unconscious motivation in chance and faulty actions. I will make myself
-clear through the discussion of a simple experience which gave me the
-starting-point to these reflections.
-
-Having returned from vacation, my thoughts immediately turned to the
-patients with whom I was to occupy myself in the beginning of my year’s
-work. My first visit was to a very old woman (see above) for whom I had
-twice daily performed the same professional services for many years.
-Owing to this monotony unconscious thoughts have often found expression
-on the way to the patient and during my occupation with her. She was
-over ninety years old; it was therefore pertinent to ask oneself at the
-beginning of each year how much longer she was likely to live.
-
-On the day of which I speak I was in a hurry and took a carriage to
-her house. Every coachman at the cabstand near my house knew the old
-woman’s address, as each of them had often driven me there. This day
-it happened that the driver did not stop in front of her house, but
-before one of the same number in a near-by and really similar-looking
-parallel street. I noticed the mistake and reproached the coachman, who
-apologized for it.
-
-Is it of any significance when I am taken to a house where the
-old woman is not to be found? Certainly not to me; but were I
-_superstitious_, I should see an omen in this incident, a hint of fate
-that this would be the last year for the old woman. A great many omens
-which have been preserved by history have been founded on no better
-symbolism. Of course, I explain the incident as an accident without
-further meaning.
-
-The case would have been entirely different had I come on foot and,
-“absorbed in thought” or “through distraction,” I had gone to the house
-in the parallel street instead of the correct one. I would not explain
-that as an accident, but as an action with unconscious intent requiring
-interpretation. My explanation of this “lapse in walking” would
-probably be that I expected that the time would soon come when I should
-not meet the old woman any longer.
-
-I therefore differ from a superstitious person in the following
-manner:--
-
-I do not believe that an occurrence in which my mental life takes no
-part can teach me anything hidden concerning the future shaping of
-reality; but I do believe that an unintentional manifestation of my own
-mental activity surely contains something concealed which belongs only
-to my mental life--that is, I believe in outer (real) chance, but not
-in inner (psychic) accidents. With the superstitious person the case
-is reversed: he knows nothing of the motive of his chance and faulty
-actions, he believes in the existence of psychic contingencies; he
-is therefore inclined to attribute meaning to external chance, which
-manifests itself in actual occurrence, and to see in the accident a
-means of expression for something hidden outside of him. There are two
-differences between me and the superstitious person: first, he projects
-the motive to the outside, while I look for it in myself; second, he
-explains the accident by an event which I trace to a thought. What
-he considers hidden corresponds to the unconscious with me, and the
-compulsion not to let chance pass as chance, but to explain it as
-common to both of us.
-
-Thus I admit that this conscious ignorance and unconscious knowledge of
-the motivation of psychic accidentalness is one of the psychic roots
-of superstition. _Because_ the superstitious person knows nothing of
-the motivation of his own accidental actions, and because the fact of
-this motivation strives for a place in his recognition, he is compelled
-to dispose of them by displacing them into the outer world. If such
-a connection exists it can hardly be limited to this single case. As
-a matter of fact, I believe that a large portion of the mythological
-conception of the world which reaches far into the most modern
-religions _is nothing but psychology projected into the outer world_.
-The dim perception (the endo-psychic perception, as it were) of psychic
-factors and relations[79] of the unconscious was taken as a model in
-the construction of a _transcendental reality_, which is destined to be
-changed again by science into _psychology of the unconscious_.
-
-It is difficult to express it in other terms; the analogy to paranoia
-must here come to our aid. We venture to explain in this way the
-myths of paradise and the fall of man, of God, of good and evil, of
-immortality, and the like--that is, to transform _metaphysics_ into
-_meta-psychology_. The gap between the paranoiac’s displacement
-and that of superstition is narrower than appears at first sight.
-When human beings began to think, they were obviously compelled to
-explain the outer world in an anthropomorphic sense by a multitude of
-personalities in their own image; the accidents which they explained
-superstitiously were thus actions and expressions of persons. In
-that regard they behaved just like paranoiacs, who draw conclusions
-from insignificant signs which others give them, and like all
-normal persons who justly take the unintentional actions of their
-fellow-beings as a basis for the estimation of their characters. Only
-in our modern philosophical, but by no means finished, views of life
-does superstition seem so much out of place: in the view of life of
-pre-scientific times and nations it was justified and consistent.
-
-The Roman who gave up an important undertaking because he sighted
-an ill-omened flock of birds was relatively right; his action was
-consistent with his principles. But if he withdrew from an undertaking
-because he had stumbled on his threshold (_un Romain retournerait_),
-he was absolutely superior even to us unbelievers. He was a better
-psychologist than we are striving to become. For his stumbling
-could demonstrate to him the existence of a doubt, an internal
-counter-current the force of which could weaken the power of his
-intention at the moment of its execution. For only by concentrating
-all psychic forces on the desired aim can one be assured of perfect
-success. How does Schiller’s Tell, who hesitated so long to shoot the
-apple from his son’s head, answer the bailiff’s question why he had
-provided himself with a second arrow?
-
-“_With the second arrow I would have pierced you had I struck my dear
-child--and truly, I should not have failed to reach you._”
-
-IV. Whoever has had the opportunity of studying the concealed psychic
-feelings of persons by means of psychoanalysis can also tell something
-new concerning the quality of unconscious motives, which express
-themselves in superstition. Nervous persons afflicted with compulsive
-thinking and compulsive states, who are often very intelligent, show
-very plainly that superstition originates from repressed hostile
-and cruel impulses. The greater part of superstition signifies fear
-of impending evil, and he who has frequently wished evil to others,
-but because of a good bringing-up has repressed the same into the
-unconscious, will be particularly apt to expect punishment for such
-unconscious evil in the form of a misfortune threatening him from
-without.
-
-If we concede that we have by no means exhausted the psychology of
-superstition in these remarks, we must, on the other hand, at least
-touch upon the question whether real roots of superstition should
-be altogether denied, whether there are really no omens, prophetic
-dreams, telepathic experiences, manifestations of supernatural forces,
-and the like. I am now far from willing to repudiate without anything
-further all these phenomena, concerning which we possess so many minute
-observations even from men of intellectual prominence, and which
-should certainly form a basis for further investigation. We may even
-hope that some of these observations will be explained by our present
-knowledge of the unconscious psychic processes without necessitating
-radical changes in our present aspect. If still other phenomena, as,
-for example, those maintained by the spiritualists, should be proven,
-we should then consider the modification of our “laws” as demanded by
-the new experience, without becoming confused in regard to the relation
-of things of this world.
-
-In the sphere of these analyses I can only answer the questions
-here proposed subjectively--that is, in accordance with my personal
-experience. I am sorry to confess that I belong to that class of
-unworthy individuals before whom the spirits cease their activities
-and the supernatural disappears, so that I have never been in
-position to experience anything personally that would stimulate
-belief in the miraculous. Like everybody else, I have had forebodings
-and experienced misfortunes; but the two evaded each other, so
-that nothing followed the foreboding, and the misfortune struck me
-unannounced. When as a young man I lived alone in a strange city I
-frequently heard my name suddenly pronounced by an unmistakable, dear
-voice, and I then made a note of the exact moment of the hallucination
-in order to inquire carefully of those at home what had occurred at
-that time. There was nothing to it. On the other hand, I later worked
-among my patients calmly and without foreboding while my child almost
-bled to death. Nor have I ever been able to recognize as unreal
-phenomena any of the forebodings reported to me by my patients.
-
-The belief in prophetic dreams numbers many adherents, because it can
-be supported by the fact that some things really so happen in the
-future as they were previously foretold by the wish of the dream.
-But in this there is little to be wondered at, as many far-reaching
-deviations may be regularly demonstrated between a dream and the
-fulfilment which the credulity of the dreamer prefers to neglect.
-
-A nice example, one which may be justly called prophetic, was
-once brought to me for exhaustive analysis by an intelligent and
-truth-loving patient. She related that she once dreamed that she had
-met a former friend and family physician in front of a certain store
-in a certain street, and next morning when she went down town she
-actually met him at the place named in the dream. I may observe that
-the significance of this wonderful coincidence was not proven to be due
-to any subsequent event--that is, it could not be justified through
-future occurrences.
-
-Careful examination definitely established the fact that there was no
-proof that the woman recalled the dream in the morning following the
-night of the dream--that is, before the walk and before the meeting.
-She could offer no objection when this state of affairs was presented
-in a manner that robbed this episode of everything miraculous, leaving
-only an interesting psychologic problem. One morning she had walked
-through this very street, had met her old family physician before that
-certain store, and on seeing him received the conviction that during
-the preceding night she had dreamed of this meeting at this place.
-
-The analysis then showed with great probability how she came to
-this conviction, to which, in accordance with the general rule, we
-cannot deny a certain right to credence. A meeting at a definite
-place following a previous expectation really describes the fact of a
-rendezvous. The old family physician awakened her memory of old times,
-when meetings with a third person, also a friend of the physician, were
-of marked significance to her. Since that time she had continued her
-relations with this gentleman, and the day before the mentioned dream
-she had waited for him in vain. If I could report in greater detail the
-circumstances here before us, I could easily show that the illusion
-of the prophetic dream at the sight of the friend of former times is
-perchance equivalent to the following speech: “Ah, doctor, you now
-remind me of bygone times, when I never had to wait in vain for N. when
-we had arranged a meeting.”
-
-I have observed in myself a simple and easily explained example, which
-is probably a good model for similar occurrences of those familiar
-“remarkable coincidences” wherein we meet a person of whom we were
-just thinking. During a walk through the inner city a few days after
-the title of “Professor” was bestowed on me, which carries with it a
-great deal of prestige even in monarchical cities, my thoughts suddenly
-merged into a childish revenge-fantasy against a certain married
-couple. Some months previous they had called me to see their little
-daughter who suffered from an interesting compulsive manifestation
-following the appearance of a dream. I took a great interest in the
-case, the genesis of which I believed I could surmise, but the parents
-were unfavourable to my treatment, and gave me to understand that
-they thought of applying to a foreign authority who cured by means
-of hypnotism. I now fancied that after the failure of this attempt,
-the parents begged me to resume my treatment, that they now had full
-confidence in me, etc. But I answered: “Now that I have become a
-professor, you have confidence in me. The title has made no change in
-my ability; if you could not use me when I was instructor you can get
-along without me now that I am a professor.” At this point my fantasy
-was interrupted by a loud “Good evening, Professor!” and as I looked up
-there passed me the same couple on whom I had just taken this imaginary
-vengeance.
-
-The next reflection destroyed the semblance of the miraculous. I was
-walking towards this couple on a straight, almost deserted street;
-glancing up hastily at a distance of perhaps twenty steps from me,
-I had spied and realized their stately personalities; but this
-perception, following the model of a negative hallucination, was set
-aside by certain emotionally accentuated motives and then asserted
-itself in the apparently spontaneous emerging fantasy.
-
-A similar experience is related by Brill, which also throws some light
-on the nature of telepathy.
-
-“While engrossed in conversation during our customary Sunday evening
-dinner at one of the large New York restaurants, I suddenly stopped
-and irrelevantly remarked to my wife, ‘I wonder how Dr. R. is doing
-in Pittsburg.’ She looked at me much astonished and said: ‘Why, that
-is exactly what I have been thinking for the last few seconds! Either
-you have transferred this thought to me or I have transferred it to
-you. How can you otherwise explain this strange phenomenon?’ I had
-to admit that I could offer no solution. Our conversation throughout
-the dinner showed not the remotest association to Dr. R., nor, so far
-as our memories went, had we heard or spoken of him for some time.
-Being a sceptic, I refused to admit that there was anything mysterious
-about it, although inwardly I felt quite uncertain. To be frank, I was
-somewhat mystified.
-
-“But we did not remain very long in this state of mind, for on looking
-toward the cloak-room we were surprised to see Dr. R. Though closer
-inspection showed our mistake, we were both struck by the remarkable
-resemblance of this stranger to Dr. R. From the position of the
-cloak-room we were forced to conclude that this stranger had passed
-our table. Absorbed in our conversation, we had not noticed him
-consciously, but the visual image had stirred up the association of his
-double, Dr. R. That we should both have experienced the same thought
-is also quite natural. The last word from our friend was to the effect
-that he had taken up private practice in Pittsburg, and, being aware
-of the vicissitudes that beset the beginner, it was quite natural to
-wonder how fortune smiled upon him.
-
-“What promised to be a supernatural manifestation was thus easily
-explained on a normal basis; but had we not noticed the stranger before
-he left the restaurant, it would have been impossible to exclude the
-mysterious. I venture to say that such simple mechanisms are at the
-bottom of the most complicated telepathic manifestations; at least,
-such has been my experience in all cases accessible to investigation.”
-
-Another “solution of an apparent foreboding” was reported by Otto
-Rank[80]:--
-
-“Some time ago I had experienced a remarkable variation of that
-‘peculiar coincidence’ wherein one meets a person who has just been
-occupying one’s thoughts. Shortly before Christmas I went to the
-Austro-Hungarian Bank in order to obtain ten new silver crown-pieces
-destined for Christmas gifts. Absorbed in ambitious fantasies which
-dealt with the contrast of my meagre means to the enormous sums in the
-banking-house, I turned into the narrow street to the bank. In front
-of the door I saw an automobile and many people going in and out. I
-thought to myself: ‘The officials will have plenty of time for my new
-crowns; naturally I shall be quick about it; I shall put down the paper
-notes to be exchanged, and say, “Please give me gold.”’ I realized my
-mistake at once--I was to have asked for _silver_--and awoke from my
-fantasies.
-
-“I was now only a few steps from the entrance, and noticed a young man
-coming toward me who looked familiar, but whom I could not definitely
-identify on account of my short-sightedness. As he came nearer I
-recognized him as a classmate of my brother whose name was _Gold_ and
-from whose brother, a well-known journalist, I had great expectations
-in the beginning of my literary career. But these expectations had not
-materialized, and with them had vanished the hoped-for material success
-with which my fantasies were occupying themselves on my way to the
-bank. Thus engrossed I must have unconsciously perceived the approach
-of Mr. Gold, who impressed himself on my conscience while I was
-dreaming of material success, and thereby caused me to ask the cashier
-for gold instead of the inferior silver. But, on the other hand, the
-paradoxical fact that my unconscious was able to perceive an object
-long before it was recognized by the eye might in part be explained by
-the complex readiness (_Komplexbereitschaft_) of Bleuler. For my mind
-was attuned to the material, and, contrary to my better knowledge, it
-guided my steps from the very beginning to buildings where gold and
-paper money were exchanged.”
-
-To the category of the wonderful and uncanny we may also add that
-strange feeling we perceive in certain moments and situations when it
-seems as if we had already had exactly the same experience, or had
-previously found ourselves in the same situation. Yet we are never
-successful in our efforts to recall clearly those former experiences
-and situations. I know that I follow only the loose colloquial
-expression when I designate that which stimulates us in such moments as
-a “feeling.” We undoubtedly deal with a judgment, and, indeed, with a
-judgment of cognition; but these cases, nevertheless, have a character
-peculiar to themselves, and besides, we must not ignore the fact that
-we never recall what we are seeking.
-
-I do not know whether this phenomenon of _Déjà vu_ was ever seriously
-offered as a proof of a former psychic existence of the individual; but
-it is certain that psychologists have taken an interest in it, and have
-attempted to solve the riddle in a multitude of speculative ways. None
-of the proposed tentative explanations seems right to me, because none
-takes account of anything but the accompanying manifestations and the
-favouring conditions of the phenomenon. Those psychic processes which,
-according to my observation, are alone responsible for the explanation
-of the _Déjà vu_--namely, the unconscious fantasies--are generally
-neglected by the psychologists even to-day.
-
-I believe that it is wrong to designate the feeling of having
-experienced something before as an illusion. On the contrary, in such
-moments something is really touched that we have already experienced,
-only we cannot consciously recall the latter because it never was
-conscious. In short, the feeling of _Déjà vu_ corresponds to the memory
-of an unconscious fantasy. There are unconscious fantasies (or day
-dreams) just as there are similar conscious creations, which every one
-knows from personal experience.
-
-I realize that the object is worthy of most minute study, but I will
-here give the analysis of only one case of _Déjà vu_ in which the
-feeling was characterized by particular intensity and persistence.
-A woman of thirty-seven years asserted that she most distinctly
-remembered that at the age of twelve and a half she paid her first
-visit to some school friends in the country, and as she entered the
-garden she immediately had the feeling of having been there before.
-This feeling was repeated as she went through the living-rooms, so that
-she believed she knew beforehand how big the next room was, what views
-one could have on looking out of it, etc. But the belief that this
-feeling of recognition might have its source in a previous visit to
-the house and garden, perhaps a visit paid in earliest childhood, was
-absolutely excluded and disproved by statements from her parents. The
-woman who related this sought no psychologic explanation, but saw in
-the appearance of this feeling a prophetic reference to the importance
-which these friends later assumed in her emotional life. On taking into
-consideration, however, the circumstance under which this phenomenon
-presented itself to her, we found the way to another conception.
-
-When she decided upon this visit she knew that these girls had an only
-brother, who was seriously ill. In the course of the visit she actually
-saw him. She found him looking very badly, and thought to herself that
-he would soon die. But it happened that her own only brother had had a
-serious attack of diphtheria some months before, and during his illness
-she had lived for weeks with relatives far from her parental home. She
-believed that her brother was taking part in this visit to the country,
-imagined even that this was his first long journey since his illness;
-still, her memory was remarkably indistinct in regard to these points,
-whereas all other details, and particularly the dress which she wore
-that day, remained most clearly before her eyes.
-
-To the initiated it will not be difficult to conclude from these
-suggestions that the expectation of her brother’s death had played a
-great part in the girl’s mind at that time, and that either it never
-became conscious or it was more energetically repressed after the
-favourable issue of the illness. Under other circumstances she would
-have been compelled to wear another dress--namely, mourning clothes.
-She found the analogous situation in her friends’ home; their only
-brother was in danger of an early death, an event that really came
-to pass a short time after. She might have consciously remembered
-that she had lived through a similar situation a few months previous,
-but instead of recalling what was inhibited through repression she
-transferred the memory feeling to the locality, to the garden, and the
-house, and merged it into the _fausse reconnaissance_ that she had
-already seen everything exactly as it was.
-
-From the fact of the repression we may conclude that the former
-expectation of the death of her brother was not far from evincing the
-character of a wish-fantasy. She would then have become the only child.
-In her later neurosis she suffered in the most intense manner from the
-fear of losing her parents, behind which the analysis disclosed, as
-usual, the unconscious wish of the same content.
-
-My own experience of _Déjà vu_ I can trace in a similar manner to the
-emotional constellation of the moment. It may be expressed as follows:
-“That would be another occasion for awakening certain fantasies
-(unconscious and unknown) which were formed in me at one time or
-another as a wish to improve my situation.”[81]
-
-V. Recently when I had occasion to recite to a colleague of a
-philosophical turn of mind some examples of name-forgetting, with their
-analyses, he hastened to reply: “That is all very well, but with me the
-forgetting of a name proceeds in a different manner.” Evidently one
-cannot dismiss this question as simply as that; I do not believe that
-my colleague had ever thought of an analysis for the forgetting of a
-name, nor could he say how the process differed in him. But his remark,
-nevertheless, touches upon a problem which many would be inclined to
-place in the foreground. Does the solution given for faulty and chance
-actions apply in general or only in particular cases, and if only in
-the latter, what are the conditions under which it may also be employed
-in the explanation of the other phenomena?
-
-In answer to this question my experiences leave me in the lurch. I can
-only urge against considering the demonstrated connections as rare, for
-as often as I have made the test in myself and with my patients it was
-always definitely demonstrated exactly as in the examples reported,
-or there were at least good reasons to assume this. One should not be
-surprised, however, when one does not succeed every time in finding the
-concealed meaning of the symptomatic action, as the amount of inner
-resistances ranging themselves against the solution must be considered
-a deciding factor. Also it is not always possible to explain every
-individual dream of one’s self or of patients. To substantiate the
-general validity of the theory, it is enough if one can penetrate only
-a certain distance into the hidden associations. The dream which proves
-refractory when the solution is attempted on the following day can
-often be robbed of its secret a week or a month later, when the psychic
-factors combating one another have been reduced as a consequence of a
-real change that has meanwhile taken place. The same applies to the
-solution of faulty and symptomatic actions. It would therefore be wrong
-to affirm of all cases which resist analysis that they are caused by
-another psychic mechanism than that here revealed; such assumption
-requires more than negative proofs; moreover, the readiness to believe
-in a different explanation of faulty and symptomatic actions, which
-probably exists universally in all normal persons, does not prove
-anything; it is obviously an expression of the same psychic forces
-which produced the secret, which therefore strives to protect and
-struggle against its elucidation.
-
-On the other hand, we must not overlook the fact that the repressed
-thoughts and feelings are not independent in attaining expression in
-symptomatic and faulty actions. The technical possibility for such
-an adjustment of the innervations must be furnished independently
-of them, and this is then gladly utilized by the intention of the
-repressed material to come to conscious expression. In the case of
-linguistic faulty actions an attempt has been made by philosophers and
-philologists to verify through minute observations what structural and
-functional relations enter into the service of such intention. If in
-the determinations of faulty and symptomatic actions we separate the
-unconscious motive from its co-active physiological and psychophysical
-relations, the question remains open whether there are still other
-factors within normal limits which, like the unconscious motive, and in
-its place can produce faulty and symptomatic actions on the road of the
-relations. It is not my task to answer this question.
-
-VI. Since the discussion of speech blunders we have been content to
-demonstrate that faulty actions have a concealed motive, and through
-the aid of psychoanalysis we have traced our way to the knowledge of
-their motivation. The general nature and the peculiarities of the
-psychic factors brought to expression in these faulty actions we have
-hitherto left almost without consideration; at any rate, we have not
-attempted to define them more accurately or to examine into their
-lawfulness. Nor will we now attempt a thorough elucidation of the
-subject, as the first steps have already taught us that it is more
-feasible to enter this structure from another side. Here we can put
-before ourselves certain questions which I will cite in their order.
-(1) What is the content and the origin of the thoughts and feelings
-which show themselves through faulty and chance actions? (2) What are
-the conditions which force a thought or a feeling to make use of these
-occurrences as a means of expression and place it in a position to do
-so? (3) Can constant and definite associations be demonstrated between
-the manner of the faulty action and the qualities brought to expression
-through it?
-
-I shall begin by bringing together some material for answering the last
-question. In the discussion of the examples of speech blunders we found
-it necessary to go beyond the contents of the intended speech, and we
-had to seek the cause of the speech disturbance outside the intention.
-The latter was quite clear in a series of cases, and was known to the
-consciousness of the speaker. In the example that seemed most simple
-and transparent it was a similar sounding but different conception of
-the same thought, which disturbed its expression without any one being
-able to say why the one succumbed and the other came to the surface
-(Meringer and Mayers’ _Contaminations_).
-
-In a second group of cases one conception succumbed to a motive which
-did not, however, prove strong enough to cause complete submersion. The
-conception which was withheld was clearly presented to consciousness.
-
-Only of the third group can we affirm unreservedly that the disturbing
-thought differed from the one intended, and it is obvious that it
-may establish an essential distinction. The disturbing thought is
-either connected with the disturbed one through a thought association
-(disturbance through inner contradiction), or it is substantially
-strange to it, and just the disturbed word is connected with the
-disturbing thought through a surprising outer association, which is
-frequently unconscious.
-
-In the examples which I have given from my psychoanalyses it is found
-that the entire speech is either under the influence of thoughts which
-have become active simultaneously, or under absolutely unconscious
-thoughts which betray themselves either through the disturbance itself,
-or which evince an indirect influence by making it possible for the
-individual parts of the unconsciously intended speech to disturb
-one another. The retained or unconscious thoughts from which the
-disturbances in speech emanate are of most varied origin. A general
-survey does not reveal any definite direction.
-
-Comparative examinations of examples of mistakes in reading and writing
-lead to the same conclusions. Isolated cases, as in speech blunders,
-seem to owe their origin to an unmotivated work of condensation
-(_e.g._, the _Apel_). But we should be pleased to know whether special
-conditions must not be fulfilled in order that such condensation,
-which is considered regular in the dream-work and faulty in our waking
-thoughts, should take place. No information concerning this can be
-obtained from the examples themselves. But I merely refuse from this
-to draw the conclusion that there are no such conditions, as, for
-instance, the relaxation of conscious attention; for I have learned
-elsewhere that automatic actions are especially characterized by
-correctness and reliability. I would rather emphasize the fact that
-here, as so frequently in biology, it is the normal relations, or
-those approaching the normal, that are less favourable objects for
-investigation than the pathological. What remains obscure in the
-explanation of these most simple disturbances will, according to my
-expectation, be made clear through the explanation of more serious
-disturbances.
-
-Also mistakes in reading and writing do not lack examples in which more
-remote and more complicated motivation can be recognized.
-
-There is no doubt that the disturbances of the speech functions occur
-more easily and make less demand on the disturbing forces than other
-psychic acts.
-
-But one is on different ground when it comes to the examination of
-forgetting in the literal sense--_i.e._, the forgetting of past
-experiences. (To distinguish this forgetting from the others we
-designate _sensu strictiori_ the forgetting of proper names and
-foreign words, as in Chapters I and II, as “slips”; and the forgetting
-of resolutions as “omissions.”) The principal conditions of the
-normal process in forgetting are unknown.[82] We are also reminded
-of the fact that not all is forgotten which we believe to be. Our
-explanation here deals only with those cases in which the forgetting
-arouses our astonishment, in so far as it infringes the rule that
-the unimportant is forgotten, while the important matter is guarded
-by memory. Analysis of these examples of forgetting which seem to
-demand a special explanation shows that the motive of forgetting is
-always an unwillingness to recall something which may evoke painful
-feelings. We come to the conjecture that this motive universally
-strives for expression in psychic life, but is inhibited through other
-and contrary forces from regularly manifesting itself. The extent and
-significance of this dislike to recall painful impressions seems worthy
-of the most painstaking psychologic investigation. The question as
-to what special conditions render possible the universally resistant
-forgetting in individual cases cannot be solved through this added
-association.
-
-A different factor steps into the foreground in the forgetting of
-resolutions; the supposed conflict resulting in the repression of the
-painful memory becomes tangible, and in the analysis of the examples
-one regularly recognizes a counter-will which opposes but does not put
-an end to the resolution. As in previously discussed faulty acts, we
-here also recognize two types of the psychic process: the counter-will
-either turns directly against the resolution (in intentions of some
-consequence) or it is substantially foreign to the resolution itself
-and establishes its connection with it through an outer association (in
-almost indifferent resolutions).
-
-The same conflict governs the phenomena of erroneously carried-out
-actions. The impulse which manifests itself in the disturbances of the
-action is frequently a counter-impulse. Still oftener it is altogether
-a strange impulse which only utilizes the opportunity to express itself
-through a disturbance in the execution of the action. The cases in
-which the disturbance is the result of an inner contradiction are the
-most significant ones, and also deal with the more important activities.
-
-The inner conflict in the chance or symptomatic actions then merges
-into the background. Those motor expressions which are least thought
-of, or are entirely overlooked by consciousness, serve as the
-expression of numerous unconscious or restrained feelings. For the most
-part they represent symbolically wishes and phantoms.
-
-The first question (as to the origin of the thoughts and emotions
-which find expression in faulty actions) we can answer by saying
-that in a series of cases the origin of the disturbing thoughts can
-be readily traced to repressed emotions of the psychic life. Even in
-healthy persons egotistic, jealous and hostile feelings and impulses,
-burdened by the pressure of moral education, often utilize the path of
-faulty actions to express in some way their undeniably existing force
-which is not recognized by the higher psychic instances. Allowing
-these faulty and chance actions to continue corresponds in great
-part to a comfortable toleration of the unmoral. The manifold sexual
-currents play no insignificant part in these repressed feelings. That
-they appear so seldom in the thoughts revealed by the analyses of
-my examples is simply a matter of coincidence. As I have undertaken
-the analyses of numerous examples from my own psychic life, the
-selection was partial from the first, and aimed at the exclusion of
-sexual matters. At other times it seemed that the disturbing thoughts
-originated from the most harmless objection and consideration.
-
-We have now reached the answer to the second question--that is, what
-psychologic conditions are responsible for the fact that a thought
-must seek expression, not in its complete form but, as it were, in
-parasitic form, as a modification and disturbance of another. From
-the most striking examples of faulty actions it is quite obvious that
-this determinant should be sought in a relation to conscious capacity,
-or in the more or less firmly pronounced character of the “repressed”
-material. But an examination of this series of examples shows that
-this character consists of many indistinct elements. The tendency to
-overlook something because it is wearisome, or because the concerned
-thought does not really belong to the intended matter--these feelings
-seem to play the same rôle as motives for the suppression of a thought
-(which later depends for expression on the disturbance of another), as
-the moral condemnation of a rebellious emotional feeling, or as the
-origin of absolutely unconscious trains of thought. An insight into the
-general nature of the condition of faulty and chance actions cannot be
-gained in this way.
-
-However, this investigation gives us one single significant fact; the
-more harmless the motivation of the faulty act the less obnoxious,
-and hence the less incapable of consciousness, the thought to which
-it gives expression is; the easier also becomes the solution of the
-phenomenon after we have turned our attention toward it. The simplest
-cases of speech blunders are immediately noticed and spontaneously
-corrected. Where one deals with motivation through actually repressed
-feelings the solution requires a painstaking analysis, which may
-sometimes strike against difficulties or turn out unsuccessful.
-
-One is therefore justified in taking the result of this last
-investigation as an indication of the fact that the satisfactory
-explanation of the psychologic determinations of faulty and chance
-actions is to be acquired in another way and from another source.
-The indulgent reader can therefore see in these discussions the
-demonstration of the surfaces of fracture in which this theme was quite
-artificially evolved from a broader connection.
-
-VII. Just a few words to indicate the direction of this broader
-connection. The mechanism of the faulty and chance actions, as we
-have learned to know it through the application of analysis, shows in
-the most essential points an agreement with the mechanism of dream
-formation, which I have discussed in the chapter “The Dream Work” of
-my book on the interpretation of dreams. Here, as there, one finds
-the condensation and compromise formation (“contaminations”); in
-addition the situation is much the same, since unconscious thoughts
-find expression as modifications of other thoughts in unusual ways
-and through outer associations. The incongruities, absurdities, and
-errors in the dream content by virtue of which the dream is scarcely
-recognized as a psychic achievement originate in the same way--to be
-sure, through freer usage of the existing material--as the common error
-of our everyday life; _here, as there, the appearance of the incorrect
-function is explained through the peculiar interference of two or more
-correct actions_.
-
-An important conclusion can be drawn from, this combination: the
-peculiar mode of operation, whose most striking function we recognize
-in the dream content, should not be adjudged only to the sleeping state
-of the psychic life when we possess abundant proof of its activity
-during the waking state in the form of faulty actions. The same
-connection also forbids us assuming that these psychic processes which
-impress us as abnormal and strange are determined by deep-seated decay
-of psychic activity or by morbid state of function.[83]
-
-The correct understanding of this strange psychic work which allows
-the faulty actions to originate like the dream pictures will only be
-possible after we have discovered that the psychoneurotic symptoms,
-particularly the psychic formations of hysteria and compulsion
-neurosis, repeat in their mechanisms all the essential features of
-this mode of operation. The continuation of our investigation would
-therefore have to begin at this point.
-
-There is still another special interest for us in considering the
-faulty, chance, and symptomatic actions in the light of this last
-analogy. If we compare them to the function of the psychoneuroses and
-the neurotic symptoms, two frequently recurring statements gain in
-sense and support--namely, that the border-line between the nervous,
-normal, and abnormal states is indistinct, and that we are all slightly
-nervous. Regardless of all medical experience, one may construe various
-types of such barely suggested nervousness, the _formes frustes_ of the
-neuroses. There may be cases in which only a few symptoms appear, or
-they may manifest themselves rarely or in mild forms; the extenuation
-may be transferred to the number, intensity, or to the temporal
-outbreak of the morbid manifestation. It may also happen that just
-this type, which forms the most frequent transition between health and
-disease, may never be discovered. The transition type, whose morbid
-manifestations come in the form of faulty and symptomatic actions, is
-characterized by the fact that the symptoms are transformed to the
-least important psychic activities, while everything that can lay claim
-to a higher psychic value remains free from disturbance. When the
-symptoms are disposed of in a reverse manner--that is, when they appear
-in the most important individual and social activities in a manner to
-disturb the functions of nourishment and sexual relations, professional
-and social life--such disposition is found in the severe cases of
-neuroses, and is perhaps more characteristic of the latter than the
-multiformity or vividness of the morbid manifestations.
-
-But the common character of the mildest as well as the severest cases,
-to which the faulty and chance actions contribute, lies _in the ability
-to refer the phenomena to unwelcome, repressed, psychic material,
-which, though pushed away from consciousness, is nevertheless not
-robbed of all capacity to express itself_.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
-  Actions--
-    Accidental, 192
-    Chance, 215
-    Symbolic, 210
-    Symptomatic, 178, 215, 235
-      Collection of, 238
-      Examples, 216, 217
-      Grouping of, 219
-
-  Adler, 283, 287
-
-  Amnesia, 139
-    Infantile, 62
-    Temporary, 35
-
-  Analysis of--
-    Aliquis, 18
-    Castelvetrano, 50
-    Ode to Apollo, 29
-    Signorelli, 4
-    Young, 44
-
-  Anticipations, 72
-
-  Association, 11
-
-  Auditifs, 63
-
-  Awkwardness, accidental, 209
-
-
-  Bed-wetting, 150
-
-  Behaviour of paranoiacs, 304
-
-  Bernheim, 161
-
-  Bleuler, 38, 120, 303, 319
-
-  Blood miracle, 20
-
-  Blunders, speech, 74
-
-  Boileau, quoted from, 114
-
-  Brantôme, 93
-
-  Breaking of objects, 184, 186, 187, 189
-
-  Brill, 19, 29, 32, 101, 102, 103, 130, 147, 169, 170, 197, 241, 249,
-        258, 293, 316
-
-
-  Chance, 277
-
-  Chance numbers, 282, 283
-
-  Charcot, 63, 157
-
-  Child, intellectual accomplishments of, 62
-
-  Childhood activities, trace of, 62
-
-  Combined faulty acts, 265
-    Examples of, 266, 267
-
-  Complex--
-    Ambition, 100
-    Family, 40
-    Œdipus, 198
-    Personal, 38, 49
-    Professional, 40
-    Self-reference, 52
-
-  Compromise formation, examples of, 81
-
-  Consciousness, 10
-    Bringing hidden ideas to, 19
-
-  Contaminations, 72
-
-  Contradiction from repression, 26
-
-  Counter-will, 170
-    In resolutions, 170
-
-
-  Damaging things, 190, 191
-
-  Darwin, 154
-
-  Dattner, B., 129, 232, 233, 239
-
-  Daudet, 156
-
-  Death and sexuality, 7
-
-  _Déjà vu_--
-    Explanation of, 321
-    Phenomenon of, 320
-
-  Delusions, formation of, 155
-
-  Denials, 149
-
-  Determinant, inner, 13
-
-  Determinism, 277
-    In mental life, 278
-    Psychic, 302
-
-  Displacement, 4, 10, 57
-    Retro-active, 58
-
-  Disturbance of newly emerging theme, 6
-
-  Don Quixote, 202
-
-  Dream, prophetic, 312
-
-
-  Element, suppressed, 11
-
-  Erroneously carried-out actions, 177, 278, 332
-    As an expression of self-reproach, 184
-    Examples of, 178, 179, 180
-
-  Errors, 249
-    Examples of, 250, 251, 253
-    Of memory, 249
-      Mechanism of, 256
-
-  Examples arbitrarily chosen, 279, 281
-
-
-  Fall, 191
-
-  False recollection, 4
-
-  Faulty acts, 192
-    Actions, 326
-
-  Faulty actions--
-    Explanation of, 322
-    In relation to nervousness, 337
-      The psychoneurotic symptom, 337
-    Memory, mechanism of, 10
-    Relation to the dream, 335
-
-  Ferenczi, 33, 43, 46, 98, 204, 324
-
-  Folk-lore, 154
-
-  Forebodings, 312
-
-  Fore-sounds, influence of, 78
-
-  Forget, disposition to, 11
-    Tendency to, 17
-
-  Forgetfulness, 168
-    Due to disturbances of pain, 27
-    Excusing power of, 165
-    Psychic mechanism of, 3
-    Temporary, of proper names, 3, 29, 45
-
-  Forgetting--
-    As a spontaneous process, 135
-    Defensive tendency of, 153
-    Examples of, 139, 140, 141, 148, 149
-    Intentional, 8
-    Mechanism of, 52, 330
-    Of experiences, 138
-    Of foreign words, 17
-    Of impressions, 135, 138
-    Of intentions, 159
-    Of knowledge, 139
-    Of names, 29, 39, 40, 155, 324
-    Of resolutions, 135, 173, 332
-    Pain motive of, 155
-    Preference for proper names, 3, 4, 11
-    Psychologic analysis of, 136
-    Purposive, 24
-    The order of words, 29, 33, 34
-    Through neglect, 163
-
-  Free will, 303
-
-  Freud, 43, 300
-
-
-  Gross, Hans, 154, 304
-
-
-  Hallucination, 313
-
-  Henri V. and C., 61
-
-  Hitschman, 301
-
-
-  Identification, 100
-
-  Impotence, psychic, 34
-
-  Injury, self-inflicted, 199, 201
-
-  Intention, 159
-
-  Intentions--
-    Forgetting of, 160
-    Secondary, 163
-
-  Interchangings, 72
-
-
-  Jones, E., 31, 51, 97, 109, 127, 129, 148, 151, 155, 163, 179, 221,
-        239, 267, 290, 292
-
-  Jung, C. G., 32, 43, 292
-
-
-  Keys, 179, 180
-
-
-  Lapses in reading, 117, 278
-    In speech, 117, 256, 278
-    In writing, 120, 278
-
-  Lapsus calami, 122
-
-
-  Maeder, 179, 236, 258
-
-  Mayer and Meringer, 71, 177
-
-  Memories--
-    Childhood, 57, 61, 211
-    Concealing, 57, 58, 64
-      Cause of, 58
-      Formation of, 59, 60
-    Painful, 154
-
-  Memory--
-    Control of, 137
-    Disturbance, examples of, 155, 157
-    Psychologic theory of, 135
-    Reproduction, 10
-    Tenaciousness of, 136
-
-  Meyer, 278
-
-  Military service, 161
-
-  Mishandling, 192
-    As a sacrifice, 192
-
-  Mislaying--
-    Analysis of, 145, 146
-    Examples of, 146, 147
-    Significance of, 143
-
-  Misstep, 191
-
-  Mistakes in reading, 71, 117
-    Examples of, 117, 118
-    In speech, 71
-    In writing, 117
-    Of importance, 195, 197
-    Of normal persons, 194
-
-  Moteurs, 63
-
-  Motives, unknown, 277
-
-  Motor insufficiency, 209
-
-
-  Name--
-    Incorrect substitutive, 12
-    Reproduction of lost, 4
-
-  Names--
-    Causes of forgetting of, 52
-    Distortion of, 97
-    Escaped, 4
-    Falsification of, 99
-    Forgetting of, 4
-    Substitutive, 4, 13, 98
-
-  Negative hallucination, 316
-
-  Neologism, analysis of, 293
-
-  Nietzsche, 153
-
-
-  Œdipus Complex, 198
-    Legend, 196
-
-  Omissions in writing, 129
-
-
-  Paranoiac interpretation, 306
-
-  Personality, over-estimation of, 30
-
-  Peterson, 32, 240, 298
-
-  Phonetic laws, 95
-
-  Phonetics, psychic value of, 72
-
-  Pick, A., 152
-
-  Playful actions, 227
-    Occupations, 220
-
-  Post-hypnotic suggestion, 161
-
-  Potwin, 61
-
-  Printers’ errors, 124, 125
-
-  Prophetic dream, analysis of, 313
-
-  Psychic--
-    Action, faulty, 277
-    Apparatus, 153
-    Determinism, 302
-    Function, failure of, 3
-
-  Psycho-analysis, 65
-
-  Psychology of the unconscious, 309
-
-
-  Rank, O., 105, 108, 242, 269, 272, 318
-
-  Recollection--
-    Faulty, 12, 155
-    Substitutive, 23
-
-  Remember, inability to, 8
-
-  Reminiscences, childhood, 61
-
-  Repressed material, character of, 334
-
-  Repression, motivated by, 12, 13
-
-  Reproduction--
-    Disturbance of, 25
-    Faulty, 29
-
-  Resistances, 152
-
-  Riklin, 38
-
-  Robitsek, Alf., 93
-
-
-  Sachs, 180, 231, 234
-
-  Self-betrayal, 101
-    Examples of, 102
-
-  Self-criticism, 184
-
-  Self-mutilations, 198
-
-  Self-reference, 41
-
-  Shakespeare, quoted from, 109, 122
-
-  Speech blunders, 74
-    Psychology of, 329
-    Disturbance, 75
-    Lapses in, 177, 256
-    Mistakes in, 71
-      Examples of, 81, 82
-      Showing identification, 94
-      Substitutions in, 77
-
-  Stekel, W., 88, 126, 194
-
-  Substitutive formation, 60
-
-  Suicide, unconscious, 202
-
-  Supernatural forces, 312
-
-  Superstition, 306
-    Motivation of, 309
-    Origin of, 311
-    Unconscious motives of, 311
-
-  Superstitious beliefs, 277
-    Person, 308
-
-  Suppression, process of, 11
-
-  Symptomatic actions, 215, 326
-
-
-  Telepathic experiences, 312
-
-  Telepathy, nature of, 316
-
-  Traditions, 154
-
-  Traumatic hysteria, 192
-
-
-  Unconscious activity, 188
-    Material, 76
-    Skill, 147
-
-
-  Van Emden, 206
-
-  Visuels, 63
-
-
-  Weiss, 267
-
-  Wertheimer and Klein, 304
-
-  Wisdom, 169
-
-  Word-forgetting without substitutive recollection, 23
-
-  Words, disfigurement of, 96
-
-  Wundt, 79, 130
-
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-
-[Footnote 1: _Monatsschrift f. Psychiatrie._]
-
-[Footnote 2: This is the usual way of bringing to consciousness hidden
-ideas. Cf. _The Interpretation of Dreams_, pp. 83-4, translated by A.
-A. Brill, The Macmillan Company, New York, and Allen, London.]
-
-[Footnote 3: Finer observation reduces somewhat the contrast between
-the analyses of _Signorelli_ and _aliquis_ as far as the substitutive
-recollections are concerned. Here, too, the forgetting seems to be
-accompanied by substitutive formations. When I later asked my companion
-whether in his effort to recall the forgotten word he did not think of
-some substitution, he informed me that he was at first tempted to put
-an ab into the verse: _nostris ab ossibus_ (perhaps the disjointed part
-of _a-liquis_) and that later the word _exoriare_ obtruded itself with
-particular distinctness and persistency. Being sceptical, he added that
-it was apparently due to the fact that it was the first word of the
-verse. But when I asked him to focus his attention on the associations
-to _exoriare_ he gave me the word _exorcism_. This makes me think that
-the reinforcement of _exoriare_ in the reproduction has really the
-value of such substitution. It probably came through the association
-_exorcism_ from the names of the saints. However, those are refinements
-upon which no value need be laid. It seems now quite possible that
-the appearance of any kind of substitutive recollection is a constant
-sign--perhaps only characteristic and misleading--of the purposive
-forgetting motivated by repression. This substitution might also exist
-in the reinforcement of an element akin to the thing forgotten, even
-where incorrect substitutive names fail to appear. Thus, in the example
-Signorelli, as long as the name of the painter remained inaccessible
-to me, I had more than a clear visual memory of the cycle of his
-frescoes, and of the picture of himself in the corner; at least it was
-more intensive than any of my other visual memory traces. In another
-case, also reported in my essay of 1898, I had hopelessly forgotten
-the street name and address connected with a disagreeable visit in
-a strange city, but--as if to mock me--the house number appeared
-especially vivid, whereas the memory of numbers usually causes me the
-greatest difficulty.]
-
-[Footnote 4: I am not fully convinced of the lack of an inner
-connection between the two streams of thought in the case of
-_Signorelli_. In carefully following the repressed thought concerning
-the theme of death and sexual life, one does strike an idea which shows
-a near relation to the theme of the frescoes of _Orvieto_.]
-
-[Footnote 5: _The Psychology of Dementia Præcox_, translated by F.
-Peterson and A. A. Brill.]
-
-[Footnote 6: _The Psychology of Dementia Præcox_, p. 45.]
-
-[Footnote 7: _Zentralb. f. Psychoanalyse_, I. 9, 1911.]
-
-[Footnote 8: “Analyse eines Falles von Namenvergessen,” _Zentralb. f.
-Psychoanalyse_, Jahrg. 11, Heft 2, 1911.]
-
-[Footnote 9: Published in the _Monatsschrift f. Psychiatrie u.
-Neurologie_, 1899.]
-
-[Footnote 10: “Enquête sur les premiers souvenirs de l’enfance,”
-_L’Année psychologique_, iii., 1897.]
-
-[Footnote 11: “Study of Early Memories,” _Psychological Review_, 1901.]
-
-[Footnote 12: I assert this as a result of certain investigations made
-by myself.]
-
-[Footnote 13: The examples are given by the editor.]
-
-[Footnote 14: Those who are interested are referred to pp. 62, 73, and
-97 of the author’s work.]
-
-[Footnote 15: _Neue Freie Presse_, August 23, 1900: “Wie man sich
-versprechen kann.”]
-
-[Footnote 16: _Völker psychologie_, vol. i., pt. i., p. 371, etc.,
-1900.]
-
-[Footnote 17: Italics are mine.]
-
-[Footnote 18: It turned out that she was under the influence of
-unconscious thoughts concerning pregnancy and prevention of conception.
-With the words “shut up like a pocket knife,” which she uttered
-consciously as a complaint, she meant to describe the position of
-the child in the womb. The word “earnest” in my remark recalled to
-her the name (S. Ernst) of the well-known Vienna business firm in
-Kärthner Strasse, which used to advertise the sale of articles for the
-prevention of conception.]
-
-[Footnote 19: Similar mistakes dealing with _Officer 666_ were recently
-reported to me by other psycho-analysts.]
-
-[Footnote 20: It may be observed that aristocrats in particular very
-frequently distort the names of the physicians they consult, from
-which we may conclude that inwardly they slight them, in spite of the
-politeness with which they are wont to greet them. I shall cite here
-some excellent observations concerning the forgetting of names from the
-works of Professor E. Jones, of Toronto: _Papers on Psycho-analysis_,
-chap. iii. p. 49:--
-
-“Few people can avoid feeling a twinge of resentment when they find
-that their name has been forgotten, particularly if it is by some one
-with whom they had hoped or expected it would be remembered. They
-instinctively realize that if they had made a greater impression on the
-person’s mind he would certainly have remembered them again, for the
-name is an integral part of the personality. Similarly, few things are
-more flattering to most people than to find themselves addressed by
-name by a great personage where they could hardly have anticipated it.
-Napoleon, like most leaders of men, was a master of this art. In the
-midst of the disastrous campaign of France in 1814, he gave an amazing
-proof of his memory in this direction. When in a town near Craonne, he
-recollected that he had met the mayor, De Bussy, over twenty years ago
-in the La Fère Regiment. The delighted De Bussy at once threw himself
-into his service with extraordinary zeal. Conversely, there is no surer
-way of affronting some one than by pretending to forget his name; the
-insinuation is thus conveyed that the person is so unimportant in our
-eyes that we cannot be bothered to remember his name. This device is
-often exploited in literature. In Turgentev’s _Smoke_ (p. 255) the
-following passage occurs: “‘So you still find Baden entertaining,
-M’sieur--Litvinov.’ Ratmirov always uttered Litvinov’s surname with
-hesitation, every time, as though he had forgotten it, and could not at
-once recall it. In this way, as well as by the lofty flourish of his
-hat in saluting him, he meant to insult his pride.” The same author,
-in his _Fathers and Children_ (p. 107), writes: “The Governor invited
-Kirsanov and Bazarov to his ball, and within a few minutes invited them
-a second time, regarding them as brothers, and calling them Kisarov.”
-Here the forgetting that he had spoken to them, the mistake in the
-names, and the inability to distinguish between the two young men,
-constitute a culmination of disparagement. Falsification of a name has
-the same signification as forgetting it; it is only a step towards
-complete amnesia.”]
-
-[Footnote 21: _Zentralb. f. Psychoanalyse_, ii., Jahrg. I. Cf. also
-Brill’s _Psychanalysis: Its Theories and Practical Application_, p.
-202. Saunders, Philadelphia and London.]
-
-[Footnote 22: Jones, _Papers on Psycho-analysis_, p. 60.]
-
-[Footnote 23:
-
-    “Ce qu’on conçoit bien
-    S’énonce clairement,
-    Et les mots pour le dire
-    Arrivent aisément.”
-
-  Boileau, _Art Poétique_.
-]
-
-[Footnote 24: _The Interpretation of Dreams_, p. 208.]
-
-[Footnote 25: Bleuler, _Affektivität Suggestibilität, Paranoia_, p.
-121, Halle. Marhold, 1906.]
-
-[Footnote 26: A similar situation occurs in _Julius Cæsar_, iii. 3:
-
-“CINNA. Truly, my name is Cinna.
-
-“BURGHER. Tear him to pieces! he is a conspirator.
-
-“CINNA. I am Cinna the poet! not Cinna the conspirator.
-
-“BURGHER. No matter; his name is Cinna; tear the name out of his heart
-and let him go.”]
-
-[Footnote 27: Ethyl alcohol is, of course, the chemical name for
-ordinary alcohol.]
-
-[Footnote 28: Jones, _Psycho-analysis_, p. 66.]
-
-[Footnote 29: _Zentralbl. f. Psychoanalyse_, i. 12.]
-
-[Footnote 30: In the course of the conference the details of the
-previous first visit return to consciousness.]
-
-[Footnote 31: Brill, _loc. cit._, p. 197.]
-
-[Footnote 32: If we inquire of a person whether he suffered from luetic
-infection ten or fifteen years ago, we are only too apt to forget that
-psychically the patient has looked upon this disease in an entirely
-different manner than on, let us say, an acute attack of rheumatism. In
-the anamneses which parents give about their neurotic daughters, it is
-hardly possible to distinguish with any degree of certainty the portion
-forgotten from that hidden, for anything that stands in the way of the
-girl’s future marriage is systematically set aside by the parents,
-that is, it becomes repressed. A man who had recently lost his beloved
-wife from an affection of the lungs reported to me the following case
-of misleading the doctor, which can only be explained by the theory
-of such forgetting. “As my poor wife’s pleuritis had not disappeared
-after many weeks, Dr. P. was called in consultation. While taking the
-history he asked among others the customary questions whether there
-were any cases of lung trouble in my wife’s family. My wife denied any
-such cases, and even I myself could not remember any. While Dr. P.
-was taking leave the conversation accidentally turned to excursions,
-and my wife said: ‘Yes, even to Landgersdorf, where my poor brother
-lies buried, is a long journey.’ This brother died about fifteen years
-ago, after having suffered for years from tuberculosis. My wife was
-very fond of him, and often spoke about him. Indeed, I recall that
-when her malady was diagnosed as pleurisy she was very worried and
-sadly remarked: ‘My brother also died of lung trouble.’ But the memory
-was so very repressed that even after the above-cited conversation
-about the trip to L. she found no occasion to correct her information
-concerning the diseases in her family. I myself was struck by this
-forgetting at the very moment she began to talk about Landgersdorf.” A
-perfectly analogous experience is related by Ernest Jones in his work.
-A physician whose wife suffered from some obscure abdominal malady
-remarked to her: “It is comforting to think that there has been no
-tuberculosis in your family.” She turned to him very astonished and
-said, “Have you forgotten that my mother died of tuberculosis, and that
-my sister recovered from it only after having been given up by the
-doctors?”]
-
-[Footnote 33: During the days when I was first writing these pages
-the following almost incredible case of forgetting happened to me. On
-the 1st of January I examined my notes so that I could send out my
-bills. In the month of June I came across the name M----l, and could
-not recall the person to whom it belonged. My surprise increased when
-I observed from my books that I treated the case in a sanatorium, and
-that for weeks I had called on the patient daily. A patient treated
-under such conditions is rarely forgotten by a physician in six
-months. I asked myself if it could have been a man--a paretic--a case
-without interest? Finally, the note about the fee received brought to
-my memory all the knowledge which strove to elude it. M----l was a
-fourteen-year-old girl, the most remarkable case of my latter years, a
-case which taught me a lesson I am not likely ever to forget, a case
-whose upshot gave me many painful hours. The child became afflicted
-with an unmistakable hysteria, which quickly and thoroughly improved
-under my care. After this improvement the child was taken away from
-me by the parents. She still complained of abdominal pains which had
-played the part in the hysterical symptoms. Two months later she
-died of sarcoma of the abdominal glands. The hysteria, to which she
-was greatly predisposed, took the tumour-formation as a provocative
-agent, and I, fascinated by the tumultuous but harmless manifestations
-of hysteria, perhaps overlooked the first sign of the insidious and
-incurable disease.]
-
-[Footnote 34: A. Pick (“Zur Psychologie des Vergessens bei Geistes- und
-Nervenkranken,” _Archiv. f. Kriminal-Anthropologie u. Kriminalistik_,
-von H. Gross) has recently collected a number of authors who realize
-the value of the influence of the affective factors on memory, and who
-more or less clearly recognize that a defensive striving against pain
-can lead to forgetting. But none of us has been able to represent this
-phenomenon and its psychologic determination as exhaustively, and at
-the same time as effectively, as Nietzsche in one of his aphorisms
-(_Jenseits von Gut und Böse_, ii., _Hauptstück_ 68): “‘I have done
-that,’ says my Memory. ‘I could not have done that,’ says my Pride, and
-remains inexorable. Finally, my Memory yields.”]
-
-[Footnote 35: Cf. Hans Gross, _Kriminal Psychologie_, 1898.]
-
-[Footnote 36: Darwin on forgetting. In Darwin’s autobiography one finds
-the following passage that does equal credit to his scientific honesty
-and his psychologic acumen: “I had during many years followed a golden
-rule, namely, that whenever a published fact, a new observation or
-thought, came across me which was opposed to my general results, to
-make a memorandum of it without fail and at once; for I had found by
-experience that such facts and thoughts were far more apt to escape
-from the memory than favourable ones” (quoted by Jones, _loc. cit._, p.
-38).]
-
-[Footnote 37: Cf. Bernheim, _Neue Studien über Hypnotismus, Suggestion
-und Psychotherapie_, 1892.]
-
-[Footnote 38: Young men of education who can pass the examination and
-pay for their maintenance serve one instead of two years’ compulsory
-service.]
-
-[Footnote 39: In Bernard Shaw’s _Cæsar and Cleopatra_, Cæsar’s
-indifference to Cleopatra is depicted by his being vexed on leaving
-Egypt at having forgotten to do something. He finally recollected what
-he had forgotten--to take leave of Cleopatra--this, to be sure, is in
-full accord with historical truth. How little Cæsar thought of the
-little Egyptian princess! Cited from Jones, _loc. cit._, p. 50.]
-
-[Footnote 40: Women, with their fine understanding of unconscious
-mental processes, are, as a rule, more apt to take offence when we do
-not recognize them in the street, and hence do not greet them, than
-to accept the most obvious explanation, namely, that the dilatory one
-is short-sighted or so engrossed in thought that he did not see them.
-They conclude that they surely would have been noticed if they had been
-considered of any consequence.]
-
-[Footnote 41: Dr. Ferenczi reports that he was a distracted person
-himself, and was considered peculiar by his friends on account of
-the frequency and strangeness of his failing. But the signs of this
-inattention have almost all disappeared since he began to practise
-psychoanalysis with patients, and was forced to turn his attention
-to the analysis of his own ego. He believes that one renounces
-these failings when one learns to extend by so much one’s own
-responsibilities. He therefore justly maintains that distractedness
-is a state which depends on unconscious complexes, and is curable by
-psychoanalysis. One day he was reproaching himself for having committed
-a technical error in the psychoanalysis of a patient, and on this day
-all his former distractions reappeared. He stumbled while walking in
-the street (a representation of that _faux pas_ in the treatment), he
-forgot his pocket-book at home, he was a penny short in his car fare,
-he did not properly button his clothes, etc.]
-
-[Footnote 42: E. Jones remarks regarding this: “Often the resistance is
-of a general order. Thus a busy man forgets to mail a letter entrusted
-to him--to his slight annoyance--by his wife, just as he may ‘forget’
-to carry out her shopping orders.”]
-
-[Footnote 43: For the sake of the unity of the theme I may here digress
-from the accepted classification, and add that the human memory evinces
-a particular partiality in regard to money matters. False reminiscences
-of having already paid something are often very obstinate, as I know
-from personal experience. When free sway is given to avaricious intent
-outside of the serious interests of life, when it is indulged in in
-the spirit of fun, as in card playing, we then find that the most
-honourable men show an inclination to errors, mistakes in memory and
-accounts, and without realizing how, they even find themselves involved
-in small frauds. Such liberties depend in no small part also on the
-psychically refreshing character of the play. The saying that in play
-we can learn a person’s character may be admitted if we can add “the
-repressed character.” If waiters ever make unintentional mistakes
-they are apparently due to the same mechanism. Among merchants we
-can frequently observe a certain delay in the paying out of sums of
-money, in payments of bills and the like, which brings the owner no
-profit and can be only understood psychologically as the expression
-of a counter-will against giving out money. Brill sums it up with
-epigrammatic keenness: “We are more apt to mislay letters containing
-bills than cheques” (Brill, _Psychanalysis, its Theories and Practical
-Application_, p. 197).]
-
-[Footnote 44: Translated by A. A. Brill.]
-
-[Footnote 45: A second publication of Meringer has later shown me how
-very unjust I was to this author when I attributed to him so much
-understanding.]
-
-[Footnote 46: Jones, _loc. cit._, p. 79.]
-
-[Footnote 47: Alas! the Venus of Medici is lost!]
-
-[Footnote 48: The Œdipus dream as I was wont to call it, because it
-contains the key to the understanding of the legend of King Œdipus. In
-the text of Sophocles the relation of such a dream is put in the mouth
-of Jocasta (cf. _The Interpretation of Dreams_, pp. 222-4, etc.).]
-
-[Footnote 49: _New York Medical Journal_, September, 1912. Reprinted
-in large form as Chapter X of _Psychanalysis_, etc., Saunders,
-Philadelphia.]
-
-[Footnote 50: The self-inflicted injury which does not entirely tend
-toward self-annihilation has, moreover, no other choice in our present
-state of civilization than to hide itself behind the accidental, or to
-break through in a simulation of spontaneous illness. Formerly, it was
-a customary sign of mourning, at other times it expressed itself in
-ideas of piety and renunciation of the world.]
-
-[Footnote 51: The case is then identical with a sexual attack on a
-woman, in whom the attack of the man cannot be warded off through
-the full muscular strength of the woman because a portion of the
-unconscious feelings of the one attacked meets it with ready
-acceptance. To be sure, it is said that such a situation paralyses the
-strength of a woman; we need only add the reasons for this paralysis.
-Insofar the clever sentence of Sancho Panza, which he pronounced as
-governor of his island, is psychologically unjust (_Don Quixote_,
-vol. ii. chap. xlv). A woman hauled before the judge a man who was
-supposed to have robbed her of her honour by force of violence. Sancho
-indemnified her with a full purse which he took from the accused, but
-after the departure of the woman he gave the accused permission to
-follow her and snatch the purse from her. Both returned wrestling, the
-woman priding herself that the villain was unable to possess himself of
-the purse. Thereupon Sancho spoke: “Had you shown yourself so stout and
-valiant to defend your body (nay, but half so much) as you have done to
-defend your purse, the strength of Hercules could not have forced you.”]
-
-[Footnote 52: It is evident that the situation of a battlefield is
-such as to meet the requirement of conscious suicidal intent which,
-nevertheless, shuns the direct way. Cf. in _Wallenstein_ the words of
-the Swedish captain concerning the death of Max Piccolomini: “They say
-he wished to die.”]
-
-[Footnote 53: “Selbstbestrafung wegen Abortus von Dr. J. E. G. van
-Emden,” Haag (Holland), _Zentralb. f. Psychoanalyse_, ii. 12.]
-
-[Footnote 54: “Beitrag zur Symbolik im Alltag von Ernest Jones,”
-_Zentralb. f. Psychoanalyse_, i. 3, 1911.]
-
-[Footnote 55: Psychoanalytic research, with the penetration of
-infantile amnesia, has shown that this apparent precocity is a less
-abnormal occurrence than was previously supposed.]
-
-[Footnote 56: The term “medical questions” is a common periphrasis for
-“sexual questions.”]
-
-[Footnote 57: Cf. Oldham’s “I wear my pen as others do their sword.”]
-
-[Footnote 58: Maeder, “Contribution à la psychologie de la vie
-quotidienne,” _Arch. des psychologie_, T. vi. 1906.]
-
-[Footnote 59: Here is another small collection of various symptomatic
-actions in normal and neurotic persons. An elderly colleague who
-does not like to lose at cards had to pay one evening a large sum of
-money in consequence of his losses; he did this without complaint,
-but with a peculiar constrained temper. After his departure it was
-discovered that he had left at this place practically everything he
-had with him, spectacles, cigar-case, and handkerchief. That would
-be readily translated into the words: “You robbers, you have nicely
-plundered me.” A man who suffers from occasional sexual impotence,
-which has its origin in the intimacy of his infantile relations to
-his mother, relates that he is in the habit of embellishing pamphlets
-and notes with an S, the initial of his mother’s name. He cannot
-bear the idea of having letters from home come in contact with other
-unsanctified correspondence, and therefore finds it necessary to keep
-the former separate. A young woman suddenly flings open the door of the
-consulting-room while her predecessor is still present. She excused
-herself on the ground of “thoughtlessness”; it soon came to light that
-she demonstrated her curiosity which caused her at an earlier time to
-intrude into the bedroom of her parents. Girls who are proud of their
-beautiful hair know so well how to manipulate combs and hairpins, that
-in the midst of conversation their hair becomes loosened. During the
-treatment (in a reclining position) some men scatter change from their
-pockets and thus pay for the hour of treatment; the amount scattered is
-in proportion to their estimation of the work. Whoever forgets articles
-in the doctor’s office, such as eyeglasses, gloves, handbags, generally
-indicates that he cannot tear himself away and is anxious to return
-soon. Ernest Jones says: “One can almost measure the success with
-which a physician is practising psychotherapy, for instance, by the
-size of the collection of umbrellas, handkerchiefs, purses, and so on,
-that he could make in a month. The slightest habits and acts performed
-with a minimum of attention, such as the winding of a clock before
-retiring to sleep, the putting out of lights before leaving the room,
-and similar actions, are occasionally subject to disturbances which
-clearly demonstrate the influence of the unconscious complex, and what
-is thought to be the strongest ‘habits.’”
-
-In the journal _Cœnobium_, Maeder relates about a hospital physician
-who, on account of an important matter, desired to get to the city
-that evening, although he was on duty and had no right to leave the
-hospital. On his return he noticed to his surprise that there was a
-light in his room. On leaving the room he had forgotten to put it out,
-something that had never happened before. But he soon grasped the
-motive of this forgetting. The hospital superintendent who lived in
-the same house must have concluded from the light in the room that he
-was at home. A man overburdened with worries and subject to occasional
-depressions assured me that he regularly forgot to wind his watch
-on those evenings when life seemed too hard and unfriendly. In this
-omission to wind his watch he symbolically expressed that it was a
-matter of indifference to him whether he lived to see the next day.
-Another man who was personally unknown to me wrote: “Having been struck
-by a terrible misfortune, life appeared so harsh and unsympathetic,
-that I imagined that I had not sufficient strength to live to see
-the next day. I then noticed that almost every day I forgot to wind
-my watch, something that I never omitted before. I had been in the
-habit of doing it regularly before retiring in an almost mechanical
-and unconscious manner. It was only very seldom that I thought of
-it, and that happened when I had something important for the next
-day which held my interest. ‘Should this be considered a symptomatic
-action? I really cannot explain it.’” Whoever will take the trouble,
-like Jung (_The Psychology of Dementia Præcox_, translated by Peterson
-and Brill), or Maeder (“Une voie nouvelle en Psychologie--Freud et
-son ecole,” _Cœnobium_, Lugano, 1906), to pay attention to melodies
-which one hums to himself aimlessly and unconsciously, will regularly
-discover the relation of the melody’s text to a theme which occupies
-the person at that time.]
-
-[Footnote 60: “Das Verlieren als Symptom-handlung,” _Zentralb. f.
-Psychoanalyse_, i. 10-11.]
-
-[Footnote 61: Translated by A. A. Brill. The Macmillan Company, New
-York; George Allen Company, London.]
-
-[Footnote 62: This is not a perfect error. According to the orphic
-version of the myth the emasculation was performed by Zeus on his
-father Kronos.]
-
-[Footnote 63: _Loc. cit._, p. 191.]
-
-[Footnote 64: Nouvelles contributions, etc., _Arch. de Psych._, vi.
-1908.]
-
-[Footnote 65: _Loc. cit._, p. 42.]
-
-[Footnote 66: _Zentralb. f. Psychoanalyse_, ii. 9.]
-
-[Footnote 67: _Zentralb. f. Psychoanalyse_, ii. 5.]
-
-[Footnote 68: This continued action in the unconscious manifested
-itself once in the form of a dream which followed the faulty action,
-another time in the repetition of the same or in the omission of a
-correction.]
-
-[Footnote 69: Alfred Adler, “Drei Psychoanalysen von Zahlen einfällen
-und obsedierenden Zahlen,” _Psych. Neur. Wochenschr._, No. 28, 1905.]
-
-[Footnote 70: As an explanation of _Macbeth_, No. 17 of the U. L., I
-was informed by Dr. Adler that in his seventeenth year this man had
-joined an anarchistic society whose aim was regicide. Probably this
-is why he forgot the content of the play _Macbeth_. The same person
-invented at that time a secret code in which numbers substituted
-letters.]
-
-[Footnote 71: For the sake of simplicity I have omitted some of the not
-less suitable thoughts of the patients.]
-
-[Footnote 72: _Loc. cit._, p. 36.]
-
-[Footnote 73: “Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis des Zahlentraumes,” _Zentralb.
-f. Psychoanalyse_, i. 12.]
-
-[Footnote 74: “Unconscious Manipulation of Numbers” (_ibid._, ii. 5,
-1912).]
-
-[Footnote 75: This is another excellent example showing how a conscious
-intention was powerless to counteract an unconscious resistance.]
-
-[Footnote 76: These conceptions of strict determinism in seemingly
-arbitrary actions have already borne rich fruit for psychology--perhaps
-also for the administration of justice. Bleuler and Jung have in
-this way made intelligible the reaction in the so-called association
-experiments, wherein the test person answers to a given word with one
-occurring to him (stimulus-word reaction), while the time elapsing
-between the stimulus word and answer is measured (reaction-time).
-Jung has shown in his _Diagnostische Assoziationsstudien_, 1906,
-what fine reagents for psychic occurrences we possess in this
-association-experiment. Three students of criminology, H. Gross, of
-Prague, and Wertheimer and Klein, have developed from these experiments
-a technique for the diagnosis of facts (_Tatbestands-Diagnostik_) in
-criminal cases, the examination of which is now tested by psychologists
-and jurists.]
-
-[Footnote 77: Proceeding from other points of view, this interpretation
-of the trivial and accidental by the patient has been designated as
-“delusions of reference.”]
-
-[Footnote 78: For example, the fantasies of the hysterical regarding
-sexual and cruel abuse which are made conscious by analysis often
-correspond in every detail with the complaints of persecuted
-paranoiacs. It is remarkable but not altogether unexpected that we also
-meet the identical content as reality in the contrivances of perverts
-for the gratification of their desires.]
-
-[Footnote 79: Which naturally has nothing of the character of
-perception.]
-
-[Footnote 80: _Zentralb. f. Psychoanalyse_, ii. 5.]
-
-[Footnote 81: Thus far this explanation of _Déjà vu_ has been
-appreciated by only one observer. Dr. Ferenczi, to whom the third
-edition of this book is indebted for so many contributions, writes to
-me concerning this: “I have been convinced, through myself as well as
-others, that the inexplicable feeling of familiarity can be referred
-to unconscious fantasies of which we are unconsciously reminded in an
-actual situation. With one of my patients the process was apparently
-different, but in reality it was quite analogous. This feeling returned
-to him very often, but showed itself regularly as originating in a
-forgotten (repressed) portion of a dream of the preceding night. Thus
-it appears that the _Déjà vu_ can originate not only from day dreams
-but also from night dreams.”]
-
-[Footnote 82: I can perhaps give the following outline concerning the
-mechanism of actual forgetting. The memory material succumbs in general
-to two influences, condensation and disfigurement. Disfigurement is
-the work of the tendencies dominating the psychic life, and directs
-itself above all against the affective remnants of memory traces which
-maintain a more resistive attitude towards condensation. The traces
-which have grown indifferent merge into a process of condensation
-without opposition; in addition it may be observed that tendencies of
-disfigurement also feed on the indifferent material, because they have
-not been gratified where they wished to manifest themselves. As these
-processes of condensation and disfigurement continue for long periods
-during which all fresh experiences act upon the transformation of the
-memory content, it is our belief that it is time that makes memory
-uncertain and indistinct. It is quite probable that in forgetting
-there can really be no question of a direct function of time. From the
-repressed memory traces it can be verified that they suffer no changes
-even in the longest periods. The unconscious, at all events, knows no
-time limit. The most important as well as the most peculiar character
-of psychic fixation consists in the fact that all impressions are on
-the one hand retained in the same form as they were received, and also
-in the forms that they have assumed in their further development. This
-state of affairs cannot be elucidated by any comparison from any other
-sphere. By virtue of this theory every former state of the memory
-content may thus be restored, even though all original relations have
-long been replaced by newer ones.]
-
-[Footnote 83: Cf. here _The Interpretation of Dreams_, p. 483.
-Macmillan: New York; and Allen: London.]
-
-
-UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Note
-
-
-Original copyright information has been retained, but this book is in
-the public domain in the country of publication.
-
-In the printed version of this text, footnotes were positioned at the
-bottom of each page.
-
-In the printed version, each chapter began with a page containing
-only its title, followed by a blank page. The chapter title was then
-repeated at the start of the chapter text. The first occurrences of the
-chapter titles have been removed, and the table of contents has been
-changed to reflect this.
-
-In this text file, _italics_ are indicated by underscores.
-
-The following changes were made by the transcriber:
-
-Title page, “A. A Brill” changed to “A. A. Brill”.
-
-Page 35, “‘Man created God in His own image.” changed to “‘Man created God
-in His own image.’”
-
-Page 48, “tyranically” changed to “tyrannically”.
-
-Page 93, end-quote added after “adultérer”.
-
-Page 117, ““Music Phantoms,”” changed to ““Music Phantoms”,”.
-
-Page 147, “f” was skipped in the list of case studies in the printed
-text; this has been corrected.
-
-Page 170, “had suddenly became” changed to “had suddenly become”.
-
-Page 179, “Il est arrivé a” changed to “Il est arrivé à”.
-
-Page 233 appears to introduce a list of examples with the numeral “I.”,
-but there are no following terms before the chapter ends. This was
-probably an error, but has been left uncorrected here.
-
-Page 236, “hereuse” changed to “heureuse”.
-
-Page 266, end-quote added after “Saturday!”.
-
-Missing comma inserted after “187” in index entry for “Breaking of
-objects”.
-
-Missing comma inserted after “3” in index entry for “Forgetfulness,
-Temporary, of proper names”.
-
-Standardised indentation of “Psychology of” under index entry for
-“Speech Blunders”.
-
-Footnotes 1 and 9, “Monatschrift” changed to “Monatsschrift”.
-
-Footnote 34, “Geistesund Nervenkranken” changed to “Geistes- und
-Nervenkranken”; “Jenseits von Gut und Bosen” changed to “Jenseits von
-Gut und Böse”, and “Haupstuck” changed to “Hauptstück”.
-
-Footnote 42, the concluding end-quote has been added.
-
-Footnote 58, “Contribution a la psychologie” changed to “Contribution à
-la psychologie”.
-
-Footnote 59, end-quotes added after “habits” and “explain it”.
-
-Footnote 81, “Ferençzi” changed to “Ferenczi”.
-
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