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diff --git a/old/67332-0.txt b/old/67332-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ab8f7ad..0000000 --- a/old/67332-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8188 +0,0 @@ -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”. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY -LIFE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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