July 21, 1923] 



NATURE 



87 



(3) Psychological Types : or the Psychology of Individua- 

 tion. By Dr. C. G. Jung. Translated by H. Godwin 

 Baynes. (International Library of Psychology, 

 Philosophy, and Scientific Method.) Pp. xxii + 654. 

 (London : Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd. ; New York : 

 Harcourt, Brace and Co. Inc., 1923.) 25^. net. 



(4) Psychology and Politics, and other Essays. By 

 Dr. W. H. R. Rivers. (International Library of 

 Psychology, Philosophy, and Scientific Method.) 

 Pp. vii + i8i. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., 

 Ltd. ; New York : Harcourt, Brace and Co. Inc., 

 1923.) 125. 6d. net. 



(5) Conflict and Dream. By Dr. W. H. R. Rivers. 

 (International Library of Psychology, Philosophy, 

 and Scientific Method.) Pp. xi + 195, (London: 

 Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd. ; New York : Harcourt, 

 Brace and Co. Inc., 1923.) 125. 6d. net. 



(6) Problems in Dynamic Psychology : a Critique of 

 Psycho-analysis and Suggested Formulations. By 

 Dr. John T. MacCurdy. Pp. xv + 383. (Cam- 

 bridge : At the University Press ; New York : The 

 Macmillan Co., 1923.) 12s. 6d. net. 



l) '' I '^HE physician who makes acquaintance with 

 j_ psycho-analysis in this, the first of Dr. 

 tekel's clinical works to be translated, will assuredly 

 piperience some kind of emotional reaction. The 

 luthor takes for granted that therapeutic aims should 

 not be hindered by reticence or taboo, but although 

 medical men have accepted that principle in regard to 

 the anatomy and physiology of sex, yet its application 

 to the psychological factors is, in the form presented by 

 Dr. Stekel, so thoroughgoing as to arouse certain 

 opposition. The reader may capitulate in face of the 

 mass of clinical evidence, or find in the frequent and 

 facile dogmatism of the author a reason for rejecting 

 whatever appears strange or new. The statement, for 

 example, that " the sex impulse may be directly 

 identified with the instinct of self-preservation " 

 (page 3) is presented with no evidence or explanation, 

 and we are left to guess whether it is a tenet of psycho- 

 analytical orthodoxy or one of Dr. Stekel's own bright 

 thoughts. 



The many blemishes of this nature are unfortunate, 

 for the book fills a gap in medical literature by its 

 detailed accounts of the bodily symptoms of the 

 anxiety states, symptoms which are commonly treated 

 from the physical point of view with a total neglect of 

 the underlying mental condition. Heart and stomach 

 neuroses, asthmatic attacks, even the anxiety attack 

 itself, rarely meet correct recognition, and Dr. Stekel 

 gives clinical examples of all these with the mental 

 factors fully analysed ; a host of other disorders- 

 phobias, professional neuroses, stammering, and the 

 NO. 2803, VOL. I 12] 



like — are adequately illustrated. The psychical treat- 

 ment of epilepsy is approached with commendable 

 caution, but the enthusiasm and confidence with which 

 the author handles the therapeutics of melancholia are 

 not shared by his analytical colleagues. 



The book is a blend of useful information with rash 

 dogma. The translation shows many literal errors and 

 should have been revised by some one acquainted with 

 medical terminology. 



(2) Dr. Pfister combines the functions of pastor, 

 pedagogue, and psycho-analyst, and his writings are 

 regarded by psycho-analysts as serious contributions to 

 their subject. In his opening essay he tilts at orthodox 

 psychology, which certainly has failed to render to 

 medicine or education the service that psycho-analysis 

 offers, but in Great Britain at least the " psychology 

 of the schools " no longer refuses to admit, however 

 grudgingly, the importance of Freudian fundamentals. 

 Pfister quotes from Stern the advice to differentiate 

 between the actually perceived external fact and the 

 interpretation attached to it. Psycho-analysts some- 

 times offend against this self-evident maxim in one 

 direction, and their critics, on the other hand, often 

 insist upon treating observations as if they were inter- 

 pretative artefacts ; it is notable that Pfister makes 

 clear in his analyses what are the patient's associations 

 — the perceived facts — and what are the interpretations. 



Pfister's analysis of an artist and his art serves the 

 double purpose of illustrating technique and studying 

 the psychological processes of artistic inspiration, 

 which is the manifestation of repressed desires and 

 comes into line with neurotic symptoms and dreams, 

 except that an ingenious whole is created. The latent 

 significance of a picture is for the artist, the manifest is 

 for others, but may not the success of an artistic pro- 

 duction depend upon an unconscious appreciation, on 

 the part of beholders, of the latent significance ? In 

 the chapter on " Psycho-analysis and Philosophy " 

 Pfister acclaims Freud as the first great positivist 

 among psychologists, but makes a plea for metaphysics 

 as a stage towards the highest plane of knowledge. Of 

 more immediate interest is the relation of analysis to 

 ethics, for, as the author points out, the most powerful 

 argument of Freud's opponents is that his procedure 

 is immoral. Ethics, he says, is an empirical science 

 standing in need of purely objective and sober criticism 

 (p. 299), and " all ethics which ascribe to experience an 

 influence upon its standards (and another kind of 

 ethics is scarcely conceivable nowadays) may derive 

 the most important doctrines from these discoveries " 



(P- 195)- 



Educationally, psycho-analysis aids more in the 

 removal of inhibitions than in the prescription of 

 methods, and the chapter on " Child Life " is the most 



