158 Some Implications of the Incarnation [CH. 



provided that the work is directly linked in his own mind 

 with the idea to be mastered. In the same way the passion 

 may be linked with an emotion, if the linking is done 

 consciously, and the substituted emotion is one that can 

 receive full outlet. If not, it will find some abnormal 

 and symbolic path of discharge, its natural path being 

 blocked. Extreme instances of this are familiar to all 

 medical attendants of lunatic asylums; less marked 

 cases constantly present themselves in ordinary life to 

 those who have the requisite knowledge. In one in- 

 stance I have recently come across, the discharge path 

 is a peculiar form of unconscious egomania. I may not 

 here enter into the details of the case, or explain why 

 it should have taken this particular form, but I know 

 enough of the history to be certain of my interpreta- 

 tion. 



It is not possible, nor desirable, for our present pur- 

 pose to enter into more detail of this fascinating study; 

 the rough outline given is all that we requjre 1 . 



Now in all Freud's work the mechanical basis on 

 which the mind operates is made abundantly clear. So 

 much so indeed, that Freud himself is betrayed by it 

 into the crudest materialism. 



But a mechanical basis is exactly what we should 



1 The serious student, if he has the requisite knowledge, is 

 strongly advised to study Freud's own works, if he be of strong 

 stomach, and also Dr Ernest Jones' Psychoanalysis Something 

 also may be gained from Munsterberg's Psychotherapy, and Dr 

 Wingfield's Introduction to the Study of Hypnotism, as well as 

 many other works. But those who have no medical knowledge, 

 or no special reason for wishing to pursue the matter further, will 

 find all that they require in Dr Bernard Hart's little shilling book 

 on The Psychology of Insanity, and they will be well advised to 

 content themselves with this. Even though the book is pro- 

 fessedly concerned with abnormal mental states, much informa- 

 tion about the structure of the normal mind and its complexes is 

 incidentally given. 



