118 



DISCOVERY 



and cold phases, but that the strata with remains of a 

 cold period are always on top, and therefore latest in 

 date. A careful study and re-examination of the 

 question of the Boulder Clay generally and of the 

 deposits at Hoxnc would appear to be necessary before 

 any certain conclusion is possible. 



Mistakes 



This is a straightforward book with only one difficult 

 word, and that is in the title. It contains an exposi- 

 tion of Dr. Freud's views on the psychology of lapses 

 and of mistakes. It is a work of interest to every- 

 body, because it deals with mistakes which we all 

 make. In this book, which is the best knowTi of all 

 Freud's writings, an attempt is made to explain some 

 of the httle slips we make in writing and speaking, 

 why it is we forget proper names cmd foreign words, 

 why we trj' to conceal some of our memories, and 

 why, when meaning to do a thing in one way, w^e do 

 it, almost in spite of ourselves, in another. Everyone 

 is familiar \\-ith these occurrences. What is the cause 

 of them ? 



An ordinary person would imagine that the main 

 cause of all our daily slips and errors is that we are 

 tired. If we sign the name of the friend written to 

 at the end of our letter to him, instead of our own, we 

 ascribe the shp to the fact that we are not sufficiently 

 alert ; we are mind-wandering. Freud's view of the 

 matter is, however, different. The mistake, in his 

 view, is sj-mbolic of hidden moti^'es which are at 

 work in the mind of the man who is making the mis- 

 take. The slip gives him away. To anyone trained 

 to see it reveals more than the man meant to reveal. 

 The slip enables the psychologist to brush aside the 

 open intention of the man as being false, and to get 

 at the true underljang motive. 



An example taken from p. 102 of the book may help 

 to make this point clear : 



" A wealthy but not very generous host invited his 

 friends to an evening dance. Everything went well 

 until about 11.30 p.m., when there was an intermis- 

 sion, presumably for supper. To the great disap- 

 pointment 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 con- 

 versation centred on the different candidates ; and as 

 the discussion grew warmer, one of the guests, an 

 ardent admirer of the Progressive Party candidate, 



• Psychopathology of Everyday Life. By Prof. S. Freud. 

 Sixth Impression. (Fisher Unwin, 12s. bd. net.) 



remarked to the host : ' You may say what you 

 please about Teddy, but there is one thing — he can 

 always be reUed upon ; he always gi\es you a square 

 meal,' wishing to say square deal. The assembled 

 guests burst into a roar of laughter. . . ." Here the 

 error of speech revealed the speaker's mind with full 

 comic effect. He had no intention of being openly 

 rude. He was so in spite of himself. 



An example of an action erroneously carried out 

 will now be quoted from p. 179 : 



' ' 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 try- 

 ing 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 un- 

 consciously demonstrates where I would 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 necessarj- 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 \isiting 

 staff, of which I aspired to be a member, was pro\ided 

 with a key to avoid the trouble of ha\ing to wait at 

 the door. My mistake thus expressed the desire to 

 be on a similar footing and to be quite ' at home ' 

 there." 



Freud's point, then, is that these slips are not acci- 

 dental at all, but that in even,- case they can be ex- 

 plained ; and usually the explanation can be given in 

 terms of the secret feelings and wishes of the person 

 making the mistake. 



This book is full of anecdotes about shps made by 

 people, and each of these is ingeniously analysed by the 

 author along the fines stated above. Some of the 

 explanations will appear to the reader to be some- 

 what far-fetched, but, of course, that need not pre- 

 vent them being the true ones. \\Tiat the book does 

 impress upon one is that we attribute far too many 

 errors to accidental and extraneous causes. As re- 

 gards our own mistakes, if only we have the \vit to 

 examine ourselves, we may usuaUy find some ex- 

 planation which lies not outside but within ourselves. 



To say that every mistake is symptomatic of un- 

 conscious secret wishes is, of course, going too far. If. 

 for example, in writing to a lady I refer to her letter 

 as " 3'our precious letter " instead of " your previous 

 letter," this need not necessarily indicate any hidden 

 state of feeling which I may have for the lady. It 

 happens that c and v are next one another on my 

 typewriter, and I happen merely to have struck the 



