930 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 991 



'ered as a scientific hypothesis, the doctrine of 

 Freud suffers from the disability that it appar- 

 ently can not be put to a crucial test; for 

 whichever way the test came out, the Freudian 

 would find in the result a confirmation of his 

 views. For example, a dream is always the 

 expression of a repressed wish; but if a par- 

 ticular dream that is brought forward seems 

 not to be the expression of a wish, it can be 

 regarded as expressing the wish that the 

 Freudian doctrine be not confirmed, or as ex- 

 pressing a subtle and subconscious opposition 

 of the patient to the operator. Or, again, the 

 open expression of sexual interests by a young 

 ■child is clear evidence in favor of " infantile 

 ■sexuality," while the absence of such expres- 

 sion is an evidence of "repression." It is some- 

 what disconcerting to find that what is osten- 

 sibly a psychological hypothesis, to be tested, 

 is in reality a faith to be embraced or re- 

 jected. 



The sociological implications of the Freu- 

 dian conception are obvious. jSfervous dis- 

 turbances and much minor mental inefficiency, 

 being due to the repression of sexual motives 

 which is enjoined by civilization, point the 

 way to a reform of society in the direction of 

 greater tolerance and freedom for sexual 

 impulses. 



Even anthropology is invaded by the psycho- 

 analysts. Myth and folklore are regarded by 

 them as phenomena analogous in the race to 

 the dreams of an individual, and as express- 

 ing in symbolic form the repressed wishes of 

 the race and especially of the childhood of the 

 race. All myths are therefore fundamentally 

 sexual. This line of interpretation, originated 

 by Freud himself, is represented in the pres- 

 ent series by Abraham's paper on " Dreams 

 and Myths," which considers especially the 

 story of Prometheus, and endeavors to show 

 that in its '.earliest form it had distinctly a 

 sexual meaning, later overlaid by more " re- 

 fined " interpretations. The fire of Prometheus 

 is a sex symbol. Abraham's treatment has 

 one or two obvious weaknesses. He fails to 

 show that repression of sex matters was so 

 strong in the childhood of the race as to create 

 a need for symbolic expression — ^for it must 



be remembered that the symbol, according to 

 Freud, comes into play when direct expres- 

 sion is not allowed by the personal or social 

 " censor." This censorship is usually regarded 

 as a characteristic — and defect — of civiliza- 

 tion, and why then should it be carried away 

 back to the origin of myths? Even grant the 

 dictum, probably exaggerated, that " man sex- 

 ualizes everything," we need not conclude that 

 the sex motive is always repressed, to reappear 

 in symbolic form. Fully as plausible would 

 be an exactly opposite, though still sexual, 

 theory of myths, namely, that primitive man, 

 being familiar with reproduction, used it as a 

 symbol or paradigm for interpreting other 

 natural phenomena, so that the sex idea, in- 

 stead of requiring indirect expression in terms 

 of fire, etc., itself furnished the means for 

 expressing primitive ideas regarding these 

 other phenomena. When, for example, the 

 early Greeks inquired regarding the " physis " 

 or generation of the world, they were using 

 reproduction as a basis for conceiving world 

 processes. Other phenomena were not em- 

 ployed as symbols for sex, but sex was used 

 as a symbol for other phenomena. 



If all these ramifications of the psycho- 

 analytic views were modestly put forward as 

 tentative hypotheses, they would awaken 

 interest; and if they were thoroughly worked 

 out and made as precise and systematic as 

 possible, they would deserve serious considera- 

 tion; but, as a matter of fact, they are pre- 

 sented at once with characteristic sketchiness 

 and cock-sureness. It is a little surprising to 

 find practical physicians interesting themselves 

 in myths and fairy tales. Their reason is 

 thus stated in the preliminary announcement 

 of The Psychoanalytic Review : A Journal De- 

 voted to an Understanding of Human Conduct, 

 edited, like the Monograph Series here under 

 review, by Drs. White and Jelliffe and pub- 

 lished also by The Journal of Nervous and 

 Mental Disease, the first number bearing 

 date of October, 1913 : " Briefly stated, the 

 hypothesis which attempts to fathom the laws 

 governing human conduct is the principle that 

 has already done service in the field of biology. 

 It is the recapitulation hypothesis that ontog- 



