Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 3-4.djvu/16

 270 MICHAEL JOSEPH EISLER

this work, both as regards theoretical elucidation, and therapeu- tically in overcoming the resistances concerned therein.

PART II

One recollection stands out above all in the story of the pat- ient's childhood ; it is of an unusual adventure, and as such exer- cised an influence in later life. This episode had never entirely eluded his consciousness, and cropped up early in the course of treatment. What makes it so remarkable, apart from its con- tent, is the uncommon vividness and accuracy with which every detail had been preserved, although the patient was little more than three years old at the time it happened.^ In contrast with other experiences, which are remembered repeatedly during psycho-analytic treatment but only become distinct in the later reproductions, this one was presented immediately on the first occasion without gaps, making the later process of clarification and completion superfluous. I hold that this very circumstance is in favour of its pre-eminent significance in the patient's mental life. It happened as follows. His father was out, and he was playing one day in the kitchen, where his mother was. She was suckling his youngest brother, then about nine months old, and sat at the table on which crockery with relics of breakfast was still present. During play he noticed a fragment of bread left by his father. He stretched over for it holding tight to the edge of the table, and may so have disturbed his mother who was en- grossed in thought. She shouted angrily at him, and probably be- cause he would not desist from his intention, she seized a bread- knife lying near by, and hurled it at him. She had aimed her unpremeditated throw well. The blade ran its point through the little brimless felt hat that he was wearing (the usual headgear of Hungarian peasant children), and pierced the skin of the

^ Incideatally, the patient's memory reproduces all recollections remark- ably vividly ; probably the notable sense of reality associated vifith anal erotism is here a leading factor. I would venture to put forward a corres- ponding proposition, with due reserve, though founded on a very convincing case. Phantasies that have developed under patronage of an oral fixation of 1 ibido exhibit a curiously veiled character. This may be attributable to the yet limited field of action to which mental life is restricted at the corres- ponding stage of its development.