Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 3-4.djvu/23

 A MAN'S UNCONSCIOUS PHANTASY OF PREGNANCY 277

water, so that he can relish them contemplatively during the i course of the winter. Further he knows a number of cookery rec- ipes, and enjoys playing at the art of cooking (anal erotism, and identification with the mother).^ An extraordinary accident "* enabled me to discover how powerful an influence this complex was still exerting on his mental experience. He was accompanying me for a short way, the cherry season being in full swing, when I noticed that while speaking or listening — we were discussing a matter in which he was interested — he continually deviated to the right or left in order to step on cherry stones thrown away in the street. I called his attention to this symbolic action, whereupon he told me that this had been his habit for years, and boasted that it was not so easy for a stone to evade his keen eye. This activhy did not disturb his being occupied in other ways at the same time (compare his so-called Caesarean capacity described above). He gave as a reason that he had once slipped on such a stone and wanted to avoid a similar mishap. Beneath this rationalization lay concealed those infantile death-wishes con- cerning his brothers and sisters, which the symbolic act disclosed; for the stones always represented small children in his uncon- scious thoughts. This hostility was quite openly experienced when he was six, when his eldest sister was born. The patient could remember vividly how they had looked forward to her arrival with immense expectations. Further the idea of dead children could be found counting as faecal symbols in his

dreams.^

In this connection, I would mention the patient's flatus complex, which co-existed along with the coprophilic impulses. Though its influence was not as comprehensive as Ernest Jones has shown it to be in cases of obsessional neurosis,* nevertheless it was strik- ingly present. It could be traced back to the grandfather, who was without scruples in this respect, and aroused the respectful belief in the boy that such behaviour was a privilege of the head of the family. Whenever the grandfather broke wind he swore in

1 Cf. Ernest Jones, 'Einige Falle von Zwangsneurose'. Jakrbuch der Pm., Bd. IV, S. 568.

» I shall give an example of this later.

» Ernest Jones: loc. cit Ernest Jones has established the far-reaching character of this complex in his monograph ' Die Empfangnis der Jungfrau Maria durch das Ohr', Jahrbuck der Psa., Bd. VI, 1914.