We have indicated that particular characteristics of the testicles, i.e., their motility and ability to disappear completely, set them apart from other parts of the body including the penis. The influence of this phenomenon on the psychological development of the male, in my opinion, is far reaching.

We have noted through direct observations and analytic material that during the pregenital period the testicles and scrotal sac play a precursor role to that of the phallus in the development of castration anxiety. We know that phallic primacy begins to take over at about the middle of the third year and seems to obscure the role of testicles and scrotal sac. However, the pathway of castration anxiety still goes over the road of breast, feces, testicle, phallus. Each in turn provokes fear of loss of the object in the developing child. The simultaneous percept of the outline of the testicles and the dropping fecal mass during evacuation relates testicles to feces and hence to fear of object loss.