As recently as 1948, Franz Alexander (4) expressed the opinion that some of the fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis had been so clarified and could be so concretely and comprehensively formulated that it was "no longer necessary or desirable to trace the historical evolution of Freudian theory in detail. Only those who have witnessed this evolution and have grown up with it can follow with ease all the intricacies of a historical presentation of psychoanalysis. They alone can fully understand why Freud repeatedly changed his ideas and steadily adapted them to the rapid accumulation of new facts. For others the conventional historical presentation is often confusing. The student can with greater advantage follow the pioneer efforts of Freud to understand the human personality after he has taken a comprehensive view of the present state of psychoanalytic knowledge." Whether or not one shared this point of view, one could readily acknowledge the difficulties inherent in offering a