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In a footnote to this article the authoress writes: 'The writer has learned that the argument in this article is similar in some respects to that used by Freud in his treatise on wit. Her investigation was independent of that of the latter'. It is hardly likely, however, that it
was quite uninfluenced, even indirectly, by the wide-spread knowledge of Freud's theory of repression.
In a word, the authoress' theory is that laughter is an expression of the pleasurable release of repressed, unconscious emotions. Her argument is as follows: 'In the evolution of humanity those instincts that are inimical to the progress of civilisation are theoretically transformed into qualities and acts less at variance with social and ethical laws, but in reality the substitution is far from perfect and entire. Man is not yet completely evolved; he is but partly adjusted to a civilised environment, and a portion of his nature lags far behind at a primitive, savage level. The human being, from childhood up, must curb, repress, skulk, hide, control. From the mother's "no, no" to the thundering "Thou shalt not" from Mount Sinai there is a constant denial of instinct. So accustomed are we to regard this as pure benefit that we are blind to the accompanying disservice. Nature confined is not entirely quiescent. With all the outlets, transformations and substitutions which physical and mental activities afford there still remains a large residue of repressed primal instinct which results in discordant and tense conditions in the subconscious life.' 'Laughter is the result of suddenly released repression, the physical sign of subconscious satisfaction. Our primitive man saw, it may be, another do the thing reprobated by the tribe and his own nascent conscience. The sight relieved the tension occasioned by his own repressed wish to do the self-same thing—and he laughed; the laughter sprang from unconscious sympathy with the reactionary act'. 'The secret of laughter is in a retur