The author states that the phobias of diverse objects or diverse situations are at the bottom phobias of action, as for instance, fear of the razor in barbers is fear of having to perform his trade, phobia of church bells, etc. fear of having to perform religious acts, fear of blushing is fear to expose oneself to social judgments, etc.

He says that 'Historically speaking, the symptoms of the various phobias of the different manias or obsessions were at the start innumerable, but they reduced themselves little by little to a very small number of phenomena of which they constitute the varieties or combinations'. This