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A condensed critical account of the way in which concepts of energy have been used in three fields, (a) with regard to peripheral nerve, (b) in the psychology of the central nervous system, (c) in psychology. Under the last heading there is a brief account of Freud's use of the concept of energy, with particular reference to the Interpretation of Dreams, Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Das Ich und das Es.
It is regrettable that the author should have fallen into the common error of supposing that 'Freud [reduced] the fundamental strivings of the organism to one—the sexual'. There are, too, certain notable omissions on the psychological side, such as the failure to mention Spearman's 'Theory of Two Factors'—the general and the specific intellective energies.
The paper will doubtless be found useful as a work of reference, though it is clear that anything approaching a full consideration of the topic would demand a volume rather than a fourteen-page article.