An attempt to trace the origin of the desire to acquire knowledge from the child's early wish to satisfy his or her curiosity. It is familiar that the dynamic derived from repressed wishes seeking a substitute goal, the original being prohibited, is stronger than when the aim is conscious and direct. This paper follows up the suggestion in Rank's paper, 'Perversion und Neurose' (Zeitschrift, VIII.) that the query 'Where do children come from?' covers the still deeper object of curiosity, 'Can I myself bear a child?' The child thus becomes not only the symbol of all else desired, or