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The Institute of Psycho-Analysis and the Hogarth Press have every reason to congratulate themselves on the publication of this volume of Abraham's 'Selected Papers'. It represents the completion of one more stage in the laborious process of rendering the classic literature of psycho-analysis accessible to English readers. It is to be hoped that the success of their ventures in this direction will encourage them to further efforts to make up leeway. Already the position of the English student of psycho-analysis is immeasurably stronger than was that of his predecessors, whose access to an ample store of information on their subject was artificially narrowed down by reason of linguistic difficulties. As this is a form of indebtedness which a future generation of students is not likely to acknowledge save by the indirect method of building up individual libraries of reference, it would be ungenerous not to take this opportunity of paying tribute to the energy and foresight of both editor and publishers of the series, to say nothing of the skill and devotion of translators.
The value of the present volume has been greatly enhanced by the inclusion of Dr. Jones' Introductory Memoir. It gives the reader not only suitable orientation on the nature and tendencies of Abraham's work but, what is more important to those who never had an opportunity of making personal contact with Abraham, some idea of the quality of the man. It is a commonplace of scientific research that the valuation of published 'findings' is sometimes of minor importance compared with the valuation of 'tendency', at any rate when the territory concerned is still incompletely explored. To value tendency properly requires some knowledge of the personal characteristics of the investigator, preferably first-hand, or at the least at reliable second-hand, a fact which goes far to justify frequent international congresses. In the personal side of his study, Dr. Jones has made clear why Abraham's contributi