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The author mentions Groddeck's hypothesis that 'the libido so pervades the entire body that the body may accept or reject an infection in accordance with some instinctive demand' and suggests that the common cold, by reason of its prevalence, offers a fertile field for the study of accompanying psychological factors. An example is given of a woman previously immune to colds who developed a severe coryza during analysis. She interpreted her own expression, that she had 'taken' cold, as an indication that she was now willing to 'take' things, that is, be less aggressive, more feminine, and the analyst further suggested that she seemed to be 'taking' punishment at the same time. Next she identified her swollen and discharging nose with a penis (taken from her brother) and her previous immunity, which she resented losing, as virility. A violent nasal hæmorrhage which reminded her of menstruation refuted the nose-penis identification and confirmed her feminity. A large cold sore subsided promptly after she had brought out infantile theories of oral impregnation. With the subsidence of the coryza came a cough which suggested menstrual cramps or labour pains, but nevertheless she found herself both masculine and feminine. 'I make myself pregnant by getting my own cold down in my own chest'. In this instance the cold was a re-enactment of a castration wish, acquisition of the symbolic penis, punishment, and finally renunciation of the wish represented somatically in the respiratory tract. Thus