Of recent years analysts have become acutely aware of the need for fresh behaviouristic observations on children. It is to be feared, however, that many observations will prove little calculated to add to our knowledge and understanding.

The present book contains some 140 conversations which the authors had with their two children, boys of five and three, over a period of roughly two years. Books of this type largely depend on two assumptions, (a) that valuable raw material is given to the psychologist by recording literally what a child has said at a given time, without supplying adequate additional data in regard to what occurred both before and after, (b) that scientifically trained parents are the best observers of their children.

Dr. and Mrs. Katz state (p. 53) 'we have never noticed any trace of sexual curiosity in our children', adding 'we consider it quite out of the