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The appearance of a fourth edition of Jones' Papers on Psycho-Analysis is an event that deserves more than passing notice. The omission of as many as twenty chapters to give place to twelve more recent papers not only brings this clinical text-book up-to-date, but for all practical purposes makes a new book of it. To these considerations the author adds point when, in the Preface to the new edition, he hints that his publishers may not prevail on him to undertake the laborious task of preparing another. It is to be hoped that when the time comes they will overcome this natural reluctance. In the meantime, the occasion is ripe to review afresh what is in effect the clinical testament of one who is de facto et jure leader of the present-day psycho-analytical movement.
For the better orientation of readers who have only recently become attached to this movement it may be well to interpolate here some general observations on the original form of psycho-analytical text-books. When, in course of time, Freud's earliest supporters set out to develop psycho-analysis in various parts of the world, it was only natural that their writings should reflect the existing state of psycho-analytical knowledge. This involved an exposition, with or without amplification, of the already published works of Freud. There was inevitably a certain sameness in all these early text-books. Sections were devoted to the theory and analysis of dreams, to the psycho-pathology of everyday life, to clinical case-histories illustrating the part played in unconscious mental life by infantile sexuality and the Oedipus complex. To these were usually added a few chapters on applied psycho-analysis, concerned as a rule with the origin and nature of cultural activities. As a matter of fact the method had and still has its advantages. One of the easiest ways of acquiring a working knowledge of analytical theory is to start with the earliest of Freud's clinical papers and follow each subject as it is