The first part of the paper discusses the relative importance of retrospective phantasies as against an actual persistence or re-animation of uterine and post-uterine experiences in the production of regressive phenomena. The second part is devoted to the 'hospitalization' of children—i.e. to a discussion of their loss of the will to live when deprived of their mother's care—and gives long extracts from Pfaundler's writings on the subject.