A Brief Memoir

The late W. O. A. W. Baggally, whose third article contributed to the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS is given below, was the son of W. W. Baggally. His father worked for the Society for Psychical Research in connection with the mediumship of Euspasia Pallidino and other persons. Our contributor started his education at Brighton College, but failed to matriculate, yet much

later he took a "post-graduate" course in quantum mechanics. Being an only child and having ample means he had no necessity to take up an occupation, but in one of his chosen subjects, radio, he left all amateurs behind. He did not build apparatus himself owing to manipulative awkwardness, but employed a mechanic to do so. About 1934 he designed a "memory unit" which he used for simple experiments on psycho-physical phenomena and to gain material for his hedonic theory. This apparatus used neon tubes for recording an "extinguishable memory, " a glowing tube represented an item of memory which could be detected, from its lower resistance, by an automatic switching device in much the same way as the E.N.I.A.C. electronic calculator will "store" and subsequently make use of electrical signals.

He was an accomplished musician, playing the piano, organ, harpsichord and recorder, and could compose with insight and feeling, especially fugues. In addition he wrote delightful poetry in the 17th century lyrical manner. He also was interested in pictures and showed a considerable grasp of their qualities while retaining a power of criticism.

He was absorbed in psycho-analytical theory, as these papers show, and grappled with some of the most fundamental of the theories of "the Master, " as he called Freud. Later in his reading he was much influenced by Melanie Klein's work, and he carried both in his synthesising mind.

The war and other domestic events disturbed him greatly; he was a conscientious objector and, isolating himself more and more from people, became a recluse.

His name is more li