Children in Need: By Melitta Schmideberg. (Allen and Unwin, London. Price 12 s. 6 d.

This book is not written for psycho-analysts, nevertheless they would profit from reading it, not only for the mass of terse clinical, sociological and legalistic material that it contains, but also from the sense of pride that they would gain. Psycho-analysts are often accused of being a remote set of people, akin to bacteriologists, though perhaps less practical, who only study and pronounce upon distorted and minute aspects of Life which, meanwhile, surges painfully unaltered and unassisted, outside their quiet windows. Dr. Schmideberg's book does much to correct this view. It shows how psycho-analytic knowledge can be used as a swift and accurate instrument for the precise exploration and relief of human misery; not for the few, but for the many, and not merely in the timeless shelter of the consulting room, but in the rush of urgent events. Her main thesis and aim in writing this book is, however, to show how, in our comparatively human society, it is still current practice, whether through official ignorance or inertia, to force such intolerable strains on the underprivileged child, that it is turned from being an underdog into a pariah dog. Her evidence makes it clear that, if children are deprived of the means of making satisfactory object relationships, they may be expected to grow up into delinquents, severe neurotics or psychopaths. While she also shows that she is well aware that such personalities can be produced in unsatisfactory private homes, she is at pains to prove that it is precisely when Authority steps in and removes such children, in order to send them into present-day institutions, that final and irreparable damage is done to them. Dr. Schmideberg's supporting official evidence is provided by quotations from the Curtis Report, which reveals many residential institutions as loveless places, run by ill-chosen staff, mainly concerned with the enforcement of disciplines.

The remedy that Dr. Schmideberg suggests for the improvement of the na