This paper is concerned with the perceptual-affective organization of the first months of postnatal life, prior to the development of the ego. Such modes of mental functioning disappear from sight as development proceeds, but they can be detected in those individuals whose mental growth is disordered. Three case histories are used to illustrate the author's theory. She believes that the tongue has a decisive role in early infantile life. It is the first medium of sensory and proprioceptive awareness. In patients of the type described the tongue retains its infantile significance. These patients also display the fusion of self and object which is appropriate to the pre-ego phase. This process leads to confusion with such mental mechanisms as projection, projective identification, and talion fear. Symptoms can be thought of as a defence against fusion with the object and loss of identity. These considerations have important implications for technique—particularly in the sphere of interpretation.