The observation referred to in the title of this paper started with Abraham's remark that hysterics invest emotion in (that is, cathect) objects whereas schizophrenics invest in themselves. The corollary is that in health, both self and object are emotionally invested, and that where this is not the case, even where frank pathology does not arise, whichever tendency is neglected is likely to assert itself in regressed, infantile and maladaptive ways. Macdiarmid traces the history of this observation through the