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Psychological similarities with particular emphasis upon the persistence of preoccupation with olfactory stimuli are presented from seven cases of hay fever that were psychoanalytically studied. Unconscious material reported by one patient, who suffered from severe seasonal hay fever, preceding the advent of an attack of acute rhinitis, showed that, when repressed sexual curiosity relating to the function of reproduction became mobilized in the analysis, the patient made an extreme attempt to sublimate the curiosity along visual, intellectual lines. This may be considered a normal process of sublimation, but the intensity of the effort and the emotional need to sublimate the curiosity is significant. Efforts at sublimation in the visual sphere did not succeed because the aggressive character of the visual curiosity necessitated the substitution of a primary olfactory curiosity, dreams demonstrating that external olfactory stimulation remained as an effective source of stimuli and conflict. This led to the establishment of a vicious circle that was temporarily terminated in the production of a conversion symptom which produced congestion with a corresponding diminution in both olfactory and visual perception.