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Balint discusses Szondi's theory that recessive genes are the determining factor in a person's choice of lovers, friends, enemies, etc., comparing it to the psychoanalytic viewpoint and concluding that both explanations—that of biological influences and psychological influences—are probably valid and not mutually exclusive. 'Fate analysis', i.e., the effects on the lives of individuals of the biologically repressed, recessive genes through explorations of family trees, is the outcome of this theory. Examples are given from Szondi's book. The second step taken by Szondi and discussed by Balint is that of diagnosis. Here he does not use the family history to trace and identify the recessive genes but, in a way, exposes them directly and measures their influence quantitatively through the reactions of persons to sets of pictures of patients belonging to one of eight categories of mental illness. How the test is administered and how one arrives at the resultant profile is described along with some discussion of interpretation and the problem of frequency of choice among the pictures by different groups of subjects. The conclusion deals with ways in which the test may be used: diagnostically and as an aid to therapists in making manifest hidden defenses or approaching danger situations in the course of analysis. Personal experience with the Szondi Test has demonstrated to Balint its extreme usefulness as a source of crucial information about patients. In his opinion it is an important new method for the study of the human mind.