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Like its predecessors, this volume opens with a series of papers (several of them presented in a symposium at the 1950 American Psychoanalytic Association meetings in Detroit) concerning that most difficult phase of the child's life, the period of early ego development. Hartmann has contributed a discussion (one of two by this author) which helps to summarize the field, and Kris offers a history of the study of ego development; this is especially welcome because for those who have not to any extent lived through this period, the changes in thinking and approach have been confusing. Also most helpful are discussions of the relationship between clinical observation of infants and developmental theory. Rank and Macnaughton demonstrate convincingly the genesis of the severely arrested development of a four-year-old child; but what particularly distinguishes their work is their discussion of the application of theory to the successful therapy of their very sick subject. By the use of such simple games as knocking foreheads with it, the child was helped to make the long overdue differentiation between itself and the world. This practical application of theory is especially valuable in bringing alive complex theoretical material and proving its validity. Loewenstein offers observations from the analyses of children and adults; however, as Kris implies, diagnostic and preventive use of much of the theory is still little developed, and in that direction should lie the potentially greatest contribution of these studies.
Two papers in this collection deal with the treatment of delinquency. Although Eissler recommends that the deviations from classical analytic technique be held to a minimum, he nevertheless shows in his discussion how great that minimum must be. No wonder this field is becoming a separate and arduous specialty. Eissler's practical suggestions for treatment seem particularly valuable even without regard for their theoretical justification. He writes, f