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Gross's paper was originally published in Italian, then in German and finally in English—a distinction it deserves. He describes the different meanings of a secret in everyday life, in literature, and in patients undergoing analysis. In the unconscious one finds a reaction to secrets similar to that toward secretions in general; it is a frequent finding in analysis that when a patient has confided a secret this is apt to coincide with an urge to discharge from one or another excretory organ. Secrets, therefore, undergo the vicissitudes of the anal and phallic phases of libidinal development. In the anal stage the secret can be perceived as a possession which is to be retained or expelled. In the phallic phase there is a tendency to use the secret exhibitionistically. Later on, the secret may be conceived of as a gift, as a means of initiating friendship or of establishing intimacy. The importance of the secret shifts from the primary emphasis on content to a later emphasis on function. By and large secrets originate as derivatives of the Oedipal conflicts. The child in attempting to cope with his Oedipal wishes may identify the secret with the adults' sexuality and by this or other means internalize the secret as a substitute formation.