Gostynski offers some observations on certain details of expressive movement and gesture in a person during analysis. Attention was focused on the upper extremities and more particularly on the right hand whose motor status could be referred to emotional attitudes with which it occurred. The right thumb was used in a magical way to express Oedipal conflicts and phallic fantasies. It also served a defensive function when held out so as to obstruct vision and 'blot out' disturbing realities. Balancing the right hand on the tip of the rigid right thumb revealed a dread of losing balance (the phallus) and an inner sense of precariousness. These gestures, acting as a sign language, subserved both ego defense and narcissistic gratification. In addition to the 'thumb language', movements on the right side predominated as a whole over those on the left side. For this Gostynski proposes a theory of 'dominance' in terms of the superego and the rest of the mental structure. This theory takes into account the physiological cerebral dominance for