Freud's comments on the question of whether there is an organized quality to the id, as opposed to a state of chaos, are inconsistent. Dr. Leavitt examines the question, with special reference to the transitional area between id and preconscious where repression operates. This transitional area renders it difficult to determine precisely what qualities are intrinsic to the preconscious and what to the id. Conditioned reflex mechanisms and 'learning' appear to operate at the level of the id, serving to deter the organism from activities that produce pain. The author disagrees with Freud's formulation that the id knows no precaution to insure survival and no anxiety. He believes, on the contrary, that the systems id, preconscious, and conscious form a continuum, each subject to the same endopsychic laws and consisting of analogous organizational structures, differing chiefly in architectural and functional complexity.