Certain learning inhibitions, including the acquisition of facts without the ability for constructive utilization of this learning, are associated with strongly repressed sadism and increased masochistic needs. The author describes the case of an adolescent boy, a fact collector, who is querulous, hypercritical, demanding, hypochondriacal, guilt-ridden, and given to flare-ups of temper. Against a background of deep pregenital fixations, learning and forgetting meant the eating and prompt elimination of dangerous poisonous substances.