The author, who some twenty years ago pioneered in the study of the relations between ovarian function and psychodynamic processes,1 discusses some of the principles that are involved in applying the psychoanalytic method to research in the somatic sources of the sexual drive. She points out that the time of ovulation and other functions of the female can be predicted from study of the patient's verbal record. These records were analyzed in regard to their psychodynamic content in accordance with Alexander's vector concept. During the oestrogenic phase of the ovarian cycle, the sexual drive is active and object directed. Passive receptive needs are paramount during the postovulative progesterone period. Symbol formation in dreams were found to be the most effective indicators of these tendencies.