DISCUSSION: Dr. Robert Holt felt that the research presented is an empirical investigation of the complicated functioning of subliminal stimuli in relation to affective states and various structural conditions in the subjects, rather than a study of fantasy. He found it disappointing as an attempt to activate and measure oral fantasy. He saw no way in which an investigator, whether his method is clinical or experimental, can decide that what he is dealing with is not a screen, not a derivative, but something ultimate and irreducible. Since there is no possible way for the unconscious to speak to us directly, we can never know how organized the fantasy is in its unconscious state. Dr. Holt pointed out that the behavior of Dr. Spence's patient could be explained on the basis of a defense against castration anxiety.

Dr. Milton Horowitz discussed the paper from the point of view of clinical