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Bishop Usher; the Age of the World and Fundamentalism. By Smith Ely Jelliffe.

In a communication to be made to the psychoanalytic review, I shall deal at length with the interesting problem of the “Psychology of Numbers in the Unconscious.” Among other things I hope to discuss the meaning of numbers in the development of the heard instinct and will show, with others, the great rǒle played by numbers among primitive people much of which has come down to us in myth and folk-lore and superstition.

In view of the many discussions recently provoked by the Scopes trial it may not be without interest to anticipate some of the thoughts about the number 40 and to show how Bishop Usher came to his ideas of chronology concerning the age of the world.

Paradoxical as it may seem Bishop Usher is right about the age of the earth! But, how! Symbolically right. By unconscious processes he has translated the “myth of the creation” as told by Noah into an interesting symbolic bit of truth.

It may be recalled that Noah went into the Ark and that it rained 40 days and 40 nights, and then we have the story of the dove and the green sprig. As is well known in the analysis of myths, this whole story is an interesting creation phantasy, and as such phantasies usually are turned around, we have the beginning last—that is the dove that flew out of the Ark—and the green twig is the beginning—i.e., impregnation. The animals—one of each kind, these constitute an emphasis, namely, that it takes a male and female to make a baby. The 40 days and 40 nights, equals the well known 40 weeks of day and night necessary from the time of impregnation to that of birth.

Now see how Bishop Usher worked it out, unconsciously.—His 4004 years have only to be read, as is so usual in all unconscious symbolization from opposite directions—thus looked at > 4 0 | 0 4 < 40 days and thus 04 (40) nights is the ambivalent coupling 40:04 years B.C. therefore is only an interesting symbolic union by means of which the unconscio