Psychoanalysis has had a short, a stormy but a very productive career. Contributions have come from all sources and have become increasingly numerous, so that the literature, at least to the newcomer, dispersed as it has been through numerous journals, has presented many difficulties in the way of a comprehensive grasp of principles and applications. The subject, however, has advanced to such a stage that treaties covering the entire field, even of a more or less textbook character, are slowly beginning to make their appearance. One of the best of these is this work of Fenichel.

The subject of psychoanalysis as presented by the author is systematically set forth from its historically more significant aspects as applicable to hysteria, to its more difficult and less certain applications in the analysis of character disorders. Intervening chapters deal with the neuroses and with the applications of the psychoanalytic method to the psychoses, plus a running commentary on the theories that are involved, the difficulties