Until recently very little was known about Schreber's childhood. Nor do the limitations of our knowledge permit us now to reconstruct Schreber's childhood along longitudinal lines. Nevertheless, investigations based on the Memoirs and their analysis by Freud, on the recent contribution by Baumeyer, and on new authentic material accumulated by the present author have enabled us to review the patient's relationship with his father in the light of childhood events. More specifically, in correlating certain formations of Schreber's delusional system with experiences in his early life, it has been possible to arrive at the kernel of "historical truth" in the

genesis of such formations, thus illuminating hitherto unintelligible aspects of the Memoirs.