Transmission and appropriation invite us to reflect on the dynamics of identification, i.e. the transformation of a potential state into an operative state through a detour via another who is supposed to have already acquired it. The foundational identification of the mind, identification with the imperative of the psychic inscription of another, is subject to an imperative that precedes and sustains it. This dynamic combine two wishes, for appropriation and transmission, which are accomplished by a psychic act carried out during the regressive psychic activities of passivity, such as dreaming, playing and free association. Transmission is a consequence of these activities, using as supports all the tangible substrates of both internal and external realities. This dynamic can be followed in the development of the child, in analytic work, and in the training of analysts. Transmission seems to be a marginal effect of the foundational process of the mind.