1 I rush bach and forth full of excitement. I opens and close the wardrobe, various bureau drawers, the writing desk. I lay out my gloves, jewelry and the various toilet articles. Every little while I think of some additional little thing I had forgotten. The round of opening and searching begins all over.- finally I stand before the looking-glass and let down my hair preparing to dress it; but it is useless. I cannot get through with the hair dressing. Fatigued by the hopeless strain I lower my arms helplessly. My husband is fully dressed, ready and waiting for us, to go out visiting. I hurry from room to room out of breath but I do not find it possible to finish my toilette. Finally I wake up exhausted.

2 Stekel, Zwangszustande, Ihre Psychischen Wurzela unci ihre Heilung. Mediz. Klinik., 1910, No. 5-7.

The meaning is very simple. She finds that preparations are being made for a private (secret) entertainment (opposite to "Gesellschaft," society, i. e,. social call) by her husband. She gets ready her small things (jewels). The expression: "the round of opening and closing begins all over" is particularly edifying.3 She cannot finish her hair dressing, i.e., she is unable to attain libido; her whole life is a search for libido. All her thoughts revert symbolically to this one theme. Frisieren,- hair dressing, - is a well-known expression for coitus. Preparing one's toilet also means congres-sus (sexualis); it also means, by contrast, undressing. Her inability to "get through," in contrast to her husband, is the basic theme expressed in this and in all her other affectatively toned dreams. To go into society, - to be received: empfangen werden - again, leads to Empfangniss; pregnancy. Her most bitter disappointment: she is childless, there are no children in the home, no companionship, no Kleinigkeiten: no little things. Closet, drawer, writing desk, glove, jewel, little things, - these are alike symbols for the female genitalia. Her hus-

3 "Das Offnen und Suchen beginnt von vorn: "the opening (of drawers) and searching begins . . . von vorn, over again," but also: "in the front." band is already waiting, i. e., he is ready, or rather through (fertig) before she is.

Another one of her dreams may also serve as example: