This little book, which can be read through at a sitting, succeeds in the difficult task of presenting the rudiments of the modern view of the mind in an easy, lucid and attractive form. Though I may not agree with every sentence she has written, Miss Firth’s development of the subject, and of its very intimate connexion with human life and human troubles, seems to me not only substantially sound and accurate, but essentially sane and well balanced. Her explanation of the different levels of the mind and of the “censors” by the metaphor of the tank and the sieves is particularly ingenious and helpful. The book will certainly succeed, to use the author’s words, in “planting certain fundamental concepts in untrained minds so that they may serve as a basis for future studies.” A. G. TANSLEY. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE FOREWORD BY A. G. TANSLEY 5 INTRODUCTION 11 I. THE PHYSICAL VEHICLE OF CONSCIOUSNESS 15 II. THE EVOLUTION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 18 III. HOW AN IDEA ENTERS THE MIND 20 IV. THE ORGANISATION OF THE UPPER LEVELS OF THE MIND 22 V. THE ORGANISATION OF THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE MIND 27 VI. COMPLEXES 31 VII. THE INSTINCTS 35 VIII. THE SELF-PRESERVATION INSTINCT 39 IX. DISEASES OF THE SELF-PRESERVATION INSTINCT 42 X. THE REPRODUCTIVE INSTINCT 44 XI. DEVELOPMENT OF THE REPRODUCTIVE INSTINCT 46 XII. DISEASES OF THE REPRODUCTIVE INSTINCT 49 XIII. SUBLIMATION 52 XIV. MALADAPTATION TO ENVIRONMENT AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY 56 XV. CONFLICT 60 XVI. REPRESSION 63 XVII. DISSOCIATION 66 XVIII. SYMBOLISATION 69 XIX. PHANTASIES, DREAMS, AND DELUSIONS 71 XX. PSYCHOTHERAPY 76 XXI. PSYCHOANALYSIS 78 XXII. HYPNOSIS, SUGGESTION, AND AUTOSUGGESTION 84 XXIII. THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF PSYCHOLOGY 89 XXIV. CONCLUSION 93 INTRODUCTION