Thus, either positively or negatively, the lives, fates and convictions of the parents have a great but often subtle power in moulding the careers and opinions of their children--an influence which, in so far as it is manifest, is generally recognised as a force as great as, if not greater than, that of inherited disposition or environmental suggestion; but which, in so far as it is not manifest except upon close psychological investigation, constitutes a very considerable, but hitherto largely unsuspected, force in shaping the destiny of the individual. It will be not the least of the tasks of the psychological, educational and economic sciences of the future to see that these forces, where beneficial, shall be exploited to their full extent for the benefit of the individual and of society, and, where harmful or dangerous, shall be counteracted or guarded against by the best means of which these sciences, in the course of their further development, may stand possessed. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 44: There is reason to believe that an influence of this kind was a factor of importance in determining the nature of Darwin's scientific work. _Cp._ E. J. Kempf, "Charles Darwin. The affective Sources of his Inspiration and Anxiety Neurosis." _Psychoanalytic Review_, V. 151.] [Footnote 45: For a study of unconscious family influences affecting the careers of children _cp._ Stekel, "Berufswahl und Kriminalität," _Archiv für Kriminalanthropologie und Kriminalistik_, XLI.] CHAPTER VIII IDEAS OF BIRTH AND PRE-NATAL LIFE [Sidenote: Birth and womb phantasies] [Sidenote: Manifestations of the desire to return to the womb]