Psychiatrists during recent years have come to believe that in certain mental states we see a reversion to a more primitive type of reaction,--a tendency to utilize earlier adaptations, the reactions of infancy and childhood in meeting situations which arise in adult life. If this assumption is correct it is seen that a reversion to something more primitive is an undesirable reaction in the individual as well as in the race. Here too we find that the emotions and feelings associated with the reproductive instinct may be inadequately developed. It has been shown above that the day dreams of the child are probably beneficial rather than harmful. Is this day dreaming beneficial to the adult? We know from our experience that it is not, and in its relation to the reproductive sphere this is particularly true. The adult who substitutes the realities of life by elaborate day dreams is approaching dangerous ground. The young woman who in adult life is constantly dreaming of an ideal but fictitious lover is deriving satisfaction from unhealthy sources; and the young man who ecstatically becomes a hero or a racial benefactor is equally at fault. In instances where such thoughts are believed in and acted upon as we observe again and again in mental disorders, a serious condition of the mind has arisen. When an attempt is made to gain satisfaction in these immature ways at a later stage of development, or when there is a failure to develop at a certain point, the reaction is harmful in both the individual and in the race. It is during the adolescent period that these failures of adaptation generally occur. At this time, the whole development in the reproductive sphere, particularly in the mental characteristics associated with the sexual instinct, considered in its broadest sense, does not take place. There may be much rumination about this topic, but the responsibilities of adult sexual life, of marriage, of child bearing with the female, are not adequately met. Fancies are substituted for reality, and while, as stated above, young women may dream of ideal lovers, they at the same time are shy and unnatural in their attitude toward the opposite sex. Young men, instead of taking their place in the life of the adult community, realize adult ambitions only by elaborate day dreams. In abnormal mental states, we see young men in their fancies become important personages, religious benefactors and national heroes. They may shun all association with women but at the same time maintain that they have a cultural mission to populate the earth. We see here how the feelings associated with reproductive instincts have been faulty or inadequate. This return to something more primitive is an unhealthy atavistic tendency and makes for both racial and individual inferiority.