ger instinct. It
is, however, plain that the mouth is at first concerned only with the
gratifying of the hunger instinct; later the desire for a repetition of
pleasurable experience gained in this way is separated from the need of
taking nourishment, thereby transforming this mucous surface into an
erogenous zone. It is likewise difficult to conceive by the
inexperienced in psychoanalysis, that the child derives pleasurable
sensations from the anal zone. Because of the important role which anal
eroticism plays in our case we might speak more fully of this form of
autoeroticism. One not infrequently observes in little children that
they refuse to empty the bowels when they are placed on the closet
because they obtain pleasure from defecation, when the retained stool by
its accumulation excites strong irritation of the mucosa. The importance
which scatological rites and ceremonials, that is, certain peculiar
niceties practiced in connection with the emptying of the bowels, play
in the evolution of the race have been extensively discussed in
literature. Havelock Ellis[7] says in this connection--"The most usual
erotic symbolisms in childhood are those of the scatologic group, the
significance of which has often been emphasized by Freud and his school.
The channels of urination and defecation are so close to the sexual
centers that the intimate connection between the two groups is easily
understood. There is undoubtedly a connection between nocturnal enuresis
and sexual activities, sometimes masturbation. Children not infrequently
believe that the sexual acts of their elders have some connection with
urination and defecation, and the mystery with which the excretory acts
are surrounded, helps to support this theory. Up to puberty scatologic
interests may be regarded as normal; at this age the child has still
much in common with the primitive mind, which, as mythology and folklore
show, attributes great importance to the excretory functions."

Many of these ceremonials one regularly discovers in the analyses of
neurotics. We shall not dwell further here upon the erogenous zones
activity in the suckling, but emphasizing again its importance along
with the importance of autoeroticism in the sexuality of the suckling
will pass to the next phase of the psycho-sexual evolution of man--the
latent period.

The germs of sexual excitement in the new-born develop for a time, then
undergo a progressive suppression in a period of parti