ty that I cannot kiss myself," might be attributed
to it.)

Not all children suck their thumbs. It may be assumed that it is found
only in children in whom the erogenous significance of the lip-zone is
constitutionally reenforced. Children in whom this is retained are
habitual kissers as adults and show a tendency to perverse kissing, or
as men they have a marked desire for drinking and smoking. But if
repression comes into play they experience disgust for eating and evince
hysterical vomiting. By virtue of the community of the lip-zone the
repression encroaches upon the impulse of nourishment. Many of my female
patients showing disturbances in eating, such as hysterical globus,
choking sensations, and vomiting, have been energetic thumbsuckers
during infancy.

In the thumbsucking or pleasure-sucking we have already been able to
observe the three essential characters of an infantile sexual
manifestation. The latter has its origin in conjunction with a bodily
function which is very important for life, it does not yet know any
sexual object, it is _autoerotic_ and its sexual aim is under the
control of an _erogenous zone_. Let us assume for the present that these
characters also hold true for most of the other activities of the
infantile sexual impulse.

THE SEXUAL AIM OF THE INFANTILE SEXUALITY

*The Characters of the Erogenous Zones.*--From the example of
thumbsucking we may gather a great many points useful for the
distinguishing of an erogenous zone. It is a portion of skin or mucous
membrane in which the stimuli produce a feeling of pleasure of definite
quality. There is no doubt that the pleasure-producing stimuli are
governed by special determinants which we do not know. The rhythmic
characters must play some part in them and this strongly suggests an
analogy to tickling. It does not, however, appear so certain whether the
character of the pleasurable feeling evoked by the stimulus can be
designated as "peculiar," and in what part of this peculiarity the
sexual factor exists. Psychology is still groping in the dark when it
concerns matters of pleasure and pain, and the most cautious assumption
is therefore the most advisable. We may perhaps later come upon reasons
which seem to support the peculiar quality of the sensation of pleasure.

The erogenous quality may adhere most notably to definite regions of the
body. As is shown by the example of thumbsucking, there are predestined
erogenous zones. But the sam