THE continuance or discontinuance of residential nurseries
after the war will probably be decided by social and eco-
nomic needs and not on the basis of psychological require-
ments. In spite of this it may be helpful to have the
psychological circumstances of a residential nursery outlined
in one's mind. There are realms in the infant's life where
the residential nursery can be helpful by creating, very
much on the lines of the nursery school, excellent conditions
for development, as health, hygiene, development of skills,
early social responses. There are, as described above, other
realms, where it is important for residential nurseries to
recognize their limitations, as in emotional life, character-
development; they will then face, and more effectively fight,
the consequences of such limitations.

Readers who are familiar with the concepts of psycho-
analytic psychology will realize the special interest which
has driven the authors to begin this investigation. Psycho-
analysis has, from its beginnings, drawn attention to the
overwhelming importance of the first five years of life.
During this period primitive instinctive forces are openly at
work in the child (infantile sexuality with its ramifications
and derivatives; primitive aggression). In the first attach-
ments to the parents, the so-called Oedipus complex, the
child brings these forces into play, and through identifica-
tion with the parents' wishes, super-ego formation turns
against them and defeats its own former aims. Infantile

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