ABSTRACT
An advantage of believing that observations are the foundation of scientific method is that the conditions in which they are made can be stated and then produced. The simplicity of this has its appeal for the psycho-analyst: an analytic situation is presumed to exist and interpretations of the observations made in that situation are then reported. It is possible to believe that the analysis has a location in time and space: for example, the hours arranged for the sessions and the four walls of the consulting-room; that at such times and in such a place the analyst can make observations which he cannot do if the domain has not these limitations, or if 'psycho-analytic observations' do not conform to the conventional view of an observation. If I pictorialize the statement 'the conventional view of an observation' to be a container, like a sphere, and the 'psycho-analytic observation' as something that cannot be contained within it, I have a model that will do very well not only for the 'conventional view', to represent my feelings about a 'psycho-analytic situation', but also for the 'psycho-analysis' that it cannot contain. It will also serve as a model for my feelings about certain patients: I cannot observe Mr X because he will not remain 'inside' the analytic situation or even 'within' Mr X himself.
