ABSTRACT
The stage in the alchemical process has to do with the chemistry of fermentation. The materials have been sealed in the alchemical vessel, and are being heated. The basic point is that the foetus is well developed and quite experienced before the birth process begins, as Verny has well described. One of the curious things is that even a person who has brought some quite fresh thinking to the question of the early origins of neurosis, Daniel Stern, has nothing to say about birth or foetal experience. The word ‘infant’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘unable to speak’, and so strictly speaking we should save the word for this period of life; but of course in ordinary speech it is often used more widely. Attention to something is accompanied by a drop in heart rate, and anxiety is accompanied by a rise in heart rate.
