Statuette of the god Thoth in the form of Baboon

The baboon was recognized as the spirit of the Egyptian god Thoth. As god of intellectual pursuits, and inventor of hieroglyphs, the baboon of Thoth may have had a special appeal to Freud because of its conflation of instinct and intellect. One of Freud’s missions, after all, was to reveal the profound influence of instinct – sexuality and aggression – on man’s intellectual achievements. Freud also used the metaphor of a pictorial language (hieroglyphics) to describe the dream-process. This figure stood on Freud’s desk and the Freud family's housekeeper Paula Fichtl noted he was in the habit of stroking the marble baboon when deep in thought.