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In 1974, R. A. Kann edited and published a selected collection of Theodor Gomperz's letters and notes.1 The collection contained a commentary by Theodor's son, Heinrich Gomperz. Theodor Gomperz was an Austrian classical philologist and philosopher. In 1879, or thereabouts, Freud was asked by him to translate the twelfth volume of John Stuart Mills's writings. Subsequently, Elise Gomperz, Theodor's wife, became Freud's patient. Her treatment lasted for a number of years. In the published letters, Theodor Gomperz makes numerous references to Freud's treatment of his wife. His account is a third-party report of the actuality of the clinical situation in the crucial years of Freud's movement from electrotherapy through hypnosis to catharsis. It raises some questions about Freud's choices of treatment methods, illustrates the controversy around hypnosis that occurred in the 1880s, and provides us with a fair amount of information about social factors that were part and parcel of medical practice at the time.
Elise Gomperz (1849-1932) was 16 years younger than her husband. She was the daughter of Heinrich von Sichorsky, who worked as a senior executive of the Viennese Rothschild Bank establishment. She is described by Heinrich Gomperz as a nervous woman, given to mood swings, and stubborn in many ways. She was married for 40 years and had three children (Kann, 1974, p. 15). Theodor Gomperz and his wife belonged to the Jewish aristocracy in Vienna. They were married in 1869 in the Seitenstetten Synagogue. Elise Gomperz was well educated and informed about the political and cultural events of her time. This is well documented in her correspondence with her husband.
In 1885 the Gomperz's oldest son lost the sight of his left eye. Subsequently, the sight of this eye returned, but it became permanently colorblind.