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DEAR SIR,
A paper I wrote years ago dealt with certain erroneous inferences regarding Freud's character which have found their way into print. Since publication of my report was refused by psychoanalytic journals at that time, I have decided to deposit the paper in the Library of Congress. Before it is buried in the vaults of that hallowed institution, I should like to summarize four of the substantive points.
1According to Paul Roazen, Freud was envious of the analyst Victor Tausk because Tausk was 'extremely tall' (Roazen, 1969, p. 165). According to the same authority, Freud measured only five feet seven inches (Roazen, 1969, p. 36). Yet Marius Tausk (1973, p. 523), Tausk's son, reported his father's height as 1.75 meters (i.e. just under five feet nine inches). Thus the difference in height would have amounted to less than two inches—hardly enough to arouse envy.
But Roazen went a step further, claiming that Freud's sensitivity about his height was both extreme and generalized. As evidence, Roazen offered a tale about Freud's behaviour at the psychoanalytic Congress of 1911, held at Weimar. Supposedly, when a photograph of the assembled participants was to be taken, Freud stood on a box in order to appear taller than he actually was (1973, p. 165).
Challenged repeatedly with regard to that bizarre claim, Roazen (1978) eventually stated that 'Professor Henry J. Murray, a well-known student of Jung's, first told me the story about the photograph'. Upon my inquiry, Professor Murray answered as follows:
My memory of the source of Roazen's reference was Jung's telling me that Freud was asked (urged) to stand on a low box (stool) so that his acknowledged authority (leadership) would be apparent in the picture. As I recall, Jung was president of the Congress for two or three years in succession, and in the Weimar picture is near Freud leaning forward so as to have his head below Freud's. Whether or not Freud resisted the urging of Jung to stand on a stool does no