In this report to the Vienna Faculty of Medicine, on the completion of a 'Traveling Bursary', Freud describes his period of study at the Salpêtrière. He had originally intended to apply himself to problems of the cerebral atrophies and degenerations of childhood, but found the laboratory resources utterly unsatisfactory, in sharp contrast to the clinic conducted by Charcot. The clinical experience was valuable, but Freud was most stimulated by his scientific and personal acquaintance with Charcot, whom he admired without reservations. Freud believed that clinicians other than Charcot had less understanding of hysteria than did doctors in the Middle Ages. The recognition of hysteria in males was a major forward step, as was the concept of traumatic hysteria. He was deeply moved by his teacher's demonstrations of hypnosis, which he discusses at some length.