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Budapest, November 22, 1908
VII., Erzsébet-körút 54
Dear Professor,
The second edition of your “Interpretation of Dreams,” which you were kind enough to send me, is to me not only a valuable gift but also the symbol of last summer in Berchtesgaden, the most meaningful one that I have ever experienced. I have already hurriedly read once through the bracketed passages; the new chapter on typical dreams1 brought me the solution to many heretofore unsolved dream problems. [2 A small contribution to tooth-pulling dreams: In the first and second grade we green boys applied our freshly learned Latin to school pornography (a not yet sufficiently appreciated chapter of juvenile sexuality). Among other things was the following bad Latin verse, which as far as I know had been going around for an incalculably long time:
It is noteworthy that in normal (not anatomical) Hungarian vernacular no distinction is made between foot (pes) and leg (crus). The comparison between external female genitals and the face, between vulva and mouth, seems to be deeply rooted in the popular consciousness. As an insult, on the other hand, the mouth is often referred to by the name of the female genital or the rectal opening. In Kleinpaul's Stromgebiet der Sprache4 I have found numerous instances which speak for the generally human aspect of this identification.—
I am sorry that I have not yet had any tooth-pulling dreams to analyze