Letter from Ernest Jones to Sigmund Freud, October 17, 1909

17 October 1909
407 Brunswick Avenue
Toronto

Dear Professor Freud,

First let me hope that you had a pleasant voyage home, and that you enjoyed your American “trip”. Any fatigue from it should be compensated by the knowledge that you have struck a powerful blow for the cause in America, and Brill and I are very grateful to you for both impersonal and personal reasons.

I hope you had a good time in the mountains, and should be glad to hear sometime as to what you made of Putnam. He does not seem to have much practical knowledge of psycho-analysis, but he is a useful ally. He has this month published an article, in which he enthusiastically praises your work and method.1

I should like to say something about my personal inhibitions, but it is difficult in a short space. I am proposing to inflict a long account of them on Jung, who spoke to me on the subject, and if he thinks it worth while he can send it on to you. The following few words give the practical side of it. So far as I can judge my inhibitions, which I know could not have escaped your sharp eye, were never against your work or conclusions, but against the advisability of joining in your method of propagandism. I felt that a more consciously organised campaign would have had better results than blind advocacy on the part of everyone who took up the work. Naturally, as you will imagine, this attitude was at bottom determined by personal complexes. However, the outcome of the story is that about six or eight months ago2 I determined not only to further the cause by all the means in my power, which I had always decided on, but also to further it by whatever means you personally decided on, and to follow your recommendations as exactly as possible. In that I hope I am succeeding to your satisfaction, as tested, for instance, by my recent writings. Anything you may care to say to me on the subject I will give my keenest thought and attention to.

Many thanks for your comments on the Hamlet article. I made the necessary