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Vienna, March 27, 1875
Dear Friend,
Received your kind letter with the disagreeable news that the devil arranged a minor illness for you in a foreign land. I hope your rebellious foot will capitulate in time to allow you to go to Berlin. I take it that your lectures, too, do not start before the twelfth.
Our alma mater, of course, considers it beneath her dignity to publish a list of lectures at this early date; hence it is quite possible that actual work here will not start until later. You will find Herzig in Berlin; he intends to spend three semesters there. He is a bright fellow and I am glad he managed to escape from his barbarous Sanok.1 His young niece and fiancée will meanwhile be able to perfect the romantic role of yearning heroine. But don't mention any of this to him. He is keeping it a secret even from me; I learned it from another source.
For the homoeopathic papers you sent me, many thanks! Previously I had read but little and I have now found that my expectation of being served up utter nonsense was not fulfilled; yet it is no great achievement to remain on the well-trodden path of common sense for ten pages. So far, I can conclude only that these gentlemen are great metaphysicians, and Kantians in particular, which is most laudable but perhaps unhealthy. We shall see. They say Leipzig is the main center of homoeopathy.2
I can hardly convey to you how greatly my faith in what is generally held to be correct has been shaken and how much my secret leaning toward minority views has grown. Ever since Brentano adduced such ridiculously simple arguments in favor of his God, I have been afraid that one fine day I will be taken in by the scientific proofs of the validity of spiritualism, homoeopathy, by Louise Lateau,3 etc. In short, I have been too little of the dogmatist, adhering to all I believed in out of logical conviction alone.
Your appreciation of Brentano is uncommonly good and you may accept my compliments for assessing the main features of my relations