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January 24, 1895
Dearest Wilhelm,
I must hurriedly write to you about something that greatly astonishes me; otherwise I would be truly ungrateful. In the last few days I have felt quite unbelievably well, as though everything had been erased — a feeling which in spite of better times I have not known for ten months. Last time I wrote you, after a good period which immediately succeeded the reaction, that a few viciously bad days had followed during which a cocainization of the left nostril had helped me to an amazing extent. I now continue my report. The next day I kept the nose under cocaine, which one should not really do; that is, I repeatedly painted it to prevent the renewed occurrence of swelling; during this time I discharged what in my experience is a copious amount of thick pus; and since then I have felt wonderful, as though there never had been anything wrong at all. Arrhythmia is still present, but rarely and not badly; the sensitivity to external pressure is slight, the sensations being between o [zero] and —o. I am postponing the full expression of my gratitude and the discussion of what share the operation had in this unprecedented improvement until we see what happens next.
In any event, I herewith dedicate to you a new insight which is upsetting my equilibrium more than much that happened before and to which I have not yet become indifferent. It is the explanation of paranoia; my inventions are all of such an unpractical nature. Tell me your opinion of it; by then I probably will have calmed down.
How would it be if you first experimented on the preparation jointly with Gersuny?1 According to Breuer and Rie, he worked intensively on the matter after he had overcome his initial hesitation.