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January 17, 1897
IX., Berggasse 19
My dear Wilhelm,
You are obviously enjoying the goings-on in my head; that is why I shall let you know every time there is something new. I still think highly of the determination of the psychoses and shall present the material to you soon. You caused me to doubt my explanation of epilepsy, but it is not yet entirely shattered. What would you say, by the way, if I told you that all of my brand-new prehistory of hysteria1 is already known and was published a hundred times over, though several centuries ago? Do you remember that I always said that the medieval theory of possession held by the ecclesiastical courts was identical with our theory of a foreign body and the splitting of consciousness? But why did the devil who took possession of the poor things invariably abuse them sexually and in a loathsome manner? Why are their confessions under torture so like the communications made by my patients in psychic treatment? Sometime soon I must delve into the literature on this subject. Incidentally, the cruelties make it possible to understand some symptoms of hysteria that until now have been obscure. The pins which make their appearance in the oddest ways; the sewing needles on account of which the poor things let their breasts be mutilated and which are not visible by X-ray, though they can no doubt be found in their seduction stories! Eckstein has a scene [that is, remembers] where