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January 16, 1898
IX., Berggasse 19
Dear Wilhelm,
I regret that this time our conditions have not remained parallel. I have been well and in good spirits. I hope by now that is true of you too.
Enclosed No. 3 of the DR [dreckology report]. All sorts of little things are teeming; dream and hysteria fit together ever more neatly. The details are now standing in the way of the large problems touched upon in Breslau. One must take it as it comes and be glad that it comes at all. I add the definition of “happiness” (in case I have not already told it to you a long time ago?):
Happiness is the belated fulfillment of a prehistoric wish. For this reason wealth brings so little happiness. Money was not a childhood wish.
All sorts of other things keep dawning on me and always everything earlier is forgotten. It is too soon to summarize.
Recently Breuer pulled another brilliant stunt. I would think that one should not let his intelligence deceive one about his narrow-mindedness. What I am writing now is sheer craziness. I still owe him money from my student days (2,300 florins, I would estimate). I have never been able to pay it back; it was not until this year that I succeeded in sending him, with a few words of apology, the first installment of 500 florins. Thereupon a letter arrives for my wife, with the return of 350 florins. First, he did not know that the amount had not yet been paid. Second, two years ago I treated his poor niece B., estimated the cost of the treatment to be 500 florins and accepted only 150 florins. Therefore now the return of the rest with a receipt for 500 florins. Thereupon, of course, in a very polite letter which brags a little about my income, I prove to him that he has nothing to do with the affair B., that the amount in this case is completely different, and so forth. Thereupon he in turn: as long as I had not paid, he had not thought about paying either; but since I had started, he could not lag behind. He would keep the money and send me a receipt fo