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September 20, 1901
IX., Berggasse 19
Dear Wilhelm:
Tableau! [Amazing!] Our letters crossed! Only yesterday I inquired about your essay and here it is. I read through it the first time and am glad to say you have never before produced anything so clear, so concise, and so rich in substance. And what a blessing that there is no doubt about its truth! Thank you also for reserving a spot for me.1 I was very pleased too about the herpes. And throughout one can sense that you have still more material, but are able to put your riches aside and know how to limit yourself. I believe that characterizes the classical style.
Doesn't the title fall strangely short of the “causal” connection between nose and sexual organ? [Is it] an abbreviation for “Changes in the Nose and Sex Organ”? But it really doesn't matter; I don't want to be pedantic.
My cordial thanks.
Your
Sigm.
The reference is to Fliess's Über den ursächlichen Zusammenhang von Nase und Geschlechtsorgan. There is a passage that reads, “The typical cause of neurasthenia in young people of both sexes is masturbation (Freud), which in the case of older people is frequently replaced by conjugal [mutual] masturbation” (1st ed., p. 7).