Chapter XV. Personal Life (1890-1900)

The Fliess correspondence adds much to what is known from other sources concerning Freud's mode of life, habits and general circumstances during this period. Even trivial details get mentioned incidentally, such as that he paid a daily visit to his barber1—indicating, for a fully bearded man, an unusual care of his person; that he loathed the apparently harmless dishes of fowl and cauliflower so much that he avoided taking a meal with a family where they were apt to be provided; and that he had a telephone installed as early as 1895.2

The roomier flat in the Berggasse, to which the Freuds had moved in the late summer of 1891, was not proving equal to the increasing number of children, so Freud rented another flat in 1892. This was on the ground floor in the same house, and gave on to a small but pleasant garden in the back. It had three rooms, used as patients' waiting-room, consulting-room and study respectively, so that Freud had every opportunity for quiet concentration. This arrangement lasted until 1907. Frau Fliess celebrated the occasion by sending him an example of her own handiwork.

Freud remarked in one letter that his life was spent in either his consulting-room or the nursery upstairs. He was evidently a fond father, and his letters to Fliess are full of details of the children's remarkable sayings and deeds. They all grew up to be sturdy, healthy people, but in childhood they seem to have caught every imaginable infectious disease. This was a source of constant anxiety, since it must be remembered that many of those diseases, such as scarlet fever, diphtheria, tonsillar angina, etc., were much more dangerous then than now, and nursing was the only form of treatment available.

Despite his other preoccupations Freud was very much a family man, interested in all that concerned his many relatives. Moreover, in addition to maintaining his own full household,