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30 January 1911
Vienna IX, Berggasse 19
49F
Dear Dr. Binswanger,
Only the most extreme shortage of time can excuse my tardiness in congratulating you on the birth of your daughter.1 Now you are a
father in every respect and have experienced twice over the most remarkable thing life has to offer. May she prosper and bring joy to her admirable mother and to you.
I must protest in retrospect against the notion that by assigning to you the task of introducing psychoanalysis into medical practice I was trying to bar you from scientific work, as you seem to assume in your proudly modest way.
On the contrary, we look to you for many more contributions of the Irma and even more deeply ranging types. I merely tried to convey to you that our method needed certain modifications for institutional application, and these no one could evaluate better than you.
Frau G. has a secret despite her denial. I suspect (from a hint by her family physician) that it is connected with a love affair (with a third party) between her two marriages, and might well be the criminal destruction of the fruit of that affair. I leave it to you whether and how you lead her back to this probably forgotten part of her love life.
My son is getting better; he is due for a fixed dressing within the next few days. I hope your brother is getting better too.
I have been through several particularly wretched weeks that convinced me that the final arteriosclerosis was already upon me, until, quite by accident, I was shown to have been suffering from chronic gas poisoning.2 Since the replacement of the defective tube, I have been almost transformed and hope to be able to carry on for some time yet.