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Klobenstein 10 September 1911
59F
Dear Dr. Binswanger,
I know of no better way of celebrating the second anniversary of the doctorate1 I received at Worcester than by answering your letter. First of all many thanks for having been so very kind as to have it copied out (your wife's handwriting?). My next response was going to be to tell you that I would be visiting you in Constance to discuss your project2 with you after the Congress. But then I received a letter from my 79-year-old (!) brother3 in England with the news that the younger of my two old brothers (76 years old)4 had died, and with the very understandable hope that he would see me again this autumn. And so I have decided to go on to England, Holland, Belgium or wherever he would like to meet me, after the Congress, and my visit to you, for which I had already made so many preparations, has had to be called off. There is not enough time before the Congress, for I cannot leave here before the 15th or be in Zurich before the 16th and on the 20th we shall be back on the train.5 In Zurich itself, however, there will be a great many things to discuss, and I believe Putnam will be waiting for me there as well.
That is why I shall delay no longer in saying that your project seems very suitable to me. All of us consider you a connecting link with orthodox psychiatry, whose obduracy none of us indeed wishes to reinforce. Your past, your family associations and your inclinations all point you towards such a mediator's role. Very few of those with a traditional training have had your opportunities for judging and comparing. Your circumspection and honesty of intent entitle you to