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Paris
October 19, 1885
My beloved darling
My lazy life could have come to an end today. I went to the Salpêtrière, which is just as big and has as many courtyards as our hospital, to introduce myself to the medical assistant and ask when Charcot1 is expected. The assistant, however, was not there; he has already been replaced by a new one, and Charcot was in the wards. I could have gone in there, but I had left my introduction at home, and so this step upon which so much depends has to wait till tomorrow. The Consultation Externe- i.e., the consultation for outpatients-takes place at 9:30. So perhaps by tomorrow I shall already be occupied with work. The lectures at the École de Médecine don't begin till November 5, but if things with Charcot work out well I shall hardly have much to do there. The medical library is on the first floor of the École de Médecine; it contains a great number of magazines, including German and English ones, and here I shall probably spend many an hour.
One of Charcot's books, which I already own in the German translation, I have now bought for four francs so as to learn French from the translation. My laziness is beginning to worry me terribly;