You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
70A
Berlin
16 May 1909
Dear Professor,
I hope by the time this letter reaches you the various illnesses you mentioned some weeks ago will long have been things of the past. I answer your letter only today because I wanted to report to you on my talk to the Psychological Society, under Moll's chairmanship. It is not a professional association but a rather mixed audience. I spoke about “Infantile Phantasies in the Mental Life of the Adult”. M. was very kind (as always) and declared that he did not want to take part in the discussion because his reply would probably turn out to be too temperamental! I was glad that frictions were avoided in this way. M. also talked about his visit to you, naturally completely differently from what you told me about it. In the future I shall keep away from him as much as possible. This type of person does not appeal to me, and from other quarters too I keep hearing unfavourable things about his character. His part in the patient-catching affair also prejudices people against him. In the discussion one of the speakers, the psychologist Vierkandt,1 showed quite good understanding.
What gave me most pleasure in your letter was the hope of seeing you here in the autumn. Perhaps I may ask you already now to be generous in apportioning your time! I am so looking forward to it, and in the course of time such a great deal has accumulated that I want to discuss with you!
My practice, which from the outset has developed more favourably than I had dared hope, has recently surprised even me by its progress. I am busy for the greater part of the day with ongoing treatments; in the morning there are nine patients on my agenda, six of them psychoanalytic cases! A year and a half ago I would not have dreamt of this. Admittedly I am not yet sought out by the public. I owe most of the cases to other doctors or to personal contacts. For several months I have had no support from Oppenheim, as he has either been ill or away, but in spite of this the practice has