Letter from Sigmund Freud to Karl Abraham, July 4, 1924

450F

Vienna, Berggasse 191
4 July 1924

Dear Friend,

There are circumstances in which one can be altruistic even in old age. So I take pleasure with you in the Engadine, although I myself cannot be there. I have too clearly recognized my dependence on my doctor's studio to put such a distance between him and me, and have rented the Villa Schüler, near the southern railway station in Semmering, from where I can comfortably get to Vienna and back in a day. The rent is so high that I need not think of a second sojourn anywhere else. So, if you want to come and see me in August, you need make no other journey. This time I too have brought a patient with me as hand-luggage who shall keep me in practice. My state of health has recently been showing ups and downs,2 according to whether the prosthesis, the nose or the ear chose to torment me more or less. I hope we shall now find a modus vivendi with each other.

If you wish to send me your Congress paper, it is exceedingly probable that I shall read it with the greatest interest. We intend to move on 8 July.

With cordial greetings to you and your house and best wishes for the summer,

Yours,

Freud