March 2nd, 1922

Dear Friends:

I am writing a day late as our meeting was last night. If I had written yesterday 
it would have been before getting the Vienna letter, which arrived only today; the Ber-  
lin letter also took 7 days. The delay in the post and the burden of giving up one even-  
ing in every ten to the Rundbrief made me inclined to suggest a longer interval of 14  
days, but this thought is every time contradicted by the value of close contact given by  
the correspondence, which for myself I find quite invaluable. I am especially grateful to  
Rank for the excellently full letters he writes.  

Last night Inman, an eye surgeon, a guest, read a paper on neurotic eye symptoms of an  
unusual kind. He saw a connection between left-handedness, stammering and squint, and  
produced good evidence to show that convergent strabismus was often a symptom of resentment  
at being insufficiently loved. Dr Blumgart took part in the meeting. He is lunching with  
me to-morrow. We expect Oberndorf on Monday, and then we shall have a regular meeting of  
both with Flügel and Bryan.  

I have provisionally accepted the Indian group and begged Bose to come to the Congress.  
Ferenczi’s suggestion (made privately) that we should temporarily attach them to the Lon-  
don group I do not find very practical. We could exert no more influence or control on them  
in that way, and the Statutes do not provide for this kind of connection between one group  
and another.  

The arrangements for the British Assoc. meeting were unsatisfactory (we were to be mixed  
up with pseudo-analysts), so I refused to participate and sent a strong letter to the Sec-
 

retary. My highhanded action had its reward, for they abandoned their arrangements and  
asked me to make entirely my own, with the exception that Rivers had to be in the chair.  
I will discuss the matter at our next meeting and have hopes of being able to arrange a  
coup that will especially deal with Rivers. The Archbishop of Canterbury has formed a  
Committee of Bishops and physicians to consider the relation of the clergy to psycho-  
therapy and as he put no analyst on the committee Bryan and I wrote a protest to him;  
the correspondence is still going on.  

Dr Cyril Wilson, who has been in the analysis with me for nearly a year, was elected  
an associate member. Miss Harburn has applied for membership and I should be glad of a  
word from Rank about her. She is said to have organised the women police, which is no  
special recommendation.  

I take it that we are agreed to alter the announced date of the Congress to Sept. 25,  
and will ask Flügel to notify the various societies to that effect. I was strongly ag-  
ainst the stenographic proposal for more than one reason, but thought it best to leave  
the decision to Rank, whom it mostly concerned, and am glad to read his definite refusal.  
We may take it that the proposal to have an entrance subscription is also negatived, and  
I am glad to be able to announce that there will be no need either for it or for money  
from the Fond. Incidentally, the Dutch hospitality, great as it was, did not extend to  
the Congress arrangements (rooms, correspondence, programmes, etc), for which Flügel  
gave Ophuijsen a cheque for 22 pounds from the Zentralkasse. Presumably the cost in Ber-  
lin will be less than this, but even if it were much more there is no reason for the Ber-  
lin Committee to stint themselves in expense. To my astonishment we have discovered that,  
without counting the Austrian, German and Hungarian subscriptions for which Sachs is res-  
ponsible, there are sixty-nine pounds in the Zentralkasse. It is clear that we shall have  
to discuss at the Congress whether to find a new use for such money (? prizes) or else  
reduce the amount of the present subscription to the Association, perhaps both.  
I was exceedingly astonished to read in the Vienna letter that the symbolism island
 

woman-mother was not a recognised one, for I must have made a series of false memories 
about it. There is no doubt about the symbolism and I have met it over and over again  
for years, but the amusing thing is that I have “rückphantasiert” my acquaintance with  
it to the period of over 12 years ago when there was so much activity in Vienna in the  
discovery of new symbols. Surely it must at least come from Stekel? I even imagine a mem-  
ory of hearing the explanation that it was a womb inversion (solid surrounded by water in-  
stead of water surrounded by solid). How strange! It may for geographical reasons be esp-
ecially marked in England, but I certainly believe it to be a universal one. Surely the  
mythological connection between the “islands of the blest” and the heaven from which bab-
ies come and to which dead souls return is extremely widespread. My inquiry, my dear  
Otto, was à propos of a short article I wished to write connecting the political react-
ions of the Irish with their love for the Virgin Mother.  

Berlin. My best congratulations on the celebration of the second anniversary of the Poli-  
klinik, and may it go from strength to strength.  

If you happen to have kept the notes I sent you, my dear Abraham, would you please send  
them back and I will try to put them into a literary shape.  

Budapest. Of your two questions, my dear Ferenczi, the first was answered already in the  
circular letter from Flügel in October, which seems to have been passed by in Berlin, Buda-  
pest and Vienna, manuscripts of the abstracts should be sent in by July 15, and notices  
of papers by July 1st. I will certainly act on your second question of inviting some  
French and should be glad of any suggestions. Sokolnicka is I think already a member. Dr  
Mourgue should be invited. What about Hesnard? He has not behaved very well. Should we
 

not wait for him to take some initiative, either in regard to the Congress or otherwise?  
Vienna. I am greatly obliged to Professor for taking the trouble with the Schroeder MS,  
with which I shall now know how to deal. I should be glad of a line about Forsyth; per-  
haps Professor intends to write to me privately. No doubt you have received his book?  
It was excellent news to hear about the Verlags-Lokal, for I know how important  
that is and how much it was needed. Altogether the activities of the Verlag are in its cir-  
cumstances truly astounding, and we know whom we have to thank for them. I have care-  
fully noted what you say about the Library matters. You are right about Hiller and the  
paper question. He is not to blame, but he has little faculty in the art of »urgieren«,  
in which you, my dear Otto, are a supreme master, so I will beg you to help him in  
this respect from time to time, also with the printers. He has no proper notion of how  
to make a Krach.  

You will send me the proofs of the Ferenczi-Hollós work as soon as it appears, please.  
Flügel and I chose the dates for the quarterly report chiefly out of consideration to  
the printing of the Z and J (which in future should appear at the same time, after this  
year), also considering annual meetings, holidays, etc, and allowing an interval for the  
inevitable delays. For instance, the report due on Nov. 1 should in most cases be in your  
hands by the middle of the month, to appear in the January issue. Is that not time?  
Last, but to me not least, I am happy to announce the birth of a son last Monday. Both  
he and his mother are progressing excellently.  

With cordial greetings to all,  

Ernest Jones.