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    17th March 1924  

    Dear Friends,  

    Morton Prince has just finished giving a round of lectures at the  
    Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London and Edinburgh. He made a very weak  
    impression. Jung is coming to London in May to lecture.  

    Karl agrees that the best Rapporteurs for the Symposium would be  
    Hanns, Alexander and Radó, but he begs me also to join so that somewhere else can  
    be represented besides Berlin. I have consented to do this on condi-  
    tion that my report will consist only of a short introduction to the theme.  

    Van Ophuijsen has sent in a long list of resolutions which involve  
    the complete re-writing of the Statutes of the Association. It seems to me that  
    this will make an excellent topic for discussion at the Sunday meeting of the  
    various Presidents and Secretaries.  

    No news from here, so I will mention a matter of scientific interest.  
    The Rivers and Elliot Smith theory of the main motives in the development of  
    culture is based on recognition of the sexual symbolism familiar to us, which it  
    then proceeds to re-interpret by declaring that the wish for the elixir of life  
    and the rites symbolising union with the mother and rebirth indicate a wish for  
    immortality. Incidentally, they consider that the driving force emanated from  
    Egypt and spread from there all over the world. Elliot Smith’s book – “The  
    Evolution of the Dragon” should be of special interest to you (l. Otto); if you  
    have not already seen it, I could send you a copy. My Paper, which the President
     

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    of the Royal Anthropological Institute invited me to give, largely consists of  
    a criticism of this theory, and thinking that it may be of general interest, I  
    am sending three copies of it with this Rundbrief. For the sake of economy,  
    all the foot-notes including bibliographical references to analytical and other  
    literature have been omitted from the copies.  

    I hope that Otto is by now quite convalescent. Has anyone news of how  
    Max is progressing?  

    With cordial greetings to all,  
    Yours very sincerely,  
    Ernest Jones.