L.11.

Dec. 15th Answer to Berl., Wien 92, Budap. 83.

Dear Friends:

I am a day late in writing, having had urgent private affairs last night. We have now all agreed to my proposal for a fixed day, and Ferenczi ac- cepts Abraham‘s proposal of writing three times a month. I also agree with this as being better than fortnightly, and assume that Vienna will also. So we all start »square« on Dec. 21st. It only remains after that to decide whether the 1st, 11th, and 21th, are the best days, or regularly every ten days starting from Dec. 21st. I favour the latter alternative.

I begin with the pleasant announcement that Ferenczi, who received the British Society into the Association, and Rank, who has done so much for us in connection with the Journal, have been, partly for these reasons and partly for the value of their scientific contributions to psa elected Honorary Members (Ehrenmitglieder) of our Society. The Secretary will of course send official notifications, but in the meantime I am happy to congratulate our new members, and to bid them welcome with all my heart.

Hiller is delayed by a slight cold, but intends to leave here for Vienna on Saturday. I have no doubt that he will be both useful and welcome in Vienna.

Flügel has received the quarterly report4 of the Hungarian Society. I do

not know if he sent a copy to Rank for the Z., but I will make a transla- tion for the J., and send both copies on to Rank.

The indication I gave last week of psa being favoured by notices in the Press has developed into a darkly campaign on the part of seven or eight newspapers. The lower class ones denounce psa in violent language, also appealing to anti-German feeling, but the better class content themselves with warning against its dangers in unskilled hands. It is written by so- me-one with no knowledge of the facts, for psa is widely identified with telepathy, thought-reading, and other »occult tendencies«, against which there is at present also a campaign. I have just been told that Chesterton5 is probably the instigator of the campaign. Bryan and I wrote an official letter to the Times last week, but they did not insert it. Some of the things said are exceedingly »gemein«, such as that psa consists of reading peo- ple’s secret thoughts and then blackmailing them for so-and-so many guineas.

Sachs: We want to publish your review of Mordell in the next number of the J.6 If you and Frau Dr Abraham could write it in English you could send it direct to Hiller in Vienna; if not, send it to me. I should like a short review of Cohen’s book, for we do not confine ourselves to books dealing directly with psa, but if you prefer to return it I will get it revie- wed here; there is no hurry about it.

Professor: I should be glad of your advice about Mahomet, as India is so far away to write to, and I had thought of printing it in Nr. 4 of the J.7

I was interested to hear of your invitation to America. The sum should have been double what it was, for otherwise you would not have any left after returning, in my calculation.

Rank. I enclose an editorial letter. Do you know of the following? Trepsat, Du traitment des états anxieux par la méthode psychanalytique, L’Encéphale, 1920, p. 35;8 Dupré & Trepsat, La technique de la méthode psychanalytique dans les états anxieux, Loc. cit., P. 169: (both in positive sense).9 Mourgue & Colin Les enseignements méthodologiques et la signification de la psycho-analyse, Ann. médico-psychologiques, 1918, LXXIV (favourable except as regards sex).10

I am grateful to you for saving me the trouble of giving an account of the new British Journal of Psychology, Medical Section, which has just ap- peared. It is the official organ of that section of the Brit. Psych. Soc. be- fore whom I read my paper that appears also in Nr. 2 of our J. They had the right to publish it, but I arranged with them last January that we should also publish it, and they were good enough to promise that we should publish it first. I gave them until October, thinking that our Nr. 2 would be out by July at the latest, and never expecting that it could be six months late. As for the future I am trying to arrange with Mitchell that only that part of the Z. is reviewed which we decide not to translate for the J. It may be necessary to arrange also that we duplicate of e. g. Psa. Review, for there are so few abstractors, and of course he will employ only analysts for the psa. literature. I have not heard yet from Brill about American help, and am beginning to get anxious.

There is a further new Journal of Neurology and Psychopathology, edi- ted by Wilson11 and Bernard Hart12 (latter is an assoc. member). Read and Devine13 do psa. literature for them, and in the present number there is a three page review of Professor’s Vorlesungen (Bernays’ translation) by Read14, in which he criticises Professor for using several terms (e. g. repression and suppression) in a new sense from before and thus causing confusion. I have written to tell him it is the fault of the translator, but I expect he will reply that he couldn’t be supposed to know that Professor would have such an important book translated without its being correc- ted by someone with a knowledge of psa..

Nachmansohn is a protégé of Pfister‘s, a medical student not yet quali- fied, who keeps aloof from the other analysts in Zürich. I heard of him accidentally in London from someone whom he had analysed.

Ferenczi. I have sent the money to the American Mission as you instruc- ted. Without discussing any other considerations about telepathy, etc., I wish to say that you are perhaps under a misunderstanding when you speak of analysts taking the lead in a neglected Gebiet. That may be true for Hungary, but not for England and America, where the S.P.R.15 num- bers thousands. Since the war there has been an enormous recrudescence of all forms of »occult« phenomena, telepathy, etc, and it is common to see it on the newspaper placards even. There is also, as mentioned above, a strong counter-campaign, on the ground of its doing harm to neurotics, etc, so that the subject is here extremely »actuel« and not at all neglected. I do not say that this is an argument against our discussing it, but it is on- ly no argument in favour of our doing so.

As to Abraham‘s interesting suggestion about Deckerinnerungen I can add nothing on the spot, except to say how often one finds it true, but I will specially examine examples from this point of view, and we can compare experiences.

Cordial greetings to all

Ernest Jones.