7 March 1927  81 Harley Street  London W1

Dear Professor:

I am afraid my memory is not quite clear on the detail you mention about the Burlington Magazine, but I think it most probable that it was I who got hold of it.  All I can be quite sure of is that at that time I gave you a good deal of material of the sort, including a number of photographs which I brought back from Rome.

May I suggest that we should welcome any expression of opinion from you in the Rundbrief concerning the discussion between Alexander and Reich.  It seems to me that both are in the right, because there is a good deal of Aneinanderreden [altercation].  I only hope that Alexander may not go too far in the Adler direction of making the super‑ego into a dummer August [half‑wit], but the economic side of the Strafbedürfnis certainly needs clearing up.^[1]

Yours always affectionately,  Ernest Jones

^[1]           In the dialogue entitled "Strafbedürfnis und neurotischer Prozess" (Need for Punishment and Neurotic Process), Reich challenges Alexander's theory of personality based on the hypotheses of a death instinct, the repetition compulsion, and the need for punishment as the basis of neurotic conflict; and in turn Alexander replies.  See Wilhelm Reich, "Kritische Bemerkungen zu neueren Auffassungen des Neurosenproblems," Zeitschrift, 13(1927):36‑46; and Franz Alexander, "Entgegnung auf Reichs kritische Bemerkungen," Zeitschrift, 13(1927):47‑53.