26 March 1913  321 Jarvis St  Toronto

Dear Professor Freud,

I heard yesterday from my wife, for the first time since London.  It was a very friendly, kind letter, loving at times, though she evaded the main question of her attitude to me.  Perhaps the most striking feature was the complete absence of complaints and pessimism in regard to the treatment, which she acknowledges is doing her a great deal of good and freeing her from one symptom after the other.  She evidently feels much better altogether, and on a more objective basis than before.

As to the accompanying article, when I spoke about it to Sachs (who has the copy of the photograph referred to in it) he was a little afraid it might be too shocking for Imago, but advised me to write it and submit it for your opinion.  I am in hopes that he could translate it into acceptable German that would not offend too much, and am very eager to hear what you think of it.  It seems to me to be an important theme, which must be discussed some time.^[1]

The poem I enclose, which has never been published, is by a celebrated Spanish lyricist; it was given to me by a patient.  Have you ever seen it?  It is remarkable that the writer should feel impelled to cast such thoughts into an artistic form ‑‑ a violent ambivalency, like the theme of my article.

I have three papers yet to write in the next five weeks, to be read at Baltimore and Washington.^[2]  So between these and the accompanying article, which has cost a great deal of work, poor Napoleon has not come much farther.  Still I have read much, making notes, since being in Canada, and know now exactly how much more I have to read; I cannot begin to write about him for several months.  In searching for an explanation of his fictitious origin of his name ("Lion of the Desert") I came across by accident the following curious fact.  He won a battle in Syria (1799) at a town called "Naplons" (derived from Neapolis), which is where the holy Joseph (father of Jesus) is supposed to be buried.  This was before he invented the etymology of his name, and indeed he almost certainly knew of it at an earlier age, 18, when he made a list of the towns of Syria.  I wonder if there is any connection?

I see you take the opportunity in the Zeitschrift of putting Maeder right on the topic of dreams,^[3] but from his article in the Jahrbuch he doesn't seem to be able to sowe very simple ideas.^[4]  What do the Zürich people think of Fortmüller's [sic] entertaining exposition in the Zentralblatt?^[5]  Who helped him to compose it?  I find Rosenstein's Kritik rather diffuse,^[6] with too much repetition; it would have gained strength by being more concise.

I leave Toronto on May 3rd or 4th, and hope to have the pleasure of hearing from you again before then.  I reach Vienna on about the 27th.  What sort of reception do you think I shall get?

Yours always affectionately  Jones.

^[1]           Jones (1914a).

^[2]           Jones (1913d, 1913i, 1913‑14).

^[3]           S. Freud, "Ein Traum als Beweismittel," Zeitschrifit, 1(1913):73‑78.

^[4]           A. E. Maeder, "Zur Frage der teleologischen Traumfunktion.  Eine Bemerkung zur Abwehr," Jahrbuch, 5(1913):453‑454.

^[5]           Carl Furtmüller, "Wandlungen in der Freud'schen Schule," Zentralblatt, 3(1913):189‑201.

^[6]           Gaston Rosenstein, [Review of Karl Furtmüller, "Psychoanalyse und Ethik"], Zentralblatt, 3(1913):162‑164.