On Reading E-Book

Marcel Proust

• Herausgeber: Hesperus Press Ltd.
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: On Series
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 181

Beschreibung

On Reading

Leseprobe

’on’

Published by Hesperus Press Limited

19 Bulstrode Street, London W1U 2JN

www.hesperuspress.com

Introduction and English language translation © David Carter, 2011

This collection first published by Hesperus Press Limited, 2011

Designed and typeset by Fraser Muggeridge studio

Printed in Jordan by Jordan National Press

ISBN: 978-1-84391-601-7

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the express prior consent of the publisher.

Contents

Introduction

On Cocaine

Letters to Martha: 21 April and 19 June, 1884

‘On Coca’, 1884

Letter to Martha: 16 January, 1885

‘A Contribution to Knowledge about the Effect of Coca’, January, 1885

Addenda, February, 1885

‘On the General Effect of Cocaine’, March, 1885

Letter to Martha: 2 February, 1886

Letter to Martha: 10 February, 1886

‘Remarks on Cocaine Addiction and the Fear of Cocaine’, 1887

The Dream of ’Irma’s Injection’, July, 1895 (published in The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900)

From ‘Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses’, January and February, 1898

The Dream of’The Botanical Monograph’, March, 1898 (published in The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900)

Letter to Fritz Wittels, 15 August, 1924

From ‘An Autobiographical Study’, 1925

Notes

Select bibliography

Biographical note

Introduction

One cannot in all honesty assert that Sigmund Freud contributed directly to the invention of a world-renowned beverage, containing coca, kola nut extract and other ingredients, but his writings on the uses of the coca plant, and the alkaloid cocaine derived from it, raised hopes both in Europe and in America, that a remarkable new panacea had indeed been discovered.

The coca plant, erythroxylon coca, had in fact been known about since the Spanish conquest of South America, and its general effects of raising the spirits and increasing the capacity for physical work had been observed, if not understood. The cocaine alkaloid had already been isolated by the German chemist, Friedrich Gaedke, in 1855, and it was further investigated by other German scientists in the course of the nineteenth century. In 1879, at the University of Würzburg, Vassili von Anrep developed experiments with frogs to demonstrate the analgesic properties of the alkaloid.

On returning from a visit to Peru in 1859, an Italian doctor, Paolo Mantegazza, had published a report of his discovery of coca in that country, together with details of his subsequent experiments with it on himself. This work in particular was greatly respected by Freud. When, in 1884, he was reading reports of recent research in the hope of finding a field in which he might make a name for himself, he discovered that there was already considerable interest in cocaine and a body of work on it. To what extent Freud was aware of the already existing popularity of the substance in America is unclear, though it is known that he made use of the bibliography in the ‘Index-catalogue’ of the American Army Library. In 1863 an Italian chemist called Angelo Mariani had started marketing a wine containing an extract of coca, and the product, under the name of ‘Mariani Wine’, would become popular throughout Europe as well as in America. That Freud’s first paper, ‘On Coca’, in 1884, was read in America as well as in Europe is known from Freud’s account in a letter to his fiancée, Martha, on 10 February, 1886. In this he reports the enthusiasm for his paper expressed by a German scientist who had been living in America for some years and whom he had met in Paris. Thus it is safe to say at least that Freud, among others, had contributed to raising the profile of the alkaloid, when John Styth Pemberton decided, in 1886, to add a little coca leaf to his original recipe for his dark, fizzy beverage which was to conquer the world. The coca leaf extract would continue to be a crucial ingredient until the passing of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Since then coca leaves have continued to be used as flavouring but with the active ingredient removed.

One of the earliest indications of Freud’s interest in the substance occurs in his letter to Martha on 21 April, 1884. Here he reports that he has ordered some to be sent to him, and he is already hoping that it might alleviate the suffering of his close friend and colleague, Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow. At the age of twenty-four, Fleischl had had the thumb of his right hand amputated, after contracting an infection. The infection persisted and he was in a constant state of pain, coping only by taking morphine, to which he became addicted. Freud endeavoured to help him overcome the addiction by the use of cocaine, but his friend eventually developed chronic cocaine intoxication. Freud thought that Fleischl would probably only live for another six months or so, but in fact his agony dragged on for many more years. It is clear that Freud suffered guilt feelings about his treatment of his friend for many years to come, especially in relation to his initial encouragement of subcutaneous injections which he later repudiated and the memory of which he appears to have repressed. This is revealed in, among other ways, the associations with coca in his accounts of some of his dreams in The Interpretation of Dreams, two of which, referred to as ‘Irma’s Injection’ and ‘The Botanical Monologue’, are included in the present volume.

From a modern perspective it appears reckless of Freud to have experimented both on himself and on his friend, when so little was known about the effects of the alkaloid. Such practice was however common at the time. The editor of the critical edition of Freud’s works on cocaine in German, Albrecht Hirschmüller, has provided convincing arguments in defence of Freud’s methodology and examined claims that his essays were groundbreaking in the development of modern pharmacology (Hirschmüller, 1996). The pharmacologist, Robert Byck, made such claims, especially for the second of Freud’s papers, ‘A Contribution to Knowledge about the Effect of Coca’ (1885), in his introduction to the English edition of the papers (Byck, 1974). Hirschmüller argues that the usual procedures in conducting research into possible new medications had already been undertaken, including experimenting on animals, and that Freud’s decision to experiment on himself was the next logical step. It does seem however that Freud did not take the standard precautions, neither ensuring that antidotes were at hand nor that colleagues were nearby, etc., and was thus putting his own life at risk. His further experiments on colleagues and on himself were also conducted under conditions common at the time but which were primitive by modern standards: testing on an insufficient number of persons and with few repetitions of the same experiments, as well as failing to use any control groups. And only a matter of days after experimenting on himself he tried cocaine out on Fleischl.

It must also be admitted that in his reading on the subject Freud clearly lent greater credence to those studies which came to favourable conclusions about the applications of cocaine than to those which were sceptical. Nevertheless, Freud’s studies were considered to be the best summary of the applications of cocaine for the next seventy years or so (Byck, 1974).

Another aspect of Freud’s involvement with cocaine which has attracted some attention is the question of priority in the discovery of its use as a local anaesthetic. He clarified this in his letter to Fritz Wittels in 1924, in which he pointed out that it was his friend Leopold Königstein, who was most concerned about being recognised for his contribution to the research, and not Freud, who supported Karl Koller’s claim to this honour all the way: ‘I ascribed the honour completely to Koller alone.’ In the following year, 1925, he also alluded to the matter in ‘An Autobiographical Study’ (Selbstdarstellung), in which he explains that he had to finish his essay on coca quickly in order to visit his fiancée. This explains why there are small errors and omissions in the text of Freud’s essay and in his own footnotes. He left Königstein with the responsibility of testing the anaesthetising effect of cocaine on the human eye. When he returned to Vienna, he found that another friend, Koller, whom Freud has also informed about his research and theories, had conducted the relevant experiments and demonstrated the effect at a conference.

Freud’s second study on coca, ‘A Contribution to Knowledge about the Effect of Coca’, is noteworthy for its objective measurements of the effects of cocaine, both on the physical strength of the body (by the use of a dynamometer, which he describes in the essay) and on mental reaction times (by use of the so-called Neuramöbimeter, also described in the essay). Such equipment was in common use for experiments in the late nineteenth century. What was new in Freud’s research was the demonstration of circadian rhythms, which have been subsequently shown to be common in all forms of life. He demonstrated that there was a regular pattern of daily variations in physical reactions, and that it was possible to measure the increases in physical strength induced by cocaine and correlate them with changes in mental state.

The other essays by Freud on cocaine yield little that is new. His lecture in March, 1885, ‘On the General Effect of Cocaine’, is a summary of the earlier two works. And his ‘Remarks on Cocaine Addiction and the Fear of Cocaine’, 1887, provide no new contributions to the debate but summarise his former views and cite evidence from other researchers, specifically that provided by W.A. Hammonds.

Two other works have not been included in the present volume because of their dubious authorship. In April 1885, Freud agreed to contribute to an article comparing the cocaine produced by the American firm, Parke, Davis and Co., with that produced by the company Merck in Darmstadt, Germany. The article bore the general title ‘On the Various Cocaine Preparations and their Effect’ and was probably written by Hans Gutt (Hirschmüller, 1996, p.111). Only one paragraph of scarcely more than a hundred words can be attributed with certainty to Freud. Also the short text in English, entitled ‘Cocaine’ (1884), was long thought to have been by Freud, but the evidence against this being the case is very strong (Hirschmüller, 1996, p. 138).

Attempts have been made to trace influences of Freud’s research into the effects of cocaine on the subsequent development of the psychoanalytic theories closely associated with his name. Notable among these are Jürgen vom Scheidt’s study on the possible role of Freud’s experiments on himself in stimulating his interest in dream interpretation (vom Scheidt, 1973) and Peter Swales’s article exploring connections between the cocaine research and the later theory of the libido (Swales, 1983). All such studies have only managed to demonstrate tenuous links however, which is scarcely surprising when it is considered that in the decade following the publication of his cocaine papers, Freud was to turn away from the treatment of mental conditions by pharmacological means to develop methods of analysis and cure along purely psychological lines. A close study of the two dream analyses included in the present volume will reveal that the associations with cocaine and his essays on it are part of the dream material in each case and do not reveal any theoretical links with the process of dream construction, the dream work, nor with the process of interpretation. In each case the dream analysis is also presented by Freud deliberately in an incomplete form. He expresses quite clearly his intention not to pursue certain lines of analysis any further. Many, including Carl Jung, criticised him for failing to follow the interpretations through, but in his defence it must be stressed that he was presenting to public view material closely related to intimate matters of his own life and of people close to him, many of whom were well-known and respected figures. His prime intention was to explain the psychoanalytic theory and practice of dream interpretation. He did not in any case believe that it was possible to provide an exhaustive analysis of any dream. Thus he also refers to both dreams in other contexts in The Interpretation of Dreams, and, in the case of the dream of ‘The Botanical Monograph’, provides further extensive analysis of some aspects, to demonstrate certain mechanisms at work in dream creation. These passages have not been included in the present volume however, because they are not directly related to the cocaine studies. There is however a clear connection made by Freud between the preference to take drugs, such as morphine and cocaine, and the frustration felt at the lack of sexual satisfaction, which can lead to the development of neuroses. I have therefore included in this volume the relevant excerpt from his study ‘Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses’. The work also demonstrates clearly his turning away from pharmacology to psychology.

Finally, some account should be provided concerning the organisation of the present volume, and the sources of the texts chosen with an explanation of the conventions employed. It was decided to follow a strictly chronological sequence, presenting the letters, essays and excerpts from other works in the order in which they were written, so that the reader can trace the development of Freud’s interest in cocaine. The translations are based on the German texts of the essays on coca and cocaine in the critical edition with notes and introductions by Albrecht Hirschmüller (Schriften über Kokain). The letters are translated from the standard German edition of Freud’s letters (Briefe, 1873-1939, 1968), and the excerpts from The Interpretation of Dreams (Die Traumdeutung) and ‘Sexuality in the Aetiology of the Neuroses’ (‘Die Sexualität in der Ätiologie der Neurosen’), were based on the standard German ‘Student Edition’ (Studienausgabe). Details of all works are provided in the brief bibliography at the end of this volume. Freud’s own notes are provided as footnotes. His comments are translated, but the titles of the works referred to are left in the original language, except in the case of those in Russian. As he occasionally misspelled a name, got a date wrong, or omitted something important, comments or corrections by the present author are included in square brackets as are the expanded versions of titles of periodicals, where possible. The translator’s notes are numbered and included as endnotes. The technical terminology used by Freud, relating to chemical, anatomical and botanical concepts, and which was in common use at the time, could not in every case be translated by precise English equivalents. A compromise solution was finally decided upon, whereby archaic terms were also rendered in English by archaic terms only if it is likely that they will still be reasonably familiar to modern readers. For the sake of clarity, and to avoid any confusion, some terms have been rendered by their modern equivalents. Several Latin expressions and abbreviations have been left in the forms used by Freud. One of the most frequently used Latin expressions is ‘cocainum muriaticum’ (sometimes written as ‘cocaine muriaticum’ or in abbreviated form) which is cocaine hydrochloride in modern terminology. Where it is useful endnotes have been provided for further clarification of any obscure terms.

It only remains for the translator to express the considerable debt owed to Professor Dennis Burton, who was consulted about Freud’s chemical terminology, and to Alan Miles who provided second opinions on other obscurities in the original German. Needless to say, the final choices made are the responsibility of the translator alone. The reader can find a more detailed account of Freud’s life and of the circumstances of his interest in cocaine in a companion volume by the same author, also published by Hesperus and entitled Brief Lives: Sigmund Freud.

– David Carter, 2011

On Cocaine

Letters to Martha:21 April and 19 June, 1884

Vienna, Monday, 21 April 1884. At the office of the Journal

You are amazed, I’m sure, my Darling, that I’m sitting here again, after I wrote to you from the same spot only on Saturday. This is the result of the things I neglected while I was ill, and it’s really embarrassing for me. Generally things are not working out for me, for the sake of a successful practice I can’t work in the laboratory, nor can I celebrate the works, from which I can indeed expect a little honour. Today I was cut to the quick when my proofs of the methodological report arrived from Leipzig. Since doing that I haven’t worked on anything except two small discoveries. Otherwise I am very well however, fresh as hardly ever before, and feel really fond of you, in a way I never felt in our most beautiful days here, and if I write to you so rarely, then it is the awful conflict between doing my duty and working for the Journal which is responsible - even yesterday, Sunday, I was very busy. Paneth visited me today and informed me, that perhaps I would be called out to Schwechat to deal with a case of nervous illness. Alois Schönberg has indicated the prospect of my being made an offer of employment in Pest. These are only the first steps, which not much may come of, but they are nevertheless first steps. Frau Sch. is doing much better, and I’ll be glad if no more incidents occur, so that I can release her from treatment in a week’s time. I’ll then send her straight off to the countryside.

There’s one project and one hope that I am contemplating at the moment, which I want to tell you about; perhaps nothing further will come of it. It’s a therapeutic experiment. I’m reading about cocaine, the active component in coca leaves, which many Indian tribes chew, to give themselves strength to deal with deprivations and stressful situations. A German has experimented with this material on soldiers and actually reported that it made them marvellously strong and efficient. I will have the material sent to me and experiment with it, based on obvious considerations, on heart conditions and also on cases of weakness with a nervous origin, especially on the miserable condition that occurs with morphine withdrawal (as in the case of Dr Fleischl). Perhaps many others are using it, and perhaps it will be of no use. But I don’t want to give up trying it out, and, as you know, if you often try to do something and always want to do it, then eventually you’ll be successful. We don’t need more than one such lucky success, in order to be able to start thinking about furnishing our house. But don’t get it fixed in your head, my little woman, that it will necessarily be successful this time. You know that the temperament of the researcher requires two basic qualities: being sanguine in conducting experiments and critical in one’s work.

After talking away about everything concerning myself, I come to you, my dear little girl. No, I’m still here, I can’t think of seeing you in the spring, I would like to have done something fine before we meet again. And I’m looking forward to that enormously. I am expecting the newspaper deliverer to come today with the parcel and the money. It’s true that it seems he won’t come, but your visiting cards and your seal won’t be long in coming anyway. It’s nice that you want something for yourself, and it pleases me very much that you go for walks in the little wood. Do you go alone, my dear little Martha? Dolfi said yesterday that it would be very nice, if you could say some time, and say it proudly of course: ‘I waited four years for my husband.’ By the way, Martha, what do you think of the fact that little Pauli has already found happiness in love? With the twenty-eight-year-old brother of her friend, Fräulein Glaser, with whom she usually spends special holidays. He’s a doctor of law and an articled clerk in a lawyer’s office in our town of Neutitschein in Moravia. So he’s already a person of some seriousness. What do you think of that? Don’t mention it to anyone, and I don’t want to say yet that the little one is definitely given away, but doesn’t it look as though the silly girls will all quickly be gone, ‘like hot cakes’? Dolfi is the only one who is still free, and she said yesterday - I had invited her to afternoon tea to repair my black coat - ‘It must be marvellous to be the bride of an educated man, but an educated man won’t have me, don’t you think?’ I couldn’t help laughing greatly at this perception of herself.

My dear little Martha, the newspaper deliverer has just come. He brought only a few fine things, but there was a letter with twenty-eight guilders. How great it is, when a person has some money. Now, my dear, you will get ten more guilders from me. I’ll keep them for a little while, because I don’t have any other money, but they belong to you. What do you still need for your stock of clothes? Are Jersey cardigans still fashionable?

I’ll keep the money for a while, not because I am miserly, but because the cocaine will cost me some money and because yesterday, when I had to pay out ten guilders for a piece of electrical apparatus, I made myself poor.

Now we’ve got all the pieces of apparatus together, and tomorrow we will begin our work. I only go to see Frau Sch. once a day however. Schönberg is struggling with Kant and Horace, but looks well and is in good spirits. My dear Martha, don’t you think this all bodes well for the second book?