Forfatteren viser, hvordan Freuds terapeutiske udgangspunkt ikke kun var den suggestionsterapi, som Hippolyte Bemheim udviklede i 1880'erne, men i mindst lige så høj grad traditionen fra den næsten et århundrede gamle animalske magnetismes eksperimentelle og terapeutiske resultater. En vigtig formidler af denne i mellemtiden afbrudte tradition var filosoffen Carl Du Prel ( 1839-99 ), som Freudi 1914 udgaven af »Drømmetydningen« yder sin lavmælte tribut til.It is a well known faet that Charcot's hypnotic experiments and Bernheim's hypnotherapy along with Breuer's treatment of Anna O... were the starting point for Freud's psychotherapy. Less well known but not less important was the impact of the nearly one century old animal magnetism upon Freud - an Breuer as well. This psychotherapeutic tradition, revitalized 1879-80, was communicated to him not least by the works of the German philosopher Carl du Prel (1839-99). Not until in the 1914 edition of »Die Traumdeutung «, however, Freud inconspicuously admitted his indebtedness to this »brilliant mystic« as he named him
