Page:Freud - Psychopathology of everyday life.djvu/34

Psychopathology of Everyday Life &ldquo;That was not very difficult. You prepared me for it long enough. Just think of the saints of the calendar, the liquefying of the blood on a certain day, the excitement if the event does not take place, and the distinct threat that the miracle must take place. … Indeed, you have elaborated the miracle of St. Januarius into a clever allusion to the courses of the woman.&rdquo;

&ldquo;It was surely without my knowledge. And do you really believe that my inability to reproduce the word &lsquo;aliquis&rsquo; was due to this anxious expectation?&rdquo;

&ldquo;That appears to me absolutely certain. Don&rsquo;t you recall dividing it into a-liquis and the associations: reliques, liquidation, fluid? Shall I also add to this connection the fact that St. Simon, to whom you got by way of the reliques, was sacrificed as a child?&rdquo;

&ldquo;Please stop. I hope you do not take these thoughts—if I really entertained them—seriously. I will, however, confess to you that the lady is Italian, and that I visited Naples in her company. But may not all this be coincidental?&rdquo;

&ldquo;I must leave to your own judgment whether you can explain all these connections through the assumpnon of coincidence. I will tell you, however, that every similar case that you analyse will lead you to just such remarkable &lsquo;coincidences!&rsquo;&rdquo;

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