ABSTRACT
Freud's deeply humanistic bent and his love of art and literature were striking. His archaeological collection of figurines met the eye in his wai t ing room and on his desk no less than his feeling for the great poets meets the eye in his books. Science must have held some attraction for h im even before he encountered the essay on nature, but i t was this essay that convinced h i m that one could be a scientist without renouncing one's humanistic bent. He chose biology as the natural science i n which man and nature meet, as i t were, and studied medicine. But he also became a great writer . And before long he created a new literary genre: the case history that can be as fascinating as any short story or novel.
