ABSTRACT
Sigmund Freud's Wednesday Night Psychological Society initially was comprised of four members in addition to Freud himself, all physicians: Alfred Adler, Max Kahane, Rudolf Reitler, and Wilhelm Stekel. Freud himself was its new prophet who made the theretofore prevailing methods of psychological investigation appear superficial. The impression of deference to Freud's views is reinforced by the typical flow of the evening's conversation. From C. G. Jung's side, as Jung confessed to Freud in a letter in October, 1907, it was a "veneration" in the "character of a 'religious' crush," which "because of its undeniable erotic undertone" was at once "disgusting and ridiculous." As Freud and his theories gained more international acclaim, in contrast to both the irritations he felt with his Vienna circle and the ongoing opprobrium of the conservative Viennese psychiatric establishment outside their group, he began to gravitate more and more toward international colleagues.
