o a friend.

Sincerely yours,

WM. JAMES.

Though Mr. James paid me the compliment of advising me not to rewrite
my original manuscript, I did revise it quite thoroughly before
publication. When my book was about to go to press for the first time
and since its reception by the public was problematical, I asked
permission to publish the letter already quoted. In reply, Mr. James
sent the following letter, also for publication.

95 IRVING ST., CAMBRIDGE, MASS.
November 10, 1907.

DEAR MR. BEERS:

You are welcome to use the letter I wrote to you (on July 1, 1906)
after reading the first part of your MS. in any way your judgment
prompts, whether as preface, advertisement, or anything else.
Reading the rest of it only heightens its importance in my eyes.
In style, in temper, in good taste, it is irreproachable. As for
contents, it is fit to remain in literature as a classic account
"from within" of an insane person's psychology.

The book ought to go far toward helping along that terribly needed
reform, the amelioration of the lot of the insane of our country,
for the Auxiliary Society which you propose is feasible (as
numerous examples in other fields show), and ought to work
important effects on the whole situation.

You have handled a difficult theme with great skill, and produced
a narrative of absorbing interest to scientist as well as layman.
It reads like fiction, but it is not fiction; and this I state
emphatically, knowing how prone the uninitiated are to doubt the
truthfulness of descriptions of abnormal mental processes.

With best wishes for the success of the book and the plan, both of
which, I hope, will prove epoch-making, I remain,

Sincerely yours,

WM. JAMES.

Several times in my narrative, I have said that the seemingly unkind
fate that robbed me of several probably happy and healthful years had
hidden within it compensations which have offset the sufferings and the
loss of those years. Not the least of the compensations has been the
many letters sent to me by eminent men and women, who, having achieved
results in their own work, are ever responsive to the efforts of anyone
trying to reach a difficult objective. Of all the encouraging opinions
I have ever received, one has its own niche in my memory. It came from
William James a few months before his death, and will ever be an
inspiratio