he confessed that his passion for collecting was second only to his addiction to cigars. the importance of the collection can be seen in freud's use of archaeology as a metaphor for psychoanalysis. one example of this is freud's explanation to a patient that conscious material 'wears away' while what is unconscious is relatively unchanging: "i illustrated my remarks by pointing to the antique objects about my room. they were, in fact, i said, only objects found in a tomb, and their burial had been their preservation".