initiated the youth into the world of
philosophical thought.
He
discussed with him all
of the
questions
raised by the youth thirsting
for
knowledge
and recommended the
reading
of books
on
natural
philosophy
(Kraft
und Stoff
[Force
and
Matter]by
Büchner,
Kosmos
by
Humboldt, the Naturwissenschaftliche Volksbücher [Popular Books
on
Natural
Sciences] by
Bernstein,
among
others).
Moreover, despite the
difference in their
ages,
he treated the
boy
as an
equal
and
friend.
Whereas Uncle Jakob's style of
teasing skepticism
about his abilities
always spurred him
on anew,
and the teachers at the Gymnasium
pedantically
looked
more
for ready
answers
than for the ability to
probe
and reflect, the
more
insightful
medical student
offered
young
Albert far
more.
For he invested his whole
person
in
examining
everything
that engaged the boy's interest. This occurred
at
that
very
crucial
age
when the
child
matures
into
a
thinking
person.
His scientific
interests
were
broadened
as a
result; he
was no
longer engrossed
solely
in mathematics, but had
already begun
to
concern
himself with the fundamental problems of the natural sciences
in general. Music served
as
his only distraction. He could already
play
Mozart and Beethoven sonatas
on
the
violin,
accompanied by his
mother
on
the
piano.
He would also sit down at the
piano
and,
mainly
in arpeggios full of tender
feeling, constantly
search for
new
harmonies and transitions of his
own
invention.
And yet it is really
incorrect to
say
that these musical
reveries served
as
a
distraction.
Rather,
they put
him in
a
peaceful
state of
mind,
which facilitated
his reflection. For later
on,
when great problems
preoccupied him,
he
often suddenly
stood
up
and
declared: "There,
now
I've got it."
A
solution had
suddenly
appeared
to him.
When the
family
moved to
Italy
in 1894, the decision
was
made to
leave Albert in
Munich
to
finish gymnasium. This
was
done to
ensure
an
uninterrupted
course
of studies,
as
well
as
because of the
Italian
language,
Which
was
foreign
to
the boy. He boarded with
a
family
in Munich, while relatives and
acquaintances
made
sure
that he
did
not
lack
family
contacts. In this
period
he sent
only laconically
phrased
letters
to
Milan from which little could be ascertained about
his
life, yet
this did
not attract particular notice.
Actually,
he
was
very
uncomfortable in school. The
style
of
teaching
in most
subjects
was
repugnant to him;
moreover,
his home
room
teacher did not
seem
very
well
disposed
toward him. The
military
tone
of
the
school, the systematic
training
in the worship
of
authority
that
was
supposed
to accustom
pupils
at
an
early
age
to
military discipline,
was
also
particularly unpleasant
for the
boy.
He
contemplated with dread that not-too-distant
moment
when he will have
to don
a
soldier's uniform in order
to
fulfil his
military
obligations. Depressed and
nervous,
he searched for
a
way
out.
Hence, when the
professor
in
charge
of his class
(the
same one
who had
predicted
that
nothing good
will
ever come
of
him)
scolded him
on some
occasion, he obtained
a
certificate from the family doctor, presented
it to the school
principal
and
abruptly
left to
join
his parents in
Milan.
They
were
alarmed
by
his
high-handed
behavior, but he most
adamantly
declared that he would
not return to
Munich,
and
reassured
them about his future
by promising
them most
definitely
that he would
independently
prepare
himself for the entrance examination
to
the
Zurich Polytechnical School (ETH) in autumn. This
was
a
bold decision
for
a
16-year-old, and he actually carried it out. His parents
resigned themselves
to
the
new
situation with
grave
misgivings, but
were
persuaded
to
do all they could to further the plan.
xxi
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