V O L U M E 8 , D O C U M E N T 2 8 3 a 3 7
of this business. As far as I know, observations never yielded sharp lines that did
not agree with kinetic gas theory; and this subject has been repeatedly and thor-
oughly treated.
Cordial greetings and wishing you full recovery soon, yours,
A. Einstein
Vol. 8, 283a. To Michele Besso
[Berlin, after 6 December
1916][1]
Dear Michele,
Isn’t it possible after all that Mileva’s illness is of a nervous nature? From the
description it seems to me to be like epilepsy. Its temporal nature also speaks for
it.[2]
I am very sorry for her and also for the boys, who are having a truly pitiful
youth. But nothing can be done about it. I always designed my letters to Albert so
that Mileva could read them without unpleasant feelings. So your suspicion in this
regard cannot
apply.[3]
Besides, the environment of a patient always associates sig-
nificant occurrences with external events.–
I have made myself more independent of my relatives insofar as I now almost
always eat alone at home in the evenings. Then I always cook myself something
small, because I have the good fortune of agreeing well with this most direct and
honest form of service. I abandoned once and for all the idea of remarrying. You
were absolutely right in this regard; in general one sees other people’s situations
more clearly than one’s own! Pauli writes very enthusiastically about your lecture
and about your article in the E.T.Z., which I hope you won’t hold back from
me.[4]
The shawm of peace is piping with increasing shrillness . . . it knows
why.[5]
I don’t
know yet exactly how I can see the children next Easter. In any case, I won’t stay
in Zurich, because that would cause agitation. I’d like most to have them come to
Lucerne, but that would be hard to carry through. I am actually deprived of more
rights than a jailbird. It appears that Weyl calculated with an incorrect Hamiltonian
function. It is enough for me that the addition of gravitation unfortunately does not
explain the
electron.[6]
Altogether, the connection between gravitation and electro-
magnetism has been quite superficial. On the other hand It is also hard for me to
believe that God Almighty took the trouble to introduce two so very basically dif-
ferent states of space. An infernal joke is probably still behind this. I try in vain
however to improve
something.[7]
I put Wiechert in a very bad light at the collo-
quium concerning
Mercury.[8]
Inertia of energy; fine. But adding a factor 10.7 is
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